Friday, November 30, 2012

White House Holiday Decorations with Bo

Found For Friday

 I had a dream the other night. I was in the old West riding in a stagecoach. Suddenly, a man riding a horse pulls up to the left side of the stagecoach, and a riderless horse pulls up on the right.

The man leans down, pulls open the door, and jumps off his horse into the stagecoach. Then he opens the door on the other side and jumps onto the other horse.

Just before he rode off, I yelled out,

"What was all that about?"

He replied,

"Nothing. It's just a stage I'm going through."

 Some people just need a pat on the back....right next to the stairs.
 From Mimi - Two brooms were hanging in the closet and after a while they got to know each other so well, they decided to get married.

One broom was the bride broom, the other the groom broom.

The bride broom looked very beautiful in her white dress. The groom broom was handsome and suave in his tuxedo. The wedding was lovely.

After the wedding, at the wedding dinner, the bride-broom leaned over and said to the groom-broom, "I think I am going to have a little whisk broom!!!"

"IMPOSSIBLE !!" said the groom broom.

Are you ready for this?

Brace yourself.

This is really going to hurt!

"WE HAVEN'T EVEN SWEPT TOGETHER!"

Oh for goodness sake... laugh, or at least groan.

Life's too short not to enjoy...... even these silly little cute..... and clean jokes.

Sounds to me like she's been "sweeping" around!

 An arrogant and cranky old man and his long-suffering wife were married for many years.  Whenever they had any argument, yelling could be heard deep into the night.  The old man would shout, "When I die, I will dig my way up and out of the grave and come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!".

The neighbors feared him.  The old man liked the fact that he was feared.

To everyone’s relief, he finally died of a heart attack at the age of 98.

His wife had a closed casket at his funeral.  After the burial, her neighbors, concerned for her safety, asked "Aren’t you afraid that he may indeed be able to dig his way out of the grave and haunt you for the rest of your life?".

The wife replied, "So let him dig:  I had him buried upside down.  And I know he won’t ask for directions."

 Thieves kidnapped the prized Asian ape because they believed in gibbon take.
 If you swallow uranium you will probably get atomic ache!
 A man who kept stealing mopeds was obviously a cycle-path.
 A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.
 Freudian slip. When you say one thing and mean your mother.
 A hangover is the wrath of grapes.


I used to work in a blanket factory but it folded.
 Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
 When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
 Every calendar's days are numbered.
 He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

Apology Letter To Spouse

Hi Sweetheart, 

I am sorry about getting into an argument about putting up the Christmas lights. I guess that sometimes I feel like you are pushing me too hard when you want something. I realize that I was wrong and I am apologizing for being such a hard-headed guy. All I want is for you to be happy and be able to enjoy the holiday season. Nothing brightens the Christmas spirit like Christmas lights! I took the time to hang the lights for you today; and now I will be off to the hockey rink. 

Again, I am very sorry for the way I acted yesterday. I'll be home later. 

Love you! Don 


Her Response 

Hi Honey, 

Thank you for that heart-felt apology. I don't often get an apology from you, and I truly appreciate it. I, too, felt bad about the argument and wanted to apologize. I realize that I can sometimes be a little pushy. I will try to respect your feelings from now on. Thank you for taking the time to hang the Christmas lights for me. It really means a lot. In the spirit of giving, I washed your truck for you; and now I am off to the mall. 

I love you too! Fran


Bonus. This is making the rounds.  Funny!


Happy Week-end!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

New Link -  The United Nations of Food

Protect the Internet Openness



Watch and learn and then ACT!

Some "Stuff"

I understand that this area of the country has already gotten some snow. I know that I have readers from Vermont and maybe some from Upstate New York.  I had to share this one for them.  I know they are loving this.  I keep looking outside thinking that I want to see Molly in the snow.

 The "stuff" refers to things I found on the Internets and for some reason I liked them. This place is in Tuscany.

