Same Time Next Year

No, not the movie, but next year's February will fall in a Leap Year and will have 29 days.  So, today next year will be what is March 1st this year and last year (this year) it wasn't even there!

I've known two people who were born on the extra day in Leap Year; one was a daughter of a girlfriend who was nine at the time (the daughter, not my g/f, for cryin' out loud!) but would tell people she was only two.  I know she meant to be cute and I'm sure her mother thought so as well, but it made people think she was a little less than average intelligence...until she explained.  The "joke" got old with me, but I guess she felt as though it made her unique.  I dunno;  I was born the same day as JFK and I never dated anyone as hot as Marilyn Monroe, so.... 

The other person was an old man, the grandfather of a classmate;  he lived into his 90's and I remember his family throwing him a "30th" birthday party.  I guess they saved on candles, though.

Beer & Money

I was visiting StartSampling earlier today and the daily trivia question was what type are the Budweiser horses.  Yesterday's question was who is on the back of the $50 bill. 

I got both correct, but wasn't too surprised to see more people got the Budweiser question correct than did the $50 bill one.  After all, a fifty dollar bill isn't something found in most people's wallets (at least not mine, anyway) but most people have probably seen the Budweiser Clydesdale advertisements hundreds of times. 

All Wet in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state and has over one million surface acres of water.

Back when I was a kid growing up, I think we visited a fair amount of lakes in Oklahoma when we went on vacation.  My dad used to say Oklahoma spent more money on their lakes and state parks than they did their roads.  I don't know about that, but the lakes certainly were better - and far outnumbered - the lakes in the Texas Panhandle.

Dad used to tell a story of going fishing in Oklahoma with some of his buddies;  this was in the days of being able to drink and drive (as long as you weren't drunk and even then it wasn't as big of a deal as it is now).  They were all sunburned and tired, fish in a cooler and what was left of the beer in another.  One guy rolled down his window to throw out an empty beer can and the driver yelled "Don't do that!  There's a highway patrol right behind us!"

The guys figured they'd get pulled over, but the cop just stayed behind them and they thought he hadn't seen the beer can being tossed.  It was only ten/fifteen miles to the Texas line and the police cruiser stayed behind them but not pulling them over.  The men thought they were really lucky, but about a mile from the state line the cop turned on his lights and pulled up right on their bumper and motioned for them to pull over, so they did.

As the officer got out of his car and walked up to theirs, they wondered why they were being stopped.  They certainly hadn't been speeding and no one was drunk (and having a cop follow you for miles probably did a good job of sobering them up).  The state trooper asked for the driver's license, glanced at it and started up some small talk.

"Been fishing?" asked the officer.  "Yessir." said the driver. "Had any luck?" came the next question.  The driver allowed that they had done all right.  The cop looked at everyone in the car and back to the license, then handed it back.  The men were relieved until the trooper said:

"Say, I saw that you threw out a beer can several miles back."  The driver knew it would do no good to lie, so he admitted they had.  "Didn't you want it?" asked the cop.  The driver said no, they didn't.

"Well, the state of Oklahoma doesn't want it, either.  What say we go back and you pick it up and take it back to Texas with you?"

So, they turned around and drove back the other way and when they got to the place where they had littered, the cop flashed his lights and they stopped and picked up a beer can.  It wasn't even the brand they were drinking, but it satisfied the cop and he waved them on their way. 

Most Beautiful Eyes in the World

NOTE: Noticed the video had been taken down, so I found another one. Not sure if it's the same one uploaded by someone else, but it's similar...I think. I'm not sure because the original post was from nearly five years ago, 3/13/10.  I'm "bumping" this because of a similar recent post:  The Eyeball Test.

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I love women's eyes; they're almost always the female asset that first catches my eye.

(Unless they're not looking, then I glance at their legs.)

While I went back to school a few years ago, I had a job in a liquor store. During slow times there wasn't much to do (actually, if I didn't feel like doing anything, there was ALWAYS something to do, but I drew the line at doing it all) I worked the evening shift and since my boss liked to hire young, single women and didn't much care about any other qualifications, I generally had to relieve people I wasn't fond of working with.

If I grew tired of watching TV during the lulls, I would do most anything to entertain myself. I was reading a woman's magazine and noticed the advert model's beautiful eyes. I remembered a poster I had seen of nothing but eyes, so I thought I'd make something similar, cutting out the parts of the magazines and gluing them onto some stiff white paper.

I got magazines from my mom, some from the laundry and got regular donations from the beauty shop next door. I took my work-in-progress home with me so it wouldn't accidentally get thrown away.(or discarded on purpose, knowing these sorry co-workers I was around) One afternoon when I got there, the girl jumped on me, asking why I was cutting up the magazines before she had a chance to read them. I told her they were mine to do with as I wished. She was taken aback; I'd never been so "rude" to her before.

She then demanded to know what I was snipping out of the magazines. Not bothering to take the time to explain what I was doing, I told her in my best Jack Nicholson "Shining" voice:

"I'm cutting the eyes out of the women's faces."

The look on her face was priceless; pure horror and disgust, as if I'd jumped up on the table and peed in the wedding punch.

She left right away, thank goodness. She quit a couple of weeks later, and that was even better.

The Eyeball Test

I made my daily visit to StartSampling, a site I've been a member of since before I owned a computer. (I joined using a library computer) I get points that can be redeemed for prizes; points for visiting each day and for the month, rating recipes, solving puzzles and trivia plus participating in the daily poll. Today's was about eye color; here are the results:

My eyes are brown (please, no jokes about why that is, I've heard them all) but it was the "Other" results that puzzled me.

It made me go do a little bit of reading about it and Wikipedia mentioned those colors, plus red, violet and amber.  I learn something new every day.  Usually.

The gray eye results reminded me of a woman I used to date; a pretty brunette with the most striking blue eyes.  It wasn't until the next morning after our first night together that I saw her putting in contacts - her eyes weren't blue, but a cold, steely gray.  Now, I've seen women with gray eyes before and didn't think much of it other than it being a little unusual, but I came to find out this woman's eyes matched her soul - cold, steely and gray.

I once met a woman (introduced by mutual friends) and after talking to her for a few minutes, she turned away and asked "What color are my eyes?"  I knew what she was doing, that was from some movie or maybe a woman's magazine that said that would be a test of how much the man was paying attention to her face and not the rest of her body.

"Uh....blue, kinda." I replied.  "Wrong!" she said, her face still averted.  "Well, sort of a bluish-green, maybe." I answered. I continued on what I knew was a trap question and a way-wrong answer. "Maybe some brown flecks?"   "Wrong again!" she declared.  "They're hazel!" and turned back to me, widening her eyes to show me the color. 

Sheesh, I'm a guy and I'm not really an expert on colors anyway.  They still looked bluish-green with brown flecks to me. Kinda, I dunno.

I didn't try to pursue a relationship with her because I hadn't passed "the eyeball test".  That was OK, because I didn't really like what I had seen, anyway, not to mention her offending the rest of my senses.

To Friends, Family and Loyal Readers

Showdown - ELO

Since today is the Winter Solstice, I've been seeing all sorts of posts and articles about it.  One I just read said "Today will be the shortest day of the year and tonight is the longest night." and I was blasted with a memory of this ELO song which has that line in it.   I also remember when the song came out...but that was a LONG time ago, so I don't really want to think about that right now.  It's not easy knowing I'm in the winter of my life and all the days from here on will be shorter and all the nights longer.  -sigh-

CURRENT CAPCHA CRAP

I went to reply to a comment under a post and saw this:

I noticed this new - and much better than previous versions - verification process on other Blogger blogs I frequent, but this was the first time I had been required to do it on my own blog.  At first I thought it was just a setting that needed to be changed, but apparently it's not something I CAN change, so I'm sorry for the extra step.

I have required OpenID or a Google account in order to post, but that's just to keep my blood pressure down and not have to delete asshole anonymous comments from anyone who wants to criticize me or something I've posted in here.  I don't intend to be offensive in here and don't think I am, but it IS my blog and if someone wants to curse me out or rebut what few controversial things I've said, then they can get their own damn blog and do it there, not in here.

So, again, I'm sorry for the extra step.  I wish I could change it, but at least it's fairly easy to read and is only 3-4 digits to type in.  Maybe this will keep the spam I get now 'n then to a minimum.

whippersnapper

whippersnapper \ HWIP-er-snap-er, WIP- \ noun

1. an unimportant but offensively presumptuous person, especially a young one.

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I knew this word, having read and heard it in countless comedy pieces, always said by some crotchety old man towards kids who are bothering him.  Now that I'M a crotchety old man, it's not something I often use but I certainly understand it. I just want the whippersnappers to stay off my lawn and leave me alone.

A Weak Week

Sorry that I haven't posted anything for the last week, I'm still battling this horrible cold.  It's settled into my lungs and while it's not the medical definition, it felt like I had walking pneumonia.   I finally got my appetite back a few days ago, but I've still felt lethargic and didn't want to do much of anything and to be honest, I still don't.

No promises about posting every day from now on, but just wanted to tell my loyal readers - all four/five of you - that I wasn't dead....although I felt like I was dying.

No Posts Yesterday

Missed posting in this blog yesterday and missed posting or doing much else online, either. I did manage to post the trivia from my calendar Saturday without falling over. 

It started late Thursday, a scratchy throat, low-grade fever, some dry coughing and the last couple of days there's also been dizziness and I felt like I had been pummeled by a heavyweight boxer.  So, I stayed in bed all weekend (and most of yesterday) and watched seasons 2 & 3 of Dexter.

There was a point when I felt so bad I wouldn't have minded if ol' Dex paid me a visit. 

You Better Believe

cygnet

cygnet\ SIG-nit \ noun

1. a young swan

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I knew this word, even before I started dreaming about winning the lottery. I recently found a nice live water "ranch" that I'd like to buy if I ever did hit the lottery, Swann Ranch near Winnsboro in N. Texas. (It's "only" $2.9 million) If I'm ever lucky enough to be able to buy a place with a small lake or pond, I'd want to buy some ducks and a few geese and since the entrance gates have black swans fabricated out of metal on them, I'd want to get swans to match. Hey, I'd be rich, so....

I'd have to be rich, not only to buy the multi-million dollar ranch and homes, but to buy a breeding pair of Australian Black Swans - $2,250 for the pair.

conk

conk \ kongk, kawngk \ verb

1. to go to sleep (usually followed by off or out )
2. to break or fail, as a machine or engine (often followed by out ): The engine conked out halfway there .
3. to slow down or stop; lose energy (often followed by out ).
4. to lose consciousness; faint (usually followed by out ).
5. to die (usually followed by out ).

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I was just about to conk out just a few minutes ago when I heard a loud noise across the street.  I got up, looked out and saw some bright lights on the sidewalk, like Christmas tree lights and a man crouched down watching them.   They are really some weird people.  (and I say that bravely since I know they don't read this blog.) Some of their kinfolk moved in several years back and started mowing their front lawn around one in the morning - they had their cars with head parked out in the middle of the street, the headlights on and pointing towards the yard. (one of the very few times in my life I've ever called the cops on neighbors.  Again, they don't read this blog)  I don't mind weird people since I are one, but sure I don't like loud ones.  I'm a quiet weirdo.

Not sure where the loud noise came from, but last weekend I heard gunshots from down the street, several in a row as if someone had emptied the magazine. I called the cops after five minutes, but mine had been the only complaint.

Just another typical night in the neighborhood.

A Buggy Day

Earlier this morning I was trying to finish up a documentary I had started last night;  it was a YouTube video I had saved and uploaded to my tablet.  For some reason, the video would quit playing after ten or so minutes and I'd have to reset the table and start the video again.  Not sure what's causing it, probably due to the fact that I've disabled several apps that warned me before I terminated them that it might cause problems.

What, me listen to a machine?  My folks, teachers, coaches, various girlfriends and one ex-wife will attest that I'm not too good at listening to humans.

Anyway...I stepped outside on the porch earlier this morning to feed my clowder of cats and one of the wild kittens got close enough for me to grab it and see what its sex was.  It was a female cat - seems like every one of them is female and I put it down.  I came back inside and felt something on my arm, a flea!  I pinched it between my fingers and it hopped away, unfazed by my attempt at crushing it to death.  With my luck, it was a pregnant female and it wound up on my bed where it will have 10,000 offspring and I'll have all the blood sucked out of me later tonight.

I needed some things, so I made a quick trip to the nearby dollar store.  I wasn't but a couple of blocks from the house when I heard a buzzing.  "Oh no." I thought.  "It sounds like I've blown a speaker."  I turned down the volume on my radio, but the buzzing persisted.  "Oh no." I then thought. "It might be my alternator going out." but the dashboard gauge didn't show anything out of the norm.  Then something small and black and yellow flew right in front of my face, a wasp!  I almost crashed, taking both hands off the wheel and waving away the stinging insect.  Stopping at the church parking lot down the street, I  jumped out, leaving the door open.  I went around to the other side and opened that door and the fierce wind that's been blowing all day swept away Lord knows what-all, prob. bank deposit slips, credit card receipts, etc.  If my identity gets stolen and bank account drained sometime over the next few days, I'll know where it started.  I didn't see the wasp, so I figured it had been blown out the door with the papers.  Good.

I got my stuff at the store, then headed home.  I was just about to turn down my street when the damn wasp landed on my arm.  This time the panic was even worse and I pulled over and jumped out.  I saw it on the seat and grabbed an old golf towel I keep in my truck and swatted the wasp with it.  Nope, didn't kill it, but I think it got angry.  It flew around the cab for a minute, refusing to fly out, then landed on the rear window.  I wrapped the small towel around my fingers and tried to crush it but I didn't and it fell into my reusable grocery bag. (I must really be getting weak in my old age, not being able to smash two small insects.  In my defense, I was probably still tired from trying to crush the flea, not to mention the two adrenaline overloads I had recently experienced.)  I took the sack outside, turned it upside down and shook the wasp out.  I fully expected it to attack me, but it flew off where it was swept up in the breeze.  I expect it's already in Dallas, what with how windy it was today.

Got home, thankful I wasn't stung, made a cup of tea and sat down at my computer.  I was just taking a sip of tea when I saw something move along the bottom of my monitor.  Narrowing my eyes (I had taken off my glasses), I leaned in to see what it was- I thought my monitor might be going out.  Leaning in, I saw it was a big grasshopper...and about that time it launched itself at me, landing squarely between my eyebrows on the bridge of my nose.  My tea went flying, I knocked the mouse off the desk and overturned my chair, all the while flailing my arms.

I'm not afraid of grasshoppers, not even as much as I am a flea and especially not as much as a wasp, but I hate the feeling of them on me;  they have some sort of claws on their legs (which is probably how it got in, latching onto my pants when I got out of my vehicle earlier) but the worst thing is when they spit that "tobacco juice" on you, that horrible, nasty excretion they exude from their horrible looking, ugly mouths.  

I've had enough bugs for the day, both electronic and insect.

azoth

azoth [az-oth] noun

1. Mercury, regarded by alchemists as the assumed first principle of all metals.
2. the universal remedy of Paracelsus.

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Besides often learning a word, I sometimes learn about people, such as Paracelsus.

My dad used to bring me the Mercury when he'd change out a Mercury switch in one of his meter runs, such as is pictured on this page. (Mercury or "tilt" switches were also used in the lids of washing machines to stop the machine when the cover was lifted.) He showed me how it would polish up coins where they'd shine like they were new and it was fun to put it on a plate and watch it separate and then pool back together. Of course, we now know it's toxic and dangerous to handle and can cause all sorts of health problems. I seriously doubt my skin absorbed much of it, though.

I now wish I had saved it all in a bottle instead of playing with and then spilling it. The price is fairly low right now due to large stockpiles, but it used to fairly expensive, depending upon what type it was. (I'd give a price, but a quick search only turned up several year old prices and most metals trading websites require a subscription)

Viva Las Vegas

One of the webcams I have bookmarked is the one of the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign.  During daylight hours, there's almost always a fair-sized crowd waiting to have their pictures taken with the sign in the background.  (and I've actually seen people taking photos of the sign at midnight or later, not as silly as it sounds considering how well-lit the sign and surroundings are.)

Here's a screen shot from just a few minutes ago and I caught the subject in mid-jump. (it's a little fuzzy b/c of the motion, much like I expect the actual photo will be)

I've never been to Vegas, but every time I view the webcam, I always think of the Elvis Presley musical Viva Las Vegas. I remember seeing it at the theater shortly after it came out - I must have been about ten years old and I must have also been on the cusp of puberty because Elvis didn't impress me, nor did the race scenes and cars, but because I was quite impressed by Ann-Margret. (Actually, she STILL impresses me.)  She's not in the video below, but here's the title song from the movie:


I like that, but ZZ Top also did a great cover of the tune.

Here's a video of Ann-Margret in the movie. I believe it was the beginning of my life-long admiration of women's legs, especially when they're in tights or leotards.

Welcome to Las Vegas Webcam

No Posts Today

Not that many people read this pathetic excuse for a blog, but I won't be posting anything today or maybe tomorrow, either.  I'm more than a little sad because the Beej is gone.  He'd been poorly for quite some time, but up until the last few weeks, he still had a good appetite and got around fairly well, considering he was 16+ yrs. old.  It was about a week or so ago he started going downhill really fast and was nothing but skin and bones.

I don't know where he is, but I haven't seen him for a few days and I am positive he crawled off somewhere and died. I feel really guilty that I didn't do more for him as he got old and ill.

Ameslan

Ameslan \ AM-uh-slan, AM-slan \ noun

1. American Sign Language.

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HANDSPEAK.COM says the word is an old one and obsolete since the 1960's. I've been around since before the 60's but wasn't familiar with it.

I've been acquainted with a lot of people who are hard of hearing and my own hearing isn't all that good, but my experiences with deaf folks are few.  I grew up with a nearly deaf girl whose mom was a teacher in elementary school and sometimes when Mary was acting up, her mother would scold her with sign language.   The thing I remember most about Mary was when her hearing aid would malfunction or the battery would be nearly drained, it made a horrible, high-pitched sound and I was always amazed that she couldn't hear it. 

My nieces learned a little bit to sign some Christmas carols for their church, but I don't know if they learned enough to communicate with deaf folks.  (I guess wishing them a Merry Christmas wouldn't really count as truly communicating)

I do have a dear online friend who is deaf but other than in chat rooms and email, I've never been around her.  She says she used to use ASL when she was younger, but doesn't know it now as she did then and generally just reads lips to understand what people are saying.  She watches a lot of TV and uses closed captioning - so do I, but it's not because I can't hear them, I simply can't understand what they're saying.  Just last night I was watching True Detective and went online to read a transcript of the show to find out what some bits of dialogue were.  

A long time ago, a friend and I were doing the "either/or" conversational game. (The choices offered are a dilemma, with neither option being desirable,  such as "Would you rather be executed by the electric chair or hanging?") The question was posed "Would you rather be blind or deaf?" I said deaf, because I think the world would be a hard place in which to exist if one couldn't see, but my friend said he'd rather be blind,  because he could learn to read Braille, but he didn't think he could live without music.  I still would choose deaf, but I still wouldn't argue with my friend's choice.

desiderium

desiderium noun, plural desideria [des-i-deer-ee-uh]

1. an ardent longing, as for something lost.

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I often long for things I've lost - money I've blown, old friends who have moved away or died, the trust of people I care about, but the thing I miss the most is my youth.

Oh, not ALL of it, just the best parts, like playing ball and feeling full of energy and the thrill of being totally in love. I don't miss waking up and having a zit on the end of my nose or worrying about grades or if my girlfriend was starting to like someone better than she did me.

So...I miss the sports and enthusiasm but not the rest of the teen angst. I'm pretty sure that wasn't "love" I was feeling at the time, either, but simply a product of raging hormones.

Mine aren't raging these days, but they're still there.  I'm missing someone to prove it to, though.