Every once in a while, we all have to get sick.  There are some people who say they never, ever get sick, but I wonder about that.  What are they… Robots?

At any rate.  It is a natural occurrence in humans.

And this past week I have had such an episode.    I have been a wee bit  Under The Weather.  For nearly an entire week, now… I have not quite felt my best.  Compared to what some people have to endure in life…   this little flu/cold bug is nothing.  More of an annoyance than anything.   But once again… .. …. it got me thinking.  About… Under the Weather.

Now… would say this is a funny phrase, wouldn’t you agree?  I mean.  Unless we are flying high in the sky on a big old jet airliner…. All of us are pretty much under the weather.  Be it rain, or sleet or snow, or sun.  Here we are.  Feet on the ground…. right smack dab…. under it.    The Weather.

So where did this “not-feeling-well-/under-the-weather” come from?  Of course.  I had to find out.  And this is what I discovered.

Apparently, this goes back to the olden, olden days.   When people traveled mostly by ships… And sailors were in the thick of the merry maritime… With their stripey shirts, and little hats with tassles, and such.  Yes…back  when the pirates were eye-patch-pirates.   Back then… a big wooden boat was the way to go…to and fro.

When bad weather hit… It would make people…passengers, crew… whoever was along for the ride… seasick.  So they would go below deck and this would sometimes help.  It would provide shelter from the weather, but just as importantly the sway would be as not as great below deck.

And there you have it.  Under the weather.

I always try to be thankful, for the times when I am feeling in ship shape.  When everything is smooth sailing.    Because when the wind get knocked out of your sails for real … …well… it can leave you dead in the water.

So truth be told… right now …. I am just happy… that I only feel this bad.

One of the things I really love, is to grab my camera, and take a little walk.  Anywhere.  I simply like to amble along…. wellllll….. maybe it is more like brisk walking-type-amble (the only speed I know).

No matter.  I like to walk about and explore this place…this world…. with my eyes and my mind.  I like to imagine and think about the things surrounding me.   Tonight, I decided to have a stroll around our back meadow.  I hadn’t been out that way in a while.

As I started off, something stirred in the tall grasses.  Something sizable.  It startled me momentarily.  Then I laughed out loud with myself.  After living out in the country, now for one-half of my life, there isn’t much that I would come across that could scare me from my walk….. I reflected.

For instance.  Just this morning after breakfast, I heard what I thought was a loud knock at the back door.  (The door itself was open, but the glass storm door was engaged.)  Ollie paced back and forth in front of the door but didn’t bark.  I thought I’d better have  a  look.  There on the back porch was a nice size snake…. trying to work it’s way under the glass door.  I went out and picked the fella up and carried him where there were some bushes.    Now… A couple of decades ago…that would have freaked me out.  Not anymore.

So tonight… in my new found smugness … after the momentary disturbance in the prairie grasses …. I carried on.  As I got around the first bend, I stopped.  Cold in my tracks. I froze solid.  And then… Quickly…   I turned on my heals, and took off in the other direction.

Yep… I had walked right up on a skunk.

Of course… the photographer in me had to double back…and get a few shots of the furry beast.

But lesson learned.  I had just congratulated myself on being a big brave country girl.  Oh nothing out here could keep me from a nice evening walk in the country.

I hadn’t thought of all the possibilities.  Clearly.

And such it is with life.  There are times when we think we know what course we are on… Or how we would react to any situation that might come before us.  But the truth is….  we can never know what the future will bring.  We can never be quite sure of anything.  No matter how prepared, and capable WE think we are.

All of us are vulnerable.  We …. humans.  We are all susceptible to that which can change.   And certainly…. none of us immune from the tale… of the skunk.

Remember when life’s path is steep to keep your mind even.
– Horace

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I like Etymology.  You know…. the study of the origin of words.  And of course….  the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.  A lot of our English language derives from Latin, Greek, and Germanic roots.  For this reason… the old study of words can sometimes be a bit on the perplexing side.

So.  Tonight.  I will break it down for thee.  Etypollymology…  I like to call it.

First word.
Pro.
Sure… we all know what it means.   A Pro.   Professional…  Like a baseball player.  Or a Wall Street player.  Or, it could me… in favor of something.
It comes from the Latin word proe… which means great wealth.  Lots and lots of money.
See how this works?