Can you not see a bunch of Masons and Knights Templars processing through this doorway into this room.

I think that one of the things Masons forget to do is to decorate their Temples with teaching murals and beautiful designs.  I mean cream colored walls, blue carpet and utilitarian chairs?? I would like to see them decorated like the ones I saw in Philadelphia.
No imagination left. Oh well, the candidates are blindfolded.
These were on Facebook or were e-mailed to me and I had to share them.

Now there is some truth in this.  I am working on it.



My nephew had this up. I really don't like these caps.  I used to make the kids take them off when they came in the building.

They would have worn them all day if I had let them get away with it. Of course some of them had severe cases, almost terminal, of bed-head.


My friend Su had this Christmas tree up on her Facebook Status this morning.




I haven't had a Christmas tree up for many many years.  Jonathan brought his cat here to live and Miles would have knocked it over.  I was on Facebook this morning and saw this ad and thought well maybe this year.



So I called the number to check on getting one delivered, lighted and set up and it was way to expensive for me.  I can understand that this is a Des Moines Firm and I live in Ames and I could have just had them deliver a tree and set it up but the decorations are all in the basement,,,where I never go. So I am going to do without.  Molly and I will have to do with the Amaryllis and red birds and smelly candle.  That will be enough.

Brandon was over and fixed my smoke alarms which I had allowed to run out of battery and also put up the refurbished light fixture. He is so very nice and he does not over charge me.  I thought about having him bring up the decorations and then decided not to.

I went to the eye-doctor this afternoon. I had to ride over with some driver listening to Rush.  I asked politely to have it turned off but he ignored me. The appointment went well.  I have "significant" cataracts but I will have to wait until the eyesight is worse or the night driving is bad enough for me so I can't drive before they will approve the surgery.

I came home and had some snuggle time with my puppy. Then I watched them light the Christmas Tree on Rockerfeller Center..It was nice...Life is good.


Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Recommended Reading

I haven't done one of these for awhile but I strongly urge you to go and read this at evoL..Take Back The Word "Christian"...it's Time.

Wednesday - Words on the Net

Illustration by Su Blackwell
Some words used in the news that you may or may not be familiar with.

His Majesty McCain said, (of Susan Rice). "Sure. She can, I'd give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took. I'd be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her. Why did she say that, why did she say that al Qaeda has been 'decimated' in her statement here on this program? Al Qaeda hasn't been decimated. They're on the rise."

Mirriam Webster Dictionary - dec·i·mat·eddec·i·mat·ing

Definition of DECIMATE

1
: to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
2
: to exact a tax of 10 percent from 
3
a : to reduce drastically especially in number decimated
 the population>
b : to cause great destruction or harm to decimated the city> decimated by recession>

Decimation according to Wikipedia was a form of military discipline used by officers in the Roman Army to punish mutinous or cowardly soldiers. The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth ...A unit selected for punishment by decimation was divided into groups of ten; each group drew lots and the soldier on whom the lot fell was executed by his nine comrades, often by stoning or clubbing. The remaining soldiers were given rations of barley instead of wheat and forced to sleep outside the Roman encampment.
Because the punishment fell by lot, all soldiers in the group were eligible for execution, regardless of the individual degree of fault, or rank and distinction. The leadership was usually executed independently of the one in ten deaths of the rank and file.

To be fair Senator McCain may have been thinking of definition three but 1 and 2 are the ones that come to my mind and they are first. After all they can lose a 10th of their numbers and still have a formidable force left (90%).

Rachel Maddow commented in her blog about the right's hang up on the word -

McCain was eager to complain about it yesterday on Fox, but he's not the only one. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) demanded answers about Rice's word choice last week, and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) complained about it last week on "Meet the Press."

There's no great mystery here. "Decimated" does not mean "permanently destroyed." Rice said al Qaeda's network has been decimated because it really has been decimated.

