Bobby, Bobby, Bobby….51 years old, desperate because old age is biting you in the butt, and now you're an unemployed senior citizen with the morals of an alley cat.
The aging football coach has been known to screw other football teams besides Arkansas.
When he was offensive coordinator at Auburn, he screwed them over by going to Louisville. Then he sneaked back to Auburn behind Tommy Tuberville's back and tried to take his job.
In the South, we've always said a man's word is his bond and a handshake is considered sacred.
As head coach of the Atlanta Falcons when they lost to the New Orleans Saints, he was asked by team president Rich McKay if he was leaving. Petrino stuck out his hand, shook on it. The next morning he sneaked to Arkansas, arriving in time for the press conference. He didn't even have the guts to tell the Atlanta players, leaving them a photocopied letter in each locker.
Giving the devil his due, I have to admit Petrino is a talented winning coach. However paired with the fact he's a sneak, a liar, and a cheat, one has to wonder how many more teams he'll leave in disgrace before universities and team owners will wise up.
Since he was fired with cause, from University of Arkansas, his high-paying head coach job just got flushed down the proverbial toilet. We're all hoping the interim coach can lead the Razorbacks into a winning season. And kudos to Jeff Long, for having the morals to hold Petrino accountable. It had to have been a heartbreaking decision for him.
The quickly aging coach may have just discovered the truth in the song "You're nobody 'till somebody loves you."
His family has been royally screwed over too, as he carried on a surreptitious affair with a blond volleyball player who made a profit of $20,000 out of money that was legally marital property belonging to his wife. His wife should skin more than his little pug nose.
There's another old saying "If he's done it FOR you, he'll do it TO you." There will be a day of reckoning eventually. I can't imagine anyone being dumb enough to hire him in a head coach position again but there's always someone gullible who can be taken for a ride.
He's morally bankrupt. He doesn't have a clue what loyalty, honesty or truth mean.
Would you let a poisonous snake slither around in your house, knowing it's going to bite you eventually? Bobby Petrino is poison and he's proven over and over he's a snake.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
SOLUTIONS FOR FIGHTING BUGS IN THE HOUSE AND GARDEN
Most of those who had a nice warm winter have been so grateful that we didn't have any snow and ice. Those of us who have seen it before were thinking, "Uh-oh. Now we've got a major problem facing us."
We get very little snow and ice here in Arkansas, but we can always count on one good freeze with snow or ice. This year, we had almost none. I never got around to buying the four ricks of wood, I was convinced we were going to need. We had about a half rick from last year. We still have it. It never got cold enough to really need to build a fire in the fireplace.
I'm not a happy camper about it. Been there and done it before. What we can expect now is to be overrun with rabies, ticks, chiggers, spiders, and other types of insects and vermin.
I know some of you are greenies and don't want to use poisons. Some swear by diatomacous earth. Like some other "natural" solutions, I found it's unreliable. Personally, I make sure I own several cans of RAID House and Garden spray each spring. It works well on my deck plants and on the occasional wasp that invades my space. I prefer using RAID to the more expensive Epipen, since I'm really allergic to bees and wasps.
There's not much you can do if a rabid animal shows up on your doorstep and is acting a little too friendly, blind, or disoriented, except call the game & fish officer, police or sheriff. Except for one little lady who called me. I went to her house an dutifully shot the offending threat and it really was a serious threat.
Here's a few helpful tips I've learned over the years.
1. I prefer the poisonous snail and slug bait because it works. Otherwise the little critters strip whatever I plant. But if you don't want to use poison, here's another trick I tried and it does work. The drawback is it's time consuming. Taking a piece of very coarse sandpaper. Cut a hole in the middle big enough for your plant stem. Cut from the edge of paper to the hole, so you can place it around the plant. It seriously works but has to be replaced when it gets rained on enough times. Snails and slugs will NOT go across sandpaper.
2. Want to keep the deer off your plants? Sprinkle onto plants and around the plants with blood meal. I do it and it works like a charm. The drawback is having to retreat the plants every 2 - 3 times it rains or watering.
3. Keeping cutworms from cutting down your garden plants: When you're planting or while your plants are still small, cut the bottom out of a styrofoam cup. Push cup down around the plant stem and into the soil about an inch.
4. 20-Mule Team Borax. It's an old remedy for getting rid of bugs so why most people don't use it, I'll never understand unless it's just been forgotten. My mother taught me about this and I've used it for years.
If you have house pets, it just isn't an option to use any product that could kill them. Borax can be sprinkled around your baseboards, in your drawers, panty, a small dusting around the top of your cabinet. It's not dangerous to your animals or to you, and it will get rid of the bugs.
It will take care of ants, sprinkle around the outside of your house but must be redone after a rain. Also ants WILL NOT cross a chalk line so putting one completely around your windows outside will keep them out.
FLEA PROBLEMS? Sprinkle borax on your carpets and just leave it there. Walking on it will push it into the carpet backing. Also sprinkle on your dog and cat beds. Use it around the baseboards in the bedrooms, basements, garage. It will get rid of flea problems and you won't have the problem again.
And your house will have a fresh smell. It will make a believer out of you.
Will also get rid of roaches, spiders, and bedbugs. It's amazing stuff. I think Lowes and Home Depot probably carry it. The last time I checked Walmart had it too.
The warm winter is also going to cause huge problems with TICKS and CHIGGERS.
The big danger with ticks this summer is going to be to house cats. The epidemic of bobcat fever only affects house cats but it kills them within hours. Treatment can run into thousands of dollars and there's no guarantee it will work.
