April 11, 2003
A Wee Site Enhancement
I prefer to have my hyperlinks open in a new window, but keep forgetting to add the target="_blank" tag when I add them. Problem solved! I found a nifty bit of javascript which will do it automatically.To test it, here's a link to the site of Nancy Noel, one of my favorite artists.
Strike that. Until I figure out how to get it to work in conjunction with the hyperlinks to my pop-up comment windows, it's useless. :( Blargh!
82 Years Combined Incompetence
An ad I saw on TV last night for a local auto repair shop reminded me of a pet peeve. What's WITH businesses touting things like, "we offer over 82 years combined experience!"? C'mon, what does that mean? What, they have fourteen people who have worked in their field for five years each, and maybe one who's been there twelve?It means nothing, people! "Our planet's inhabitants offer xxx years combined experience!" And we've learned....what?
April 10, 2003
The Pissquiggler's Dilemma
Wednesday morning, Buddy beagle started wheezing, like he was choking on something. I dashed to the computer and looked to see if there is a Heimlich maneuver for dogs and found that there is (as well as animal CPR). I followed the instructions for the Heimlich, but he kept on wheezing. We thought it might just be somthing partially obstructing his airway, but too far down for us to see, so Howie rushed him to the vet's office.They did an x-ray and found no obstruction, but they did find out he has fluid on his lungs and an enlarged heart. Howie had been spraying the basement walls down with the 50/50 solution of bleach/water and hadn't yet opened the windows upstairs. The fumes were pretty horrendous, but that wouldn't have caused this episode with Buddy. It might have aggravated it, however, and caused the wheezing.
The vet has him on an antibiotic for 10 days, thinking the fluid on his lungs could be caused by an infection. He said Buddy's heart could be enlarged from having to work so hard because of the fluid. We're to take him back for another checkup and x-rays when his antibiotics are finished. If his heart is still enlarged, he'll need to be on heart medication.
Okay, so you have to get the picture here. Of our trio, Sarah's had emergency surgery for bladderstones and eats prescription food, Emma takes estrogen to help with her bladder control, and now Buddy may have to be on heart medication for the rest of his doggie days.
Do we have pets or patients here? A little of both, but I guess they fit right in with Howie and his surgically-enhanced spine and my funky sinuses. Welcome to our world! We're all in this together, baby.
April 09, 2003
City Chicken, Plucked
My friend CoCo from Dave's Garden piped up with a little bit about the history of City Chicken yesterday. It seems it's sort of a shish-kabob, originating at a time when chicken was more expensive than pork and veal. Since poultry was so pricey, folks would cube and skewer these alternative (the-other-white)meats, bread them, brown them, then bake them with a liquid so a savory gravy resulted as well.The recipes sound pretty tasty! I found a few while searching for more about this weird-sounding dish:
A site called Coalregion.com has one that sounds promising, along with some guesses as to its history. About.com has another one in their Souther U.S. Cuisine section, this time with that wonderful all-purpose staple, Cream Of Mushroom Soup.
Barring my making Dennis' (aka da brudder's) Meat Thingies sometime, this sounds pretty darned good.
April 08, 2003
I've Heard of Spring Chickens, but...
This was in this week's local Jamboree Foods grocery ad.
City chicken? Not just city chicken, but "all pork" city chicken?? I don't know what to say (but that won't stop me from talking).
I'm just pretty disturbed by the thought...
April 07, 2003
Blogger Woes: Error 230
I cannot get my archives to publish. I keep getting this wonderful error:
Archive ErrorI've gone back in my entries and replaced any ampersands in my posts with the word "and". Are forward slashes also verboten? I don't know what else to do and I'm frustrated. I know, Joanie...MoveableType. This frustration with Blogger may serve as my best impetus, eh?
Error 203:java.lang.NumberFormatException: (server:page)
Stripping Away The Old...Plus Some Odds And Ends
We finally stripped the carpet from our office Saturday night. It was a bound carpet remnant we put in about a year ago. It was cheap carpet to begin with, plus we'd never gotten around to putting the padding down beneath it, so it was matted and looked really ratty. Plus, due to recurrent bouts of a certain un-named beagle's pissquiggles, it was pretty rank. Actually, it was embarrassingly stinky, truth be told.
It was a late-night team effort, as most of our projects tend to be. Howie crawled around on the floor and cut sections of carpet with his pocket knife and handed them to me to toss in a pile by the garage door. I vacuumed, he mopped with oil soap. About 3am (darned time change!), we dragged our sore and tired bodies to bed and slept a few hours until it was time to get up for church. It was worth it, though; now the office just smells like the cedar shavings in the dogs' bed. *sniff*
We brought up a bookshelf from the basement, too, so I'm working on getting the books off of horizontal surfaces, sorted into "keep" and "Goodwill", and up onto bookshelves where they belong. One thing the Sandra Felton said in her book,
The New Messies Manual, is so true: messies tend not to buy the organizational products they desparately need, thinking they're too expensive. She said the very things that will help us get organized and declutter things -- marvels such as bookshelves and plastic storage containers -- are absent from our homes. Boy, is she right about that!
