I'm doing laundry. Lots and lots and lots of laundry. #1 son is going off to college on Thursday so I think he scraped up every bit of laundry that he'd been hiding up to now. Plus, he wanted me to wash the new sheets we bought for his dorm bed. By the look of things, I'll be done with the laundry by tomorrow night...if I keep at it. There is no way that I can pick berries today and tomorrow will be spent shopping for those last minute items #1 son will need at college which we forgot to buy last week. I wonder if they're still selling rubber flipflops at any of the stores. Maybe they're all sold out of those. I think Republicans may have bought them to wave at the convention whenever John Kerry's name is mentioned.

Murphyism of the Day

"The winner is always in another room. "

* I was playing Pogo between loads of laundry and someone hit the jackpot...not in my room and never me. The above quote was a comment from one of the other players.

Yesterday evening we had a surprise visit from my Uncle Bill (my Dad's brother) and my cousin Peter and his family. I guess this must be the summer for visiting with people that I haven't seen in a long time. Actually, I did have a bit of warning. My folks called me prior to the visit. They all decided to stop by on their way back from the family reunion that I didn't attend this year. I turned off my computer and I vacuumed. And then I set out munchies for everyone. My pantry and cupboards were a bit bare but I was able to provide chips and dips (leftovers) . I used my imagination and I was able to cut up and heat leftover pizza into "chips" to dip into a bowl of leftover spaghetti sauce. It worked. I promise not to break my arm patting myself on the back but I do think my munchies turned out great! It was great seeing and visiting with my Uncle Bill and my cousin Peter again and it was great to meet Peter's wife and daughter. I think it's been about forty years since I've seen my cousin. He still looks like Peter....older...but Peter. They all spent the night at my folk's place and then continued on their way for a week of camping up north.

Murphyism of the Day

One should always expect visitors when your house needs cleaning and your cupboards are bare.

We had a farewell breakfast/brunch at The Blue Hills Supper Club this morning. BTP and my daughter are now on their way back to Omaha with a quick side trip to the Mall of America.

HTP, #1 son, and I all went to Walmart after brunch. #1 son wanted/needed some school supplies. We finally did find a box of college rule filler paper among all the boxes of wide rule. We were taking our lives in our hands going to Walmart today. Everyone seemed to be out buying school supplies and visiting in (clogging) the aisles.

I'm going to go out berry picking again today. Maybe #1 son will go out berry picking with me tomorrow.

Murphyism of the Day

The Lippman Lemma

People specialize in their area of greatest weakness.

I cleaned and canned two quarts of blackberries to make into wine when I get back to Arizona. I'll try and do some more serious picking as soon as the woods dry out a bit. Next week?

It's raining today...dreary and cold...so I've been sitting in front of the TV watching all about the fall of the Roman Empire as I crotchet #1 son's afghan. I fear I will have to abandon my hope of finishing this project before #1 son heads off to school. I will try to get it finished, however, before HTP and I head back to Arizona at the end of October. It's hard to grasp the fact that #1 son will be heading off to college next week. Is he ready? Am I ready?

I have picked only three ripe tomatoes from my many tomato plants so far. I do notice that at least one of the larger tomatoes is starting to turn a faint shade of pink. I take this as a positive sign and pray that we don't get an early frost. We've had a couple of meals with the green beans that I've been able to pick from my garden. The peppers are just starting to produce tiny little peppers...too young to pick as yet. Though I've had lots of blossoms from my summer squash and zucchini plant, we've had only three squash so far. The cucumbers are doing better then that but I don't think I'll be making any pickles this year. Oh well, I plan to plant my garden a lot sooner next year.

Murphyism of the Day

The Pitfalls of Genius

No boss wil keep an employee who is right all the time.

My arms look like I lost a fight with a cat. I went blackberry picking. The bushes bite. Raspberry bushes only nibble a bit. Blackberry bushes will take huge chunks out of the unsuspecting. I am no novice at blackberry picking. I went out in full battle regalia. I count myself lucky that I came back home with only a few scratches. I picked one bucket of blackberries. I'll clean and can them tomorrow. Serious blackberry picking will have to wait until next week, after my guests have left.

Last night was fun. Our steak dinner wasn't spoiled by rain. My folks and my sister and her husband joined us for supper. After dinner we sat down and watched a movie on DVD while we had the raspberry dessert I made. I think it was a hit. The dessert. The movie was great too.