There are two diseases that can result from infected ticks. Lyme's disease is really rare here in the south. It's mainly found in the extreme northwestern part of the U.S. The other, Rocky Mountain Spotted fever is caused by the deer tick. A deer tick is very small, about the size of a sesame seed and very hard to spot. I suggest you google both diseases and contact a doctor immediately if you think you have the symptoms after a tick bite.
When my oldest daughter was in college, she had a friend from Utah. One day he was in an absolute panic, almost hyperventilating. "I've got a tick crawling up my leg." Any literature you read will tell you ticks are poisonous and you must go to a doctor immediately to get it off if it's attached.
Being from Utah, this kid had never seen a tick. My daughter walked over, picked it up off his leg and smushed it between her thumb nails. She didn't fall apart laughing until she called and told me. Then we both rolled with laughter. Here in the south, if we find one attached to us, we just take hold of it down by the skin and as close to it's head as possible and pull it off. Then smash it, or flush it down a toilet. If you pull it out in the same direction it went in, it's rare that the head pulls off. If you don't want to do that, putting a little Campho-phenique on the tick will make it turn loose, back out. Then you pick it up and dispose of it.
One of the most hideous things is to be in the woods or even in your yard, look down and realize you have gotten into a nest of seed ticks. Seed ticks are tiny tick nymphs. If you hit a nest of them you'll be lucky if there's only a hundred crawling up your legs. There could be a thousand. And they will all be coming off ONE blade of grass or weed. YUK. If you see them as they're crawling up your socks, pants, or legs, before they attach, throw your clothes into the washer, bathe down with chlorine bleach, then shower as usual to get the bleach off. You can avoid this by spraying yourself with Deep Woods Off before going out into the woods or the weeds. Wildflowers can be covered with these bugs from hell. If you've never seen seed ticks, go to this link and look at all the photos on that page.
CLICK HERE TO SEE SEED TICKS
Another friend had someone panic and ask where to go find a doctor because they had gotten a few chigger bites. Again, it caused much laughter. I asked, "Did you tell him about the joys of clear fingernail polish?" She responded, "Naw, I told him to go get Chigger Rid."
Getting chiggers is not a medical issue. Put either Chigger Rid (available at your local southern drug store) on the bites, or daub a little cheap clear fingernail polish on the bites. Either way, it will smother them and you'll be perfectly happy because the violent itching will stop immediately after applying the polish. CAUTION: Don't scratch yourself raw before you apply any of this stuff.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the nice warm winter because this summer is going to drive you……uh….buggy.
We get very little snow and ice here in Arkansas, but we can always count on one good freeze with snow or ice. This year, we had almost none. I never got around to buying the four ricks of wood, I was convinced we were going to need. We had about a half rick from last year. We still have it. It never got cold enough to really need to build a fire in the fireplace.
I'm not a happy camper about it. Been there and done it before. What we can expect now is to be overrun with rabies, ticks, chiggers, spiders, and other types of insects and vermin.
I know some of you are greenies and don't want to use poisons. Some swear by diatomacous earth. Like some other "natural" solutions, I found it's unreliable. Personally, I make sure I own several cans of RAID House and Garden spray each spring. It works well on my deck plants and on the occasional wasp that invades my space. I prefer using RAID to the more expensive Epipen, since I'm really allergic to bees and wasps.
There's not much you can do if a rabid animal shows up on your doorstep and is acting a little too friendly, blind, or disoriented, except call the game & fish officer, police or sheriff. Except for one little lady who called me. I went to her house an dutifully shot the offending threat and it really was a serious threat.
Here's a few helpful tips I've learned over the years.
1. I prefer the poisonous snail and slug bait because it works. Otherwise the little critters strip whatever I plant. But if you don't want to use poison, here's another trick I tried and it does work. The drawback is it's time consuming. Taking a piece of very coarse sandpaper. Cut a hole in the middle big enough for your plant stem. Cut from the edge of paper to the hole, so you can place it around the plant. It seriously works but has to be replaced when it gets rained on enough times. Snails and slugs will NOT go across sandpaper.
2. Want to keep the deer off your plants? Sprinkle onto plants and around the plants with blood meal. I do it and it works like a charm. The drawback is having to retreat the plants every 2 - 3 times it rains or watering.
3. Keeping cutworms from cutting down your garden plants: When you're planting or while your plants are still small, cut the bottom out of a styrofoam cup. Push cup down around the plant stem and into the soil about an inch.
4. 20-Mule Team Borax. It's an old remedy for getting rid of bugs so why most people don't use it, I'll never understand unless it's just been forgotten. My mother taught me about this and I've used it for years.
If you have house pets, it just isn't an option to use any product that could kill them. Borax can be sprinkled around your baseboards, in your drawers, panty, a small dusting around the top of your cabinet. It's not dangerous to your animals or to you, and it will get rid of the bugs.
It will take care of ants, sprinkle around the outside of your house but must be redone after a rain. Also ants WILL NOT cross a chalk line so putting one completely around your windows outside will keep them out.
FLEA PROBLEMS? Sprinkle borax on your carpets and just leave it there. Walking on it will push it into the carpet backing. Also sprinkle on your dog and cat beds. Use it around the baseboards in the bedrooms, basements, garage. It will get rid of flea problems and you won't have the problem again.
And your house will have a fresh smell. It will make a believer out of you.
Will also get rid of roaches, spiders, and bedbugs. It's amazing stuff. I think Lowes and Home Depot probably carry it. The last time I checked Walmart had it too.
The warm winter is also going to cause huge problems with TICKS and CHIGGERS.
