Why is it that blogging ideas only come to me when I can’t write them down???
I draft wonderful opening lines when I’m in the shower. Sentences roll out of my mind when I am driving, or when I have gone out of the house without a notebook or pad of paper. The perfect idea for a blog entry bursts into my brain just as my pen goes dry.
Last year, as I drove through central Illinois and Indiana, I had a hand-held tape recorder with me. Everything I saw on that trip was grist for the blog when I returned, and I managed not to tape over any of the information.
But, it’s hard to keep the tape recorder to hand. I need to make a fanny pack for it, or an Amish pocket. I wonder if Dear Husband will object to me murmuring into the recorder in the middle of the night?
Wouldn’t a tape recorder/digital camera be the perfect gift for a blogger?
How do you all keep those ideas in your mind until it’s time to write???

When you tell someone that you blog, do you get funny looks? Do they sidle away from you, or put a little distance between you?
Until very recently, I have been the only person in my family who blogs. I’m not sure what they think I’m doing, but none of them, when faced with the fact that I blog, has ever asked me about it. It’s rather like they are trying to spare me; the less they know about it, the less they can be forced to disclose. I think they assume it’s something illicit, or dirty. At best, they wonder how I can possibly waste my time this way. And, some of them believe that it’s inappropriate to put personal thoughts where anyone can read them.
I suspect that if I had told them I was journaling, they wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with it. At any rate, I’m certainly glad that my youngest sister is joining me in the blogging world. I’ll let you know where to find her when her blog is up and running. Welcome aboard, Sissy.

I was chatting with my youngest sis yesterday, and discovered that my blog has become a visual aid. She’s teaching English, among other things, and this summer she decided that she would use blogs in her classroom to promote writing skills and communication. One of the techs in the school system found a blog site that allows the kids to venture out to see the world of blogs, but prevents that world from coming in to visit them. I applaud protecting them from spam and unsupervised adults as they learn their way around blogging!
At any rate, Sis showed the class MY BLOG!! She used it to show links, and layout, and possibilities. I’m delighted that I’ve become a visual aid! Go to it kids!

Dear Husband hears oddly. It’s difficult to describe his condition, but he will hear something and his mind immediately seeks the pun or the homonym that might grow out of it. I should add that he usually goes for the quickest, easiest, least polished pun that he can find.
Tonight, as we were getting dinner, I mentioned that Elegante Mother and I had gotten our flu shots today. He asked if that made us floozies.
He had the temerity to repeat the question to Elegante Mother.
He’s still living. It’s just amazing….

….the colors, the scents, the cooking….
I had a note from my youngest sis today, and independently, we had decided to spend the next week in a similar manner. She and the girls have some time off from school at the end of this week. They are going to work on a scarecrow, carve a pumpkin, make some apple butter, clean up the herb garden, and pick apples from their tree.
A week ago, Dear Husband and I purchased a half bushel of Jonathan apples. I want to make some apple butter. I’ve used some of the apples to make applesauce, and an apple pie. A few more will go into a pork chop and apple dinner later this week. I want to try my hand again at baked apples. I haven’t done them in ages.

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Well, we’ve called one of the roofers and made the commitment. He expects to start on our roof on November 7th, weather permitting. I hope that the weather will hold just three weeks more, not that I want to encourage the drought. It’s a tough call. I want my trees and perennials to get the water they need, but I want it to be dry for the roofing. Do you think that we could do the Camelot thing, and have it only rain at night??

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We have to have our roof re-shingled. Sixteen years ago Dear Husband and I went up the ladders after work and on weekends to shingle this roof. At that time, I emphatically announced that I would not be going up onto the roof again, when it was time to re-shingle.
This has been an exceptionally dry, and HOT, summer. We waited for cooler weather to arrive before we began soliciting bids. I found three places, and DH found two more. Only one of his choices came through with a bid, so we had four to choose from.

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Last night, I had the pleasure of going to a Christmas Faire preview with some of the women in my family. My oldest sister arranged the outing, and she invited a friend, two of her sisters, one of her daughters, a daughter-in-law and a soon to be daughter-in-law. SHe would have taken all the women of the family, but some were too far away to participate in this evening out.
The preview included a buffet dinner, and the the chance to roam the fair for the evening. Of course we shopped right up to the last moment (and a few beyond.)
It was on the way home that I had the biggest laugh of the night. Soon To Be Daugher In Law (STBDIL) was sitting in the back seat of the car, and she said she had been trying to catch up on her reading lately. She likes the Oprah magazine, and she was currently immersed in the May issue. (A girl after my own heart…..I have about four months of four or five magazines to catch up on.)
STBDIL said that she had just read that research says men’s way of thinking is closer to that of a chimpanzee than to that of a woman.
(laughing) What more is there to be said???

I’m glad to see that our scientists seem to be making inroads on the treatment of breast cancer. Our evening news was rife with stories about “Herceptin,” a new drug that is touted as cutting in half the chance that breast cancer will return. The studies will have to continue, because they’ve only followed women with cancer for three years. Breast cancer can return in up to 20 years. Still, this is a positive bit of news.
So much of our health care has been based on studies that used men, but not women, for research. It’s been within my lifetime that scientists have come to recognize that it’s not safe to generalize that treatment that works for a male body, will necessarily work for a female body.
Have the drug companies focused their research on men because men have had more discretionary income than women? Probably.
Have drug companies generalized drug use from studies that were male only. Yes.
Will we begin to see any change in that pattern, as it has become obvious that it’s not possible to generalize how a woman will respond to a drug that hasn’t been tested on women? I hope so. I’d hate to think that women might be blindly participating in field research for drug companies.
It’s possible that this is one area where insurance companies might actually be of help in managing women’s health. If enough women have to file claims against a drug company for selling drugs that are inappropriate, through insufficient research, perhaps the insurance companies will actually do a service.
Now that women are a larger part of the work force, I think it’s become profitable to see to their needs. After all, why would a smart business turn their back on a demographic that large?
I’m really glad to see that strides are being made in women’s health care. I hope Herceptin is the wonder drug they think it might be.

The farmer who has the fields closest to us has harvested his corn. We were afraid that his crop would be a total loss because of the drought. Geese in this area depend upon what he drops as he harvests to fatten up for the trip south, or for the winter here.
It seems there must have been more corn than we thought there would be. It’s fascinating to be driving through rolling fields which have been harvested and see what looks like a field of black stalks. Actually, that’s the necks of the geese we’re seeing. Parts of the fields are covered with our feathered friends. Every region has seasonal changes they watch for, and the geese gleaning the fields speak to Midwesterners of fall.