My office window looks south over the lawn toward the road. The house sits higher than the road, and there’s a raised area and then a gentle slope down the lawn. In that raised area we’ve planted a forsythia bush and a star magnolia.
For some reason, they have been slow to bloom this spring, despite the fact that we had a reasonably gentle winter. But today…..they are both starting to show their glory! I plan to take my trusty disposable camera out to record some of that beauty, so perhaps I’ll be able to share it with you before Spring is over.
23 Silly Questions
Stolen from Bogie, who stole it from Billy:
1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says: “sarong and sandals, a ragged jacket and shirt and pants
2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
a junior size yellow note pad
3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Star Trek: The Next Generation
4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what the time is:
4:00
5: Now look at the clock; what is the actual time?
3:35
6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The radio in my mother’s sitting room
7: When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
I took the dog out for a “quickie” around 1:00
8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
Bogie’s blog….where I stole this!
9: What are you wearing?
Black Jeans and a white long-sleeved t-shirt
10: Did you dream last night?
I don’t remember my dreams, usually
11: When did you last laugh?
I laughed at the cat, trying to out-smart a chipmunk
12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?
A sailing calendar, a poster of one sunflower, a poster of a water color
of Chicago, three bookshelves, two lateral files and a hutch.
13: Seen anything weird lately?
hmmmmmmm….Dear Husband?? I don’t know if he qualifies.
He’s weird all the time.
14: What do you think of this quiz?
Bogie said it: Gives me something to do and post
15: What is the last film you saw?
X-Men 2
16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
We have about 7 years of mortgage left…..I’d pay that off.
17: Tell me something about you that I don’t know.
The Doc said I lost an inch and a half in height this year. (I think they
need to get the scale checked.)
18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Hmmmmm……probably clean up all the toxins, something having to do
with ecology.
19: Do you like to dance?
Actually, I LOVE to dance, but I’m abysmal at it. Ask Speedbump.
20: George Bush: is he a power-crazy nutcase or some one who is finally doing something that has needed to be done for years?
Are there any other options?
21: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
I’m a bit past this point, and my step-children came to me already named.
But I like old fashioned names like Sarah or Rebecca or Kate, and family
names.
22: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
My husband comes from a family where the first name is passed on to the
first boy….so I wouldn’t get to choose on the first.
23: Would you ever consider living abroad?
Visit, yes. LONG visit, yes…..Stay, no.
It’s a Puzzle
If you’re a regular reader, you may remember me saying recently that in order to appreciate the ups of your life, you have to experience the downs, too. Well, it seems that the downs my be coming my way.
Over the past few years, I’ve been having difficulties with my feet. I developed a plantar fasciia problem in my left foot. I was referred to a podiatrist and that was resolved. Then, I began having difficulty walking after I had been sitting. Gradually that became worse, but other than telling my new doctor that my feet hurt, I didn’t pursue it. Since the pain shifted around from place to place, I felt there was no point in discussing it further with the doctor.
Precipitation
I know, you’re thinking that I’m thinking about April showers. Wrong.
I had my car washed today, and as I was waiting, I happened to pick up and leaf through a National Geographic for 2002. One of the articles was on endangered birds, and the area in focus was New Zealand.
There were absolutely gorgeous pictures of Fjordland National Park on the South Island, with incredibly tall waterfalls spearing down through tree covered rocks. The caption said the rocks rose 6500 feet above the Tasman Sea and bore the brunt of all the storms coming in from sea.
Now, I thought that it was incredible that Ketchikan, on the Inner Passage of Alaska’s Pacific coast receives over THIRTEEN FEET of precipitation a year. But this area in New Zealand gets more than TWENTY ONE FEET of precipitation, making it one of the wettest areas on Earth.
You’d have to have gills to live there!
How to Recognize a Stroke
This is one of those subjects that interest you once you pass the age of 45 and are no longer thinking you are immortal.
Strokes are extremely common, and if you identify what’s taking place, you could save the life of the person having the stroke, or you could vastly improve the quality of their life post-stroke.
All it takes is remembering three simple questions. Here’s an e-mail I received explaining what to look for:
Is It a Stroke?
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
* Ask the individual to smile.
* Ask him or her to raise both arms.
* Ask the person to speak a simple sentence.
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. After discovering that a group of nonmedical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association’s annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.
PASS IT ON……………
Naval History
I thought I was reasonably well informed about the US Navy, but several things have come to my attention that have given me the chills. One of my sisters was an officer in the Navy, and my brother enlisted in the Navy. I dread to think the risk the two of them took.
Spring has Sprung
….and gone back into hiding!
It was wonderful here on Saturday as we worked on the yard. The wind began to pick up in the afternoon, and it felt a bit colder, but I thought that was due to wind chill.
Sunday, I tossed the rose cones down to DH, who was standing in the doorway to the basement, thinking we didn’t need them any more. Sunday, the temperature dropped to 26 overnight. I think the roses weathered the cold, but I may have been a little hasty in putting away the temporary covers.
Still, Spring must be here. I saw a gold finch at the feeder.
The Easter Gorilla
Most families are visited by the Easter Bunny. My sister’s family not only has the Easter Bunny, they are also visited by the Easter Gorilla.
Taxes
Each year, I promise myself that I will gather the information for my taxes by February. Our CPA does the taxes. All I have to do is gather the information and get it to her. One day I hope to startle her by dropping the packet off on March 1st!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t this year. I had everything gathered together, and finally sat down March 31st to read the instructions. The first line that caught my eye was “In order to be able to prepare your taxes in time, we need your tax planner by April 1st.” Luckily, I had the information on Quick Books, and all the 1099s and W2s were in the folder. I spent an evening checking off boxes and filling in the blanks, and dropped the planner off the next morning. I wonder how many others wait til the last day? I’ll have to ask her sometime.
My taxes are relatively simple. They aren’t simple enough to use the EZ form, but they are not so complex that it takes weeks to do them. Still, I was astounded when the CPA called the next day with the preliminary taxes complete! She had one question, and the taxes could be sent electronically.
YAAAAHOOOOOOOO!!!! My taxes are done!
Next year, I’ll have to be ready early, just to say “Thank you!” for such phenominal service!
Another tidbit
We were listening to the news on T.V. this evening. At the close of the national news on ABC the announcer said something cryptic about the Seattle Men’s Chorus succumbing to AIDS. I thought I had missunderstood what he’d said, and asked DH to repeat it for me. It didn’t make any more sense the second time around, so I went on-line to surf for information about the Seattle Men’s Chorus.