Crass.
I have always liked the way the word crass sounds.  However,  I know some crass people and they  don’t sound so nice.  It means that someone  is lacking sensitivity, refinement…  or  even… perhaps…. intelligence.  Guess what.  Latin again….crasseus.   It means thick.  Thick.  Like a brick.

Tin.
Just switching gears a bit.  Tin is a silvery-white metal.   It is very rare.  The atomic number 50 on the Periodic Table…. And it’s symbol is Sn.    This one is Germanic.   Zinn.  This means can… or container.  Like a bin.  Or a Tin.   Or a Tin Bin.

Ate.
I like this word too.  Let’s eat.  We ate.  To consume.  Rhymes with my other favorite number… Eight.    Why was 6 afraind of 7.  7 ate 9.    Okay.  Every language has some sort of origin of this word.  English etan, Germanic essen, and so forth.
Gobble it down.

So the study of words isn’t so bad… when you just explore a little.  All you have to do is break down the word… to get to the root of things.   Now then.  Put all of those previous words together….
Pro.   Crass.  Tin.  Ate.

Procrastinate.    AND. As we just broke it down… It typically means that someone is delayed from making lots of money, because they are being thick… and playing a game of kick the (tin) can… When they should be working by eight.

And there you have it.  Etypollymology.   (Books on Tape Coming Soon.)

Riddle for the night.  Can you connect the meaning of the image to tonight’s writing?  I am just cloaked in mystery tonight.

“How did reason come into the world? As is fitting, in an irrational manner, by accident. One will have to guess at it as at a riddle.”  —   Friedrich Nietzsche

I am all over the map here tonight.  So if you want to bail… Do it now.

First. I will try not to drone about my Geekhood…. But here it is.

Today, I found a couple of old hard drives.  I was cleaning some things out of my office for a charity garage sale, and happened upon them.  Now…  not only am I a Geek, but I am slightly obsessive compulsive in certain areas of my life.

I like things to be put away.  In their place.  Neat and tidy.  On top of this, I am compelled to label boxes and such… which store the things… which are put away…  .. so ever neat and tidy.

Back to the hard drives.  On the outside of the box, I marked:  “Hard Drives, Dell Dimension / Windows, 2006.”  And then in parentheses… “Huge Hard Drives!”

They were 8 GB capacity.  Now this is funny to a geek.  You see… earlier in the day… I was on my way somewhere and needed to grab a thumb drive.  So I popped into a pharmacy and bought a 64 GB USB drive for a little bit of nothing.

The hard drives I found in my office were as big as four-slice-toasters.   And I bet I paid a small fortune for an eighth of the  capacity.  Are you rolling on the floor laughing right now… Like I WAS?  Okay… So you probably don’t wear pocket protectors either.

At any rate… I was getting ready to take the Drives out to the garage and put the sledge hammer to them.  But then I decided to try to hook one up to my Mac… and see what I could see.   Much to my surprise, I found some photos.  Well.. Lots of photos.

I haven’t looked at all of them.  Not even close.  But I randomly shuffled through.  This I will tell you.  It was like finding a sunken ship filled with gold doubloons.   Since then, I have been exploring them and …..  remembering and …. traveling back in time.

But THEN.. It HIT me.  Oh no!  It is Thursday.  I don’t want to do this …. on what the world had deemed “Throwback Thursdays.”

(OK.  Now I will digress.  I don’t like Throwback Thursdays because I don’t understand the terminology.  The only Throwback I know… Is when someone is fishing and they throwback the fish.  It has nothing to do with going back in time… That I can figure, at least.)

I think they should be called Travel-Back Tuesdays.  Or… What the Heck Wednesdays…. Or Memory-Maze Monday.  But not “Put Your Fish Back in the Lake” Thursday.

Anyway… I have had fun revisiting these times…  through these images.  It reminds me of all the years… with those who are….. always…. always… like treasures in my heart.

And I can assure you.  I will never… throw them back.

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart…pursue those.” – Michael Nolan

“Cherish the ones you love.”  – Yep

I like animals.  That’s no secret here.  All walks, and all sorts.  From Aardvarks to Zebras.    And…in fact, when I go to fairs, I spend a good part of my leisure time there, walking through the animal barns and visiting with all the little creatures.  Well… some aren’t so little.  But I think they are cool.  All of them… pretty much.  Horses, cows, pigs, rabbits, you name it.  My favorites, I think.. are goats, sheep, and chickens.  I don’t know why.  I just like them the most.