Tonight we're going to go to Stouts Lodge and Resort for supper. We have to catch a special ferry because the lodge is located on an island. We haven't been out there in a couple of years. I hope it still lives up to expectations. Actually, I hope it's better then the last time we were out there. The last time we were out there, they'd lost their chef and were making do some of the kitchen help. Needless to say, I wasn't too impressed. Not at the prices they charge.

Murphyism of the Day

Amand's Law of Management

Everyone is always someplace else.

I thought I'd quickly blog before everyone is up and moving. Mink and BTP got here at around 3 AM. I had already gone to bed after leaving instructions for HTP to wake me up when they got here. He did. I'm not sure if I was truly awake but I did try to sound somewhat coherent. With all the lack of sleep, you'd think I wouldn't be up this early. Wrong. I knew I had to get up early to wash my hair and feed and walk the dogs before anyone else got up. My hair is washed but now I have to go "do something with it". We have plans for steaks on the grill tonight but I fear that it's going to rain. It's pretty dreary out there right now.

BTP mentioned something about jogging this morning? I think? He mentioned it last night right after they got here so I'm not too clear about what all was said. I suppose you can jog in the rain. I don't jog. Jogging is not for me. I used to jog. OK. It wasn't jogging back then. It was running. I used to love to run. Now running doesn't love me. My knees don't appreciate the stress. I'll stick to walking. My knees aren't too fond of that either but they'll just have to get over it. When I get back to Arizona I'll pamper them with aquaerobics.

Murphyism of the Day

Aigner's Axiom

No matter how well you perform your job, a superior will seek to modify the results.

*I sure hope #1 son did a good job cleaning that bathroom downstairs. Maybe I'd better go check.

I've been getting ready for a visit from my oldest daughter and her "significant other" or boyfriend. I'm not really all that fond of either of those titles. My daughter refers to him as BTP...Boy-Type-Person. I kind of like that. I took a page from her book(blog)and refer to my husband as HTP...Husband-Type-Person.

My daughter and BTP are going to be arriving here in the wee hours of the morning. BTP has a slight problem with deer. I think someone has sprayed deer attractant on his cars. He's managed to hit several of them throughout his driving career. I hope he doesn't hit any deer this trip. Oh well...they'll probably be driving the truck. Venison for dinner?

I might be a bit too busy to blog in the next few days. We'll be having a family dinner tomorrow night. Steaks on the grill...hopefully not venison. My sister is bringing corn-in-the-cob and her famous cole slaw (Fumi) as well as some cooked portabello mushrooms to go with the steak and Holy Mole (her recipe for guacamole). I'm making a raspberry dessert, the steaks, and a large green salad. I'm also providing chips and salsa, pita triangles and hummus and beverages. We won't be sending anyone home hungry.

Plans for the rest of Mink (my daughter) and BTP's visit can be ironed out after we've had a chance to visit. I do know that #1 son is looking forward to making homemade pizza on one of the nights.

Murphyism of the Day

Post's Managerial Observation

The inefficiency and the stupidity of the staff corresponds to the inefficiency and stupidity of the management

How could it be laundry day again? I just did laundry...didn't I? It's been a whole week? Oh well, time flies when you're having fun. HTP, #1 son and I went fishing last night. We stayed out in the boat until the mosquitoes drove us ashore after dark. We had some luck...enough luck to produce enough fish for a fish fry. I cleaned the fish. #1 son cooked the fish. Beer batter. MMMMM. They were delicious.

Tonight my cousin John invited us for a cookout over at their place. Actually, it's my cousin Paul's place and they're just borrowing it. Anyway, we had typical cookout fare. Bratwurst, potato salad, sauerkraut and all the trimmings. I even got to eat a toasted marshmallow...just one. Mustn't overeat. My Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary (cousin John's parents) drove in from St. Paul to join us all. There was a lot of food. It was good to see family all together like that. My folks, my Uncle and Aunt and my cousin and his family. #1 son brought over some fireworks to set off. He supervised as he showed his second cousin Andy how to light most of the fuses. Second cousin Juliet was impressed by all the action. Second cousin Anna slept undisturbed by all the flash and dash. Another generation living and experiencing the joys of staying at The Lake. It was nice to sit and visit, remembering other cookouts and sharing experiences from our childhood.

