Still A Problem

Well, I see that two months later, I still can't access the new post editor. And, after checking the Help (HA!)forums/posts, I see that is still an "outstanding" issue. GRRRRRRRRR............ What to do, what to do.

SO Disappointed

I was happy here. I really was. I was chugging right along, using that "new and improved" post editor.....really getting the hang of it I thought. About 3 weeks ago, it suddenly disappeared from my blog. I could only use the "old and unimproved" post editor. Which would be fine I guess except that it's missing some stuff. Like the icon to allow me to post pictures. And try though I might, I have been unable to get my "new and improved" tools back. Sigh. I think I'm going to have to move myself somewhere else. One more learning curve coming up.

You Can Quote Me

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

~~~~ Diane Ackerman ~~~~~

You Can Quote Me

If man is pushing the planet toward extinction, then we should stop doing what we're doing, and if we cannot stop ourselves or tolerate government making us stop or slow down, then I suppose we should enjoy the ride. The condemned man ate a hearty breakfast. I can't think of anything better to do right now than to sit in my backyard and look at the Mississippi and listen to Bach cello suites and enjoy a dish of ice cream with fresh raspberries. As the Gulf turns dark and the polar icecap melts, I intend to listen to Bach more and listen to the news less. It's good to know that, in the midst of vast indifference and mediocrity and narcissism, mankind did manage to produce the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor.

~~~~ Garrison Keillor, writing in The Baltimore Sun ~~~~

Monday Musing: Good Advice from a Soldier

Since today is Memorial Day, I wanted to share something that I've had for the last 10 years on my bulletin board. Sometimes it gets so covered up by other things that I don't see it for weeks -- maybe months -- at a time. But eventually it always surfaces. These are General Colin Powell's 13 rules to live by. It's reported that he kept these written on a small white card. These rules seem to have worked remarkably well for General Powell. You might want to make up your own card and carry it or post it where you can see it every once in a while.

1. It ain't as bad as you think it is. It will look better in the morning.
2. Get mad, then get over it.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that, when your
position falls, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done!
5. Be careful what you choose. You may get it.
6. Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7. You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else
make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10. Remain calm. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding.
12. Don't take counsel of your fears or nay sayers.
13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

Thank you to all the soldiers who have fought and continue to fight for the American way.

You Can Quote Me

You've reached middle age when all you exercise is caution.

~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~


(I haven't yet reached this and neither have many others I know! "Cautious" would not be a word I would use to describe my "tribe".)

Monday Musing: To Facebook or Not - What a Question

Over the weekend I read an article out of Newsweek about the "high price of Facebook"; namely, that you pay for it through your loss of privacy. It reported that last year when Facebook changed their rules (yet again), the company made it so that your city and profile picture and the names of all your friends were shared with anybody and everybody on the Internet. But (big but), you had the option to change it all back and make it all private again. Now, Newsweek reports that "Facebook is going even further by insisting that unless you agree to make things like your hometown, interests, and friends' names public, then you can't list them at all."

Facebook is fun and I'm glad I signed up for it last year. Although truth to tell, my sister had to talk me in to it. I stay in touch with friends and family and get to see pictures of everybody's kids, etc. etc. But on the other hand, Facebook is the biggest time waster in the universe......much worse than TV. All those little games you get addicted to and the constant checking to see who's doing what and where and with whom.........it's nuts. And not only does it waste time, but I also think it kills any spark of creativity you might have flickering. The whole Facebook exercise is mind-deadening.....you don't have to really think or do much of anything at all to be wrapped up in its very addictive world.

Newsweek reports that many techie-types are jumping the Facebook ship. Of course, there are more than 400 million Facebookers, so I guess it would have to be a LOT of them to make a blip on the FB screen. It does make one stop and think though. I don't know what Facebook knows about me or what it does with the information. I'm not savvy enough to be able to stop them even if I knew. But for right now, I think I'll hang around. Putting myself on a Facebook diet though probably wouldn't be such a bad idea.

