Happy Birthday, Juliette Gordon Low!

Juliette Low was the founder of Girl Scouts of the USA.

Her life was an interesting one, with too many sad points. Lady from Savannah tells of her life, and there are plenty of online biographies, too. One of my favorite stories is about how she got bored at a dinner party and snuck out with Rudyard Kipling to go fishing - she was still in her formal evening gown!

GSUSA is the largest organization for girls and women in the world. Girl Scout Birthday is March 12, and next March will be the 94th anniversary. The following year, on the 95th, there will be a huge Singalong in Washington, D.C. and satellite sites around the country. I was at the 90th and it was amazing how many Girl Scouts were there!

Also ~ Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Happy Birthday
to my Baby Sis,
AP3!




And many more!!

The words to the song on the audio:

Oh, happy birthday,
Oh, happy birthday,
Pain, misery and despair,
People dying everywhere!
BUT ….

Oh, happy birthday ...

Now, go and wish her a happy one!

The Mantra

A friend sent one of those "forward to X number of friends ..." emails. I normally delete these, but I thought that these words are worth posting:

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
Respect for self,
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older, think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

These words are attributed to the Dalai Lama.

2000

This column is in today's local newspaper, and I think it's well-written and should have a larger audience:

2,000 lives lost in war weigh down our hearts
Thursday, October 27, 2005

by Nancy Eshelman, columnist for The Patriot News

If I collected 2,000 pennies, I'd have $20.

From there, it's all about perspective.

If you're in kindergarten with a $20 bill, you're queen of the world.

If you're the average working stiff, you know that $20 won't even fill up the gas tank anymore.

It's that way with our losses in this maddening war in Iraq.

For many of us, 2,000 represents a tragic number.

Although it was splashed across the fronts of newspapers yesterday, it's a silly milestone, really.
Aren't 1,999 or 2,001 just as horrifying?

While he shares the nation's pain, a World War II veteran reminded me the other day that 2,000 pales in comparison with the 405,399 who died in his war.

Likewise, for my contemporaries who fought in Vietnam, the numbers in this most recent war don't come near the loss of 58,209 from our generation.

Still, for someone like me, who bends to pluck a penny in a parking lot, every one is valuable. Conversely, the loss of even one is unacceptable.

We need to dwell on the number, to put it in perspective, to feel it.

If we collected 2,000 pennies and rolled them in coin wrappers, we'd fill 40 wrappers.

You can pick up a coin wrapper and feel the weight.

Put one in each hand. Feel the weight double.

Try to scoop up five or six in each hand. Or dump all 40 in a sack and pick it up. It's a heavy load to carry.

Maybe you'd prefer to place the 40 coin wrappers on a table. You could roll them around. Try to stack them. Watch them tumble.

Or maybe you'd rather not wrap your pennies at all. Just dump all 2,000 on the table top and run your fingers through them. So many. Each worth something.

Visualize yourself driving down Route 15.

Eventually you arrive in Dillsburg, a pleasant little community. In the last census, the population of Dillsburg was 2,063.

Imagine tomorrow that everyone in Dillsburg just vaporized, disappeared.

Imagine how horrified we'd be. Imagine the headlines.

But if the people of Dillsburg disappeared one at a time, like pennies rolling off a table, the loss would be less noticeable.

Soldiers die day after day in Iraq.

We notice the local guys we lose. We grieve and we mourn and we splash our loss across the front page.

Proximity makes them more valuable, like wheat pennies from the early part of the 20th century that people collect.

We pay less attention to the fellows from Pittsburgh, maybe even less to guys who call Wyoming or Nevada or Florida home.

But they have just as much value.

What scares me is the vast supply of pennies.

May we never reach numbers like those in Vietnam or World War II.

But our pennies will keep dropping off the table until folks across the country count up the loss and scream, "Enough!"

NANCY ESHELMAN: 717-255-8163 or neshelman@patriot-news.com

Needles

Our senior cat, Chatham, hasn't been doing well lately. He's been taking liver pills for many years now, and occasionally has urinary tract infection. The latter can kill a cat pretty quickly. This time the infection isn't clearing up very much, and now the things that the Vet measures in his liver and kidneys are up too high. He hasn't been eating - sometimes he's interested but nauseated and other times he's just not interested. He's not always emptying his bladder and not drinking enough water.