"Do you remember 'The Snapping Turtle Incident'?"

When we were young, my brother, sister and I loved to go fishing off our dock at The Lake. We were fairly normal children and our attention spans were not always lengthy, to say the least. Anyway, we often would leave our fishing lines, baited and bobbered, cast out from the dock...unattended. Often we would be rewarded upon remembering and returning to check our lines with a fish...sometimes a big fish. So, sometimes, we would leave our lines out on purpose...all night sometimes. Anyway, one morning we went down to the dock to check our lines. I don't remember what I caught on my line. Probably a bullhead...this was often the result and reward for leaving a baited line out overnight. It's not really important what I caught that morning. The important catch of the morning was on the other end of my brother's line. At first he thought he'd caught a huge fish...or maybe a fish had dragged his line under a log. But then the log started moving. We were all excited. We had the landing net at the ready as he battled this huge fish. And then we saw what was on the hook side of his line. I'm not too sure that I've ever seen a snapping turtle as big as this snapping turtle...at least not at the time. What does one do when you have a rather angry snapping turtle firmly hooked on your fishing line? Cut the line? NO WAY!!!!! Hooks were at a premium when we were kids. I think there was some consideration for a fairly new metal leader too, not to mention a perfectly good bobber. My brother battled the snapping turtle all the way to the shallows near the shore. My brother was standing on the dock. The snapping turtle, more then a bit disturbed, was digging his claws into the lake bed in an attempt to shake off this young upstart on the dock. Now what? After a much discussion (just we three kids...no parents present...yet), we all decided that we'd bring the turtle to our grandparents who would cook it up for us. Now don't feel sorry for Grandma and Grandpa...Grandpa used to trap and kill snapping turtles. Anyway, we all decided that we'd drown the snapping turtle. It was decided that since it was my brother's line, it was my brother's turtle and therefore it was my brother's job to drown the beast. Our weapon of choice? One of the boat oars. Needless to say, we didn't drown the snapping turtle. We tried. We really did try. There was much thrashing and splashing about. I'm sure we were making all kinds of noise. And then....my brother managed to fall off the dock. Right on top of the turtle. The very angry snapping turtle. My sister and I were terrified that he'd end up as turtle food....I believe my brother had a few fears in that direction too. He did manage to scramble back onto the dock pretty darn fast. It was truly amazing. I think at this point my sister and I should have been more sympathetic. We were in tears. Tears of laughter. My brother was not amused. At this point The Parents figured out that it might be time to investigate all the screaming coming from the dock area. I believe it was my father who cut the fishing line. My brother was sent off to the cabin to change into dry clothes. We were told that drowning wasn't the preferred method of choice when it came to dispatching a snapping turtle. And we never, ever tried it again. Oh...we still left our lines out overnight and we still caught bullheads and the occasional northern pike but there were no more snapping turtles. It's just as well because Grandpa never did tell us how he used to kill those snapping turtles that my Grandma would cook up.

Murphyism of the Day

Mitchell's Laws of Committology

1. Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough conferences are held to discuss it.

2. Once the way to screw up a project is presented for consideration it will invariably be accepted as the soundest solution.

3. After the solution screws up the project, all those who initially endorsed it will say, "I wish I had voiced my reservations at eh time."

Yesterday I went berry picking...again. They're still out there. I picked a full ice cream bucket full. This time there were more blackberries mixed in. After cleaning them all I figured out that 1/3 of the berries that I picked were blackberries. That's promising. I'll take #1 son out berry picking with me next week. I want enough blackberries to make several batches of blackberry wine.

Today #1 son and I went over to visit with my folks and meet my cousin John's wife and kids. They were staying at his brother's place across the lake for a few days having flown in from Washington, the state. It's been a long time since I've seen my cousin John and I'd never met his wife and kids. I think they may be stopping over here to see our place later... Gotta go vacuum...again. HTP has gone out to get bait so we can go fishing later. Hah! Futile pursuit! The fish haven't been biting.

Murphyism of the Day

Gioia's Theory

The person with the least expertise has the most opinions.

