Stuff I saw today

At the lake, we saw a snake lying in the middle of the road. Of course, I had to stop and take his picture:



But he wasn't crazy about me standing there, so off he slithered:



Snakeys don't bother me much. I can easily tell the difference between the kind that aren't going to kill me and the kind that are, and I give the nasty ones a wide berth, but they don't terrify me like they do some people.

UPDATE: Yes, I know that it vaguely resembles a cottonmouth water moccasin, but I went back and zoomed in on the snake's head on my original photo, and it just doesn't have the triangular head shape or the pits. Also, a cottonmouth tends to have a very bulky, muscular body rather than a thin, lithe one. If it were a juvenile, it would've had a brighter body color. That's my opinion; I suppose I could be wrong. Nonetheless, since I really didn't know just what kind it was, I gave it plenty of room and used the camera's zoom rather than getting too close.

And then a cute widdle butterfly decided to perch on my finger:



There were loads and loads of butterflies of all shapes and sizes out at the fishing hole today. Apologies to my blogmommy who's got a weird butterfly phobia.

Next, we decided to get some hooks wet:







Not much was biting today except mosquitoes and fire ants, but we had a lovely, relaxing day. Wish you'd've been there with us.

Finished project

I finally finished another watercolor last night before I went to bed. I have a number of commissions which I'm working on finishing before beginning some new project ideas.

Gone fishin'

We're out of school today thanks to a couple of built-in bad weather days, one of which we did not use. I've decided I'm taking the kids fishing. By the time I was their age, fishing was a normal and regular part of my life during the summer. Since they grew up in the urban jungle of Des Moines (TIC), they have no idea how to do it.

I hope to get a few photos for your fun and amusement; watch this space for further developments.

Straw Poll time again

Today's fortune cookie

Stuff I saw today

Just general stuff I saw. First up is this towering contraption:


Next, a lush patch of happy, healthy poison ivy:

The southern edges of Lake Texoma:

Can you spot the Great Blue Heron?

Rick says these are mudhens (American Coots). My dad thinks they might be Black Scoters. I have no idea whatsoever:
And that's it for today. Tomorrow I hope to have some more fun pictures, since we're out of school for a Bad Weather Day that we never had to take. I'm thinking of taking the kids fishing.

Always Check Snopes, Peeps!!

I haven't been doing the English Lesson of the Day lately... don't really know why, just got tired of them. I guess it's spring and I'm ready for it to be summer already!

Any-who, I may start posting an Urban Legend of the Day feature in which I debunk all those e-mail myths that get stirred around all the time.

Or maybe not.

In any case, I do have one which I wish to expose today: The Pepsi Can Pledge of Allegiance Myth.

The basic notion is that Pepsi has come out with a patriotic pop can which has a picture of the Empire State Building on it and quotes the Pledge of Allegiance but leaves out the "under God" phrase, and the e-mail encourages people to spread it around and boycott Pepsi products packaged in the new can.

According to Snopes.com, there never has been a Pepsi can with these items on it. The brouhaha got started when Dr. Pepper came out with a patriotic-themed can with the Statue of Liberty on it and the phrase, "ONE NATION... INDIVISIBLE" at the top. They merely pulled a couple of phrases out of the Pledge, but because they happen to be the phrases that bookend "Under God," it got people stirred up.

At any rate, that Dr. Pepper can has been off the shelves for five years now.

My encouragement to anyone receiving an e-mail with urgent boycott-this-product news is to ALWAYS point your browser immediately to Snopes.com and enter the topic into the search box -- 99 times out of 100, the e-mail's a hoax or, at the very least, long-since expired.

Stuff I saw today

Today was an absolutely splendid day. I even managed to get a little sun... just enough to give myself a hint of a glow without an actual sunburn. Of course, this meant I was out in the sun for about twenty-two seconds. Tomorrow I might work up to twenty-five.

First we have an obviously happy pink rosebush nestled next to a long-abandoned homeplace.





The Coreopsis flowers were shouting "Banzai!" and blooming riotously along the roadsides today.




And I've begun working on another iris painting. I have had several commissions for iris paintings, so I'm a bit behind, but I certainly enjoy catching up. Painting is too much fun to be work.