We don’t raise any farm animals.  I think I would like it… and not like it.  They are a ton of work.  And… any animal that lives here would have to be my pet.  The latter could be especially problematic.

But animals… have personalities all their own.

Chickens have moxie.  Just they way they walk around and bob their little heads.  Plus…  it takes a mighty brave beast to lay an egg.

But sheep and goats seem really sweet to me.  They are so expressive.  I’ve heard some people say they aren’t so bright.   I wouldn’t know by what standards one would use.  Just because we humans don’t understand them.  So… I am going with the notion that there are brilliant goats and sheep… within their own ranks.  Just like we have smart humans… and those who aren’t so bright.

Anyway… I often wonder what and how they think.   Like take these two here.  They seemed to be communicating back and forth, and almost commiserating with one another.  I hung out with them for a long time.

I learned a lot about sheep that day.

Both of these were scratching from time to time.  I think they had fleece.

They aren’t camera shy either.  In fact… a LOT of sheep post their videos on Ewe Tube.

And the reason sheep are so healthy is because they drink well water.

Well water.

Alright… this is getting Baaaaaaaaaaaaad.  I better quit.  When this is no longer causing sheer delight… I should cut it short.

So I end on redemption.  Here are some good quotes.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
– George Eliot


Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something.
– H. Jackson Brown Jr.


What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
– Scottish Proverb

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.
– John E. Southard

We look back now, at things that happened in history, and say… “Well, what the crap?”  Especially in things of medicine and technology.

Jump back 150 years or so.  Say to the time of the Civil War in the United States.  We were doing some very backward things… as general practice.  In medicine… doctors would saw off limbs with rusty blades… or they would bleed people to cure them of their bad blood.   Okay, I’ll get away from the gruesome.  But we know better about these things now.

There were no cars.  Cameras were just getting started.  Electric in homes?  Nadda.  Telephones?  Not yet.  So in a relatively short period of time, we have had major advancements, in science, medicine, and technology.  Our understanding of how the world works has increased.

Now then…. jump ahead another 150 years.  Let’s say to  2164.  The year of the Great Orange Crops in Canada, and of course… the unfortunate Rye Toast Rebellion in Japan.  But.  In a century and a half….   we will know things then that we can’t even imagine now.  People of that time… will look back at us…. and say… “Well, what the crap?”

They will chuckle that we were using things like digital cameras, and cell phones.  Computer connected by wires, and cars that burned gasoline.  They will be astounded that we couldn’t even come up with a cure for the Common Cold.

Which is what I have.  Not the cure… but the gosh darn cold.

If only I had the Crystal Ball revved up tonight to peer into the future…

The future ain’t what it used to be.   —  Yogi Berra

“Listen here….. don’t you kids go playing in that back room.  I don’t want you to go and fall through that old trap door.”

That’s what my great Aunt Louise used to say when we were visiting.

Now… this made me wonder beyond wonder.

“What kind of trap was it?  One with a door…. but what…. or WHO…. was she trapping?”  I asked my older brother.  He explained it was just a door in the floor that went down to a room below.  Probably a potato cellar.

“Oh my god.   She DOES have somebody down there!  A Potato Seller! But who is he selling potatoes to?  How long has he been down there?”  The questions bounced around in my little head like a fart in a skillet.  “Was the guy okay?  What if one of us would have fallen through… THEN WHAT?!”

Finally, I couldn’t take it any more.  I had to ask Aunt Louise.  She said it wasn’t a potato cellar down there.  It was a root cellar.

“A ROOT Seller?  What kind of roots?  She REALLY did have a guy down there.  But it was making sense now. Roots grow underground, and that’s where the guy would have to be to get the roots.”

Then Aunt Louise added…. “Besides that.  Your Uncle Mac keeps his beer down there.”

Oh… now I was putting the puzzle together.  It was a secret place to make Root Beer. The Root Seller was there to sell roots for the beer… or something in that neighborhood.  We left Uncle Mac and Aunt Lou’s house that day.  I never did get a look down through that Trap Door.  But I decided from that day forward, I would love Root Beer.  I sort of made a commitment to it.  I guess I felt sorry for that guy down there.. and wanted to support the industry… or something.