The big danger with ticks this summer is going to be to house cats. The epidemic of bobcat fever only affects house cats but it kills them within hours. Treatment can run into thousands of dollars and there's no guarantee it will work.
There are two diseases that can result from infected ticks. Lyme's disease is really rare here in the south. It's mainly found in the extreme northwestern part of the U.S. The other, Rocky Mountain Spotted fever is caused by the deer tick. A deer tick is very small, about the size of a sesame seed and very hard to spot. I suggest you google both diseases and contact a doctor immediately if you think you have the symptoms after a tick bite.
When my oldest daughter was in college, she had a friend from Utah. One day he was in an absolute panic, almost hyperventilating. "I've got a tick crawling up my leg." Any literature you read will tell you ticks are poisonous and you must go to a doctor immediately to get it off if it's attached.
Being from Utah, this kid had never seen a tick. My daughter walked over, picked it up off his leg and smushed it between her thumb nails. She didn't fall apart laughing until she called and told me. Then we both rolled with laughter. Here in the south, if we find one attached to us, we just take hold of it down by the skin and as close to it's head as possible and pull it off. Then smash it, or flush it down a toilet. If you pull it out in the same direction it went in, it's rare that the head pulls off. If you don't want to do that, putting a little Campho-phenique on the tick will make it turn loose, back out. Then you pick it up and dispose of it.
One of the most hideous things is to be in the woods or even in your yard, look down and realize you have gotten into a nest of seed ticks. Seed ticks are tiny tick nymphs. If you hit a nest of them you'll be lucky if there's only a hundred crawling up your legs. There could be a thousand. And they will all be coming off ONE blade of grass or weed. YUK. If you see them as they're crawling up your socks, pants, or legs, before they attach, throw your clothes into the washer, bathe down with chlorine bleach, then shower as usual to get the bleach off. You can avoid this by spraying yourself with Deep Woods Off before going out into the woods or the weeds. Wildflowers can be covered with these bugs from hell. If you've never seen seed ticks, go to this link and look at all the photos on that page.
CLICK HERE TO SEE SEED TICKS
Another friend had someone panic and ask where to go find a doctor because they had gotten a few chigger bites. Again, it caused much laughter. I asked, "Did you tell him about the joys of clear fingernail polish?" She responded, "Naw, I told him to go get Chigger Rid."
Getting chiggers is not a medical issue. Put either Chigger Rid (available at your local southern drug store) on the bites, or daub a little cheap clear fingernail polish on the bites. Either way, it will smother them and you'll be perfectly happy because the violent itching will stop immediately after applying the polish. CAUTION: Don't scratch yourself raw before you apply any of this stuff.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the nice warm winter because this summer is going to drive you……uh….buggy.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
MY COUNTRY IS BROKEN
Something is terribly wrong with my television. It has become rude, crude and socially unacceptable.
I used to be able to find things on it that could keep me entertained for hours. If I needed to know what was happening in the world or in my own country, I could switch to the news and I would be informed.
When did the media switch from "the people's right to know", to "only telling the public what we think they should know".
I remember when Bill Clinton was running for president and discovered a large newspaper had the "truth" about him, literally under lock and key. Their reason: "The public can't be trusted with the truth. It would cause them to vote wrong."
When did it become the media's job to swing elections? The Obama election was a perfect example. When Obama was spewing "We can have change! Yes we can!", not one single member of the media asked "What change?" You know why? If they had, someone would have pulled out the race card.
So where are we now? We have a president who is incompetent, bypasses our elected officials and just makes up his own laws. He has indicated publicly he understands why someone would want to be King. I have no doubt in my mind he understands that right to the core of his being. And we have a first lady who is racist, and said, when King Obama was elected, "This is the first time I've been proud of my country."
People are attacking Fox news for being one-sided, meaning they're conservative. Why aren't they attacking the other media for being one-sided? Even our troops in Iraq said the only news they watched was Fox news, because it was the only one telling what was really going on.
So, since I'm already tired of listening to politicians spending their time attacking each other, instead of talking about the issues, my television is giving me other choices.
* I can watch the Kardashians. I can watch them over and over and over. I'm not sure what their talents are….UH…do they have any? I'm so sick of them I immediately grab the TV remote what I find out any of them are going to be on a show. Who knew I would someday long for the days of Paris Hilton and her dumb little dog.
* I can watch vampires, vampires and more vampires. Or for a change of pace I can watch zombies or horror movies. I remember when I only got tortured by this type of garbage during October when it was time for Halloween. Now, it's year round.
* I remember when one could watch a celebrity get roasted. There were insults flying and they were hysterically funny. I watched one the other night where Larry the Cable Guy was being roasted. I watched while the host(ess) spewed and then celebrity after celebrity spewed absolutely filth and everyone screamed with laughter. I'm not talking about a few off-colored jokes. I'm talking about total filth. It wasn't funny. The only one on the show who seemed to get that it wasn't funny, was Jeff Foxworthy. He acted like he was humiliated to even be there. Bill Engvall and Ron White were noticeably missing with no explanation. I think I know why. What's happening to us!
* I can still find a few shows that are family friendly. There's the classic shows. At my age I've seen most of them numerous times. Someone somewhere decided I wanted more and more reality television. That's too many cooks in the kitchen as far as I'm concerned. The only cooking show I really liked has now been exposed as being racist. I won't be watching her anymore because I have zero tolerance for anyone who is racist. I live in the South, I'm a good southern cook, and I'll just share my own unhealthy recipes from now on.