Soooo ... he got to have his bladder emptied by the Vet (oh, fun) and was rehydrated recently. He was noticeably better the day after, but then the next day was off again. So DH and I went in to learn how to "give him fluids" - i.e. stick a needle under the skin and drip fluid in.

I get to do it, because DH doesn't like needles. Who does? (Don't answer that.) The Vet promptly said to me "why is it always the men who don't like needles?"

It wasn't has hard or awful as I thought it would be. So I'll be doing this for the next ten days, every day. After that we may go to every other day.

If you are interested in how to do this, this website explains the process.

Grey

Gray day. Rainy, too. I had the day off, so I went back to bed after dropping the kids off at school. Didn't wake up until after 11:00 am! But instead of feeling really rested, I felt sluggish. Ugh. Oversleeping is as bad as not enough, eh? Ate lunch in my PJs. Mom and Dad came over so that she could check email ... and of course, some blogs. Dad didn't know she'd do that and was just a tad peeved. Didn't get into the shower until after 1:00 pm sometime. Didn't do one single thing on my list of things to do. Played Cubis, mostly. Did check some blogs. Not feeling very inspired, so I didn't leave many comments. Picked up the kids from school, got Bookworm to play practice, went to the new giant Giant to get something for dinner. I guess I should start thinking about cooking it now.

Got this image from here, thanks to Eccentric Father for the link!

The Ears Have It

This image is from The Way to Eden, a third season Star Trek (classic) episode. Dr. Sevrin had the ears to beat all ears. When I was a kid, my Trekker friends and I would call 'em "cauliflower ears."

Howz that, AP3?

btw, a young Charles Napier played one of the "hippies" in this episode.

I have tried the gun-shop ear plugs like my doctor recommended and they do block out most noise. They're hard to get in properly, and they sort of irritate my ears, unfortunately. I am finding that I do fall asleep faster with them on. I'm still waking up around 2-2:30 am, however.

Rained Out ... kind of

The Band practiced music and small marching sets at the school Saturday. It had been raining on and off all day, but still CV had not cancelled the Tournament of Bands by 1:30 pm. So we returned to the school at 4:30 to find that the TOB was still on. So was the rain, but light or misting, at least. But we'd been wondering all day about the condition of the football field that they'd be performing on, and how the woodwind instruments would play in all the wetness.

CV is a huge school district with huge facilities. There were supposed to be nine bands in competition, with three bands performing exhibition pieces - one at the beginning, two at the end. The host band always marches at the end, and this time Clarion University (at least a three hour drive away) was performing, too. Even so, we expected to be home by 8:30 or so after the award ceremony (as usual for this season, our band was near the end of the schedule).

What we didn't know was that Littletown HS had cancelled their afternoon performance due to the rain and that five bands had called CV to be added to the schedule. You see, the bands need to get in as many TOBs as possible so that their average score by the end of the season is good and they make Chapters and Championships. CV hosted this weekend and will be in two TOBs next weekend, for example, to make up for it.

I had gotten to the TOB near the beginning of the Group I performances - I like to watch as much as I can, DH was coming later to see our band. I forgot the schedule so I didn't catch on that there were more Group I bands going on the field than was on the original list. So when 7:38 came along and a different band was waiting to take the field, I finally realized that we were going to be much later (an hour later, as it turned out).

So I had been sitting in the rain for about an hour - thank goodness I got smart and bought rainpants. I went and found DH and he was complaining about the rain, etc. Then I heard a band helper say that "the field is done." I wondered if he meant that the equipment (snare drums, xylophones, etc.) could not be rolled out and would have to stay on the track. Then I heard a parent who had just left the stands say that the judges had packed up their briefcases and left without saying a word (a number of judges are at the top of the bleachers, several more are on the field walking around the band as they perform).

There was a band in the endzone waiting for their turn, and another at the gate waiting, too. They'd been standing there in the rain, which had indeed gotten to be steady and harder, for about half an hour without raincoats (bands don't perform in raincoats, just uniforms). About five minutes later we heard the announcer say that the competition had been cancelled. The parents of the kids that had been standing in the rain, unprotected, were furious.

As it turned out, our Band was at the other end of the school property, practicing small marching sets under the overhang of the middle school building. They had gotten back on the busses to be driven down to the stadium and were waiting to get out and wait. They saw that the stadium was emptying and people were leaving - that's how they found out it was cancelled.

If three Group I bands had not been added, then our Band would've been the one left wet on the endzone waiting to (not) get on the field. Soooo ... in a way it worked out.

