SSS WOLF

I'm late to my SSS date.

Sorry about that.

The word this week was...

"WOLF".

The shot above was taken at the wood carver's home

last summer, of a wolf he was in the process of 

carving as it howled at the moon.

I wish I could have seen it finished.

Perhaps I will be able to go back this summer

and see the end product.

I hope so!

TOO NICE

 A great picture that has nothing to do with my post!

She told me that I was too nice.
That me "being nice" all the time was dishonest.
No one knows what I really think about anything.
No one respects nice.
(Nice = me.)

I looked at her for a moment and considered the words.

"Why do you think that someone can't give their honest opinion and still be kind about it?"

"That's just stupid. Get mad. Everyone gets mad."
She proved that point when...
She shook her head, rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse to abandon the conversation unfinished.
She does that when she feels frustrated.
She decides when the conversation is over, which generally precludes a response that she does not want to hear.

After she left, I thought more about what she said. 
Yes, I certainly do get mad.
I really do have opinions.
I have my peeves like anyone else...
selfishness, pettiness, bullies/bitches and the mean things that people do that are needlessly unkind or outright cruel.


She is afflicted by the attitude that everything in life is about her, personally...
yet nothing is ever her fault or responsibility.
The belief that just because she wants something,
that she should have that thing without earning it.
That she has the right to say whatever pops out of her mouth without care for anyone's feelings...
"I'm just being honest."  or "I'm just keeping it real."
She is very proudly "not nice".

Not being nice is a luxury for the immature or the old, frightened and angry.
That is my opinion.
I speak this having gotten over myself by my 40s.
The truth is that I do not like drama.
I make choices with care.
I stand my ground when I feel strongly.
But I also try to be as tactful as possible.
If you hurt or frighten someone, you get nowhere.
Pretty basic life skills.

I guess some of it is that I have changed my opinion on what exactly is important in the world.
Things are not the motor behind my drive for life... though I sure do enjoy having nice things when I can.
It does not end my world when I can't have that new smart phone.
I can make do with my stupid phone.
What is important?
Being with people I love and treasure, reasonable good health, laughter, sharing, giving and receiving affection, good conversation, enjoying simple pleasures like reading and creating, seeing the things in my yard bloom... and the zen of fishing with my feet in the pond.

I'm past all that stuff that get people of that maturity level into a panty twist.
I don't care who thinks I am hot or beautiful...
only one person's opinion on that issue matters and he likes me fine.
I am not compelled to out-dress my friends or own the biggest and best house, car, etc. comparatively.



I know for a fact that when I die, I won't miss any of my things, so who the hell cares who gets what?


I am content in my life.
It makes me happy.
Happy makes me feel like being nice.
Even if it pisses her off.

ARE YOU A TURTLE?

"You bet your sweet ass I am!"

We got this thingie... 

and lost a whatchamacallit that went with it.

A short little cable that was only about 5 inches long.

It connects a fan on the back of an external hard drive to its power source.

The problem with both of us is that our rememberers are broken.

We see something and think...

oh, I'll put this in this "safe place" and I'll know where it is.

But then we can't recall where said safe place abides.

Heavy sigh.

This put me to rummaging through everything

in search of the whatchamacallit.

Our dresser has two sides of long drawers 

that are divided by a top to bottom row of small drawers.

These drawers are too small to house much of anything other than 

socks or underwear... which neither of us use them for.

 

 

Okay then, so I decided to look through the useless drawers in our dresser.

That's when I began to find odd objects...

belt buckles, a tiny empty frame of little value, three marbles,

several little boxes of things.

When I lifted one of the boxes,

I found the items in the photo above.

 

 

I had never heard of this organization prior to this event.

The mixture of turtles and confederate flags

generated an intense curiosity.

Turtles in white hoods made of bed linens?

"Eh-hem!"

as my ex mother-in-law used to say in moments of discomfort.

 

 

 

I asked the man what they were and what they meant.

(What if there were sheets in his closet?)

He did not know either...

he had no clue where they came from, 

only that they had been around for a long time.

 

 

Well, I found out about them here:

Ancient Order of Turtles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and

The Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles

 

If you are not in a mood to go there and read for yourself...

I will try to be brief, which as you know, is not very likely.

 

As it happens, 

this card and sticker are for a branch of a drinking club that was founded

during WWII by bored bomber pilots...

that spread to fighter pilots, and outward through the ranks into

civilian life as well.

The story goes that one of the pilots happened to overhear

a conversation about other fraternal orders being allowed to use

a back room in a pub for meetings and get drinks at half price.

Thus the Ancient Order of Turtles began their happy hour life. 

Membership was simple.

One was required to answer four riddles.

Because Turtles were honorable men and women of good quality,

no dirty thoughts were allowed.

Of course the questions had obvious dirty answers unless one was 

clever enough to figure out the clean answer.

Example:

What is a four letter word ending in "k" that means the same as

intercourse?

(talk)

 

Once one answered four riddles correctly...

bing!

you were a Turtle.

Turtle members often wore turtle pins...

but in a bar, one might be approached and asked

"Are you a turtle?"