For someone like John McCain, who's eager to see new and expansive wars, these details are apparently inconvenient, but as Ian Millhiser noted, the National Counterterrorism Center reported this year a sharp drop in the number of al Qaeda attacks, and 22 senior-level al Qaeda operatives and leaders were captured or killed -- including Osama bin Laden -- between May 2011 until May 2012.


Excoriated
  is the word used to describe what the Republicans did to Ambassador Rice - It means:



1: to wear off the skin of : abrade
2
: to censure scathingly

And in this case I am sure they are using definition two although the Ambassador may feel like she has had the first done to her.  I do not understand how they can be so very rude and still be in office. But then I am very naive.
And of course there is filibuster.  Wikipedia has this interesting history of the word: A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure where an individual extends debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal. It is sometimes referred to as talking out a bill, and characterized as a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body. The English term "filibuster" derives from the Spanish filibustero, itself deriving originally from the Dutch vrijbuiter, "privateer, pirate, robber" (also the root of English "freebooter". The Spanish form entered the English language in the 1850s, as applied to military adventurers from the United States then operating in Central America and the Spanish West Indies such as William Walker.
The term in its legislative sense was first used by Democratic congressmanAlbert G. Brown of Mississippi in 1853, referring to Abraham Watkins Venable's speech against "filibustering" intervention in Cuba
Steven Benen writing at The Maddow Blog has this to say about the current controversy over Fillibusters.  He concludes: "Given all of this, it's not even clear why McConnell is whining so incessantly. He and his caucus have brought obstructionism to heights unseen in American history, and Democratic reforms would allow the GOP to keep blocking every bill they don't like. The "rights" of the Senate minority would be largely unaffected; we'd only see a slightly more efficient chamber, in which Republican filibusters would come about more quickly, and be more dramatic once attempted."
This wasn't in the news but everybody should have one:

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Lincoln

I finally went to see Lincoln on Sunday.  My friend Su came over and drove me to the theater.  As usual the Cinemark experience was crummy.  When we walked into the theater there was a line of people waiting for tickets that went from the booth to the lobby and then turned the corner and went even further. I do not stand in line well but there is an option.  There is a ticket machine in the lobby that takes credit cards so I had my tickets quickly and we were in line for the pop corn.  2 small pop corns and two bottles of water were $19.  (Someday I am going to get over my obsession with movie pop corn)

We were there in plenty of time and so I got to see the previews.  There are not many movies coming up that appealed to me. Perhaps I am getting old.

There are enough reviews of Lincoln out there that you can Google so I will just say that we liked it - a lot. (Here is the best one I have read. And here is another one. Lincoln as Grand Opera.) I now have something to root for when I watch the Oscars.

Some impressions:
I was tearing up in the first two minutes of the movie.  Spielberg opened with a scene of Lincoln having a conversation with two black soldiers in the middle of the conversation two white soldiers come up and interrupt the conversation, taking it over. They end up by starting to recite the Gettysburg Address about half way through it they falter but are saved by being called to come somewhere. As they leave one of the black soldiers finishes the Address.  It was one of those "gulp" moments for me.

Lincoln liked to tell jokes, he walked like a farmer, he had a high pitched voice, he spent a lot of time agonizing over the war, the place of blacks in society when the war would be over. He did not always share his feelings and true thoughts but they were deep and they took their toll. He was a politician and he knew how to use politics to achieve his goals.  He thought through every possibility and then went with a well reasoned approach.  He also was a hard working president.  Even working late through the night when necessary.

Some thoughts on some of the actors -
Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln.
   Day-Lewis has won two Academy Awards.  This portrayal should bring him another one.  I have always admired Abraham Lincoln and enjoyed reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's  Team of Rivals which I read when it first came out. But I only knew him through reading about him. With this portrayal I felt like I was actually watching him.  It was the most real movie experience I have had in a long time.