I went to the chiropractor again today, my second visit. I awoke with a real headbanger of a headache, part sinus, part tension in my neck. The very last thing I felt like doing was going out of the house. The thing I most felt like doing was going back to bed. I went out of the house. I figure, if anything would probably help me feel better, it's getting my adjustment. My neck does feel better, but my head's still aching. It's not as bad, though, so that's a relief. My muscles are rebelling to the bones being moved, but my spine and neck are much loose now and I can turn my head without that grinding sound. mmmmmmmm.
Let's see, what else is new...I sang at a "celebration of life" service for a friend. It was a memorial service for a lady who we knew from our previous church. It was really neat, a combination of photos (many of them displayed on bulletin boards and such up front), favorite songs, and people sharing stories about Betty. I sang a cappella since it was short notice and I didn't have time to really practice with an accompaniest. A lady named Marie sang another hymn, and what a sweet, clear voice she had! They played some of Ralph and Betty's favorite country songs over the PA, too. All in all, it was a really neat tribute to her.
I told Howie, when I die, I'd like something like that rather than calling hours and a funeral service. I'd like it to be at my church, and I want packets of flower seeds given to every visitor. If the people don't garden, they can just scatter those seeds in a field - either way, new life will spring forth and the world will be a better place for them. :)
April 05, 2003
Combination Products II
A case in point in regard to the previous blog entry. Picture this: You're lying in the dark, reading in bed. The house is quiet and your spouse is snoring softly (or not so softly) next to you. You inhale, and your nose wrinkles. Suddenly, you realize, "Oh, my gosh...We have got to buy cat litter!" You look over at the nightstand, then remember you have no writing implement within easy reach, nor any paper! You would have to actually get out of bed to go jot down this important news bulletin.
What to do?
Oh, wait...That's right! You are the happy owner of a Book Light and A Recorder! No problem! You push the red button and, ever considerate, whisper "get caaaat liiiiiiter".
Recording Book Light goes wherever you need to read! On trains, planes, at the library, in school or in bed, lightweight, clip-on lamp gives you the extra light you want, and has a built-in 10 second recorder for voice memos. Unit adjusts to any angle, and folds to compact 5-1/2" x 1-1/2" size. Uses 2 AAA batteries (not incl.) and 1 included button cell battery.
Was $14.98 Now$8.50
C2204 - Recording Book Light
Now, you see the brilliance in this?
Combination Products
This site must be where Harriett Carter and her ilk get some of their product ideas. You can randomly generate product ideas there, odd ideas such as these:
Design #1462391020
It's a burger carton that spins about its axis!
It makes virtually no noise whatsoever and can emulate a ZX Spectrum.
Design #344517412
It's an MP3 player that's made of solid gold, removes stubborn stains and is monogrammed (up to three letters).
It brought to mind an excerpt from Paul Reiser's book Couplehood. So intent was I to share this tidbit, I searched for a good five minutes and found the book so I could type this for you all:
At some point, my wife and I got ourselves on every mailing list in the free world. All you have to do is buy one distinctly dumb product you don't need, and everyone wtih a catalogue hears about it. "Hi! We understand you don't care what you spend money on anymore. We have just the catalogue for you." I like the Combination Products. Things that you probably already have, but not in this particular combination.
"It's a sweater vest and a bottle opener."
"It's a hot beverage thermos and a snorkeling mask!"
And of course, if you look at the pictures long enough, you start thinking, "Well, you know, we could use that. With a thermos/snorkel mask we wouldn't have to come up for coffee anymore. We could snorkel all day and never come up!"
Then they combine things that not only shouldn't be together, there's no way they could be. "It's a cassette rack and a doberman pinscher!" How could that be?
"It's a rain bonnet, but it's also your parents."
How could that be?! I just saw my parents. They weren't a rain bonnet.
If you're a fan like me, you heard Paul Reiser's voice as you read that. This book makes me giggle. As a matter of fact, when I left it in the bathroom one time, one of our favorite houseguests was heard giggling behind the bathroom door. I know it isn't just me.
April 04, 2003
Gallery at the Plot
Slowly, but surely, I'm working on the gallery. I made a main page for it today and uploaded a gallery of my favorite pet portraits. I just noticed the thumbnails on the pets page are terrible! Ah well...More coming soon, as the categories indicate! I need to do everything in FrontPage so navigation will be easier for me. Right now I'm putting things together piecemeal and have to remember to link to different pages.