Reality kicks my butt daily so entertain me. I've got too much reality in my day to day life.
I'll be so glad when it's time for college football again. They haven't found a way to screw that up. YET.
I think I just prefer to spend my time online writing blogs. Presently I'm writing on 8 different subjects. I'm trying to find the funny side of things regardless of the subject. Unfortunately, there's not much funny about what's happening on my television.
My television is broken, my country is broken, but they will never break my spirit.
I used to be able to find things on it that could keep me entertained for hours. If I needed to know what was happening in the world or in my own country, I could switch to the news and I would be informed.
When did the media switch from "the people's right to know", to "only telling the public what we think they should know".
I remember when Bill Clinton was running for president and discovered a large newspaper had the "truth" about him, literally under lock and key. Their reason: "The public can't be trusted with the truth. It would cause them to vote wrong."
When did it become the media's job to swing elections? The Obama election was a perfect example. When Obama was spewing "We can have change! Yes we can!", not one single member of the media asked "What change?" You know why? If they had, someone would have pulled out the race card.
So where are we now? We have a president who is incompetent, bypasses our elected officials and just makes up his own laws. He has indicated publicly he understands why someone would want to be King. I have no doubt in my mind he understands that right to the core of his being. And we have a first lady who is racist, and said, when King Obama was elected, "This is the first time I've been proud of my country."
People are attacking Fox news for being one-sided, meaning they're conservative. Why aren't they attacking the other media for being one-sided? Even our troops in Iraq said the only news they watched was Fox news, because it was the only one telling what was really going on.
So, since I'm already tired of listening to politicians spending their time attacking each other, instead of talking about the issues, my television is giving me other choices.
* I can watch the Kardashians. I can watch them over and over and over. I'm not sure what their talents are….UH…do they have any? I'm so sick of them I immediately grab the TV remote what I find out any of them are going to be on a show. Who knew I would someday long for the days of Paris Hilton and her dumb little dog.
* I can watch vampires, vampires and more vampires. Or for a change of pace I can watch zombies or horror movies. I remember when I only got tortured by this type of garbage during October when it was time for Halloween. Now, it's year round.
* I remember when one could watch a celebrity get roasted. There were insults flying and they were hysterically funny. I watched one the other night where Larry the Cable Guy was being roasted. I watched while the host(ess) spewed and then celebrity after celebrity spewed absolutely filth and everyone screamed with laughter. I'm not talking about a few off-colored jokes. I'm talking about total filth. It wasn't funny. The only one on the show who seemed to get that it wasn't funny, was Jeff Foxworthy. He acted like he was humiliated to even be there. Bill Engvall and Ron White were noticeably missing with no explanation. I think I know why. What's happening to us!
* I can still find a few shows that are family friendly. There's the classic shows. At my age I've seen most of them numerous times. Someone somewhere decided I wanted more and more reality television. That's too many cooks in the kitchen as far as I'm concerned. The only cooking show I really liked has now been exposed as being racist. I won't be watching her anymore because I have zero tolerance for anyone who is racist. I live in the South, I'm a good southern cook, and I'll just share my own unhealthy recipes from now on.
Reality kicks my butt daily so entertain me. I've got too much reality in my day to day life.
I'll be so glad when it's time for college football again. They haven't found a way to screw that up. YET.
I think I just prefer to spend my time online writing blogs. Presently I'm writing on 8 different subjects. I'm trying to find the funny side of things regardless of the subject. Unfortunately, there's not much funny about what's happening on my television.
My television is broken, my country is broken, but they will never break my spirit.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
THINGS I LEARNED FROM THE OLDTIMERS
Some of the younger generations tend to think the "sayings" of the old-timers are nothing but myth. After all, they snicker, the old-timers didn't know then what we know now. Science has progressed where we now know that anyone over 50 must believe the world is flat. Right? Wrong!
It's amazing how many of the old sayings have been proven to have some wisdom behind them. I'd like to share some of the things I learned from my grandmother's generation, and I challenge you to try them out and keep track of the results. I think you'll be surprised how many times the "old saying" proves to be correct.
1. This is one I learned from an old Cherokee. If you notice leaves on the trees are upside down, so the bottom of the leaves are showing, it's getting ready to rain. (It will be very notable if you look at the tops of the trees. They'll look like they have a light green frosting on the top.)
2. Another old Cherokee saying: If the moon is a bowl full of milk, if the "bowl" is tipped causing the milk to spill out, it indicates rain. How much it's tipped tells how much rain is coming.
3. Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Means if the sky is red in the morning, a storm is on the way.
4. If you see a sundog, it's getting ready to storm. I remember being at the pool one day when I heard everyone oooing and ahhing. I looked to see what had grabbed everyone's attention and it was one of the prettiest sundog I've ever seen. I immediately hollered at my kids to get out of the pool, get our stuff gathered up because it was getting ready to storm. A man in the pool started laughing at me. "It's not going to storm," he kinda sneered at me. "There isn't a cloud in the sky and the sun's shining." By the time the kids and I got to the car, the lightening started flashing and the storm started. My kids were in the car safe and the poor tourist was left scrambling, trying to get his kids out of the pool and inside where it was safe.
5. A man who will lie to you, will steal from you. (When my grandfather told me this, I didn't believe it. Over the years I've found it to be true.)
6. Three months after the first katydid chirps on a summer night, expect the first killing frost of the season.
7. If the hoot owls call late in autumn, it's a sign there's going to be a bad winter. Unless you're Cherokee…then hearing a hoot owl means you better hide quickly because the Indian doctor has turned himself into an owl and is stalking you.