Sally Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln
   Gidget, the Flying Nun, Norma Rae, the matriarch on Brothers and Sisters, Sally Field is an actor I have enjoyed in many roles. The role of Mary Todd Lincoln in this film is not a large role but it is a crucial one and Ms Field does a superb job.  Her portrayal shows us a mercurial woman who was fearful of losing another of her sons and seemed unsure of her place in her husband's affections. I loved her portrayal. She would get my vote for an Academy Award also,

Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican Congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens
     Here is another actor who I think deserves a nod from the Academy.  Tommy Lee Jones did a superlative job portraying his character.  I forgot he was Tommy Lee Jones and I enjoyed getting to know Mr. Stevens through him. I especially enjoyed his evisceration of a Democratic opponent trying to get him to take a stance which might have effectively defeated the Amendment outlawing slavery. I think that perhaps I almost went WHOOP when he had finished the speech.

James Spader as Republican Party operative William N. Bilbo
     How about that James Spader?  Here he plays one of those men who operate on the finges of power, getting things done. Spader was a favorite of mine in many roles especially that of Alan Shore on The Practice and Boston Legal.  He was excellent in this role and made me believe that he was the character and not just another actor taking a part.

I think that is what - in the end - appealed to me about the film,  I did not feel it was a film. I thought I was watching history as it happened.  I felt a part of this piece of history and because it was realistically told without sensationalism. The events were, in and of themselves, dramatic enough that you did not have to have it artificially padded to make it appealing  It is appealing enough on its own and I urge you to see it. You won't be sorry.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Molly on Monday

 Molly here, do you like this shot.  BG thinks it is kind of artsy. I like it because I am sitting in the sun.  I like to sleep in the sun (even though I am not asleep in this picture.

We had a visitor on Thanksgiving. Aunt Lily came down with a plate of food for BG. Nothing for me though.  But she knew where to scratch me and she gave me some treats.
 Cassie wanted in on the action also.  She always tries to horn in on people who come to visit me!

 I honestly don't know what I am going to do with her.  But Aunt Lily didn't seem to mind she had room for us both.  Isn't she pretty?
 She found another spot to scratch me.

I like having my belly rubbed.  BG showed her my "tricks"  I even rolled half way over for her.  I never, never roll all the way over.  Have to give them something to keep trying to teach me. They give me treats when they are doing that.

Pretty soon I discovered my rawhide stick and went to work on it for awhile.  I had been saving it up.

I really like to chew on it.  Tastes yummy.

When Miles was around he would try to steal them from me. 

Speaking of Mr. Miles. Jon put a picture of him on Facebook and BG downloaded it to share. It is hot down there (Arizona) and he was getting shaggy so Jon gave him a trim.  Doesn't he look handsome?
Then there is a puppy picture of him.  BG likes this one the best. Miles looks guilty.
Aunt Lily brought some pictures of Uncle Mike's two dogs.  They like each other and play together. I wish he had brought them down for a visit.  I think I would have enjoyed that. 
BG took some pictures of the sunset going down out the back window. He said I could share them with you.




 He also said to share the progress of his amaryllis - Although I can't tell if there is any progress or not.  Sure doesn't move much in my estimation.

I would rather look out the back window. At least I see a rabbit once in awhile.
 I try to let BG know that I want outside but sometimes he is on the computer and doesn't notice me.

So I wait patiently (Patience is my middle name)
I zoom in on him with my "power eyes"

Sometimes I have to have a little whine and jeese and he lets me out. 

If not I will stare out the window some more.


And eventually in the neighbor's yard I spy him, and my heart palpitates and I watch him and wag my tail.  BG says I am stalking him. I don't know what that means. Would like to get together for a meet and sniff though.


Saturday night BG fell asleep early then woke up and read until late and let me up on him and fell asleep petting me.  I was real quiet and slept on his lap all night long.  It was nice.  He is soft. 

Thanks for visiting me. Come by anytime.  Hugs,  Lady Molly Patience of Glendale..