It's my husband's birthday today. Happy Birthday HTP!!!! Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear HTP, Happy Birthday to You! We celebrated last night with a buffet...I told you about that. I have since recovered and we took him out for a Full Monty 32 OZ. Prime Rib Dinner. I brought most of mine back to cook up for supper sandwiches for tomorrow night, the next night, and the next night.... I ate my baked potato...all of it. MMMMM. Carbohydrates. MMMMM. #1 son and I decorated a chocolate cake with cut up Snicker bars. HTP loves Snicker bars. We lit a sparkler instead of a birthday candle. I was really pretty. I took pictures. HTP tried to blow out the sparkler but I'm sure he'll still get his wish.

Murphyism of the Day

Owen's Theory of Organizational Deviance

Every organization has an allotted number of positions to be filled by misfits.

Corollary:

Once a misfit leaves, another will be recruited.

Buffets should be banned. They are lethal and not just if you happen to be on a diet. Good grief! Even if you take just a smidgeon of the best looking stuff, you roll out into the parking lot barely able to catch your breath. Gasp! Gasp! We took HTP out to celebrate his birthday at a local bar that has a wonderful ALL YOU CAN EAT fish fry with all the trimmings. Groan! I started out with such great intentions. I filled my plate with salad. But that shrimp looked good...and the chicken...and the desserts. Gasp...groan...moan! Buffets really should be banned. We came home and I had to collapse on the bed for a while just so I could breath. Moan. The food was just too good and just too plentiful. We'll save HTP's birthday cake until tomorrow night...his real birthday. I don't think I could even drink a teeny tiny dixie cup full of water at this point. And as always I'm left with..."Why the heck did I eat so much?"

Murphyism of the Day

McKernan's Maxim

Those who are unable to learn from past meetings are condemned to repeat them.

*I guess that answers any questions about why I eat too much at buffets.

A Mouse Tail

When we have company here at The Lake, we try to take our guests for a boat ride and tour...if the weather is nice. Faithfully, last Sunday, we bundled our guests into warm winter jackets because no matter the temperature it gets dang cold when HTP speeds across the water, and we took them for a boat ride. It was cold but sunny and blessedly quiet because the weekenders had departed. As we pulled away from the dock, HTP at the helm (a rather pretentious word to use for an 18' fishing boat), we roared (well it is a 90hp motor) down the lake. I was sitting in the seat at the bow of the boat...our guests were sitting aft. All of a sudden there were gasps and laughter from our guests. HTP just gasped. He was not amused. LOOK!!!! I looked. There, right next to me, was a mouse. A cute little mouse. It looked a bit unhappy. It(I refer to the mouse as an it because I really didn't have a way of checking for gender) was scurrying along the bow of the boat. I think HTP disturbed the poor thing. I don't think it particularly cared for the way HTP was navigating the boat. HTP demanded that I kick "it" into the water. I turned and glared at HTP. The mouse scurried to safety and hid by the front anchor. I think it must have caught the negative vibes that HTP was throwing from his aura. I proceeded to tell HTP that the poor thing wasn't hurting anyone and that we should just leave it alone. Our guests didn't condemn my reluctance to "kick it into the lake". I suspect that the poor thing hid in the front of my boat because I wasn't throwing out negative vibes. We continued on our tour of the lake. As we reached the confines of the channel, HTP necessarily slowed the speed of our boat. The channel is a No Wake Zone. The mouse came out again from its hiding spot near the anchor. The mouse looked at me. We all looked at the mouse. The mouse turned and then...I swear...it cupped its front paws into a perfect diving point and it dove off the boat into the cool water of the channel right by the dock of those people who keep coming and parking in front of our dock with their pontoon flotilla. It was a fine dive. I like to imagine that it will soon be fruitful and multiply in the cabin of those wonderful weekenders. I wish it well.

Murphyism of the Day

Gates' Law

The only important information in a hierarchy is who knows what.

You know that you've entered the modern computer age (OK...this could be read in 20 years and someone will get a real laugh out of it) when you start complaining that the DSL modem speed has reduced itself to the slowest of dial-up modem speed. I know. I'm spoiled. We're here at The Lake and I've spent a great deal of the day fighting the internet and grousing about how slow it is today. My excuse? Well...it did rain but I suppose I could have gone out when the sun entered the picture. Oh well. I did get one of my Pogo badges and started on another. It is cool. One of the gals online chatted that she had a bushel of tomatoes in her kitchen waiting to be canned. I inquired as to her location. Pennsylvania. I informed her that all I had was green tomatoes here in Wisconsin. I chatted that the weather had put us behind about two weeks and that the blackberries were still green, green, green. She chatted back that the blackberries out where she was were done for the year. Sigh. Oh well, at least I have something to look forward to...I hope.