April 03, 2003
Hide and Go Seek
I just recently figured out that I could view results by subdomains for search hits bringing people to my site. I nosed around and found the search terms that have brought folks to this neck of the woods. Some of it is pretty amusing, and some kinda disturbing! For your indifferent scanning pleasure, I've included them here. Just as in real life, my comments are parenthetical.April 2003:
March 2003:
February 2003:
January 2003:
December 2002:
November 2002:
October 2002:
September 2002:
August 2002:
April 02, 2003
The Blogs Of War
Okay, you know I cringe at the thought of conflict, but I'm moving a wee bit beyond my comfort zone and writing this in spite of the discomfort it causes me. Kim Komando linked to several blogs from the war at her site. She's also linked to many ways to support the troops, and she's gotten a lot of flack for it.
One person wrote her, “You shouldn’t tell people to give thanks to the servicemen and women. It’s their job and they are getting paid for it.”
Boy, I bet that writer is one heck of a customer to people, demanding, bitter and bereft of any sense of appreciation for anyone but self. Anyone who works gets paid for what he does, and that doesn't make him any less deserving or appreciative of some thanks.
Thank you, Kim. Thank you, soldiers and support staff in the military. That's all I'm sayin'.
P.S. This is really something. Click the link on the page to listen to the phone call.
March 31, 2003
Question for You Blog Geeks
Is there a way to do an extended entry thingie like MoveableType offers, just using regular old HTML? If so, please e-mail me. I'm not quite ready to take the MoveableType plunge, and I can't justify paying someone to set it up for me, but I sure would like to tidy up this blog if it isn't too hard to do this sans-MT.Monday Mission 3.13
These are the weekly questions Promoguy hath wrought. To see his answers, go to his blog.1. How old will you be on your next birthday?
As the hand ticks past midnight, I shall be thirty six. Wow...Four years away from the big four-oh. I sure don't feel like it (mentally, anyway)!
2. What is your favorite gadget?
One thing I love is my underwater stem cutter. I got it from Jackson and Perkins in one of the warehouse sales when I worked there, but it looks like they discontinued it. Some cut flowers need to have their stems seared with a match, while others need to be cut underwater so no air gets into the stem (the air bubble will keep water from being taken up through the stem). For the latter, this gadget works great. It is a glass jar with a screw-on lid which contains a razor blade sort of assembly. You fill the jar with water, screw on the lid, then insert the stems of your cut flowers into it and press the button on top. It slices the stems under water.
(By the way, I have one of those little George Foreman grills, too, and I love it; I want one of the big ones so I can do more than one big burger at a time!)
3. Tell me about someone that you lost touch with several years ago. Would you like to get back in touch with them again? What caused the separation? Has enough time passed? Would you still get along?
I lost touch with someone who was instrumental in showing me God was not only real, but approacheable and loving. We were good friends while I was in high school, but as I grew and matured as a person, he stayed right where he was. He's got a lot of strange ideas, a lot of things he swears are revelations to him by God. He's in his fifties and still lives at home, an eternal Peter Pan.
He was in his thirties when I met him, and the very fact that he was a youthful-thinking hippy made friendship fun and easy; the thing is, he stayed that way and I just keep wishing he'd grow up. So, no, I don't think we'd still get along, sad as that is.
4. Is there a difference between your online personality and your real-life version? Or are you pretty much the same person either way?
In the most basic sense, no. I strive to be approacheable and helpful. I enjoy helping people with their computer snafus, gabbing about gardening and scores of other subjects. In RL, I am more of a hermit, though. It's funny, the more of a hermit I am in RL, the more active I am online, so I suppose it goes hand-in-hand.
5. Can you think of any ways that the Internet hinders person-to-person communication? What could we do to change things?
I know that in my own life, I am more apt to jot someone an e-mail than I am to call. Sometimes I want to just communicate some tidbit of information, and I know if I call, it will probably end up being a 1/2 hour conversation. Truthfully, I just don't enjoy talking on the phone that much anymore. I think the Internet is a mixed bag. I've met many of my Internet friends in RL and enjoyed their company very much. Many of those online acquaintances have become RL trusted and cherished friends, people with whom we've even stayed with.
However, I also find that, especially when stressed, I tend to pull back from my local RL friends and family and dwell more in my Internet community. It's just easier sometimes, you know? I can read their blogs, threads, and e-mails without feeling put on the spot. I have more of a chance to digest what they're saying and think about my replies before answering.
Personally, to change things, I need to force myself to get outside and be with people. It always charges me up and makes me happy when I get out with folks face-to-face, so why I don't just DO more often that is a mystery!