But that leaves the Band a score short to help with the final average. There is one more TOB next weekend that we're scheduled to perform at. There are actually two TOBs locally, but our HS has a football game Saturday night.

Yes, TOB in the afternoon, football game in the evening. I'm wondering if our Band Director will consider not playing at the game in order to get a second TOB in. LOL - don't laugh, he had already told the kids at the beginning of the season that they could miss playing at a football game, but not a TOB!

Naturally, the sky is blue and the sun is shining this morning - NOW!

Audio Ambrose

Who Knew? (part two)

That my babies would grow up to be such wonderful people?

Tonight we've a football game with a powerhouse that will most probably slaughter our football team. Oh, well ~ I'm there for the band, anyway. The forecast is for rain, ugh. It's a home game for us, and sure to be packed with local and Steel-High fans.

Rain is also forecasted for tomorrow, and we've got another Tornament of Bands competition. The raindate is next Tuesday, and that's our town's Halloween parade date, which the band participates in. ALSO forecasted for rain. geeeeeeez

We found out a couple of days ago that Bus #3 that brought the band back from the last TOB misbehaved so badly that the bus company won't take our band this weekend. Don't know yet what the Director is going to do about getting them to the TOB. My girls were in the other two busses, naturally.

later, dudes

Who Knew?

That this child would grow up to be the Infamous Uncle Owen?

Making Faces

GO AWAY ...

I'M TRYING TO READ!

The results are in

A while back I went to a sleep clinic to see why I always wake up tired and wake up so much during the night. Yesterday I had my follow-up appointment. Good news is that I don't have respiratory or heart problems that can lead to sleep apnea.

Bad news is that I am indeed sleep deprived.

After spending the night at the clinic, they had me stay for the next day, too. I was directed to take naps several times during the day. I fell asleep quickly during the morning nap times and that's not normal. So the doctor and I discussed my routine (and that of my family). I am simply not getting enough sleep - usually six or fewer hours.

We discussed strategies. He wants me to go to bed by 10:30 pm. I told him that even if I were to go to bed then, the house is too noisy for me to get to sleep (loud voices, trombone playing, doors pushed shut instead of handles turned to ease the closing, etc.) He recommended that I get the ear plugs that gun owners use (and they do help, as it turns out).

Also, I need to sit down (not in the bedroom) beforehand and make a list of things to do and think about for the next day to avoid that "racing brain" that I get once I'm in bed. I am going to keep a sleep diary for a while and we can reevaluate the situation later on.

There is a possibility that I simply have a "sleepy" brain - he said that some families have this problem and not a lot is known about it. Also, head trauma could cause it and it doesn't have to be something big like a car accident, either (mom, remember when that boy threw a brick at me when we lived in La Puente? I remember coming to on the ground and Tommy and Fletcher running off after him.) We'll see. Most likely it'll simply be that my routine and environment needs adjusting.

My other test result was the first exam for the Education course that I'm taking. I got the highest score in the class ~ 98. I missed one multiple choice question and perfect score on the essay questions. (Naturally, after looking at the one I missed I had to say "duh" to myself.) The funny and sad thing is that the class is full of young people who say they want to be teachers, and I'm "just" taking this for self-betterment.

The other essay answers must've been pretty sad - the Prof wrote a nice note on mine, but during class he said that there were alot of people who didn't back up their statements - which was specifically asked for in the instructions.

Well, I've a list of errands to run, so I'm off now.

Name Droppin'

As Hoss would say, I'm name droppin'. When I was in college, I had the opportunity to meet some celebs. I collected autographs for my baby sis, AP3: Rosie Greer, Lorne Greene and William Shatner, to name three (actually, I can't remember who else, there might have been more). I also shook the hand of Mike Farrell of M*A*S*H (no autograph because he didn't want to "start anything"), and almost ran over Kareem Abdul Jabbar in Westwood, CA, with a minivan.

Watched Lee Majors and Robert Montgomery while they did some filming at CalArts, and Henry Winkler and Ed Harris when they came to the school to speak. When I met William Shatner, he was in his T.J. Hooker uniform - I think that Heather Locklear and Adrian Zmed were with him, but I was totally focused on The Man himself and can't say for sure. I know that there were two others in police uniforms with him. Somewhere there is a photo of Richard Dean Anderson and the top of my head that Nod took after a celebrity hockey game at Hershey, back before Stargate and the Kids.

