Jan 11

Big Bowl of Kitty

Bowl of Kitty?

Or maybe, with all the football that is happening, it could be “The Kitty Bowl”

Either way, this cat is not supposed to be on our dining room table. It is not supposed to be in that centerpiece either. When the kitty gets in the bowl, it becomes an it… not a he. Bad kitty. I caught the “it” in the bowl during the wee hours of this very morning. (Of course I didn’t shoooo that very terrible feline out of the bowl. No. Instead, I sneaked over grabbed my camera.) But all of this…….. yes all of it, makes me wonder what else transpires in our animal kingdom as we sleep?

Cat Bowling? Or perhaps…. Fe-LINE Dancing….. (Oh my achey-breaky heart…..)

PETA People….. relax. The kitty is just fine. Spoiled rotten, actually.

Jan 10

Word of the Day.

bejeezus |biˈjēzəs| (also bejesus)
noun informal
an exclamation traditionally attributed to the Irish, used to express surprise or for emphasis. (First known use 1861).

Well, I can surely tell you WHERE it originated. Some poor schmuck came upon this statue in 1861, a statue which NOW sits very near my home….
……and…….. it scared the bejeezus out of him. The guy hurried home. His name was Lloyd, by the way. He said to his wife, “It smells liked cooked cabbage in this place….. but nevertheless Helen, guess what just happened to me?” (his wife’s name was Heloise, but everyone called her Helen.) Anyway….. He say’s…. “Guess what happened Helen? I was walking by Nate Russell’s house…… saw this horribly creepy statue, and it scared the Living Bejeezus out of me.”

And that’s how it happened… on this very date….. in 1861. One hundred and forty years later, it is still scaring the bejeezus out of people………. concisely….. me.

(Who would make something like this……? Really……?)

Jan 09

What day were you born?

Today is the ninth day of January. I take special note of several days throughout the year… most notably the days on which my loved ones (family & friends)…..were born. So today is of that specific consideration. Happy Birthday Loved One.

You see, I am the youngest of a clan of 7. Two of my siblings were born on this date. No, they are not twins….. they were birthed 6 years apart. A boy and a girl. Fred and Elane. Fred was born on a Wednesday, Elane on a Thursday.

Here’s the 7 breakdown, because I know you won’t be able to sleep tonight without it…..(the names throughout this post have been changed to protect the unwitting).

Kid 1-Thursday
Kid 2-Friday
Kid 3-Wednesday
Kid 4-Wednesday
Kid 5-Thursday
Kid 6-Sunday
Kid 7-Wednesday

I may have a theory about “Days of the Week” and birth information. I definitely have a theory about which ovary each egg came from. (One consistent sperm source throughout.) Sooooooo…. Fredster & Elaney…. I made you a photo for your birthday on this very night. They are Magnolia Pods. (The Magnolia is named for Pierre Magnol a French Botanist…who was born on June 8, 1638, which was a Friday.)

Jan 08

I’m gonna’ sit right down….

Oooooohhhhhh,

“I’m gonna’ sit right down and write myself a letter…….”

Some nights I just feel like singing old songs. This is the only line I know from this one…. so I keep singing it again and again and again….

and again…..

Oooohhhhhhh,
“I’m gonna’ sit right down and write myself a letter……………..”

Jan 07

The house where George prayed.

On January 7th, 1789, the first U.S. presidential election was held. Americans clamored around town halls, and put papers into ballot boxes. They were voting for electors, who, a month later, chose George Washington to be the nation’s first Big Kahuna. That’s how THAT went down. Then, a couple of years later, the good president visited Charleston, SC. They loved him down here. His visit was a big crazy deal, filled with tremendous amounts of pomp, and loads of circumstance.

This is the steeple at St. Michael’s Church in Charleston, SC. On Sunday afternoon, May 8, 1791, after eating lots of grits and biscuits, Prezzy G ambled into the large, long double-pew (no. 43) in the center of this very church. It is there, he dozed (he had a very full belly) and worshiped.

I wondered what he prayed for, and how.

Jan 06

Monkey Theorems…

100th Monkey Phenomenon.  The Monkey Theory of Evolution.  Infinite Monkey Theorem.

Who knew there were so many Monkey Principles and Projections?  I have a few proposals of my own:

“The Monkey Business Principle.”  “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Monkeys.”  “How to Win Friends & Influence People with Monkeys.”  “Eat, Pray, Monkey.”

