I love words. I’m always up to learn new ones. I thought I might learn a new one today when I was listening to WGN Radio. Judy Markey was talking about hearing a word that she had never heard before. She’d read it in a newspaper earlier this week, and then one of the sports announcers covering the Cubs game, Tuesday night, used it. The word was “scrum.”
Dictionary.com defines scrum as:
A play in Rugby in which the two sets of forwards mass together around the ball and, with their heads down, struggle to gain possession of the ball.
Or: A disordered or confused situation involving a number of people.
I knew the sports definition for “scrum,” but I didn’t know it had a non-sports connotation. The announcer was describing the mob on Waveland Avenue outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. As a home run was hit over the walls of the field into their midst, he said a scrum of people reached for the ball.
DH says scrums are what you get when you eat crackers in bed. (rolling eyes) That might be the last time I read my blog to him.
Harvest
The soybean fields around our home have been harvested this week. In place of the even rows of tobacco-colored plants we have biscuit-colored fields that have been buzz cut. The geese are busy gleaning beans that were dropped or left behind, readying themselves for the long commute to their winter homes.
We have seven fairly good sized ponds within half a mile of our house. As the subdivisions have been developed, the ponds have been increased in number and size to handle the run off during heavy storms. The ponds connect the bean fields and the forest preserve, so we tend to see a lot of wild life. The deer use our lot as a runway between Federal land and forest preserve.
We have a few geese around throughout the summer, but in October, it’s like a tail gate party. This morning at 10:00, if I could have stepped from goose to goose, I could have made it around the last pond without ever touching the ground. We enjoy hearing them chatter amongst themselves, and watching them practice their flying wedges.
All too soon they’ll be gone and the cold will settle. I love Indian Summer!
Celebrate!
I have the Beatle’s song about birthdays running through my head. Today’s my birthday. We’re not planning a rousing celebration; rather, it will be a laid back day.
One of my nieces and her boys have been coming to dinner every other week. We’ve been trying to get together for the last two weeks, but she has had a virus, and didn’t want to share it with us as we prepared for the wedding last weekend. Soooooo….I think she is finally well enough to join us.
I plan to make lasagna, a big salad and garlic bread. And there’s this package of devil’s food cake mix, and some fudge frosting that’s been calling to me……
Usually we celebrate our birthdays by going out for dinner, but this week is pretty tightly booked. A few years ago I started telling my mother that we should all fly down to New Orleans to have dinner at the Courtyard of the Two Sisters. I tease her about it every year, but I haven’t gotten her to budge. Don’t you think it would be wonderful to hop a plane for a candlight celebration?
Where would you go to celebrate?
On A Rock In Rural Iowa
I was reading my mail before getting the day started today, and came across a message from a friend, telling me to go to this site. An artist in Iowa has created a memorial to our military that you might like to see.
How STUPID could they be?!
We were just watching the national news on T.V., and ABC reported that the Pentagon is selling off equipment that can be used to create biological weapons, such as incubators, and centrifuges. Equipment that the government purchased for $46,000 was sold for $4,100…..less than one tenth of the value.
The issue of cost burns me, but another issue sent me up in flames. It seems that they sold to anyone who contacted them on the Pentagon website. NO background checks were made. NO attempt was made to see where the equipment was going, despite the fact that it has been determined that some of the equipment has been resold in countries that harbor terrorists.
I MIND that my government is making such poor decisions in matters that affect my tax dollar and my safety. We count on the Pentagon to be there to protect us, and it seems our trust is unfounded.
Our Homeland Defense needs a bigger think tank. We not only have to work against threats from outside our borders, we have to work against stupidity within our ranks.
UPDATE 10/6/03, From CNN.Com:
“The GAO investigation was requested by the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, which is a unit of the Government Reform Committee.”
“The subcommittee will hold a hearing on the matter Tuesday with testimony from Pentagon officials, GAO investigators and a chemical-biological weapons expert.”
It seems a large quantity of protective suits were sold, some of which were defective. These suits had been distributed to state and local law enforcement agencies and had been returned when they were found to be defective. THe suits should have been destroyed.
Daybreak
I was trying to sleep this morning around 6:30 when I heard this insistent beeping. Four short beeps and a pause, four short beeps and a pause, four short beeps….. You get the picture.
My first thought was that the smoke alarm went off. But the smoke alarm has one long high pitched scream of a sound. Then, I thought that Mother was listening to the messages on her answering machine…..or perhaps the answering machine was signaling that there were messages to be read. Just about the time I thought I should check on DH, he opened the door and said that the noise was his cell phone.
The Wedding
DH and I drove into Chicago Friday night for the rehearsal of my niece’s wedding. The rehearsal went well, and the rehearsal dinner was a LOT of fun. This is a very social group and they worked it hard right up to the time we were all being encouraged out the door.
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The bride was in an elegante white satin gown with beading, and her attendants each wore the black formal dress of her own choosing. They looked spectacular! The groom and his groomsmen wore black tuxes.
One of the groomsmen pasted a Cubs sticker on the sole of the groom’s foot, so we had a chuckle when they knelt during the service. I managed to do my reading without crying. Well….maybe a sniff or two.
I wasn’t warned that this was a formal wedding. My outfit was on the edge of being too casual, but the long skirt, and black shoes and hose pulled it off. Thank you, all of you who reassured me, and encouraged me to be myself.
The reception was held at an Irish American Association hall. Everything was buffet style. They set out quite a variety of hot and cold appetizers so everyone could catch the Cubs game, and then the dinner buffet was set up around 7:00. Everyone had a great time. I’ve never heard so much conversation! We left about half an hour after the dancing started. It was time to drive Mother home. (Actually…..it had been a long day for us, too.)
So…..TWO wonderful weddings this year! When the brides finally get their pictures, I’ll see if I can post a couple of them.
Getting close….
I thought today was the last day the ARRR!! would sail this season. I was wrong. Dear Husband spent the day taking down sails, taking down the boom, and stowing “stuff” in the cabin for the season. Because we spent yesterday celebrating my niece’s wedding, he didn’t get to sail this weekend. That was a major concession for him, and he never said a word about it.
I was working in the office when he got home. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and he should have been out until 5:30 or 6:00. I went to find out if he was ill, and he told me how he had spent his day.
Next Friday, he’ll drive to the city and stay overnight on the boat for the last time this summer, and then he’ll be at the lock early Saturday morning to have the mast stepped. Then, he’ll motor down the Chicago River to the boat yard where the boat will be craned out.
It will seem odd to have DH back after a season of solitary weekends. Of course, you understand that there will be WEEKS of putting the boat to bed……*S* Maybe by January we’ll have some time together.
Back Packs
What’s with the flood of articles on kid’s back packs, lately? I’ve seen them in magazines, newspapers and on T.V. Is this just because the kids are back at school, or has there been some research recently about the danger to little spines?
Last Sunday, Bob Condor of the Chicago Tribune wrote about kids riding bikes to school. He felt it was a healthy physical activity, and it cut down on some of the traffic volume typical around schools. Readers wrote in to comment that they felt their children were unsafe on bicycles with the heavy backpacks. It’s too easy for them to shift, and cause a loss of balance.
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Okay, ladies! Listen up!
If you have not made your appointment for a mammogram, go do it NOW! October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The chances are good that your local facility is running a special on mammograms and you could save some money doing it during October.
If you are forty and have not had one, it’s time to get a baseline test. Some doctors will tell you that you only need one every other year until you are fifty, and then one a year. Others will tell you to get one every year. It varies from doctor to doctor. Be on the safe side and get it done. If you catch breast cancer early it can be controlled. Think of all you have to loose by putting it off.
Guys, if you love your wife or your daughters, remind them to get it done. Let them know you care about their health.
This comes under the category of being good to yourself. I know the test can hurt. I know that for some people it’s very embarrassing. BUT….it might save your life. GO DO IT!