BTW, Goa'uld shook Hillary Clinton's hand during the Million Mom March in 2000. And Bookworm and I shook Ben Affleck's hand when the Kerry Campaign rolled thru Harrisburg.

Diane Salvatore was my roommate for one term at Penn State. I had already made arrangements for the next year at PSU before she transferred up, otherwise I would've remained her roommate. She is now Editor-in-Chief of Ladies Home Journal, and this photo is from the November 2005 issue. Even tho' we didn't live together after that Spring term, we hung out together ALOT the following year.

On August 29, 1980, I was at the World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. While walking around the huge dealers room (full of SciFi merchandise) I saw a large group of people walking toward me. At the head of the group was Isaac Asimov. Since they came right to me, I asked him to autograph my book. He said he would for a kiss, which he promptly gave me. I told him it was my 21st birthday. He told me then that I deserved a second kiss, which he quickly gave me. What a rush!

At the same convention I met Frank Kelly Freas. His artwork appeared on the covers of many SciFi magazines, MAD Magazine (he was one of the illustrators of Alfred E. Neuman) and the cover of at least one LP. Very nice man.

When I was at CalArts, a nearby community college (College of the Canyons) hosted Ray Bradbury as a speaker, so I borrowed a bicycle and tootled over. He was funny and personable. He contributed to the "Spaceship Earth" exhibit at WDW. Disney flew him to Paris for the opening of that theme park - he was up in years and it was his first plane trip because he was afraid of airplanes.

While still out in southern California, 2010, Odyssey Two came out, written by Arthur C. Clarke. (He lives in Sri Lanka.) He came to "A Change of Hobbit", a science fiction and fantasy bookstore that was in Santa Monica. I waited four hours in line to get his autograph - I barely made it in because they cut off the line.

Finally, here's a photo of Louis Gossett, Jr. with my friend Leon Joosen in the library of CalArts. Mr. Gossett was in the TV series The Powers of Matthew Star. This was the year he was up for the Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman, which he later won. He sent an autographed video copy of that movie to the school afterwards. He was really nice. His stunt double took a liking to me because of my patch jacket. This same jacket got me free parking at USC. (To the sports fans out there, Leon's brother Willy plays the organ for the Vancouver Canucks. Leon is in the Animation biz out in California.) (Oh, and Peter Barton was also in that TV show, but he was a bit of a snot at the time and I wasn't impressed.)

Penn State 25 - Michigan 27

We was robbed



PSU One Stop Short
At the Last Second, Heartbreak


Locally, the Marching Lions also experienced disappointment last night as the high school marching band again came in third out of third. Of course, it's the points that really count towards the end-of-season championships. The first Tournament of Bands score was 75, second TOB score was 79, but last night's was 81, not as big an improvement as the kids would have liked. The second-place band had a score of 83, first place was 86.

To explain a little about how TOBs work, bands are placed in divisions by Band size, NOT school size. So even tho' our school is small (about 1100 kids K-12) our band is competing against schools with a much larger population to draw from. (High school sports divisions are determined by school district size, not team size.) Our band is in Division III by two kids - usually we teeter by a couple of kids between Division I and Division II. The schools in those divisions last night scored in the 70s.

Last night's competition was "out of Chapter", which we do once a year. The Chapter that we are in forbids bands taking the field after 8:30, but the chapter that Williamsport is in doesn't. Our kids once again were last to take the field (except for the host school, which performed as an exhibition while scores were finalized) - so our band hit the field at 10:08 PM. We got home this morning at 1:30 am. I let Goa'uld and Bookworm sleep in, didn't wake them up. Bookworm just woke up at noon.

BTW, the Williamsport Area School District is the home of the Millionaires.

Minor Moans and BASIP

I'm too tired from being a Band Mom (our football team beat James Buchanan HS, 27 to 7) last night, and tonight the Band has a TOB in Williamsport. Last night was a 2 hour drive to Mercersburg, tonight is an hour and a half in the opposite direction. Luckily, another mom offered to drive tonight. We got to bed around midnight last night. Tonight our Band doesn't even get on the field to perform until 10:08 pm! We'll be getting home around 1 am Sunday.



Dear sister AP3 posted her BASIP and Tim Curry was the runner up, tho' not the album I have pictured. I actually own Fearless, tho' none of my LPs have seen the light of day or the point of a needle since my Kids were about 2 years old and started to pull cords.

Well, I get to do some other fun stuff, like pretending to clean house.

later!

