Category: FWIW

Posted on

Memory Lane

I recalled today my first “real” job where I was paid an hourly wage. I’ll not say when it was or what the wage was, but at minimum wage, my part time, after school job brought me enough to buy my first car, a new musical, pretty darned pricey instrument and to save enough to take me all the way through my senior year in high school. In today’s dollar, my hourly wage was over $9.00 and hour, simply because a dollar had that much more purchasing power in that economy.

The car wasn’t much to look at. A used 1953 Chevy 4 door with worn front seat covers, a cloumn three-speed and a six cylinder engine that ate up everything I could throw at it. (It took my brother, several years later when I was on the road touring with a group, to kill that car by simply refusing to ever check the oil. Oh, well. What are brothers for anyway, right? *sigh*) But it was a dependable ride that was mine, bought and paid for with the sweat of my own brow.

The musical instrument, which I still own and still play from time to time when the house is quiet, cost almost twice what the car did, and was worth every dime. It’s not my fav instrument–that I got much later for only $75 in much devalued currency, but that’s another memory–but I still enjoy it.

No computers. Rotary dial phone–by the time I was in high school we had TWO phones in the house! and one of ’em wasn’t a rotary phone!–but no longer on party lines. I knew what a typewriter looked like, but since I didn’t plan on becoming a secretary, I didn’t learn how to type. *heh* My sophomore year in high school, my older sister won a color tv in an essay contest with the subject, “Why I Am Proud to Be an American”. The black and white TV, complete with rabbit ears and tin foil, went to my parents’ bedroom (for my brother to shoot the glass out of with a BB gun later–yeh, that brother–but it was OK, because it was just the flat piece of glass covering the TV tube that he shot out… )

Memories are funny that way. I started off having a memory of my first hourly job–there were more on through college–and that spurred all kindsa anciliary things. Olde Pharte Syndrome, eh?

Well, there ya go. Another trip (and stumble? 🙂 ) down memory lane.

Posted on

On Music

“I don’t like country music, but I don’t mean to denigrate those who do. And, for the people who like country music, denigrate means ‘put down’.” — Bob Newhart

Well, that’s slightly better than my assessment, which is that “country” music is the best contemporary music played on radio. I know; damning with faint praise, since everything else is “less good” than pig manure.

Just a drive by observation…

Posted on

Well, THAT’S Certainly a Relief

My Wonder Woman needed another car. Not a new car, because we only buy something that fits our “cash in hand that’s not dedicated to anything else” to purchase a car. Period.

Found a nice used car, paid cash for it, she drove it back home–130 miles from the place of purchase–and we’re pleased. Thankful for Autotrader.com and Carfax. LOTS of info there.

So, we made our moderate contribution to stimulating the economy today, I’m relieved I have one summer project off my back (though I still have to sell her old car–I’m thinking to salvage *heh*) and it’s well and truly time to move into a more relaxed pace for summer, now.

How’s your summer going?

THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis

Posted on

Celebrate Flight!

Today, June 18, is the Women’s Transatlantic Flight Anniversary. In 1928, Amelia Earhart flew from Newfoundland to Wales in 21 hours. In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Now, of course, we have the TSA strip-searching lil old grandmothers. My how times have changed…

For something more on the spirit of flight,

The music is

The Mass

The Mass

Posted on

If Bush Had…

Stolen from Jay Navarette.

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Tony Blair a set of inexpensive and useless (to Tony Blair’s UK video formatting) DVDs, when Tony Blair had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one 20 year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had apologized (in a begging fashion before the leads of dozens of nations) to Europeans for America for our unconscionable attitudes ” would you have approved?

If George W. Bush then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry. He’s done all this in 10 weeks — so you’ll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.

You can add to this with— If Bush’s people were responsible for flying Airforce 1 over NYC for a photo op and scaring half of the city; would you have approved?

Not much there to be happy about, is there? But watch, now some Loony Left Moonbat will twist this to say Bush DID do those things… Reality-based fantasy, you know. After all, for eight years the Left ignored the worst things Bush did (like play lapdog to successive Mexican presidents) and then lied about the good things he did.