Caption Contest

I haven't had a caption contest in quite some time, and I thought this photo was just begging for one. The actual caption from Agence France-Presse says that they're university sumo students and they're participating in the Baby-Cry Sumo at a local Buddhist temple. Apparently the goal is to get the babies to cry, and that somehow brings good health.


The winner will receive a small original watercolor painting by me. :) Contest closes on Wednesday evening at midnight, and the winner will be announced on Friday morning.

Tinfoil Haute

Saving herself from electrosmog

Sarah, 51, is one of a growing band of people who claim to be experiencing extreme - and incapacitating - sensitivity to electrical appliances, as well as to certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves.

Hey, whatever works for you, hon. [snicker]

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

I've been accepted!!

My application to attend the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Conference for Educators at the U. S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C. has been approved!!

I am totally, completely STOKED about this. Educating the current generation about the Holocaust and what factors brought it about in the first place is of critical importance, particularly now. The older I get and the more aware I am of things occurring in the world, the more urgency I feel about making sure we NEVER FORGET.

Over at Meryl Yourish's place, I read something that struck me -- struck me HARD. Her observation was that there were a number of Virginia Tech parents who were grateful that Hitler didn't get Dr. Liviu Librescu that first time around... and if this single individual will be remembered always for the last few noble and sacrificial moments of his life, think of WHO WE LOST back then. Imagine it... these two little boys in this photograph never had the opportunity to become Doctor Anyone... Dr. Librescu was buried in Israel last Friday. His eldest son said, "I walked through the streets today with my head held high because I have such a father."

Now I need to start rallying around and raising the dough in order to make the trip. This is just too important to miss.

UPDATE: Prochein Amy suggested in the comments that I post a donation link, so I did. It's on the sidebar.

Oooh, looky looky!!

(h/t to my blogmommy for the heads-up on this one)

Happiness

Felices

We count them happy who have richly known

The sweets of life, the sunshine on the hills,

The mosses in the valley, love that fills

The heart with tears as fragrant as thine own,

O tender moonlight lily, over-blown,

When the inevitable season wills,

By gentle winds beside thy native rills--

We count them happy, yet not these alone.

There is a Crown of Thorns, Way of the Cross,

Consuming Fire that burns the spirit pure.

By luster of the gold set free from dross,

By light of heaven seen best through earth's obscure,

By the exceeding gain that waits on loss--

Behold, we count them happy who endure.

Katharine Lee Bates, 1911
America the Beautiful and Other Poems

They're gonna hafta pry it from my cold, dead fingers

Ace has thoroughly exposed a well-respected expert sort of dude who's literally calling for a fascist totalitarian state in the United States as his response to the Virginia Tech massacre.

Please take the time to go and read this. This is what they want here in our country, and if you pretend it's not true, you're seriously kidding yourself.

UPDATE: Iowahawk has uncovered Dan Simpson's original first draft of the "gun control public policy masterpiece" he wrote. Cover your keyboard and make sure you go to the bathroom before you read it.

Evil skwerls also deadly

Squirrels dying off in significant numbers in Denver, several found to be infected with bubonic plague

Plague is found among rodent populations, including prairie dogs, in suburban and rural areas of Colorado every year, but experts say it is unusual to find the disease in the center of a city.

Plague, caused by a bacterium, is transmitted from rodent to rodent by infected fleas. Humans can catch the disease through scratches, bites and coughs.

Squirrels just aren't afraid enough of us anymore. Back when it was way more likely for one to end up in the dinner stewpot, they avoided us a bit more. Befriending rotten little rodent vermin and pretending they're cute widdle stinkers -- it's just stupid and foolish. It's a good way to get your fingers bitten and to catch some horrid disease.

I'll probably get into trouble with this one...

Today's fortune cookie

[snicker snicker]

Got this e-mailed joke (an oldie but a goodie, of course) from my Crazy Uncle Carroll tonight:

A southern Oklahoma farmer died and, being a heathen, went to Hell.

When he got there it was 95 F with 90% humidity, but Satan noticed he was kicked back on the brimstone relaxing comfortably.

He asked, "Why aren't you miserable like everyone else here?" The farmer replied, "Oh, this is like a warm spring day in southern Oklahoma. I like it."

Angry, Satan turned up the thermostat until it was 100 F and 95% humidity. Still, the farmer was happy. "This is like a good June day on the farm. Not bad at all."

Furious, Satan turned it up to 105 F and 99% humidity. Everyone was even more miserable, except the southern Oklahoma farmer still resting.

"Hey, this is like a good August day on the farm baling hay. Feels good -- the hotter the better."

In a total rage, Satan turned the thermostat down to minus 25 F. Within seconds, the air became chilly and frost appeared, soon followed by solid ice everywhere. Satan smirked, watching the farmer.

The confused farmer looked down at the frozen ground for a moment, suddenly jumped up excitedly, looked around everywhere and began to laugh, scream, and jump for joy.

"OSU WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!"

Contract dispute... uh huh. Whatever.

Faith

O world, thou choosest not the better part!

It is not wisdom to be only wise,

And on the inward vision close the eyes,

But it is wisdom to believe the heart.

Columbus found a world, and had no chart,

Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;

To trust the soul's invincible surmise

Was all his science and his only art.

Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine

That lights the pathway but one step ahead

Across a void of mystery and dread.

Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine

By which alone the mortal heart is led

Unto the thinking of the thought divine.

George Santayana, 1863-1952

Thought for the day

Okay, I know that's sort-of harsh, but I have secretly wondered that for a while now. I know it's good (and completely Scriptural) for me to be with fellow believers -- I don't argue with that at all. And it's good and Scriptural to sit under wise teaching. But sometimes sitting through CHURCH isn't really either of those things.

I'm not making a reference to anything or anyone in particular. I just would like to have the freedom to examine what I do and whether it fits into God's Big Plan, not whether I'm making people happy. I daresay that it's healthy to skip the routine once in a while and spend time with God in a different setting.

UPDATE: Yes, I realize that it's the wrong question... or rather, that the question is based on a faulty assumption, that being that God wants me to be happy.

He doesn't.

He wants me to be like Jesus.

True happiness has absolutely nothing to do with my circumstances.

I still, however, refuse to believe that Jesus wouldn't "skip the routine once in a while and spend time with his Father in a different setting."

And as far as spending time with God, I believe that Brother Lawrence had the real secret to "church" -- realizing that, for a true Christian, every moment you're breathing is spent "in church" because YOU are the church (as my faithful AuntyAda has pointed out in the comments). It's what Brother Lawrence literally called "practicing the presence of God" and it's a transforming truth when you finally stumble upon it.

Evil squirrel strikes again

This time a squirrel chick has hypnotized a South Carolina barber and makes a shopful of haircut clients wait around for a haircut while she gets pampered with peanuts.

Today's fortune cookie

Size issues, again

African girls who want to be models are finding they must choose -- if they wish to go onto the international catwalks, they must be thin. If they would rather remain in Africa near home and family, they have to be somewhat plumper.

Few Africans want to see a superskinny model, said Sylvia Owori, who runs Uganda's Ziper models.

"I think most Ugandans would be disgusted. They'd think she'd just come out of the village and she was malnourished," said Owori.

On the street and in African clubs and bars, it is still the bigger girls who are likely to get attention.

[snip]

But the rewards on offer in Europe can make weight loss worthwhile for ambitious models.

Ghanaian fashion models stumble out of bed for up to $200 a day. Those who make it to Europe get 1,000 euros ($1,360) per half day.

There are a few people in this world who really do get it, though. One of these models had this to say:

Alberta Arhin, 21, has her hopes pinned on an international modeling career, but still loves her kenkey, a fermented corn dish which is a staple of Ghanaian diet.

"I like myself the way I am. I am a Christian. God made everyone different. Don't starve yourself to make someone happy or to be on a runway. It is wrong," said Arhin.

Hear, hear.

Stormy day yesterday

It was so stormy that my internet was down until this morning. I was about to start suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

After things started clearing up just a tad, I hopped into the van and drove down to Pilot Point to see if the rumors of major flooding were true. Here are some photos I was able to grab:











Yep, I'd say there was a flood.

Today's fortune cookie

Today's fortune cookie

:*(

Headaches good for the brain?!?

Maybe they are, but I'd say that the corresponding inability to function outweighs whatever benefit they might afford.

My headaches have subsided considerably in the past year. It was, in fact, right at a year ago that I was having severe, crushing headaches that were later found to be caused by skyrocketing blood pressure. They never figured out why my BP shot up like that, but at least it's now well controlled and stable. I say stable; it doesn't shoot up high anymore. Occasionally it dips low enough to cause me to faint, but that tends to happen only during medical procedures (mine or my children's). I have no idea why.

I love text-messaging

But I'm not this good...

I have been asked, "Why texting?" Well, my answer is this: for people like me, who think more quickly when we write than when we talk, it's a good communication tool. And for those of us who like to answer in our own time, privately, even in a meeting or a church service (am I going to hell for that?), it's exactly the best thing. Much quicker and quieter than a telephone conversation.

I once got chewed out for texting during a band concert. I thought it was a bit paternalistic and condescending, really; the message I was sending was an important one, or I would never have sent it in the middle of a set -- AND -- I didn't text during a part of the song in which I was supposed to be playing. People need to chill, is all.

The only people who diss texting are people who don't use it. Hey, if I'm texting, at least you're not having to listen to my one-sided telephone conversation on the METRO, right?

Today's fortune cookie

Thirty books every American college student should read

John Mark Reynolds gives his list of thirty books that every American college student should read. That is, thirty plus one -- he says that the English Bible should be read cover to cover alongside all the books on his list. And he's an academic.

Oh, the list?

1. Iliad
2. Odyssey
3. History of the Peloponnesian War
4. Ethics (Aristotle)
5. Metaphysics (Aristotle)
6. Meno
7. Republic
8. Timaeus
9. Oedipus Rex
10. Bacchae
11. Orestia
12. On Friendship and On Duties (Cicero)
13. Aeneid
14. Meditations
15. History of the Church (Eusebius)
16. Confessions
17. City of God
18. Histories (Tacitus)
19. Consolation of Philosophy
20. Summa Theologica (selections!)
21. Divine Comedy
22. Canterbury Tales
23. The Prince
24. The Institutes (selections from Calvin)
25. Fairie Queen
26. Shakespeare (Hamlet, Lear, As You Like It, Henry V, Julius Caesar)
27. Faerie Queen (at least Book I)
28. Leviathan
29. Second Treatise on Government
30. Pensees

And then 10 works you should read in order to call yourself civilized:

1-3. Some poetry by Donne, Blake, Wordsworth, and Dickenson (counts as 3!)
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. Tale of Two Cities
6. Jane Eyre
7. Moby Dick
8. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
9. Brothers Karamazov
10. Anna Karenina

And finally, 10 modern works:

1. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
2. Federalist Papers
3. Reflections on the Revolution in France
4. Wealth of Nations
5. Communist Manifesto
6. Origin of Species
7. On the Genealogy of Morals
8. Civilization and Its Discontents
9. No Exit
10. Lincoln’s speeches (especially Gettysburg, which should be memorized, and the Second Inaugural)

Even as a high school English teacher, I'm afraid I'm behind on a few of those. I suppose I should get started.

Tall People Should Pay Higher Taxes

Well, according to Harvard economics professor N. Gregory Mankiw and his student Matthew Weinzierl in their paper The Optimal Taxation of Height: A Case Study of Utilitarian Income Redistribution.

[snicker] In their plan, those of us who are severely altitudinally-deficient would get extra bennies. I mean, geesh, society OWES it to us because we spend all our extra time hemming our pants, climbing stepladders and damaging our feet with platform shoes in order to be noticed.

GAME SEVEN IS ON!!!!!

Go Stars!!!!

Mike Modano scores his first playoff goal this year, and MEGA-PROPS to Marty Turco for another glorious shutout. WAHOOO!!!!

Cool beans!

Before you scroll down to look at the picture of coffee beans, you need to know that there is a man among the beans. Time yourself to see how long it takes you to find him.
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If you can do it in under three seconds, the right hemisphere of your brain is working exceptionally well. If it takes you between three seconds and a minute, you're normal. If it takes you more than that, your right brain is a bit slow -- you might want to increase your protein and mono-unsaturated fat consumption.

From Elisson, one of the coolest people I've never met.

Fashion-blogging

I link to another fashion-blogger who has discovered just the thing that the discriminating man needs to wear with his new ultra-hip leggings.

I think this might've been among the things listed as sure signs of the apocalypse.

VeggieTales

VeggieTales, Al-Qaeda style:

American commanders cite al-Qaida's severe brand of Islam, which is so extreme that in Baqouba, al-Qaida has warned street vendors not to place tomatoes beside cucumbers because the vegetables are different genders, Col. David Sutherland said.

Somebody needs to tell Bob and Larry. One of them better start burqa-shopping.

My newest podcast treasure find

I have been enjoying a "radio theater" podcast produced in Canada by a group called Decoder Ring Theater. I'm specifically indulging in their "Red Panda" super-hero comics-on-the-radio. If you've got elementary-age or older kids, they'll probably dig these. If you yourself are a kid at heart, you'll enjoy them, too.

I find that podcasts like this are a nice treat on long car trips. I hook up my iPod through the radio and the kids can listen to it that way.

Today's fortune cookie

Stars send the series to six games

This annoying habit of stretching hockey games out to sixteen-thousand overtimes is going to be the death of the fans, man!

I heart Marty Turco (Dallas Stars goalie, photo on left). And Brendan Morrow. And, of course, Mike Modano... hottest hockey player EVAR.

Sixth game will be in Dallas. C'mon Stars... time to shine!!

Alec Baldwin strikes again

This time, his clearly uncontrolled rage issues just exploded in his 11-year-old daughter's ear. A snippet of this fine, upstanding and ragingly liberal actor's diatribe:

You made me feel like **** and you've made me feel like a fool over and over and over again. And this crap you pull on me with this god**** phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother and you do it to me constantly and over and over again. I am going to get on a plane and I am going to straighten your ass out when I see you.

Do you understand me? I am going to really make sure you get it. That I'm going to get on a plane and I'm gonna turn around and come home. So you better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me. So I'm going to let you know how I feel, about what a rude little pig you really are. You are a rude thoughtless little pig. Okay?

His spokesperson gave this statement:

In the best interest of the child, Alec will do what the mother is pathologically incapable of doing…keeping his mouth shut and obeying the court order. The mother and her lawyer leaked this sealed material in violation of a court order. Although Alec acknowledges that he should have used different language in parenting his child, everyone who knows him privately knows what he has been put through for the past six years.

What he's been PUT THROUGH? Oh, give me a king-sized break. Sounds to me like he doesn't have the first clue about parenting. Not that that surprises me or anything.

I feel for that kid. He's got some serious rage issues and needs to deal with them before he's allowed any sort of visitation or custody. An adult would recognize that his daughter isn't the one he should be berating... and for that matter, if he wants any sort of relationship with her at all, he's going to have to suck it up and be nice to Mom.

Today's fortune cookie

I guess that would be Bijou, my dog.

Is it possible?

Did the Supreme Court actually do something right about abortion? Finally?

Yes, they did.

Winking at this silent holocaust for so long is not going to serve our nation well. The culture of death commingled with the pervasiveness of situational ethics is going to reap the whirlwind eventually.

Time to overturn Roe. It's bad law, based on shaky logic. At the very least, such decisions belong in the hands of individual states rather than in the Nanny State. And after that, the people have a much more realistic chance of effecting change in policy.

And yes, I am wholly aware that, as a libertarian-leaning person, I should probably support the notion of controversial things being legal, but there are some places at which a line should be drawn. People deserve a chance to be alive. No-one should have the right to have life-and-death decisions over an innocent human life. Once they're born and they grow up and make choices, those choices can have such lethal consequences as a death penalty -- but no infant deserves to have that penalty served upon it simply for the sake of convenience.

The victims

Here's a slideshow of the campus massacre victims. Pray for those families.

Low-rise jeans have hit a new low?

Thanks to the Japanese, whose culture I love but who sometimes take trendy to depths previously unplumbed... yuggh!




Found at WayOdd.com