8. If the wooly worms are black instead of brown and russet striped, it's going to be a bad winter with snow.
9 If the weeds are really high in the summer, it indicates a really deep snow in the winter.
10. If it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain every Sunday for seven weeks.
11. If the oak trees keep their leaves on during the winter, it's said they're leaving their coats on preparing for a big snow.
12. If snow lays on the ground for more than 5 days, it's waiting for a big snow.
13. Very large crops of pine cones, acorns, or persimmons are an indication it's going to be a bad winter.
14. A little planting advise from the old-timers. If you're planting root crops, they have to be planted in the dark of the moon. Other crops must be planted in the light of the moon. I promise you this is true.
15. If you see a field and all the cows are laying down, don't bother going fishing. The fish won't bite.
16. And if the ears of my Maine Coon Cat lay back against his head and his tail starts doing a fast twitch, my leg or arm is getting ready to bleed from being bitten. Never mind. That's another story…….
It's amazing how many of the old sayings have been proven to have some wisdom behind them. I'd like to share some of the things I learned from my grandmother's generation, and I challenge you to try them out and keep track of the results. I think you'll be surprised how many times the "old saying" proves to be correct.
1. This is one I learned from an old Cherokee. If you notice leaves on the trees are upside down, so the bottom of the leaves are showing, it's getting ready to rain. (It will be very notable if you look at the tops of the trees. They'll look like they have a light green frosting on the top.)
2. Another old Cherokee saying: If the moon is a bowl full of milk, if the "bowl" is tipped causing the milk to spill out, it indicates rain. How much it's tipped tells how much rain is coming.
3. Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Means if the sky is red in the morning, a storm is on the way.
4. If you see a sundog, it's getting ready to storm. I remember being at the pool one day when I heard everyone oooing and ahhing. I looked to see what had grabbed everyone's attention and it was one of the prettiest sundog I've ever seen. I immediately hollered at my kids to get out of the pool, get our stuff gathered up because it was getting ready to storm. A man in the pool started laughing at me. "It's not going to storm," he kinda sneered at me. "There isn't a cloud in the sky and the sun's shining." By the time the kids and I got to the car, the lightening started flashing and the storm started. My kids were in the car safe and the poor tourist was left scrambling, trying to get his kids out of the pool and inside where it was safe.
5. A man who will lie to you, will steal from you. (When my grandfather told me this, I didn't believe it. Over the years I've found it to be true.)
6. Three months after the first katydid chirps on a summer night, expect the first killing frost of the season.
7. If the hoot owls call late in autumn, it's a sign there's going to be a bad winter. Unless you're Cherokee…then hearing a hoot owl means you better hide quickly because the Indian doctor has turned himself into an owl and is stalking you.
8. If the wooly worms are black instead of brown and russet striped, it's going to be a bad winter with snow.
9 If the weeds are really high in the summer, it indicates a really deep snow in the winter.
10. If it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain every Sunday for seven weeks.
11. If the oak trees keep their leaves on during the winter, it's said they're leaving their coats on preparing for a big snow.
12. If snow lays on the ground for more than 5 days, it's waiting for a big snow.
13. Very large crops of pine cones, acorns, or persimmons are an indication it's going to be a bad winter.
14. A little planting advise from the old-timers. If you're planting root crops, they have to be planted in the dark of the moon. Other crops must be planted in the light of the moon. I promise you this is true.
15. If you see a field and all the cows are laying down, don't bother going fishing. The fish won't bite.
16. And if the ears of my Maine Coon Cat lay back against his head and his tail starts doing a fast twitch, my leg or arm is getting ready to bleed from being bitten. Never mind. That's another story…….
Saturday, March 3, 2012
I'M GONNA WAKE AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR
One thing you can look forward to as you age, you're sleep patterns change. After years of sleeping for 7-9 hours a night, you're all of a sudden waking up in the middle of the night. You then toss and turn. You try, unsuccessfully, to go back to sleep. Nothing works. You become convinced you MUST go back to sleep.
You either go to the drug store or your doctor and request a sleep aid. After all, you've always been told that it's required for you to get a full 8 hours sleep every night.
I was sharing with my doctor one day that my sleep pattern seemed to be 5 hours asleep, 2-3 hours up, and another 2-3 hours sleep. He just laughed and said, "I think everyone would sleep that way if they could."
The old-timers called this middle-of-the-night waking period, the Watch or the Night Watch. It was said, tongue-in-cheek that more world problems were solved between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. than any other time of day. One thing's for sure, if you're trying to force yourself back to sleep, every problem you can think up will start spinning around your mind like a squirrel cage.
I think the Watch or the Midnight Watch came from the Bible, where it speaks of the watch in numerous places.
The morning watch - A watch was the fourth part of the time from sun-setting to sun-rising; so called from soldiers keeping guard by night, who being changed four times during the night, the periods came to be called watches.
In Judges 7:19, the middle watch is spoken of; in Luke 12:38, the second and third watch; and in Matthew 14:35, the fourth watch of the night; which in Mark 13:35 are named evening, midnight, cock-crowing, and day-dawning.
It got to the point where my ex-husband and I would both wake up about 2:00 a.m. and go back to bed between 3 and 4 a.m. He would fall right back to sleep. I sometimes had to read for as much as an hour before my eyes wanted to close.
But I discovered the best way to handle the whole thing is just chill out and roll with the flow. If you try to fight it, the only thing you accomplish is making yourself so frustrated you'll never get back to sleep. I refused to start taking sleeping pills because that's a trap.