….and my favorite:  “The Sound of One Monkey Clapping.”

P.S.  I will work for bananas….. or maybe I am bananas….. or ……

Jan 05

Down on the farm….

This is the ORIGINAL Bob Evans Restaurant located in Rio Grande, Ohio.  For those of you who may not be familiar with Bob Evans, he is a dude that started making sausage in 1948, to serve at a diner he owned.  Now, the Bob Evans Restaurant Franchise serves a variety of things, including breakfast meats, chicken eggs (which they will cook to your specification), buttermilk biscuits, and even things like fried-up potatoes, and grits.

As it turns out, I eat, and enjoy, these items.  So I swung by the location of the original diner, and ate breakfast this morning.  Pretty dang good.  (I will lay down good money though…… that ol’ Bob didn’t sell things like pink stuffed monkeys with oversized eyes….when he was down on the farm!  I’m  just sayin’……)

Now, let me tell you about another place.  It is located on Meeting Street in Charleston, SC.  It is called TOAST.  They also serve a variety of food items.  But they do it MUCH BETTER than Bob Evans.  Or any place else for that matter.  I think I shall swing by there, very soon, and see about some breakfast…..

Toast:  http://www.toastofcharleston.com/

Bob Evans:  http://www.bobevans.com/

Jan 04

Chicken Little was sorta right….

There are some scary things going on.  All around.

Like in Arkansas.  A thousand birds falling from the sky.  Not so long after that very weird incident… a large fish kill in a nearby lake.  And now another large bird kill incident.  “Authorities” are saying they do not know the cause, but the incidents are not related……a bit curious, wouldn’t you say?  Do they think we are stupid?

I saw an interview with Paula Abdul yesterday.  She told the reporter that she had never been drunk or used drugs of any kind…. ever.  Does she think we are stupid?

There are numerous ads on TV for products that will make you slimmer, stronger, faster, younger, more beautiful, and richer.   Again, I think they think we are stupid.  On the other hand, those products are selling like hotcakes.  Hot-freakin’-cakes.

More on the topic of television.  Sarah Palin has her own TV show now.  Lots of people tune in.   Do I think they are stupid?  No comment.

If you buy in to any of that, here is a picture of the Eiffel Tower……

Jan 03

Hop and Trot

When I was little, I would listen to stories about the “olden times” and how people would travel by “horse and buggy.”

But I used to get things terribly wrong when I was little.  For instance, Fish Sticks.  I thought we were eating Fish Dicks.  Needless to say, I wasn’t so crazy about Fridays in the Catholic household, because we would frequently eat Fish Dicks for dinner.  There were many more of these mislaid phrases in my youth….. but I am digressing, and you certainly get my point.   So back to early travel stories….

What I THOUGHT they were saying, is that people traveled by “Horse and Bunny”…..   Oh, how that intrigued me!  I wanted to travel by “Horse and Bunny”…… and I always longed to know more.  Was it it big bunny?  Or did they carry a little bunny on the horse with them?  Or did everyone just walk as a group, horse, bunny, and all, occasionally hopping and trotting?  The mysteries of life…..

Jan 02

Flummox

Word of the DAY:

flummox FLUM-uks
verb:
confuse

(Ruth was flummoxed by the angry outburst and wild accusations that greeted her mild complaint.)

Why do I write about “flummox” this evening? WELL, apparently, the 12 Days of Christmas occur AFTER Christmas, and not before.  I was informed by a devout Catholic, that the “said” 12 days occur between the day Christ was born and the Epiphany.  Who knew?  Clearly, I was flummoxed by all of this pomp. And…. come to think of it….. just what the heck is an Epiphany?  Do I have to look that one up too?  Nah.  I’ll make something up.

…..  ……..  ……..ahhhhh….. ahhhhhh….. ahhhhhhhh….. epiphany!

epiphany |iˈpifənē|
noun:
the sound most people make when sneezing, or blowing out birthday candles

(If you just tuned in…. I did my own version of the 12 Days of Christmas…. before the 25th…. )

Did YOU Know???? No one is completely sure where the word “flummox” comes from, but we do know that its first known use is found in Charles Dickens’ 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers and that it had become quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century. One theory expressed by some etymologists is that it was influenced by “flummock,” a word of English dialectical origin used to refer to a clumsy person. This “flummock” may also be the source of the word “lummox,” which also means “a clumsy person.”