You Can Quote Me

You would not exit if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.

~~~~ Herbie Hancock ~~~~

Monday Musing: And the Winner Is....

Okay, I have to admit:  I have a soft spot for beauty pageants.  I know that's not P.C. these days.  So, sue me.  Yes, in my (much) younger years, I was a beauty pageant contestant, so I kind of understand the landscape.  And, I had family members who were beauty queens.  I think maybe it's a Southern thing.

On Sunday night for the first time in a very long time, I watched a pageant:  the Miss USA pageant.  To say that these things have changed since my day would be a vast understatement.  But I guess they are still good entertainment.  (Although I can remember watching a Miss America pageant one year when I was in the 9th or 10th grade and writing a short story for English while I watched......one eye on the swimsuits and one on how many more pages I had to come up with.  As I recall, I got an A for that paper.  So, I guess I wasn't as "entertained" as I thought....just had my imagination fired up!)

I was happy to see the South well-represented..... as usual.  Hey, say what you will.  Down here, we know how to turn out a queen.  Miss Alabama came up with the Miss Photogenic trophy.  My pick for the win didn't even make the top 10:  Miss Mississippi.  What a knockout she was!  And Miss Maine..... wow... all 6 feet of her.  The judges I wasn't so enthralled with.  What in the world could Paula Deen have to offer as a judge?  Except, of course, she's Southern.........LOL.  Mrs. Donald Trump?  Johnny Weir?  Come on, y'all.  If you're going to have a pageant, have a PAGEANT....get some folks who know what to look for.  Not Donald Trump's ex-employees.

It strikes me that the Miss USA pageant has become a venue for "professionals"....girls who are looking for a job.  At least, the Miss America and America's Junior Miss pageants have been holding on to their scholarship base as a reason for being.  Lots of the girls last night looked a trifle "shopworn" to me -- kind of that "rode hard, put up wet" look.  Miss Colorado was the most fresh-faced.  Every other contestant had the same sprayed-on tan, the same Barbie-doll hair-do and the same set of implants.  Ladies, could you not be just a little bit more individual?  Although,there were a couple of fairly good answers to the questions presented to the Top 5 contestants.  (Shout out to Miss Oklahoma and Miss Virginia!)

I know..........times have changed and I need to change with them. (I'm not even going to bring up the Victoria Secret-type photo shoots.) Guess that's why I haven't watched many pageants in the last 20 years.  I knew they'd be a disappointment.  Boy, I'd hate to think I had to be in one now.

You Can Quote Me

Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can.

                        ~~~~ Arthur Ashe ~~~~

Monday Musing: A Long Mother's Day Weekend

Talk about peaks and valleys.  It's Sunday afternoon and I'm pretty much exhausted.

Friday delivered the kick in the head with Dosi's passing.  And even though she wasn't a human child, I "mothered" her for almost 14 years nonetheless.  So, in a sense, I lost a child of the fur variety.  I don't think that's really sunk in yet.

On Saturday, my wonderful neice graduated from college.  It was a full day of celebration.  She looked lovely and has a grand future ahead of her.  I couldn't help but think about what my future might hold in the coming years.  New beginnings and all that...........  Her life is changing and I think so is mine.  She has no idea what she's going to be doing (like all new grads) and basically, neither do I.  I just have this feeling.

Today, we celebrated Mother's Day with the MOTH's family which was nice as we just don't do it that often.  On the drive home, I catnapped.  The rollercoaster of emotions has caught up with me and I feel a hundred years old.

I think I feel a reassessment coming on..............

Requiem for an Airedale Queen of Hearts

Today, for the first time in almost 16 years, there is no Airedale in my house.  It's a very odd and sad feeling.  Somehow I just thought this day would never come.  DJ's Highland Dosido Girl was helped to the Bridge today.  She would have been 14 on July 19th.  She had a long, wonderful life -- full of adventures -- and I am thankful to have had her be such a major part of mine.

Dosi is the last of the Dosido Farm Triumvirate:  Walker and Lola were the other two.  All were distinctly different; all completely and absolutely loved.  But Dosi was the hub of the wheel, the heart that pumped Airedaleness throughout our days.  She came to us with a sweet and loving personality (thank you, Lawrence) and she left us in the same way.  Mischievous, fun-loving, smart ... she had all the best Airedale characteristics and very few of the worst ones.  She loved every person she ever met and almost every dog.  And for the ones she didn't "like", she tolerated with Dosi grace.  We often referred to her as the Social Secretary for her charming ways.  She was a superior Airedale Ambassadoress, as every person she met wanted "one just like her".

Dosi and I learned dog showing together.  We dabbled in agility.  We fooled around with a little obedience.  We worked as a therapy dog team.  She helped to raise Lola.  In her older years, she brought up both Scotties to be proper little black Airedales.  She was a wonderful mother and nanny even though she never had a litter of her own.  Dosi was also an Airedale Amazon.  Her hunting instincts made certain that no mole, chipmunk, squirrel or bird was safe while in her immediate vicinity.  (And she even managed to catch a few over the years.)  We enjoyed life together.  She learned a lot; she taught me more.

It is the end of an era.  Dosi will be missed dreadfully but memories of her will live on in my heart till the day I die.  The kennel name we chose was hers; we named our property for her.  There are pictures of her scattered throughout the house.  I asked her to carry many hopes and dreams for me and she did with utter cheerfulness.  In the words of my mother, "Dosi's the best dog you ever had.  She was just a good ole dog."  I don't think you can get any better than that.