Happy Birthday, Nod Donald Duck Pez

Happy Birthday to my hubby, Nod. This is his photo from Kindergarten graduation; now he's 47 years old. He works for the Navy as an analyst - both systems and operational research. Don't ask me what that means. Back when we were newly married, he was part of a team that put out specs and took in bids for the world-wide replacement of all Navy computer systems. BIG deal. Secret Stuff. He would go off for days to hear proposals. Come back with corporate gifts that I wasn't allowed to see because of the logos. Nod assured me that when the contract was awarded he could let me know where he'd been.

Once he came home and told me that he had met someone famous, but couldn't tell me who (yeah, and how many of the other spouses heard this, too?). FINALLY the process was over and he could tell me -- Ross Perot!!

My blank face prompted him to repeat the name (this was before that particular presidental election).

Nod was very disappointed that I had not heard of the Head of EDS. But I hadn't been married to a computer geek for THAT long yet! It wasn't my fault (to quote Han Solo).

Twenty-Tagged

I've been tagged by my sister Actonbell, and I'm supposed to say 20 things about myself.

1. I was born in Memphis, TN.
2. Moved to southern California when I was around four years old. We lived in La Puente, South Pasadena, West Covina, San Dimas and Covina (I think that's the right order).
3. We moved to Pennsylvania when I was in the eighth grade - three schools that year, that was rough.
4. I graduated from Penn State (like y'all didn't know that already!!)
5. I've been married for 20 years (ditto)
6. I have 15 year old twin daughters that are in marching band (ditto ditto)
7. I read Stranger in a Strange Land when I was in third grade. Yes, my mother knew. I would read anything left around.
8. I love to read, but since my kids were born my reading material has been more of a juvenile nature. That's okay, I'm pretty juvenile myself.
9. My favorite genre is science fiction and fantasy, and my family is a Stargate family.
10. I also graduated from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), which is near where Doug lives.
11. I like Dr. Pepper and real, classic Coke. Too much.
12. When my friends where buying Osmond Brothers and the Jackson Five albums, I was buying Elvis Presley albums.
13. I am exactly one year younger than Michael Jackson.
14. I am a messy person. I don't make the bed if Chatham is sleeping in it or if Nod is away. Dishes are washed if there aren't any clean ones to use and there aren't any paper plates.
15. When I was in college, I used to buy underwear instead of doing laundry.
16. Blue is my favorite color. Good thing I went to Penn State.
17. Horses, dragons and cats are my favorite animals.
18. I participated in the CowParade when it was in Harrisburg in 2004.
19. I am the eldest child of four (mom is the youngest child of four).
20. When I was growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut, a spy and a race car driver.

ADDENDUM: I'm tagging:

Doug
Tom & Icy
Saurkraut
Natasha
LibbY

I was going to tag you, Still Life & Schoodlepooh, but I see you just got tagged! In fact, there's a whole lot of tagging going on 'round here!!

Happy Anniversary

Today is the 20th anniversary of my marriage to my dear husband, Nod Donald Duck Pez. (LOL).

My (woman) Unitarian minister officiated along with my husband's Catholic priest at his church. The organist (who we had known in high school and was a wonderful singer) said it was the most interesting ceremony he'd been to. I don't remember a whole lot of it - other than Father Waldron forgot to have us kiss after proclaiming us husband and wife - but apparently my minister said something along the lines of "don't forget you are individuals" while Father said "when two become one..."

Nod was so pale that mom offered him rouge. Beforehand I was so nervous that I thought that I was going to throw up. But once I started walking I felt okay.

My one relief is that I was thin for my wedding. I didn't think alot about getting married when I was growing up, but because I had a weight problem, I did fear that I'd be a fat bride.



Last Sunday at church, I was asked how I got to be married for so many years. I answered that it passed by so quickly that I didn't have time to think about it.

This year, Nod had said that we shouldn't buy each other anything, money being tight and all. So, what does he do? This morning I came downstairs and found a wonderful photo memory book that he had put together - swell, he went and did something incredibly creative - and cheap. And then to make things worse, roses arrived at work. Better and better, what a heel I am! When am I ever going to learn?!

Ya see, I had gotten him socks.

Lots of socks.

On sale.

With a coupon.

Years and years ago he complained about not having enough socks. I pointed out that there were baskets of clean (and unfolded) laundry and that there were sure to be some socks. He grumbled and headed for the shower. While he was showering, I went thru the laundry and all his drawers and put together every sock pair that I could find.