6. When was the last time you felt truly happy, or had that sense of perfect inner-peace? What does it take to get that feeling back when you need it?
I feel peaceful like that when I awake in the wee hours of the morning and hear the birds chattering. I love that sound. And when I sing, especially worship songs, I feel very peaceful and happy. One of the most wonderful things to me is singing harmony with others.
7. If you could just verbally let loose on someone and be able to say anything you want, without repercussions, who would you say it to and what would you say?
Hmmmmm.....Really can't say. ;)
Oh, and my caption for the photo is "Super-Elastic Kitty Plastic!"
It's April? No Fooling?
babbling, and strewing flowers."
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay,
American poet
These were taken in April 2002, but we're not too far from looking this way this spring:
We did so much in the basement yesterday. My brother-in-law came by and helped, and between the three of us working, we got all the stuff we're keeping up on some shelves Howie built. We also have the remainder of the stuff sorted into two piles in the front of our garage: Goodwill and Garbage. By the time mid-April comes around, we'll have a clean slate for the contractor to start working.
Since we got everything in the basement done, Howie said he'll help me work in the yard this Satuday. I got a little bit of the winter die-back cleared from the front perennial beds Saturday, but I'm behind in my pruning. It will be so good to get everything cleared away so all the new growth has room to grow. There's so much coming up, and it's so welcome to see after this harsh, bitter winter.
I wish we didn't perpetually run in catch-up mode. The clean-up outside would be easier if we weren't also having to clear last fall's leaves! The Messies Manual book I just finished reading has helped me see things in new ways and has me feeling more empowered to change some of my habits; it's really my hope to have a better handle on routine maintenance of the house and the yard by this fall.
After getting so much done this weekend, I feel pumped. I actually feel like change is possible!
Added: Silly me, I had it in my mind that Monday was April 1. So, April came a day early in my blogworld. Whoops!
March 28, 2003
Homeless Critters
I added a goodie to the right sidebar last night. It's a link to Petfinder.com, which offers access to a huge network of animal shelters across the country. Our Emma is a pound puppy, and we have big hearts when it comes to homeless critters.
I know some folks really desire a purebred with all the papers, but I just don't know if I could spend hundreds on such a dog when I know there are sooo many great critters living on borrowed time at the shelter. Emma's littermates were put down the day we got to take her home, and if they had temperments anything like hers, they would have made fantastic pets.
I urge you, check out your local dog pound and animal shelter if you're considering a pet; they even have purebreds if that's your thing. I like mutts, myself. I can guar-ON-tee there's no other doggie like our Emma on the planet!
Finally, it's Friday
My hubby had to go back to 5-day work weeks after last week's layoffs at his job. It's weird getting used to, but we're so thankful he still has a job. So, once again, Friday really means something. Of course, Friday's also an excuse to answer someone else's questions.
1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
Last Saturday morning, I went to a womens coffee fellowship at our church. The lady next to me, Jeanette, was interpreting the speaker's message in sign language so one of our church's hearing-impaired members could listen. Watching Jeannette's graceful hands and seeing Carol's expressions as she listened, it struck me how much I would like to better communicate with the deaf members at my church. I love people, love talking with them, and it bothers me I am not able to communicate as well with the deaf as I'd like. I know how to do the alphabet in sign language, but that's it. I really should look into this more - there are people at church who teach others, for interpreters are always welcome.
2. What one person touched your life this week?
So many! Someone who I've especially appreciated this week is Naomi, though. She's been a real encouragement to me! Love you, girl. :)
3. How have you helped someone this week?
That same Saturday morning, I provided transportation to an elderly member of my church. Actually, it may have helped me even more than her; surely someone would have given her a ride had I not asked her, but by offering her a ride, I made sure that I would go, too. She is a widow and struggles with depression, so it meant a lot to her to get out and just visit with people and laugh -- and I was blessed, too!
4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?
I need to get the house cleaning done by this time next week. I wanna have people over to visit! (That New Messies Handbook I'm reading is awesome, by the way). I also need to get outside a little each day and clean up the perennial beds. There are leaves from last fall, plus all the perennial foliage that died back over winter. There's new growth coming up everywhere, and I need to get rid of the dead stuff before I end up cutting good shoots and leaves with the dead stuff.
5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?
My world? I will pray. I am one person, basically impotent to impact much of what's going on in the world at large, but I know Someone who can. I don't know what all the future holds, but I know Who holds the future. As far as what I can do locally? I can listen. I am making it a point to listen more. We all need someone who will just listen sometimes.
March 27, 2003
Flutterby
We have a few overwintering butterflies in our area, but most of them will be coming back with the warmer weather. I found a neat site which shows butterflies by county for the whole US. So, if you ever wondered what species are common to your own neck of the woods, check it out at the USGS website.
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