If you were a member, then you had to answer...

with the assumption that all members were the proud owners of 

a very mellow tempered jackass...

"You bet your sweet ass I am!" 

(You see you can only talk about an animal jackass in a nice way and this was all clean fun.)

Should you not answer correctly...

you must buy every turtle present the drink of his/her choice.

=:]

 

 There are famous Turtles it seems.

Wally Shirra was asked if he was a turtle on a space flight...

where the entire earth was listening in.

He did not want to mention a mellow tempered jackass

and find his own ass in a sling.

Ditto for JFK, 

who was asked if he was a turtle in a press conference...

his reply was that he would buy the reporter a drink later.

 

Anyway, 

its a cute story that I thought I would share.

Have any of you heard of this?

or

Are you a turtle?

 

Either way, 

I do find some odd things in this house.

Honestly...

I thought of Yertle and his swamp. 

I mean... if Yertle was Hitler...

there could have been a club of TTT Turtles.

You never know what's out there.

Enough silliness today.

See ya!

 

 

 

 

 

LITTLE CABIN...

Little cabin in the woods...

Okay,

not really in the woods.

I don't think that arborvitae count.

=:]

But it did have a nice view of the Columbia river...

and much of the tiny town of DP'sH.

We had a delightful time!

The first day was our family and friends BBQ.

People showed up that I had not expected to see.

While it solved the problem of getting to see anyone who 

was interested in seeing us...

it also made it hard to pay much attention to

any one person.

We had steelhead, kielbasa and burgers and side dishes up the ying yang. 

Mmmmmm...

 The next day we visited with family during the day.

Then in the evening,

we took the diner cruise on the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler.

The food was great.

I had "braised rabbit fricassee"

(Yes, I am a silly cannibal)

Ha!

and Randy had 

the "beef shoulder medallions with rosemary grilled veggies".

There were of course... adult beverages as well.

The staff was very friendly and worked their tails off.

It helps when you know the captain.

Captain Tom in his wheelhouse.

Our kids grew up together as friends.

His son, S is my old fish connection... steelhead and salmon.

Free!

I do miss that very much.

This is Captain Tom's "period" hat and coat.

While we dined in the dining room,

the music chosen happened to be from 

"The Titanic"

Randy asked the waiter

"Have you seen any icebergs?"

He laughed in that tired way that one who works with tourists

laughs at an over-used joke,

then said

"Why?  Is there Titanic music playing?"

We got a lot of photos... for another day.

We stayed another night and had a less crowded

BBQ with just the family.

It was like most family BBQs...

children chased each other around through adults who gabbed...

and everyone of us laughed and enjoyed being together.

Boy I love those crazy people!

Then it was time to say good-bye and leave for home.

Randy would not allow me to steal the dishes from our cabin.

They were so cool too!

Old Kellog cereal dishes with Tony the Tiger

and something nutty about how good cornflakes are "hot".

Who would ever eat cornflakes hot?

We drove home fairly quickly.

Unusual since the man was driving instead of me.

I drove on the way up so that he could sleep.

He tends to drive slowly to save on gas.

Right about the time we got home and Roxy began her celebration of our return

with mad circles and being unable to sit still enough for us to pet her...

I noticed my throat felt scratchy.

Strep.

That's where I've been for about a week...

today was the first day that I have felt decent. 

Yay for feeling normal again!

I even took my usual march on the hamster wheel.

=:]

HOW NICE !

When last I left you...

I was contemplating what on earth the man had planned for 

our first anniversary.

Given his choice of a folding canvass camp chair

for my birthday last year...

I truly did wonder.

Not that a canvass folding camp chair is not a great gift!

I am not ungrateful for it at all.

It made me laugh because of the conversation prior to the gifting.

A conversation that was about not knowing what I might like.

Being a silly rabbit who lives up to her name...

I wanted the man to figure it out.

But also not being stupid...

I gave a bevy of hints.

 Little did I know that the man is totally hint proof!

I left catalogs with pictures circled laying around.

I made comments about things on the TV in ads.

I talked about how much I liked this or that.

What sort of books that I liked or wished I had.

As fate would have it happen...

I also mentioned in irritation when the chair I was sitting on

decided to pinch my leg, 

that I  hated that chair...

and would dearly love to burn it in a bonfire!

The exuberance of my excitement of that moment

got through to the man.

He picked up the mail just after my declaration

and saw an ad that had a photo of a folding camp chair on the front.

The light bulb in his head shone brightly!

And so it was that I wondered, 

indeed, 

what words might have escaped my lips and inspired...

 heaven only knew what...

sort of surprise...

 would come

on May 21st from my dear husband of one year.

Like I said, do not get me wrong about the chair incident.

It proved to me that my husband did indeed hear me when I said things.

Certainly not a romantic gift, 

but one based on his desire to give me what I would like to have.

What could mean more?

And yet, it gave me a great curiosity as to what was coming.

He refused to even hint.

Last weekend arrived.

We spent Saturday most in the yard.

I trimmed vinca and removed blackberries.

I have the scratches all over to prove it.

Meanwhile,

he mowed and weed whacked .

When we had finished and I sat having a nice ice tea...

He informed me that I was to shower.
Well!