How many, you ask?

78 pairs. Including a bunch that were clearly from his high school days.

I confronted him with the mountain of socks. Told him I didn't want to hear anymore complaints about socks.

Of course, that didn't work. He still is always lookin' for socks. Now he's got sixteen more to lose.

Happy Annivesary, Nod, and many, many more.

Grand Opening

I've Been Tagged

Marti has tagged me.

THE RULES
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

My 23rd post was on February 12, 2004, titled "Not-So Random Thoughts".

The fifth sentence was:

Straight marriage will be less meaningful if Gay marriage is allowed, since Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.

Hmmmm ... who to tag? Hoss has been tagged recently, I think that AP3 may have been tagged not-so-long ago ...

Okay, I'm tagging:
TanLucyPez
Fred
Saurkraut
Doug
Actonbell

Wet Weekend

The rainy weather continues. Our high school homecoming football game was postponed until tonight. We just got the word that that the band will not be performing in uniform, just band T-shirts/band sweatshirts and jeans. I'm packing blankets and bringing my raincoat and PSU winter jacket along; not feeling like putting up with this wet and cold evening.

My two had a good time at the homecoming dance - I'm afraid to share details because Goa'uld might get me.

Bookworm and Goa'uld, along with another girl from our troop, were "guilted" into helping with a younger Girl Scout event this morning. They all whined about not being able to sleep in this morning, but they did a great job and I received many compliments from other leaders.

So, I'll end this post with a sound wav and lyrics to Fight On State!

Fight on State
Fight on State
Strike your gait and win,
Victory we predict for thee
We’re ever true to you,
dear old White and Blue.
Onward State,
Onward State,
Roar, Lions, roar:
We’ll hit that line, roll up the score,
Fight on to victory ever more,
Fight on, on, on, on, on,
Fight on, on, Penn State!

http://www.alumni.psu.edu/hub/funstuff/images/FightOnState.au

Penn State: 17 - Ohio State: 10

We wish we could have been there. The entire student section wore white shirts - a "White Out" of Ohio had been declared. Students had waited all week to get good seats. The noise must've been deafening - I've been to exciting games where the excitement level was high, but this one was HUGE - the roar of the crowd came over the broadcast, both tv and radio. I can just imagine. And every time the tv camera showed even a bit of crowd, everyone appeared to be on their feet and jumping. DH got so excited that he couldn't watch - he started to clean house, listening to his old transistor radio. I could hear his exclamations and yells from around the house. Then he would run to the tv when he anticipated a particularly exciting play.

This photo is from here. This is the tent town that sprang up at Beaver Stadium.

Jesustainment

The current weather system must be causing a barometric pressure change - I've got a migraine now. One of my favorite remedies is to take a couple of pills and lay down in front of the television and fall asleep (especially since Goa'uld and Bookworm have gotten off PS2 and it's quieter).

Flipping thru the stations, I stopped at Bravo TV, which is running a show titled Great Things About Being a Red State. The count was down to the last five or so. Number Two inspired me to get up and post.

Apparently Jesus as Entertainment is big in the Red States. Who knew? And something called Christian Comedy is big. One described it as comedy without the cuss words, but then they showed a clip of a comedian who incorporated Jesus into his routine:

Jesus was the manifestation of God, right? He was the Lord God Almighty for 33 years on Earth. But he only talked about it for the last three, right? {dramatic pause} Don't ya think his friends might have noticed SOMETHING?! (This isn't word-for-word, but fairly close.)

Oh, and the Number One Great Thing about being a Red State? Elvis, of course? Could you ever doubt it?

If you have cable and get Bravo, check your local listings. The Great Things About Being ... series continues this afternoon, and the Red State version is showing again later on. I'll have to record it to get the full list, I'll post it later.

This 'n' That News

This morning's newscast included a bit about whether or not communication between local governments and the federal government is improving. There wasn't a consensus.

In local news: this is homecoming weekend for our high school. The bonfire was rained out last night and changed to an indoor pep rally in the HS gym. The band played, naturally. The football game for today has been postponed until Monday evening. Right now the band is at the school, practicing again. The homecoming dance is tonight, and there are gangs - uhm - groups of ninth graders going sans dates. That wasn't done when I was in high school, and I think it's great. First dressy dresses for my two girls. Bookworm wants to go to a salon and have her hair done. Goa'uld just rolled her eyes at the suggestion.

It has been raining since the early hours of Friday morning. Our front yard, torn up from the sewer work, is a quagmire of mud. So attractive.