Murphyism of the Day

Soper's Law

Any bureaucracy reorganized to enhance efficiency is immediately indistinguishable from its pedecessor.

* On this note I'm beginning to wonder if it's actually worth the effort for me to register to vote this year. MMMMM. Who's going to mess things up the most?

The weather started out foggy and slightly overcast. Since it was laundry day none of this mattered. HTP and son ordered #1 son's books for his fall classes online. That took most of the day as the book requirement sheet that was given to #1 son isn't all that clear. I do not remember having so many difficulties when I had to buy my books for college. Don't you just love this modern age?

Murphyism of the Day

Hoffstedt's Employment Principle

Confusion creates jobs.

And it all started out so innocently...

The weather turned dreary today. Our guests had two wonderful days here to enjoy The Lake and the weather wasn't really a factor today because they departed after breakfast. I made pancakes.

After our guests left, HTP and I decided that we'd better check on our phone messages back in Arizona. So innocent. Such and easy task. HAH!!!!! Hysterical laughter! I'm sure by now that our next door neighbor out there is ready to drum us out of the neighborhood. I mean, if we are this much trouble as neighbors and we're not even there, imagine what kind of problems we can create while we are there. Sorry friends. Our phones weren't working in Arizona. All we could get when we called the number was a busy signal. Our neighbor raced over there to check to make sure someone wasn't racking up long distance phone calls. There wasn't anyone there. The house was secure. Hot...but secure. She lowered my thermostat to save my houseplants' lives. Thank you neighbor. Interesting to find out that her cordless phone works all the way over at and in our house. Good thing.

OK...so what the heck was happening? Was it the security system? MMMM. Much thought. HTP got online and on the phone to the security company. MMMM. HTP called up the diagram for our communication panel to see if there was something that could be done in Arizona to pinpoint the problem. MMMM. Another call to our poor neighbor. Off she runs to our house to tackle an electrical engineering problem. Could she please unplug this wire from the panel? OK...that didn't work. Plug it back in. Could she please unplug that wire from the panel? Ok...that didn't work either. MMMM. OK. Unplug both those wires. Nope. That didn't work. We were still getting a busy signal. Interesting. There shouldn't have been a busy signal. There should have been endless ringing. MMMM. OK. Plug both those wires back in. HTP pretty much figured out that after all that...it was a phone company problem. Thank you, thank you, thank you neighbor. I promise that I won't complain if your dog barks (I wouldn't do that anyway) and I promise not to have loud parties that you aren't invited to.

HTP called the phone company. Right away they told us that there indeed was a wire grounded out somewhere and they'd send someone out to fix it. How long were we without phones and thereby without security system? I probably will never know. The phones now work. The security system is working again too so all you burglars are out of luck. You lost you opportunity. My messages from Arizona have been checked. All is well with our world...at least as far as I know.

I'll clean up the mess the monsoons left in my backyard when I get home.

Murphyism of the Day

Just when you think all is well in your world, it starts to rain.

We had brunch over at The Blue Hills Supper Club this morning. Afterwards we worked off all that wonderful food with a hike through the woods along the logging trail. The blackberries still haven't come into their full potential so we picked wild raspberries here and there as we walked along the old road where oxen used to haul their loads of wood.

I made spaghetti for supper. No room for dessert as yet. As I blog I'm avoiding Kill Bill II which the rest of them all seemed to want to watch. Sorry. I never could watch that sort of movie. I know that it's supposed to be funny but...

Plans have been made to set off fireworks after the movie. Someone said something about roasting marshmallows too. So much to do and so little time to do it in.

Murphyism of the Day

Young's Law

It is the dead wood that holds up the tree.

Corollary:

Just because it is still standing, doesn't mean it is not dead.

My company should be coming in about an hour. I made a faux raspberry souffle (my invention and I hope it turns out OK) this morning for dessert tonight and I just got back from picking the choicest of the remaining raspberries to garnish the dessert. HTP is busy vacuuming the upstairs. I suppose I should get #1 son to vacuum the stairs. He vacuumed the basement yesterday so I assume that it doesn't need anything more. I've got to clean my freshly picked berries but I'm waiting until the bugs have a chance to escape first.