I also discovered that climbing on the computer was definitely NOT the solution because I'd start playing games and never get back to bed.
I've now settled into a routine of 5-6 hours a night and 2-3 hours in the afternoon. There are not many advantages to getting older but being able to sleep all afternoon without feeling guilty is one of them.
You either go to the drug store or your doctor and request a sleep aid. After all, you've always been told that it's required for you to get a full 8 hours sleep every night.
I was sharing with my doctor one day that my sleep pattern seemed to be 5 hours asleep, 2-3 hours up, and another 2-3 hours sleep. He just laughed and said, "I think everyone would sleep that way if they could."
The old-timers called this middle-of-the-night waking period, the Watch or the Night Watch. It was said, tongue-in-cheek that more world problems were solved between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. than any other time of day. One thing's for sure, if you're trying to force yourself back to sleep, every problem you can think up will start spinning around your mind like a squirrel cage.
I think the Watch or the Midnight Watch came from the Bible, where it speaks of the watch in numerous places.
The morning watch - A watch was the fourth part of the time from sun-setting to sun-rising; so called from soldiers keeping guard by night, who being changed four times during the night, the periods came to be called watches.
In Judges 7:19, the middle watch is spoken of; in Luke 12:38, the second and third watch; and in Matthew 14:35, the fourth watch of the night; which in Mark 13:35 are named evening, midnight, cock-crowing, and day-dawning.
It got to the point where my ex-husband and I would both wake up about 2:00 a.m. and go back to bed between 3 and 4 a.m. He would fall right back to sleep. I sometimes had to read for as much as an hour before my eyes wanted to close.
But I discovered the best way to handle the whole thing is just chill out and roll with the flow. If you try to fight it, the only thing you accomplish is making yourself so frustrated you'll never get back to sleep. I refused to start taking sleeping pills because that's a trap.
I also discovered that climbing on the computer was definitely NOT the solution because I'd start playing games and never get back to bed.
I've now settled into a routine of 5-6 hours a night and 2-3 hours in the afternoon. There are not many advantages to getting older but being able to sleep all afternoon without feeling guilty is one of them.
Monday, February 27, 2012
COUNTRY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL, COUNTRY DUMPTY HEADED FOR A FALL
If you read my blog, you're aware I'm concerned about my constitutional rights. We all know an American politician, particularly our esteemed president, wouldn't even dare consider not protecting our constitutional rights. We vote for politicians we know we can trust and we know they won't let us down.
And if you believe any of the above bovine scatology, you need to step out of that false sense of security you've wrapped around yourself, and check out the reality of what's happened to our country and what's getting ready to smash our country to bits. All the king's horses and all the king's men, won't be able to put Country Dumpty together again.
I want to share an article that all Americans need to read because it's absolute truth. It's exactly what I wanted to say, but the writer said it better than I could. I've snipped the first part, but you can go to the link for the whole thing.
THE INTOLERABLE ACTS OF 1774 AND 2012
02-23-2012 11:31 pm - John Wallace - Oath Keeper
02-23-2012 11:31 pm - John Wallace - Oath Keeper
Throughout
the history of mankind, when people were hungry, they went out and
hunted for food, fished or planted crops to grow and eat. Somewhere
along the line in America, these simple acts of hunting, fishing,
planting crops, etc gradually became subject to the issuance of a
license or required compliance with a regulation created by some
government entity. There was a time in America when citizens did not
need a license to hunt, to fish, to get married, to own a gun or to
build a house. Now the people need licenses for all these things and
much more. It should be noted that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
didn’t have marriage licenses because these license requirements didn’t
exist when they were alive.
As our federal government (and to a lesser degree our state and local governments) began to grow and expand in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they needed more money so they passed mandatory income tax laws, introduced license fees, gasoline taxes, school taxes, sales taxes and thousands of other taxes, resulting in a significant loss of Liberty that has effectively enslaved the free people of America causing them to work a certain number of days every year just to pay for their governments, which now approaches almost six months of the year.
An increasing number of Federal, State and local government bureaucrats now determine how much liberty and freedom the American people will have when it comes to everyday things such as driving your car, farming your land, eating out, building a house, running your business, hiring employees, how much you must pay them, what kind of health benefits you must provide, how much you can inherit when a relative dies, etc. etc. etc. We sometimes do not see the true extent of the gradual loss of our Liberty and freedoms because the American people are being attacked from a hundred different directions at once by new laws, new restrictions, new regulations, new taxes and fees.
Whether the government is taxing our income, issuing fiat money, re-distributing our wealth, giving free health care and education to illegal aliens, over regulating businesses and farms, issuing deliberately false information to the American people on unemployment statistics, inflation or global warming, subsidizing ethanol production or guaranteeing loans to political cronies who have invested in phony solar companies that are going bankrupt, each one of these actions reduces our individual Liberty.
I know that some loss of individual liberty is necessary for maintaining the social order on which our other liberties depend. We need to have criminals arrested when they break the law. We need to secure our country’s borders. We need to have a strong military for defense and we need to pay enough taxes to pay our police and military and to perform other constitutional functions. However, beyond what is authorized in the constitution, the loss of Liberty begins when the federal government unconstitutionally expands their functions while imposing huge costs on American citizens, without any offsetting social benefits.