Tonight we'll be watching the Penn State - Ohio State game. It is really a very big deal here in Pennsylvania. Back when DH and I were at Penn State, in 1978 PSU beat Ohio AT Ohio, 19 to 0. (This was when Woody Hayes was still the coach.)

There we were: 30,000 students on campus and "downtown", and the game was away! Huge numbers of students (my DH included, as it turns out, tho' I didn't know him then) went to Beaver Stadium, tore down the goalposts and paraded them around campus and then downtown. Turned a few cars around on the one-way streets. It wasn't quite a riot - good spirits ran high - but there sure was a lot of people involved. I remember staying in the tv lounge in my dorm and being able to hear the roar come closer, go by and then move on to College Avenue

The Results ARE IN!

The results are overwhelming - without a single No vote,
the Blogsphere wants Tan Lucy Pez to be a

Wednesday Guest on Waking Ambrose!

And clearly many wish for her to be crowned our BlogQueen!

Three Cheers for TLP!

Hip Hip Hooray!
Hip Hip Hooray!
Hip Hip Hooray!

And in other news, this is my 200th posting!

Tailgater Poll

Help vote for the best tailgating place in the USA. For some reason, it's down to Penn State vs the Buffalo Bills.

Need I tell you who to vote for?

PENN STATE!!

Pennsylvania on my mind

Still Life went to Indiana University, I learned. In Indiana, I'm guessing, tho' the first thing that popped into my head was the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I didn't realize that I had finally gotten used to the name, I always thought it was weird. There is also a California University of PA. Naturally, both in towns of those names. Unfortunately, the town of Mars (near Pittsburgh) does not, because I think that would be just too much fun to miss!

Rocks are big in Pennsylvania:

• Slippery Rock University
• In McKees Rocks, Dick Butkus, a pro-football coach, was there to film “Montour Spartans: Bound For Glory”, which ESPN showed earlier this week (high school team).
• Council Rock School District
• Glen Rock
• Arch Rock
• Table Rock
• Eagle Rock
• Raven Rock

And I think that just about every governor of Pennsylvania has a town, county or state park named after him. Lake Pinchot was named after Gifford Pinchot. We have a telegram from Pinchot to Niks's dad that says (well, it doesn't say anything, you have to read it) that it was great to see you again, the next time you come up, we should go fishing. Pinchot and Teddy Roosevelt were friends and both helped establish national forests.

Here's a trivial note: President Dwight Eisenhower's brother Milton was a President of Penn State. HA! and my girls have performed at the Milton Eisenhower Auditorium there.

Well, time to get my kids to school. later, y'all!

Penn State

(My comment to Doug's Sacrament definition got me off on this subject today ... )

When we moved to Pennsylvania from Los Angeles in 1972, it was a culture shock for me. I was an eighth grader. We had moved from a place that had everything to a place that rolled up the sidewalks at 5:00 pm and everything was closed on Sundays.

Too boot, we first lived in Biglerville (just north of Gettysburg) where the reason for being there was Apples. In fact, Biglerville High School teams are the Canners. That's how my dad's parents met each other - his mom's summer job was peeling apples. (The C.H. Musselman company is now owned by Knouse Foods.)

ANYWAYS, we moved to the "big city" of Harrisburg a few months later. Ha. Los Angeles' population is approaching 7 million, Harrisburg's is approaching 50,000. And we had lived in diverse neighborhoods and gone to diverse schools. The school district we moved into was 100% white. It's 95.4% white now.

So, I learn to get along in this area, find friends who think like me (Star Trek, Dr. Who, etc.). Fast forward a few years and it's time to apply to colleges. I apply to a few state colleges. My parents urge me to apply to the Pennsylvania State University. Hoss might include it as a Cow College; it was one of President Lincoln's Land Grant schools.

I had never heard of Penn State before, but I sent in the application. Acceptance letters came from the other colleges. My parents urge me to wait to pick one until we heard from all the schools. Then one day I came home to find a hand-made poster on the door - CONGRATULATIONS!! You've Been Accepted to Penn State!!

Well, that's great, I thought, but why did this school get a poster and the others didn't? Hmmm.

So off to Penn State I went. People at home asked how I could go to such a big university after graduating from such a small high school - heck, PSU is many times bigger than our town! (At the Main Campus - University Park - there are now over 40,000 students. Our town's population is about 7600.) The size never bothered me.