Murphyism of the Day

Fox on Bureaucracy

A bureaucracy can outwait anything.

Corollary:

Never get caught between two bureaucracies.

It's another beautiful day. Cool and sunny. Unfortunately I can hear that the weekenders have returned to the lake. Oh well...

I have company coming tomorrow for a couple of days. I spent the morning cleaning and dusting. I know. I really should clean and dust on a regular basis but...I'd rather go fishing. Speaking of fishing, the fish haven't been biting. I suppose I should go check my bait to make sure that it's still alive and not stinking in the fridge. Yes, I keep my bait in the fridge. It last longer that way. I'm going to go down to the dock and see if I can catch some fish for my guests but I'm not holding out too much hope. We'll probably end up making bratwurst for one night and spaghetti for another night.

I'm going to check my garden for green beans tomorrow. I was able to pick a few summer squash yesterday.

Plans for the weekend are hiking and berry picking. Let's hope the weather allows.

Murphyism of the Day

The Bureaucracy Principle

Only a bureaucracy can fight a bureaucracy.

And just when I was getting ready to dig out the snow shovel....

The sun is shining today. Despite the rain we got for the last two day, one of my tomato plants graphically reminded me that it wanted water. It was "touching its toes". Apparently that poor plant drank all of the 3/4" of rain we got and wanted more. "Feed Me!" My deck looks like it's been invaded. It's over-run with the green foliage of the tomato plants that are attempting to escape from their containers despite all my judicious pruning. So far no-one has been bitten... at least not by a tomato plant.

My son-in-law's mothers sent me the following "funny". I thought I'd share. I'll have to dig out a few of my Minnesotan "funnies" to share with her.


We are sick and tired of hearing about how dumb people are in the South. We challenge any so-called smart Yankee to take this exam administered by the University of Alabama Engineering Department:

1. Calculate the smallest limb diameter on a persimmon tree that will support a 10-pound possum.

2. Which of these cars will rust out the quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard? -'65 Ford Fairlane, -'69 Chevrolet Chevelle or -'64 Pontiac GTO.

3. If your uncle builds a still which operates at a capacity of 20 gallons of shine produced per hour, how many car radiators are required to condense the product?

4. A woodcutter has a chainsaw which operates at 2700 RPM. The density of the pine trees in the plot to be harvested is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3 acres in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. How many Budweisers will be drunk before the trees are cut down?

5. If every old refrigerator in the state vented a charge of R-12 simultaneously, what would be the percentage decrease in the ozone layer?

6. A front porch is constructed of 2x8 pine on 24-inch centers with a field rock foundation. The span is 8 feet and the porch length is16 feet. The porch floor is 1-inch rough sawn pine. When the porch collapses, how many hound dogs will be killed?

7. A man owns a Kentucky house and 3.7 acres of land in a hollow with an average slope of 15%. The man has five children. Can each of his grown children place a mobile home on the man's land and still have enough property for their electric appliances to sit out front?

8. A 2-ton truck is overloaded and proceeding 900 yards down a steep slope on a secondary road at 45 MPH. The brakes fail. Given average traffic conditions on secondary roads, what is the probability that it will strike a vehicle with a muffler?

9. A coalmine operates a NFPA Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Area. The mine employs 120 miners per shift. A gas warning is issued at the beginning of the 3rd shift. How many miners ate hard boiled eggs for breakfast?

10. At a reduction in the gene pool variability rate of 7.5% per generation, how long will it take a town which has been bypassed by the Interstate to breed a country-western singer?

Murphyism of the Day

Young's Law of Inanimate Mobility

All inanimate objects can move just enough to get in your way.

Comfort food. Again we're having unseasonably cold and dreary weather here at The Lake today. The rain gauge is reporting 3/4" of rain since yesterday morning. We've built another fire in the fireplace and I made a pot of homemade minestrone soup for lunch. My only worry now is that the weather is supposed to clear off tonight. Can I expect frost to hit my garden?

Murphyism of the Day

The Rockefeller Principle

Never do anything you wouldn't be caught dead doing.

How cold was it? It was so cold that....