Many of our state and local governments have also been attacking your Liberty and freedom of choice. The NYC Board of Health voted to adopt the nation's first city-wide outright ban on the use of trans-fats in restaurant cooking, because Mayor Bloomberg deemed it unhealthy. State and federal agencies now issue their own regulations, without state legislative or congressional approval, and have set out to criminalize the sale of raw milk and put small family farms and ranches out of business. Forget the war of crime and drugs, the food police in San Francisco have banned Happy Meals and in North Carolina recently, a 5 year old girl wasn’t allowed by a government health bureaucrat to eat a nutritious lunch prepared by her mother. Instead, she was given Chicken nuggets to eat. The total amount of water that flushes in your toilet and even the ordinary light bulb, have now come under the firm control of federal government bureaucrats. Your right to buy a simple light bulb, buy a toilet for your bathroom, prepare your child’s lunch or eat certain foods in a restaurant has been taken from us. Our progressive, socialist tyrants in various government bureaucracies always thought they knew what was better for you than you did, only now they have given themselves the power to make you do what they want you to do. These actions are all unconstitutional and they all have gradually chipped away at our Liberty.
The passage of Obama-inspired health care reform bill took, from all Americans, another huge chunk of Liberty and has provided very little in return. With one stroke of a pen, for the first time in history, American citizens were mandated to buy a specific product – health insurance – or face a fine or worse. Of course, many private and public sector unions, teacher unions and other politically connected institutions that support big government received waivers. The rest of us must conform, or else face the consequences.
Most recently, our federal government has passed laws that are easily as dangerous to our Liberty and freedoms as any of the ‘Intolerable Acts’ passed by the British government in the 1770’s that caused our founding fathers to take up arms and reassert their Liberty. The latest of these is the recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA). President Barack Obama signed the NDAA into law on New Year's Eve 2011, granting himself absolute power to deploy the armed forces of the United States against American citizens. The new law allows the federal government to “indefinitely detain” American citizens suspected (by the federal government) of being "terrorists" (not defined) without the guaranteed rights of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Amendments of the United States Constitution. No right to an attorney, no right to bail, no right to trial, no phone call, no right to confront your accusers, no rights at all. It is totally unconstitutional, yet it came from our elected representatives and was signed by our president who ignored the unconstitutional nature of the bill. You must remember that this type of legislation is something that dictators, tyrants and communist governments need in place to justify their power and to control the people.
President Obama has also recently issued a mandate to the Catholic Church and other religious groups that they must provide certain birth control and abortion drugs to their employees free of charge even it is against their religious beliefs, which of course is a violation of the First Amendment of the constitution. President Obama’s mandates and executive orders are beginning to sound a lot like the mandates of King George III, back in 1774. The U.S. federal government, for many decades, has been encroaching on and trampling on our constitutional guaranteed rights much the same as King George III and the British parliament did in the 1770’s. It is now perfectly clear to many Americans that our federal government, rather than protecting our rights as is required in a Republic, has clearly declared war on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the American people.
My fellow American citizens, when Presidents of the United States issue unconstitutional and illegal executive orders, when federal judges unconstitutionally and illegally make law from their benches and when our elected representatives in congress pass laws that are unconstitutional and illegal attacks on our Liberty and Freedoms, should not these orders and laws also be considered ‘Intolerable Acts’ against the free people of America?
If your answer to that question is yes, then I have a second question for you.
What are you going to do about it?
As our federal government (and to a lesser degree our state and local governments) began to grow and expand in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they needed more money so they passed mandatory income tax laws, introduced license fees, gasoline taxes, school taxes, sales taxes and thousands of other taxes, resulting in a significant loss of Liberty that has effectively enslaved the free people of America causing them to work a certain number of days every year just to pay for their governments, which now approaches almost six months of the year.
An increasing number of Federal, State and local government bureaucrats now determine how much liberty and freedom the American people will have when it comes to everyday things such as driving your car, farming your land, eating out, building a house, running your business, hiring employees, how much you must pay them, what kind of health benefits you must provide, how much you can inherit when a relative dies, etc. etc. etc. We sometimes do not see the true extent of the gradual loss of our Liberty and freedoms because the American people are being attacked from a hundred different directions at once by new laws, new restrictions, new regulations, new taxes and fees.
Whether the government is taxing our income, issuing fiat money, re-distributing our wealth, giving free health care and education to illegal aliens, over regulating businesses and farms, issuing deliberately false information to the American people on unemployment statistics, inflation or global warming, subsidizing ethanol production or guaranteeing loans to political cronies who have invested in phony solar companies that are going bankrupt, each one of these actions reduces our individual Liberty.
I know that some loss of individual liberty is necessary for maintaining the social order on which our other liberties depend. We need to have criminals arrested when they break the law. We need to secure our country’s borders. We need to have a strong military for defense and we need to pay enough taxes to pay our police and military and to perform other constitutional functions. However, beyond what is authorized in the constitution, the loss of Liberty begins when the federal government unconstitutionally expands their functions while imposing huge costs on American citizens, without any offsetting social benefits.
Many of our state and local governments have also been attacking your Liberty and freedom of choice. The NYC Board of Health voted to adopt the nation's first city-wide outright ban on the use of trans-fats in restaurant cooking, because Mayor Bloomberg deemed it unhealthy. State and federal agencies now issue their own regulations, without state legislative or congressional approval, and have set out to criminalize the sale of raw milk and put small family farms and ranches out of business. Forget the war of crime and drugs, the food police in San Francisco have banned Happy Meals and in North Carolina recently, a 5 year old girl wasn’t allowed by a government health bureaucrat to eat a nutritious lunch prepared by her mother. Instead, she was given Chicken nuggets to eat. The total amount of water that flushes in your toilet and even the ordinary light bulb, have now come under the firm control of federal government bureaucrats. Your right to buy a simple light bulb, buy a toilet for your bathroom, prepare your child’s lunch or eat certain foods in a restaurant has been taken from us. Our progressive, socialist tyrants in various government bureaucracies always thought they knew what was better for you than you did, only now they have given themselves the power to make you do what they want you to do. These actions are all unconstitutional and they all have gradually chipped away at our Liberty.
The passage of Obama-inspired health care reform bill took, from all Americans, another huge chunk of Liberty and has provided very little in return. With one stroke of a pen, for the first time in history, American citizens were mandated to buy a specific product – health insurance – or face a fine or worse. Of course, many private and public sector unions, teacher unions and other politically connected institutions that support big government received waivers. The rest of us must conform, or else face the consequences.
Most recently, our federal government has passed laws that are easily as dangerous to our Liberty and freedoms as any of the ‘Intolerable Acts’ passed by the British government in the 1770’s that caused our founding fathers to take up arms and reassert their Liberty. The latest of these is the recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA). President Barack Obama signed the NDAA into law on New Year's Eve 2011, granting himself absolute power to deploy the armed forces of the United States against American citizens. The new law allows the federal government to “indefinitely detain” American citizens suspected (by the federal government) of being "terrorists" (not defined) without the guaranteed rights of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Amendments of the United States Constitution. No right to an attorney, no right to bail, no right to trial, no phone call, no right to confront your accusers, no rights at all. It is totally unconstitutional, yet it came from our elected representatives and was signed by our president who ignored the unconstitutional nature of the bill. You must remember that this type of legislation is something that dictators, tyrants and communist governments need in place to justify their power and to control the people.
President Obama has also recently issued a mandate to the Catholic Church and other religious groups that they must provide certain birth control and abortion drugs to their employees free of charge even it is against their religious beliefs, which of course is a violation of the First Amendment of the constitution. President Obama’s mandates and executive orders are beginning to sound a lot like the mandates of King George III, back in 1774. The U.S. federal government, for many decades, has been encroaching on and trampling on our constitutional guaranteed rights much the same as King George III and the British parliament did in the 1770’s. It is now perfectly clear to many Americans that our federal government, rather than protecting our rights as is required in a Republic, has clearly declared war on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the American people.
My fellow American citizens, when Presidents of the United States issue unconstitutional and illegal executive orders, when federal judges unconstitutionally and illegally make law from their benches and when our elected representatives in congress pass laws that are unconstitutional and illegal attacks on our Liberty and Freedoms, should not these orders and laws also be considered ‘Intolerable Acts’ against the free people of America?
If your answer to that question is yes, then I have a second question for you.
What are you going to do about it?
Sunday, February 19, 2012
A MAN WHO WILL LIE TO YOU, WILL STEAL FROM YOU.
I think every American citizen, who is eligible, should vote. One of my pet peeves is people spouting "opinions" when they have no idea what they're talking about. The only thing they know, for sure, is mommy and daddy were democrats or republicans, so that's what they are. It's easier that way, because you don't have to think for yourself, do the work it takes to see what a candidate"s voting record is. So much easier to just believe the ads for whichever party mommy and daddy always voted for.
Some people will gladly tell you who or what they're going to vote for...but ask them why they're voting for that candidate and all you'll usually get is that deer in the headlights look. Those are the ones who get mad if you discuss politics. It's the only defense they have to keep from admitting they have no idea why they believe whatever it is.
Makes cold chills go down my back to think how many people are out there in voting booths, who have no idea what the issues are and what's really important.
More and more I'm hearing people talking bout voting or not voting for a presidential candidate because of their stand on gay marriage, or some other irrelevant issue. Gay marriage is NOT a federal issue. It's a state issue. Vote for your own governor and state politicians on that issue.
The shape the world is in right now, including our own country, nobody should be a "one-issue" voter. Voters should be picking a leader who will keep our country safe. One who has a proven record of fiscal responsibility.
A huge issue for me, is something my grandfather taught me. I didn't believe him for several years, until the saying proved to be wisdom because it always worked out the way he said it would.
He said, "A man who will lie to you, will steal from you." It's true so anytime I catch a politician in a lie, he won't get my vote. If a politician has made promises and hasn't kept them, he won't get my vote. I'm proud of any man who seems to be a good husband and father, but if he's lied to the voters or not kept his election promises, he WILL NOT get my vote.
Although I am conservative, I've been "accused" of being a Republican. I used to lean that way although I've rarely voted a straight ticket. If I am convinced the Democratic candidate is the most honest and I like their foreign policy, then that's where my vote would go.
I'm also hearing remarks from uninformed people that the Tea Party is Republican. I'd like to clear that up. I've watched the Tea Party get after dishonest Democrats and dishonest Republicans alike. The Tea Party is truly it's own entity. If they find untrustworthy public officials, they expose them to voters. Their biggest concern is Americans losing their constitutional rights and frankly that's mine also.
I don't want to see my beloved America become a socialist country. Our forefathers fought for our constitutional rights. Our military is fighting and some giving their lives lost to protect our country. How our veterans are treated should be considered.
Nobody likes war, but having a strong military is important and should be considered. If we weaken our military, we weaken our country and put it in danger.
The oath of office of the President of the United States required by the United States Constitution before the President begins the execution of the office. The wording is very specific:
US Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 8
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Do you feel like our President has lived up to the oath he took?
Has he kept his promise to have the most open administration there has ever been. Do you feel like he's lived up to that promise or has he just told the public what they wanted to hear and done things in secret?
These are questions you need to ask yourself before you walk into the voting booth.
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