Yep.  I used to drink Root Beer every chance I got.  That is…. when we were allowed to choose a soft drink on family outings and such.  But then there was my oldest sister’s wedding.  I could have as much Root Beer as I wanted at that reception.  Same with Homemade Polish Cookies.  I consumed so much Root Beer and super rich confections… that I threw up that night.

I can’t even stand the smell of Root Beer as an adult.  And I will only eat Polish Sausage… but never a Polish Cookie.

Yes my friends..  I think that Trap Door came full circle.
That is how the cookie crumbles.
How the Fat Lady Sings.
And how the Root Beer Floats.

On one hand, we know that everything happens for a reason, and there are no mistakes or coincidences. On the other hand, we learn that we can never give up, knowing that with the right tools and energy, we can reverse any decree or karma. So, which is it? Let the Light decide, or never give up? The answer is: both.  – Yehuda Berg

Say what you will, but I like TV.  In fact, I really like it.

There are those people who subscribe to the notion that TV is bad for you. Bad for your kids.  Rots your brain and dulls your senses.  They may be right.

But for me… TV is pretty dang snappy.

It started when I was a little kid.  Television was like magic.  I could be transported to places that I never dreamed of.  It was fun.  Captain Kangaroo was my main dude.  The Flintstones made me laugh.  And Speed Racer taught me to drive.   Well… more pointedly… It was Racer X.

But back to it.

You can learn a lot through the programming on television.  There are history shows, science shows…   programs concerning politics, travel, exercise, and more.  You can learn how to cook, or sew… or even how to fix a house.  One can learn about ancient myths legends, or antiques.   You can even pick up a Conspiracy Theory or two… For the heck of it.

There are news programs, and current affairs.  And of course, lots of “entertainment”…. Which is highly subjective.

I don’t much care for this part of TV.  I am a tough customer, when it comes to situation comedies.  The same goes with dramas, and such.  In fact, since Breaking Bad ended, I haven’t watched a “week – to – week” series in a long time.

The whole reality TV thing is beyond me too.  Any type… From slobbering bachelors… To dancing with your scars…. and especially not Big Brother.   I am not much for those “ninja warrior competition” type shows either.

But give me a movie… And I’ll show you a box of popcorn with hydrogenated oil on top!  Same goes with the NFL.  I’m a bit of a junkie when it come to Football… You Bet.

Sure enough.    There are good shows and bad shows.

So what is my point to all of this?

Well…. Just that I have learned a lot from people on TV over the years.  Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball taught me that women could be funny.  Julia Child showed me that more butter  should be added to anything.    Captain Kirk and Crew taught me about telecommunications….. And homer Simpson taught me the most important lesson of all.

“I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me Superman.”

Today, my Mom said to me… you know your Dad didn’t make a very good engineer.  Right out of the clear blue.  I asked her what she meant.  (Because Dad really was a very successful design engineer for a lot of years.)

And she said in all earnestness, “He was a humanitarian.”

She was right about that.

Which led me to think about how we all are employed.
Let every man be occupied in the highest employment of which he is capable and die conscious that he has done his best.
–Sidney Smith



Doing something that we feel good about never loses its importance to our lives.  Especially when it comes from the heart.

And I don’t suspect that it needs to be a prestigious occupation for our work to be important. In fact, who are we… or anyone else…. to decide what kind of job is truly important?

The most menial of tasks… or the littlest actions…. may have a profound impact on a particular man or woman or child today.

  Some people say that the highest order of employment is the offering of love and acceptance to the people on our paths each day.  Today, in fact.

For us to define employment solely in terms of career is a bit shortsighted. Our society pushes us in this direction.

Yet.  Every minute we’re awake we’re busy with something. And…. by definition…. that means we’re employed.

 When we give a broader definition of employment a chance…. that in turn…..  gives every one of us a chance to put in a productive day. Simply.  Knowing that our presence, our words, our willingness to listen to someone else may have made life better for them.  That’s a good job, by any standard.

“When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”  –  Henry J. Kaiser

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”  – Pericles

Kids of all walks of life  … are lamenting the fact… that they just have one more day of the Famous Preble County Fair.

Or it could be… too many corn dogs, cheesy fries, and elephant ears.

“Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.” -John Betjemen.