Well, it didn't take long for me to start to Bleed Blue & White. And I'm not alone. The Penn State Alumni Association has more registered alum than any other college or univerisity in the USA. There are Alumni Chapters in every state and in many countries around the world.

I got a summer job just because I was a recent grad from PSU. When I was out in Los Angeles going to CalArts, I went to USC to see a gymnastics meet - the little ol' parking lot attendant let me park for free because I was wearing Penn State clothing. Our alumni magazine had a story of a Penn Stater meeting another Penn Stater on the Great Wall of China. How did they recognize each other? Each was wearing something with Penn State on it!

We can be a crazy bunch, but that's okay.

Backyard Wildlife

Recently I observed our uncatchable Groundhog once again feeding under our birdfeeder. On this particular day I noticed that a small rabbit was feeding nearby.

Then I realized that the other animal was NOT a rabbit.

Now, I've seen squirrels with shortened tails, but I don't remember ever seeing one that was completely tailless.

So, Philip Diller, the Ugly Cardinal, has been joined by Rumpy the Squirrel.

Pez Family Tree

Natasha ~ as requested!
note: all Pez names were given to us by AP3. She's the one who started it all!

Matriarch: Tan Lucy Pez. Married to Niks Brainy Smurf Pez
Tan Lucy Pez's mother is Ynnarg Yoda Pez (deceased)

Their children, in birth order:
dddragon, also known as Alled Mickey Mouse Pez.
actonbell, also known as Rahs Speedy Gonzalez Pez
Nivek Army Ranger Pez (deceased brother)
Aral Peppermint Patty Pez

dddragon's husband is Nod Donald Duck Pez
our daughters are
Goa'uld, also known as Tak Simba Pez
Bookworm, also known as Haras Pickachu Pez
ChatCat is one of our cats, also known as Mahtahc Tom Cat Pez

actonbell's husband is Ekim Runner Pez
Their cat Serena does not have a blog

AP3's wife is Me Wonder Woman Pez
Their children are:
Mada Luke Skywalker Pez (deceased)
Aved Princess Leia Pez
Pets:
Anex Snoopy Pez
Sivle Sylvester Pez
Einna Hello Kitty Pez
Eixnihps Garfield Pez (deceased)


If you look at the lower right portion of AP3's blog, you'll see a listing of real, actual Pez Dispensers that she has already and others that she is looking for. The parenthesis "names" are people (friends and family) that have been "assigned" to those Pezzes.

To complicate things, my family is a Stargate Family. So, we have "Stargate Names", too.

dddragon = The Nox
Goa'uld = well, Goa'uld. She started it.
Bookworm = Tok'ra
Nod Donald Duck Pez (dad) = Jaffa
And even Doug has gotten into it. You may sometimes have noticed that he's signed on as Doug The Una.

ADDENDUM: I forgot that Goa'uld christened AP3 as Aunt Ori

So, does that clear things up? Or has it gotten worse? 'Cause I could tell you the story about how my twin daughters ended up with the wrong names at the hospital. Ya see, dear hubby got confused ... naw, that's another story for another time.

Happy Happy Birthday Hoss!

Yes, it is yet again Hoss's birthday, and here's the reason:

I was born at 2 a.m. Oct. 2, 1930. My birthday is Oct. 1. See, all my life my Mom told me I was born on Oct. 2, so that's what I always used, and the date I got on my Social Security records. Howsomeever, the delivery doctor had been up all night deliverin' kids and he was still on October 1, mentally. So that's what he put on my birth certificate. I only found this out about 14 years ago, when I inherited the certificate. But it doesn't matter, because I can celebrate my birthday any day I want. Nobody said I couldn't. (this is from here.)



So, enjoy a second day of celebration, Hoss!

And since Actonbell likes to share the birthdays of famous people (usually literary), here's a list of people who are lucky enough to share Hoss's:

October 1
Julie Andrews
Richard Harris
George Peppard
Jimmy Carter James Whitmore
Walter Matthau

October 2
Don McLean
"Spanky" (George McFarland)
Bud Abbott
Groucho Marx
Mahatma Gandhi
Johnny Cochran

Happy Birthday Hoss!

Just wishing ol' Hoss a very happy birthday!!






And just in case you get bored, the Milk Stout Cake recipe is here. It's from Lancaster, PA, just east of us.

EDIT ~ In celebration of Rabbit Rabbit day, here is an image from the
Belligerent Bunny Blog: