I wrote a few days ago about how my WVU Mountaineer sports teams will always, as Bern tells me, 'break your heart'.
So today, behind at home to Texas Tech at half, I went to the store to buy stuff for dinner.
In essence, I let them down the way they let me down so much.
When I came home I went on line and saw they won 83-74 in double overtime. Which means they outscored TT by 9 in the second overtime.
Bless their hearts.
I should have hung in there and brought them home rejoicing.
Instead I bought broccoli and thin cut pork chops (because I can't find smoked pork chops anywhere any more).
My bad.
I love you Mounties!
I won't doubt you again, though you'll break my heart....
(Is this a dysfunctional relationship???)
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Russia is watching
I just noticed I've had 172 page views from Russia this week compared to 168 from the US. Their were views from 9 other countries as well.
I checked the all time statistics and found Russia was #2! All time though, US page views were about 90,000 more than the 9,000 from Russia.
So Russians are stepping up their reading of Under the Castor Oil Tree.
First the Democratic National Committee and now an aging white man who happens to be an Episcopal priest.
I'll have to ponder who on earth in Russia is reading my blog. I have no idea. I just hope it isn't the KGB. Or Putin.
Putin might even let Trump know how critical I am of him as President.
Maybe though, when I think about it, it would be an honor to be called out for a 'fake blog'.....
I checked the all time statistics and found Russia was #2! All time though, US page views were about 90,000 more than the 9,000 from Russia.
So Russians are stepping up their reading of Under the Castor Oil Tree.
First the Democratic National Committee and now an aging white man who happens to be an Episcopal priest.
I'll have to ponder who on earth in Russia is reading my blog. I have no idea. I just hope it isn't the KGB. Or Putin.
Putin might even let Trump know how critical I am of him as President.
Maybe though, when I think about it, it would be an honor to be called out for a 'fake blog'.....
Thursday, February 16, 2017
I'll never play Monopoly again
The company that makes the board game, Monopoly, announced today that it is discontinuing the board piece shaped like a thimble.
Users of the game apparently were asked to vote on which pieces they liked and the thimble lost.
Of course it did--anyone under 35 doesn't know what a thimble is!
I'm disgusted. I grew up around thimbles. Thimbles were great things for people who actually repaired things by sewing rather than throwing them away. My mother had so many thimbles I could put one on all my fingers and pretend I had metal hands.
Get rid of that stupid race car if you want, Monopoly. I hate race cars. But I love thimbles.
I'll probably never watch another Presidential press conference either. At least as long as Trump is President.
(Notice I capitalize 'President' and admit that's who Trump is. The electoral college is part of the Constitution and I'm an American. OK? Nobody give me grief if I hate my President as much as I hate ear aches and sudden death....)
Did you see or hear of it?
If not, consider yourself blessed of God, maybe a saint to be.
If Yogi Berra had been President, he would have made more sense.
If Rodney Dangerfield had been President, he would have been less caustic.
Bullies need someone to pick on. For Trump (now the Bully-in-Chief) it's the free press assured us in the first Amendment to the Constitution (that pesky document, according to Trump, that allows 'fake news' and 'so called judges').
To have a 'press conference' to chide the press is rather lame at best and terrifying at worst.
He insulted the BBC, told a Jew to sit down for asking a question about the rise of hate crimes which was asked with great deference, and asked a black journalist if she could set up a meeting between himself and the BCC (which he didn't understand so she said "Black Congressional Caucus"). Of course all Black folks know each other......
In the same press conference he said he was the least anti-Semitic and least racist person in the world.
Like the thimble, truth too is in short supply these days.
Users of the game apparently were asked to vote on which pieces they liked and the thimble lost.
Of course it did--anyone under 35 doesn't know what a thimble is!
I'm disgusted. I grew up around thimbles. Thimbles were great things for people who actually repaired things by sewing rather than throwing them away. My mother had so many thimbles I could put one on all my fingers and pretend I had metal hands.
Get rid of that stupid race car if you want, Monopoly. I hate race cars. But I love thimbles.
I'll probably never watch another Presidential press conference either. At least as long as Trump is President.
(Notice I capitalize 'President' and admit that's who Trump is. The electoral college is part of the Constitution and I'm an American. OK? Nobody give me grief if I hate my President as much as I hate ear aches and sudden death....)
Did you see or hear of it?
If not, consider yourself blessed of God, maybe a saint to be.
If Yogi Berra had been President, he would have made more sense.
If Rodney Dangerfield had been President, he would have been less caustic.
Bullies need someone to pick on. For Trump (now the Bully-in-Chief) it's the free press assured us in the first Amendment to the Constitution (that pesky document, according to Trump, that allows 'fake news' and 'so called judges').
To have a 'press conference' to chide the press is rather lame at best and terrifying at worst.
He insulted the BBC, told a Jew to sit down for asking a question about the rise of hate crimes which was asked with great deference, and asked a black journalist if she could set up a meeting between himself and the BCC (which he didn't understand so she said "Black Congressional Caucus"). Of course all Black folks know each other......
In the same press conference he said he was the least anti-Semitic and least racist person in the world.
Like the thimble, truth too is in short supply these days.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Falling Objects
Lots of thaw today. Which means ice is falling off things--like our roof.
Our deck was littered with Bible sized pieces of ice this afternoon. Good thing is, you can see the deck. Lots of melt in snow today.
There's a huge ice cycle above the roof to our small back porch. I made snowballs from snow that you can make hard as stone because of the melt and tried to knock it down.
I have to face that my fast approaching 70 year old self can't throw as well as my 20 0r 30 or even 60 year old self. I missed four times and decided to not try again since, by the way, throwing 4 snowballs made I shoulder feel funny and with a bad knee I don't need a bad shoulder.
But thaw and melt is good. It makes me lean toward the light. March and April are on the way. All will be well (as we know it will be) and all will be well.
(Except on Easter Monday I turn 70! Alas and alack! My throwing arm isn't all that reminds me of that coming milestone....)
Our deck was littered with Bible sized pieces of ice this afternoon. Good thing is, you can see the deck. Lots of melt in snow today.
There's a huge ice cycle above the roof to our small back porch. I made snowballs from snow that you can make hard as stone because of the melt and tried to knock it down.
I have to face that my fast approaching 70 year old self can't throw as well as my 20 0r 30 or even 60 year old self. I missed four times and decided to not try again since, by the way, throwing 4 snowballs made I shoulder feel funny and with a bad knee I don't need a bad shoulder.
But thaw and melt is good. It makes me lean toward the light. March and April are on the way. All will be well (as we know it will be) and all will be well.
(Except on Easter Monday I turn 70! Alas and alack! My throwing arm isn't all that reminds me of that coming milestone....)
Eighth 'open letter' to my granddaughters
Dear Emma, Morgan, Tegan and little Ellie,
Don't look now, my loves, but your country is in chaos.
I say 'your' instead of 'our' because you're going to live here a lot longer than I am and if things don't get turned around fast, you will suffer much more than me.
We have no National Security Advisor, the person charged with briefing the President every single day about threats around the world.
Two Cabinet nominees have withdrawn for various scandals and several who should have been denied office got through with Republican votes only.
Lying (excuse me: 'alternative facts') seems to have become the administrations main mode of communicating (illegal voters bused to New Hampshire, 'the President supports Flynn 100%', Norstrum's is being political for refusing to stock stuff that isn't selling--this is a capitalist society, after all...it doesn't sell, don't stock it!, 'leaks' and the crooked media are the problem...not dishonesty, Russia is our 'friend' and NATO may be passe.....On and on it goes, my loves. No end in sight.
Here's what you need to remember: a free press is our last defense against dishonesty in government and Trump obviously knows that because he and his minions are unrelenting on calling "subversive" groups like CNN, The Washington Post and the New York Times "fake news".
Another thing to remember: the US is of the people, for the people, by the people. We are the people. We do have the power to act even in dark times like these. None of you can vote or organize or protest yet--but you're grandma and I will do it in your place...and FOR you.
All is not lost. Hope conquers Fear. Love conquers Hate and Unity overcomes Division.
I pray devoutly that all this mess will ultimately make our country stronger, safer, freer, more diverse, more tolerant, more inclusive and you--not me--will live out your lives in that country.
That is my prayer for our country and for you, apples of my eye.
Love you so, Granpa.....
Don't look now, my loves, but your country is in chaos.
I say 'your' instead of 'our' because you're going to live here a lot longer than I am and if things don't get turned around fast, you will suffer much more than me.
We have no National Security Advisor, the person charged with briefing the President every single day about threats around the world.
Two Cabinet nominees have withdrawn for various scandals and several who should have been denied office got through with Republican votes only.
Lying (excuse me: 'alternative facts') seems to have become the administrations main mode of communicating (illegal voters bused to New Hampshire, 'the President supports Flynn 100%', Norstrum's is being political for refusing to stock stuff that isn't selling--this is a capitalist society, after all...it doesn't sell, don't stock it!, 'leaks' and the crooked media are the problem...not dishonesty, Russia is our 'friend' and NATO may be passe.....On and on it goes, my loves. No end in sight.
Here's what you need to remember: a free press is our last defense against dishonesty in government and Trump obviously knows that because he and his minions are unrelenting on calling "subversive" groups like CNN, The Washington Post and the New York Times "fake news".
Another thing to remember: the US is of the people, for the people, by the people. We are the people. We do have the power to act even in dark times like these. None of you can vote or organize or protest yet--but you're grandma and I will do it in your place...and FOR you.
All is not lost. Hope conquers Fear. Love conquers Hate and Unity overcomes Division.
I pray devoutly that all this mess will ultimately make our country stronger, safer, freer, more diverse, more tolerant, more inclusive and you--not me--will live out your lives in that country.
That is my prayer for our country and for you, apples of my eye.
Love you so, Granpa.....
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
They'll break your heart....
I am one of the biggest of all the big West Virginia University sports fans.
My time there was wondrous (1965-69 if you wondered--majoring in English and minoring in Political Science). Bern was there for my senior year as a freshman, so that was wondrous too after three years of mostly being apart.
Bern and I went to three, I think, WVU bowl games. They won them all.
But the Mountaineers will break your heart.
That's what Bern says every time they come up short. "They'll break your heart."
West Virginia doesn't get top 100 recruits in basketball or football and they play in a conference (The Big Twelve) with teams like Texas and Kansas and Oklahoma who do get those high school super stars. But they hold their own with the second choices. I admire their coaches for that.
But last night, they broke my heart. Bern went to bed at half-time of the Kansas/WVU basketball game. Kansas in #3 in the nation and WVU is #9--what I mean by 'holding their own'--and WVU beat Kansas in Morgantown already.
With 2:45 to go in the game WVU led by 14. I almost woke Bern up to come watch the triumph of the 'second choices' over the McDonald's All-Americans.
Glad I didn't.
Kansas came back to tie the game and send it into overtime where they won by 4.
They'll break your heart, it's true.
But I love those Mounties....
My time there was wondrous (1965-69 if you wondered--majoring in English and minoring in Political Science). Bern was there for my senior year as a freshman, so that was wondrous too after three years of mostly being apart.
Bern and I went to three, I think, WVU bowl games. They won them all.
But the Mountaineers will break your heart.
That's what Bern says every time they come up short. "They'll break your heart."
West Virginia doesn't get top 100 recruits in basketball or football and they play in a conference (The Big Twelve) with teams like Texas and Kansas and Oklahoma who do get those high school super stars. But they hold their own with the second choices. I admire their coaches for that.
But last night, they broke my heart. Bern went to bed at half-time of the Kansas/WVU basketball game. Kansas in #3 in the nation and WVU is #9--what I mean by 'holding their own'--and WVU beat Kansas in Morgantown already.
With 2:45 to go in the game WVU led by 14. I almost woke Bern up to come watch the triumph of the 'second choices' over the McDonald's All-Americans.
Glad I didn't.
Kansas came back to tie the game and send it into overtime where they won by 4.
They'll break your heart, it's true.
But I love those Mounties....
Monday, February 13, 2017
feeling like an idiot
So, today I'm feeling like an idiot because of my right knee and my computer.
(There are other reasons on other days that I feel like an idiot. {Is it politically incorrect to use the term 'idiot' when referring to yourself? Should I say 'somehow mentally challenged' instead?} But today it is my right knee and my computer engendering the feeling of somehow mentally challenged-idiocy.)
My knee, you know if you read my whining posts at all, was operated on by Dr. Shai, an orthopedist I would recommend highly, on September 28. He reattached by totally ruptured quad muscle (your big thigh muscle) to my knee in ways I neither understand or want to! Here we are, going on five months later and I still feel like I have a big (I mean 'big'--two inches wide) rubber band around the top of my knee. He's told me I would probably have to do something really, really stupid to re-tear the muscle at this stage in the recovery. He also told me it would be 'at least' six or seven months before I felt normal in my knee.
But the thing is, with snow and ice on the ground, I feel like an idiot walking. I'm walking like a coward (or an 'old man') when I'm outside and it makes me feel idiotic.
Also, today my computer is doing weird stuff. Has been for a couple of days but today made me feel somehow mentally challenged.
My screen has frozen a couple of times and I've either had to shut down and reboot or turn off the electricity to the whole thing and turn it on again.
I know nothing about a computer except how to click and type. I'm a typist, not a computer user!
My little icon from Microsoft told me to download some updates and I did, hoping that would solve it all and make me feel like the magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, second in my class in seminary person that I know, deep down I am.
But that doesn't happen in the moment.
Walking on snow and ice reduces me to a coward. Working on my computer makes me feel profoundly stupid.
I don't like either feeling and need to deal with them instead of 'waiting for Spring' to go out walking and 'buying a new computer' for the other part.
I need to be bigger, stronger, smarter than my gait and my computer.
I'll ponder that and come up with a plan.
(I'll probably not mention it again, so don't wait for the finale....)
(There are other reasons on other days that I feel like an idiot. {Is it politically incorrect to use the term 'idiot' when referring to yourself? Should I say 'somehow mentally challenged' instead?} But today it is my right knee and my computer engendering the feeling of somehow mentally challenged-idiocy.)
My knee, you know if you read my whining posts at all, was operated on by Dr. Shai, an orthopedist I would recommend highly, on September 28. He reattached by totally ruptured quad muscle (your big thigh muscle) to my knee in ways I neither understand or want to! Here we are, going on five months later and I still feel like I have a big (I mean 'big'--two inches wide) rubber band around the top of my knee. He's told me I would probably have to do something really, really stupid to re-tear the muscle at this stage in the recovery. He also told me it would be 'at least' six or seven months before I felt normal in my knee.
But the thing is, with snow and ice on the ground, I feel like an idiot walking. I'm walking like a coward (or an 'old man') when I'm outside and it makes me feel idiotic.
Also, today my computer is doing weird stuff. Has been for a couple of days but today made me feel somehow mentally challenged.
My screen has frozen a couple of times and I've either had to shut down and reboot or turn off the electricity to the whole thing and turn it on again.
I know nothing about a computer except how to click and type. I'm a typist, not a computer user!
My little icon from Microsoft told me to download some updates and I did, hoping that would solve it all and make me feel like the magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, second in my class in seminary person that I know, deep down I am.
But that doesn't happen in the moment.
Walking on snow and ice reduces me to a coward. Working on my computer makes me feel profoundly stupid.
I don't like either feeling and need to deal with them instead of 'waiting for Spring' to go out walking and 'buying a new computer' for the other part.
I need to be bigger, stronger, smarter than my gait and my computer.
I'll ponder that and come up with a plan.
(I'll probably not mention it again, so don't wait for the finale....)
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