Can horses laugh?

The night before last, I flicked on the TV to catch the weather report -- like I said before. Hearing the startling news that we might get a LOT of snow, and because it was not yet dark out, I thought I'd do my livestock a favor. I would at least TRY to bring them down from the upper pasture where there is no shelter except trees -- to the barn yard. That way, they could get in under the shed roof in case we got that heap of snow they were calling for in the weather forecast. The animals had only been out on the lush pasture a few days, so I expected they'd give me a hard time.

I went out and gave my hurricane holler that I use to summon them from afar and, much to my surprise, all the cows and young stock came on a tear. That was easy. The only critter left to go round up was the old horse. He had already decided he would get in under the canopy provided by the trees up at the top of the hill. I got a little grain in a scoop and traipsed up the hill in the now drizzling rain. Never one to refuse something to eat, he came right along.

Now, this old horse has always done something when I try to lead him anywhere, that I guess he finds amusing. He only does this to ME. When I walk alongside him, he jockeys for position so he can trounce my foot. Every. Stinking. Time. No matter how I hold the lead, he does his fancy footwork and boof! He stomps on my foot.

Well, this time we were heading down hill and I had clumsy rubber boots on. When he nailed my foot, he actually only got a good hold of the boot from the side. He missed! The problem was, I was mid-step when he pinned my boot down, so before I could even blink, I found myself flat on my face in the wet grass. I did a total belly-whopper.

I swear that horse was laughing. He'd be laughing out his backside if I had landed face-first in a cow flop!

Are you KIDDING me?!?

I ran to the grocery store after my dentist's appointment last week, and made a quick stop in the ladies' room. The gal in there was TALKING ON HER CELL PHONE. While using the toilet! Give. Me. A. Break. I had to use great restraint in order NOT to wait for her to come out and slap her silly, or at least say something to her about it. Can people go NOWHERE anymore without having to be on their phones?!? Just do me a favor: don't ever call me from the bathroom unless you need me in an emergency.

I flicked on the news to catch the weather report this evening. I nearly passed out when I heard the guy say we might have a ton of snow between tonight and Tuesday morning. For a minute, I thought I must have somehow picked up a channel from Northern Canada. But no ... he was talking about Northeast PA and New York State. I KNEW this would happen if I planted my potatoes. Rats!

I hope you're not looking for a photo of that quilt I said I was working on. I am still not quite finished with it. I ran over a metal ruler by accident, and decided to call it a night before I do some serious damage. I'll finish it up and post a picture tomorrow. Barring the snowstorm that threatens to down power lines, that is.

Another good read: Unbroken -- about American POWs held by Japanese during WWII in the Philippines. Whew! Ghost Soldiers was another good one, about the same stuff. I'd recommend either if you're interested in WWII history. It's stuff they didn't teach in the high school I went to!

Oh. NOW I get it ...

The old adage "plant potatoes in the dark of the moon" never made any sense to me. I pictured going out around mid-night and groveling around, trying to plant potatoes in the dark. Right. Some already question my sanity, so I never thought it would be a good idea to try that trick, fearing a neighbor might pass by and see me. (Maybe THIS is where the term "lunatic" comes from?) My dreams do not include living out my days in a room on Shutter Island!

I was recently reading up on the phases of the moon. It turns out that "the dark of the moon" refers to a period between the full moon and the next new moon -- when the moon is waning (or growing smaller and smaller, as opposed to becoming more full). Well ... now THAT makes sense. How did I not know that, or at least figure it out in all this time of being a gardener? I guess I take some things too literally.

I checked to see what phase of the moon we're in, and discovered that tonight the moon will be about the skinchiest it gets before turning over to a new moon (when it seems to have lost its light completely). Oh, and according to the info I was reading, nothing should be planted on the New Moon. So, it was either get those taters in the ground today, or wait a few weeks for the moon to flop over again. Considering that DH and I prepared the 'tater patch several days ago and the weather is warmer/dryer than usual for this time of year, I got them into the ground and covered up.

If that brings on a blizzard or some spate of frigid weather, let me apologize in advance. I just couldn't resist the urge to plant them a month or more earlier than usual.

Oh ... hello there!

Mama is still sitting on her nest, and the little ones are trying to decide which way to head to find some trouble. News travels fast on the Goose Gossip Hotline, so visitors have already come to call. One is trying to count the babies ... but they just won't stand still long enough.

Here's the result of the workshop last week:

It's not really lop-sided; I tried to perch the empty purse along the railing (gaping open to show the inside), and made it look like I sewed it into a crazy mess. I should have put something in it to weigh it down -- the wind kept trying to blow it away before I could snap the photo. It's actually kind of cute, and was super easy to construct. Thanks, Sylvia (if you're reading today), for showing us all how to do it.

Project Of The Week for me: quilting our guild's raffle quilt. It's big, and it's beautiful. I will post photos when I've got it finished and ready for the binding. Hopefully, that will be before I have to make my trek back to the dentist. They're planning to re-install the hardware that feels like a small car wreck jammed in my mouth. It just never ends ...

Oh ... and by the way, there are seven little goslings in that group. They'll soon be joined by the hoophouse Squatter and her brood, I'm sure! I think they're so cute. DH would prefer to be rid of them all. He pitches a fit whenever he steps in goose grease. Bwah-hah-ha-ha ...

Oooo ... hurry or you'll miss your chance!

It's the time of year when some people's minds get stuck in the gardening mode. I'm one of those people. You would not believe the heap of seed packets I have piled up on the floor in this room. Let's say it's a lot and leave it at that. I've been sorting them according to when they'll need to be planted. I've been in a state of near panic for about a week because I thought I'd accidentally thrown away some of them, but am relieved to say they've been located after all.

At one point, I thought I might have to re-order the missing seeds, so went online to one of my favorite seed companies. Oooo ... ooo ... they're having a sale on discontinued items ... let's go see what's available. Wow! There are some tomatoes (but not the kind I like), little white cucumbers (eeeew! they look anemic), a few tools I already have, and ... you'd better hurry to grab some of these before they're sold out: STINGING NETTLES for only $1 a packet! Only a dollar a packet? Are they crazy?!? I kid you not! Go here to see for yourself: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6898-stinging-nettle.aspx

I wonder why they are not offering burdocks while they're at it? (I think they do have them in their catalog.) Now, I don't know which are worse: nettles or burdocks in my yard and garden. It's a constant and continuous battle to eradicate them here. Might I add, a LOSING battle for me. Those insidious things are the bane of my life, and somebody is offering them for sale. If you know anyone who might want some already started FREE OF CHARGE, do let me know.

Any guesses?

Why do I have just two mis-matched sets of placemats/napkins in such wild and crazy color patterns?

Well, long story short: DIL picked them up for me and because there were so many choices, she grabbed two styles in colors she knows I'll like. They're for a purse-making workshop at quilt guild next week. You already KNOW my quilts usually turn out pink and green to some degree, no matter what colors I SAY I'm going to use at the start.

Red-white-and-black was a smart choice on her part, given those are the colors I most often wear. I've gotta say, my style of purse is more likely to be plain leather. But the workshop sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, so I'm signed up. If I do a decent job putting them together, they could make nifty gifties, no?



What happened HERE???

Our grandkids are a source of constant entertainment for us. Here are a few things they said that tickled me this week:

The littlest one was looking for something to do. She asked if we could go pick some veg-ables from the garden. I told her that there is nothing ready to pick yet, but we could go plant some seeds if she'd like. She thought she WOULD like. So off we went to the garden. When she stepped through the gate, her eyes widened and she said, "Whoa! What happened HERE? It looks like it's all torn'd apart!" I guess she didn't realize that the garden gets ripped out and tilled at the end of the growing season. She was expecting the garden to look like she last saw it at harvest time. Tee-hee. Oh. And DH nearly peed his pants laughing at the way this one asks to have the volume turned up on the TV. He asked her to repeat it over and over so he could enjoy it. It IS really, really funny, but I cannot figure out how to spell it out here for you.

When we were readying to take them back home, I asked the younger boy if he'd like to go to the henhouse to see if there were some fresh eggs to take home. Aghast, he spoke. "Why would I want to do THAT?!?" (He hates eggs, and feared that would put him as great risk of having to eat them.) I told him they could just be for Mommy and Daddy. "Whew!" You would have had to see the look on his face to fully appreciate the humor here, but trust me ... it was GOOD.

While we waited in the car for Daddy at the meeting place for drop-off, Child One and I chatted. We got to talking about pencils. I told him I don't care for mechanical pencils. He instructed me on the fine points of how to use one without continually breaking the lead. I said I prefer the old-fashioned pencil that had to be sharpened (gesturing like I was turning the handle on a manual pencil sharpener). He looked at me funny. Then, dryly, he said, "It's more like THIS now, MaMa: (gesturing as if he were spearing a pencil into an electric sharpener). Then we all had a good laugh.

Daddy was running a little late, so the bigger girl and I decided we needed to visit the ladies' room. Walking in, she asked if it wouldn't be funny if we had to pay to use the bathroom. Oh! Do you remember THAT? I had forgotten all about pay toilets. I told her all about it, much to her amusement. She asked what would we do if we didn't have the requisite dime? My answer was, "go begging." More giggles.

I hate when the go back home.

Scatterbrained ...

I finished one of the WWII books I've been reading last night while the grands had Qubo on the TV. A ltitle tricky, but do-able. I've actually been reading several books more or less at the same time anyway. Sometimes I pick up a book and start where I left the marker, only to be mommentarily baffled because the story seems to be taking a different twist than I expected. Then I realize I'm confusing it with another book I am currently reading. My brother asks me how/why I read more than one at a time. My answer: Because I'm such a scatterbrain, I have to do it to keep all my interests satisfied at once. Elsewise, I'd implode.

My theory is that some time back, the "thinking" part of my brain became overwhelmed and shattered. Then each fragment "healed" as a separate section, each demanding control of the whole for at least a share of the time. Yeah ... so I make up my OWN science. Sue me! It works for me.

I used to work in a newspaper office. One of the gals in the front office would often come back into the production area I had responsibility for with an unanswerable question. I would amuse myself by giving her an "answer" that was completely bogus but sounded plausible to someone who hadn't a clue. She'd look at me quizzically and say, "Really?" Sometimes I'd say (with a straight face) that yes, it was just so. Other times I'd crack up and tell her it was as good an answer as any, and she could accept or reject it at will. Then she'd slap me with whatever was in her hand, and stomp off, red-faced, saying, "D%#m you!" Bwha-ha-ha-hah! A person HAS to amuse themselves SOMEhow, don't they?!? She was so gullible it was easy to pull a fast one on her, and she got so she never knew whether or not to trust anything I told her. That made it even MORE fun for me, who found my job excruciatingly monotonous.

Does this look familiar?

It's just like Tammy's quilt, sent by JH, except the border goes around all four sides. Huunh ...

It's getting an all-over design. (see photo below; can't get it to drop into place in the text)

I'm enjoying my visit with the grands, per usual. The youngest peeks into the fridge first thing when she arrives. "MaMa, do you NEVER run out of food?!?" she asks. She was especially appreciative of the lunch I made today. When I set it before them, she said, "All this, and CANTELOUPE? This place rocks!" Doesn't take much to please her!

Don't be surprised if you see a string of "quotable quotes" here in future postings ... I've been reading a lot and I have a tendency to jot stuff that impresses me, for future reference. Here's something from the last book finished:

" ... We must wait until morning, and then we will understand the meaning of the night. (From the Talmud)" ... and THAT'S all quoted from They Thought They Were Free, talking about how there is perhaps more in the world than meets the eye, and how what happened in Nazi-era Germany might serve to bear witness to that.

Scatterbrained ...

I finished one of the WWII books I've been reading last night while the grands had Qubo on the TV. A ltitle tricky, but do-able. I've actually been reading several books more or less at the same time anyway. Sometimes I pick up a book and start where I left the marker, only to be mommentarily baffled because the story seems to be taking a different twist than I expected. Then I realize I'm confusing it with another book I am currently reading. My brother asks me how/why I read more than one at a time. My answer: Because I'm such a scatterbrain, I have to do it to keep all my interests satisfied at once. Elsewise, I'd implode.

My theory is that some time back, the "thinking" part of my brain became overwhelmed and shattered. Then each fragment "healed" as a separate section, each demanding control of the whole for at least a share of the time. Yeah ... so I make up my OWN science. Sue me! It works for me.

I used to work in a newspaper office. One of the gals in the front office would often come back into the production area I had responsibility for with an unanswerable question. I would amuse myself by giving her an "answer" that was completely bogus but sounded plausible to someone who hadn't a clue. She'd look at me quizzically and say, "Really?" Sometimes I'd say (with a straight face) that yes, it was just so. Other times I'd crack up and tell her it was as good an answer as any, and she could accept or reject it at will. Then she'd slap me with whatever was at hand, and stomp off, red-faced, saying, "D%#m you!" Bwha-ha-ha-hah! A person HAS to amuse themselves SOMEhow, don't they?!? She was so gullible it was easy to pull a fast one on her, and she got so she never knew whether or not to trust anything I told her. That made it even MORE fun for me, who found my job excruciatingly monotonous.

Does this look familiar?

 

It's just like Tammy's quilt, sent by JH, except the border goes around all four sides. Huunh ...  It's getting an all-over design (see photo below -- I can't get it to go where I want it in the text for some odd reason).

I'm enjoying my visit with the grands, per usual. The youngest peeks into the fridge first thing when she arrives. "MaMa, do you NEVER run out of food?!?" she asks. She was especially appreciative of the lunch I made today. When I set it before them, she said, "All this, and CANTELOUPE? This place rocks!" Doesn't take much to please her!

Don't be surprised if you see a string of "quotable quotes" here in future postings ... I've been reading a lot and I have a tendency to jot stuff that impresses me, for future reference. Here's something from the last book finished:

" ... We must wait until morning, and then we will understand the meaning of the night. (From the Talmud)" ... and THAT'S all quoted from They Thought They Were Free, talking about how there is perhaps more in the world than meets the eye, and how what happened in Nazi-era Germany might serve to bear witness to that.