*sigh*

THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis

Posted on

Geriatrics for Dogs

Son&Heir’s dogs are 16 (or 17*) and 13 years old. The older one’s a medium sized mutt that looks like a Heinz 57 that’s predominantly some sort of herding dog and beagle. Weighs maybe 45 pounds. The younger is a German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix. And there lies the tale…

Saw “young fella”–Leo–“rabbit hopping” when running the other day, and I’d already noticed that he’s become more clumsy on our vinyl tile floor in the kitchen (where we feed “the boys”). Yep. Weakened back legs, probable hip dysplasia exacerbated by arthritis. Immediately changed the boys’ diet. Since the older guy (Buttons) was still very energetic (I think “bouncy” is the word I’m looking for :-)) but just taking longer to start getting moving, after checking some dog health sites manned by veterinarians, I made up a batch of supplements for them to be fed in some canned food mixed with their dry. (Note: I know both dog foods we feed have some C, D and other supplementation but dogs do not synthesize D-3 and get it from prey in the wild, and C&D do work together in dogs, as in humans, in joint and bone maintenance, soooo… just keeping things within the general guidelines here )

  • some canine-allowed pain meds apportioned according to their weight/size
  • some glucosamine supplements for Leo
  • vitamin C (yeh, I checked to be sure it was a calcium ascorbate form and in very small amounts)
  • vitamin D (again, much smaller doses than for a human of their respective sizes)

So far–three days in, well before I could get a non-emergency vet appointment–I think the pain meds have had the most immediate effect. Leo’s pretty much stopped dragging his back legs and rabbit hopping. Buttons is just as energetic, but still takes about as much to get him started moving. We’ll see what the vet has to say as this progresses, but to this point I’m very pleased with Leo’s response. Oh, I also have started “brewing” some relatively weak decaffeinated green tea for their water dishes. COX2 inhibitors and anti-oxidants, you know. Weak as it is, even though “decaffeinated” does not mean “cafeine free” it doesn’t seem to have caused any problems in the last three days, and from mmy own joint pain experiences, I know the COX2 inhibitors aren’t hurting…

I just wonder if Leo could use a beer now and then… 🙂

Continue reading “Geriatrics for Dogs”

Posted on

Real Hope for Real Change

A quick drive by post…

Over at Moonbattery, I ran into this hopeful comment:

…if Jimmy Carter could create a big enough backlash to give us Reagan, four years of Comrade Obama should be sufficient to bring James Madison back from the grave.

By jove, I think there’s some hope there! *heh* (Heck, I’d “settle for” John Hanson)

Posted on

Whoo-Hoo! (a little joy in Mudville)

Bits n pieces:

Rainy, rainy day. Squirrels line-dancing on power lines, lots of lightning and thunder and hail and rain and nearby tornado… and the power only went down three times. Cable was out for what I believe was about six or so hours (I left after it went down and it was still down when I checked back in). But all’s well. Managed shutdowns on UPS-ed computers, so no real biggie.

Windows 7RC. What can I say? A mixed bag. Although with the ratings changes in the “Windows Experience” index this computer jumped up more than 3 points on the scale, Win7 seems much more sluggish. Notsogood. OTOH, everything works well overall, and… Windows Server Powershell is now included! (Whoo-hoo!) I had missed that before, although I assume it was probably in the earlier beta. Sure, most folks won’t use the command line much, but this is a power users’ command line. Like it. Some other good and notsogood things about this Win7 iteration, but I’ll either remark on them later or not. Who knows?

Mock stroganoff tonight. Just hamburger, onion, garlic, LOTS of freshly-ground pepper and some freshly-grated nutmeg with sour cream and the old standby shortcut, cream of mushroom soup. It’ll be fine over rice, and it’s a quick (less than 15 minutes’ prep time) and easy dinner. Some frozen mixed veggies steaming in a basket on top of the rice in the Wolfgang Puck rice cooker. Easy-peasy.

Gonna hit the sack early this p.m. Pooped puppy.

Posted on

“If this is Tuesday… “

…well, it sure ain’t Belgium. No, what it is is this: the tail end of a whirlwind trip to (sort of) see my mom off on her trip to Israel. Glad I went to check up on her. She’d taken a fall late last week and hurt her knee but was refusing to see the doctor for fear he’d want to do something that would prevent her making her connections for her trip. *sigh* It’s in the genes. I do the same kind of thing. Fortunately, dragging her to the doctor only resulted in getting the right treatment for a swollen knee (X-Rays said no major damage) and her mind was eased. 85-year-old woman refusing to go to the doctor–NOT because she couldn’t afford to (was a $10 charge!) but for silly reasons. Hmmm, kinda like my reasons, usually. *heh*

Anywho, my dad will meet her there. Right now he’s finishing up a concert tour with a musical group in Armenia. Oldest guy in the group (by a couple of decades!). Still singing 1st Tenor. Go figure. My voice is now able to sing “second growler” (still coughing my lungs up; I’ll either live or die, and either one is fine by now *heh*), so maybe by the time I get to be his age, I’ll be able to get some of it back, should I live that long. 😉 Nicest thing aboiut this trip? Some friends of theirs paid their way. They have some good friends.

Well, that’s all I really know. My Wonder Woman’s back from her librarians’ conference, and we’re both a tad pooped. As soon as Lovely Daughter’s Family Birthday Blowout is over this evening, we’re both looking forward to some crash time.

Y’all be careful out there!