Dosi babysits the new weird Airedale puppy:  all black and those short legs!

Donna , Dosi & Blue from 2008

July 2009.......she looks rather put out.  Must have been the fact she had to have a hair cut and "sprucing up".

Out and about greeting her adoring public.  June 2007

The most typical of Dosi pictures.  The girl sure knew how to nap.

You Can Quote Me

An Airedale, erect beside the chauffeur of a Rolls-Royce, often gives you the impression she's there from choice.

             ~~~~~  E. B. White   ~~~~

You Can Quote Me

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly ... to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with open heart; await occasions, hurry never ... this is my symphony.

                  ~~~  William Henry Channing  ~~~

Clutter: The Movie

Y'all need to run right over to http://www.storyofstuff.com/ and watch this very cool 20-minute video on how all of our "stuff" is effecting us and our world.  It's been watched by over 8 million people since December 2007 if that tells you anything.

The woman behind it is Annie Leonard, the author of the book The Story of Stuff:  How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health -- and a Vision for Change.  (Whew......long title for a big subject.)  Miss Leonard is definitely a dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist, but she also isn't anti-stuff.  She just wishes everybody would acquire MINDFULLY.  You know the question:  do I really need this?  In other words, don't let those Mad Men ad men control your buying:  you control it.

One of Annie's main tips for corralling your "work-watch-spend" treadmill (as she calls it) is to watch less TV.  I would add to that to stop buying and reading lifestyle magazines.  Not that I am able to do that you understand.  But it is good advice and maybe I will give it a stab.  Sometime.  In the future.  Maybe.

I better go look at this video again.

Monday Musing: The Country Life

Sometimes I get really caught up in bitching, moaning and complaining about where I live.  It's "out in the country", but not so far that it takes half a day to get to anywhere else.  It just seems that way quite often.  It's inconvenient if you want to just "dash out", "run by" or "run down to ___".  Planning is much more meaningful -- and necessary -- when you live "out in the country". And there's WAY too much yard work.  I could keep a yard crew busy with no problems at all.  Alas, I AM the yard crew (with help from the MOTH).

Yesterday morning though was one of those times that I remember why "city people" yearn to be where I am.  I was kind of glad I was here, too.  I took a nice walk.  The sky was blue, blue, blue.  The breeze was fresh, fresh, fresh.  And I was smilin', smilin', smilin'.  I was on my way back towards the house when about 100 feet in front of me, a momma 'possum walked across the road.  She was waddling for all she was worth and for a second I couldn't figure out why or why she looked so odd.  Then it dawned on me:  she had a back full of babies!  She walked parallel to the road along a hedgerow, so I crossed the road and walked with her about 30 feet out.  She didn't seem too concerned that I was there.  I got a really good look at all these 5 pairs of beady black eyes looking at me from her back.  It was just way cool, I have to say.  After a few minutes, she disappeared into the underbrush headed out across a pasture.  That's the first time in my life I've seen a live 'possum (not even counting the baby thing) that wasn't in a zoo.  Usually, I see the aftermath of run-ins with cars on the road.

So, today I'm celebrating being "out in the country" where you never know what fun surprise might be right around the corner.  From now on, I think I better remember to take a camera.

You Can Quote Me

We lovers of dogs are a tolerant lot, finding greater value in the unabashed affection of our friend than immaculate sofas.

                                ~~~ Author Unknown ~~~

Book Report: Bookswim

This isn't exactly a book report.  It's more a "WOW.....look at this site related to books" report.  Check out http://www.bookswim.com/ if you love to read.  It works just like Netflix does for movies.  You create your to-read list and sign up for one of the plans they offer.  For $24 per month, you can get 3 books at a time with no late fees, no due dates and no shipping charges.  Pretty nifty, huh?  If you can spring for $30 a month, you can get 5 books at a time.  A prepaid return bag is supplied for you, too.  No more trying to find shelf space for all the tomes you buy and lug home.

I browsed their offerings a little bit and found that they offer lots of the newest titles.  They have a listing of the NY Times bestsellers and an "Oprah's List".  You can choose from biographies, cooking, mystery, children's, fiction (of course).......... all the usual suspects.

I love my Nook e-reader, so I'm not sure that I would use this service much.  But I like having it as a choice.  You might, too.  I'll never give up actually buying books.  There are too many I need to actually touch, savor and make notes in the margins.  But this could definitely whittle down my stash.

Monday Musing: It's All Good

That's what I keep telling myself anyway.  Today, I'm tired and the mullygrubbies have me in their grip.  You know how it is: a day that you just can't get enthused about nuthin'.  So, what to do?  Nothing came to mind that sounded like it would pull me out of the doldrums, so I just cleaned house.  (I was sort of hoping that those pesky mullygrubbies would be whisked down the toilet bowl during the cleaning process, but they stubbornly refused to go.)

When the world seems to take on a rather gray tint, I just put my head down and watch my feet take one step and then another.  Right now I believe they are attempting to pilot me to the ironing board.  Sigh.

In the words of that brilliant Southern lady, Miss Scarlett, "Tomorrow IS another day."

See y'all then............

You Can Quote Me

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.

                                   ~~~ Jane Austen ~~~