He would put the rest of the debris into the utility trailer
while I accomplished my task.

I had no problem at all with that part.

After his shower followed mine 
and most of my crazy hair had dried into ringlets...

he told me to get into the car.

I figured it out.

I was fairly sure that we were going out to eat...

something he really does not enjoy that much as a rule.

I wasn't sure if it was Red Lobster or The Fish House.

It was at Red Lobster.

We had a lovely diner with appetizers and adult beverages.

I opted for a margarita and he, 

something tall and blue.

Then we returned home with doggie bags in hand.

Roxy was ever so glad to see us...

even if the doggie bag was not for her.

The rest of that evening was spent in an enjoyable pastime.

=:]

I assumed that the anniversary was over.

I didn't think much about that happening two days before

our actual anniversary day.

I know the man had to work on our anniversary and 
it made

sense that this had been the big surprise.
I was certainly satisfied with my lovely evening with him.

Sunday we went to a bbq at a friend's home.

After that the man opened up my gift to him...

(I had to wait for it to arrive.)

It was a Babylon 5 spin-off that he did not have.

He was thrilled.

Phew!

I did okay.

Onward to reality.

Next year it would come again.

That night the man went to work at his usual midnight.

I managed to oversleep in the morning.

He snuck in before I woke up.

I did not hear him at all.

Normally I wake at every tiny sound.

But I didn't.

So on my real anniversary...

I rolled over and opened my eyes to

flowers!

Not just any flowers...
but a vase of the flowers that were in my wedding bouquet!

Chrysanthemums, my favorites.
The right colors and kinds.

 

How's that for romance?

 

Springing along...

I thought the warm weather would never arrive.

At least not before I lost my sanity.

But it did.

Yay!

The signs of true spring are everywhere.

Plum trees have already lost their blooms and the cherries are in full display.

Bulbs have given us so many different reasons to smile.

And the utility company is busy trying to trim back all the 

new and winter growth from the power lines.

Roxy lays and grumbles out the screen door.

Most days begin with the sounds of weed eaters and mowers.

We are doing our own share of these activities.

=:]

  I bought a pair of these funny long handled sheers.

Our vinca borders the driveway and the walkway.

Believe me...

kneeling on concrete with a pair of hand sheers is not the way to go...

if you want it to look like this:

 We are happy with our new toy.

Meanwhile...

I sent a picture to Turkey.

 His seeds have sprouted well!

He was so excited that he was mad when mom said that

they could not jump in the car and drive down to transplant them

into "Turkey's Garden" immediately.

(That's a flowerbed that I told him would be his garden.)

From forward to back;

nasturtiums, zucchini, yellow squash, bush beans and

at the end, cayenne pepper.

Hard to tell by this picture, but most have at least raised the soil

if they have not broken the surface with green.

In another flat are lisbon onions, roma tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno peppers

and cucumbers.

This is how I enjoy spending my time.

I know that gardening is not for everyone and can be a bore.

I'm not particularly good at it, but I love doing it.

All that fresh air and sunshine.

Lovely.

Meanwhile on other fronts...

I am soooo excited!

We just rented a cabin for 3 nights up in Dumb Potter's Hell.

Randy has a 4 day weekend coming up...

yes, Memorial Day.

We opted to use it for the trip.

Many of the people I know have not met Randy.

My kids know him, but not my friends or my father.

So they are planning a big barbecue the second day that we are there.

We were careful about when we planned to leave and return...

we want to miss as much of the holiday traffic as possible.

Randy will sleep while I drive...

that way he can be perky when we get there.

And I can't believe that our first wedding anniversary is

coming up on the 21st.

When I asked the man what he wanted to do for it,

he gave me a mysterious response.

"It's already planned.  All you have to do is wait for it."

I wonder what it is?

 

 

 

ANTS

Yes, those are ants... and I hate ants!

While they might look like clever trained ants,

they are all gathered around a drop of Terro...

ant poison.

=:]

R.I.P. you little buggers!

I have been on hiatus.

I had a hormone imbalance that made me feel 

fairly sure that the men in little white coats

were on their way to collect me.

Thankfully it is fixed now and I am once more

the relatively happily crazy yet not ready to

institutionalize...

me.

Lots of things have happened.

We had another new grand daughter...Z.

She is like all new babies,

sweet and constantly sleeping and eating.

I love the way she smells.

=:]

Things are rocky in the family right now.

The man and his kids are at odds.

I am trying to stay out of it.

But I do not like to see the man upset.

It makes me want to be involved and let some

choice words fly.

But today it is beautiful and I have

moved my lap top onto the patio again.

I began my day with a wonderful steaming cup of coffee...

out here...

letting the fresh breeze make my frizzy hair flit around.

Watching Roxy run around like a nut with her stuffed duck.

Soaking up the sunshine that feels so very good.

I don't think there is anything more relaxing,

or more soothing to my nerves.

(except for the ocean)

I decided to take all my little thoughts

and curse words and write them on paper.

Tonight,

when darkness falls

and I have lost the support of the sun...

I'll put my scraps of anger into the fire...

and let the ashes float away.

Hopefully they will take the anger with them.