The high today was 56°F here at The Lake. The sun did not shine. Again I was reminded of a typical fall day in Oregon. Rain drizzled from the sky for most of the day. My poor rain gauge had a hard time measuring the mere 1/4" of the wet stuff. I had to wear my winter jacket to protect my poor thinned out Arizona blood every time I had to take the dogs out. So what does one do on a dreary day such as this? Besides laundry? It's a great day to work on that afghan I promised to make for #1 son in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace while watching Fox News. Oh...and I washed up three boxes of antique canning jars and decorated the top of my kitchen cabinets with them. And I refilled the hummingbird feeders...again. And the finch feeders. And I watched the tomatoes as they remained stubbornly green.


Murphyism of the Day

Frothinghams's Law

Urgency varies inversely with importance.

I went out after breakfast to pick raspberries again this morning. It was a dual purpose trip. I also wanted to see how far along the blackberries are coming. I did pick about a cup of blackberries but the raspberries are still prime. I picked the largest and most perfect wild raspberries for dessert tonight.

It's raining again. I'm glad I had a chance to get out picking while it was nice. I wish I'd thought to go out to the garden to pick some squash blossoms to save for tomorrow's breakfast. Oh well...maybe if it stops raining and dries off a bit.

Murphyism of the Day

A watched pot never boils.

A watched tomato never ripens.

It's raining. Not stormy rain ....just that drippy rain like they get in Oregon and Washington. I'm back in jeans with a long-sleeved shirt and sweater. As I glance at my garden and all the green tomatoes out there, it dawns on me that I'll probably be making all kinds of green tomato relish this fall because it really hasn't been sunny or warm enough for my garden to produce results. Oh ye of little faith...

I watch Pulp Fiction today. I hadn't ever seen it before. Interesting? I still want to see Cat in the Hat...

Murphyism of the Day

Allen's Law

Almost anything is easier to get into than to get out of.

Although I call myself The Old Grey Frog, I haven't decided to let my hair go grey yet. I know that I will have to bite the bullet and go grey one of these days but not yet. I used to have my hair professionally colored every three to four months after deciding that my dishwater blonde hair wasn't to my liking. And then my hair started turning this wonderful shade of white-grey. My hair grows at an unusually rapid rate. No sooner then one month after I spent a great deal of money getting my hair dyed, I was developing a skunk line on my part-line. By the time I allowed my hair to grow for the full three months they recommend before redying one's hair, I had a full blown skunk streak. I even tried having my hair streaked with blonde streaks to mask the skunk line. This was not working. It was at this point that I decided to have all my hair cut into a boy's cut and let my hair go grey. I like short hair. My husband doesn't.

I decided to start re-dyeing my hair when my best friend took one look at me after my return from my summer at The Lake. She blurted out in shock, "You've got grey hair!" OK. I decided to try a semi-permanent hair color and dye my own hair. The box promised that the color would gradually fade in 24 shampoos. I was hoping that this would solve the skunk streak problem. I was saving money and how hard could it be? Not too hard with short hair. The only problem with dyeing your own hair is this feeling of panic when that dye turns bizarre colors. Is my hair going to turn purple like that? The color (no...it didn't turn purple) did gradually fade and the skunk streak problem was a thing of the past.

I dyed my hair today. It's the first time I've dyed my hair in months. It's getting harder to dye my own hair now that my hair is longer. Shoulder length. I suppose I could have a professional dye my hair with a semi-permanent dye but I refuse to admit defeat...yet. I still have a bit of a problem with the bizarre color panic. I never really know what color my hair will become until the towel comes off and I style my hair. I have to admit that there are times that the color isn't all that great. Good thing it fades. Oh well...you get what you pay for.

Murphyism of the Day

Schopenhauer's Law of Entropy

If you put a spoonful of wine in a barrel full of sewage, you get sewage.

If you put a spoonful of sewage in a barrel of wine, you get sewage.

We've got a dead deer marking the entrance to our driveway. I can only assume that someone hit the deer with their car and sped off leaving the remains for someone else to clean up. The remains are decomposing rapidly. The remains don't smell nice. The flies are prolific. My son saw someone in a pickup truck yesterday checking out the remains. I don't know why they were there overseeing the deer. Maybe they were looking for a bit of roadkill for their freezer. Evidently it didn't pass inspection since (pardon the irreverant pun) the deer remains.

This morning some poor gal rang our doorbell. She'd hit a black lab with her car and was wondering if the dog was ours. Apparently the black lab was checking out the dead deer remains and decided to dart out in front of her car. I can only guess at the fate of that poor black lab judging from the damage I could see to this woman's car.

We called the sheriff. Eventually the dead deer will be removed from the entrance to our driveway by whatever authority that's responsible for this dreaded duty. I don't know what the outcome was for the black lab. Out here in our rural community people tend to let their dogs run free. I'm not always sure a dog owner is doing their dog any favors by letting them run free. I still have vivid memories of a dog we lost when I was young...hit by a car, lying like a broken doll at the side of the road. I'm sure that poor lady who hit the dog will have a hard time getting over the event. I know that I've been dwelling on it all day even though there wasn't anything that I could have done. I don't want to think about how the owners of that black lab are feeling right now.

And I have a dead deer marking the entrance of my driveway.

Murphyism of the Day

Ken's Law

A flying particle will seek the nearest eye.

I stayed up way too late last night. I was determined to get all those berries cleaned and prepped before heading to bed. It feels like it's going to be a wonderfully cool and dry day...probably a much better day for berry picking but I don't have any plans for that. You know that you've picked enough berries when you start dreaming about them.

I've noticed that my more then half of the people visiting my blog are lead there in search of vital woodtick information. This seems to be a rather prolific year for the little bloodsuckers. I've had three times as many woodticks this year then last. Of course....I only had one woodtick last year. If you can't do the math...I've had three woodticks so far this year. My latest poacher is currently swimming in the watery pit of my septic system.

My Dad sent me the following poem that I thought I'd pass along for all you who depend upon the "spelling chequer."

Spell Czech

Eye halve a spelling chequer. It came with my pea sea.
It plainly marques for my revue miss steaks eye can knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word and weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write. It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid, it nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite. Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it, I am shore your pleased to no.
Its letter perfect in its weigh. My chequer tolled me sew!

Murphyism of the Day

Quantity = 1/Quality; or quantity is inversely proportional to quality.

I can't believe that it's already time for me to make supper! Of course I felt that I should blog first. I spent a few hours after getting the laundry started picking berries. How many berries do I really need? I don't know. Apparently I still don't have enough or I wouldn't be going out all the time. I did pick a nice handful of blackberries as a bonus. I was concerned that the blackberries wouldn't be ripe enough to pick by the time my friend comes for a visit. I guess I don't need to worry. I added the handful to the three buckets of ripe raspberries that I picked. Yes...there are still more berries out there waiting to be picked. I ran out of energy before I could pick them all. Oh well, you can't pick them all.

I'm still working on the laundry. FedEx delivered my new bookcases so I had to take care of them. One bookcase went downstairs but #1 son hasn't taken computer time to put it together yet. I really do need to get on his case. I may just unplug his stupid computer. He kept complaining that he didn't have enough space to put things and now I bought him some more space and he still isn't unpacking. I've got to get that basement clean and organized. It's starting to drive me insane. I refuse to go out and pick more berries to center myself anymore. I'll become perfectly centered as soon as that mess in the basement is taken care of.

I'm crocheting a new afghan for #1 son. I can see that it's going to take me a while. I made it wide enough to lay flat on a king-size bed so it's going to take awhile to make it long enough not to look silly.

Murphyism of the Day

Just when you thought you picked every single berry....you come across that perfect bush that begs to be picked.

The most luscious berries only grow in the midst of the nettle bushes.

We drove into The Big City yesterday. It's August and we all decided to celebrate the August birthdays at Buca di Beppo where we all ate and ate and ate and ate. We talked and talked and talked as well but we ate....lots....a lot more then we're supposed to eat. Anyway, we got back to The Lake in plenty of time for me to make supper. I didn't make supper. I figured that we'd had enough to eat at lunch for at least a few days anyway. Only kidding. I made breakfast this morning and lunch this noon and plan to make supper tonight. But we really didn't have any room for supper last night. Irregardless, a certain drowsiness tends to hit you when you eat too much which is my only excuse for not blogging yesterday. The same drowsiness has slopped over into today. I would have gone out raspberry picking but the rain that hit this morning probably hasn't had time to dry off yet. Oh well. Tomorrow. I'll pick again tomorrow.

Murphyism of the Day

There's always someone or a lot of someones that can do anything better then you and eager to prove it.