Sunday Reruns - How Those Bees Do Spell!!

It's Sunday again, and you know what THAT means!?! It's time for Sunday Favorites!!!

Sunday Favorites are RERUNS - - - if you want to participate, just repost something you previously posted "back in the day."

(NOTICE: This is NOT a current event ;-)

Thanks so much to Chari over at Happy to Design for hosting this meme, "Sunday Favorites."

Bees Which Spell
(First posted on 6/26/2008)

I just watched a rerun of the 2008 Scripps National Spelling bee, which a young man named Sameer Mishra from West Lafayette, Indiana won. Hooray for our side!!!

But the WORDS. Most of these I've never heard of, let alone SPELLED. Here are some of the last words of the competition:

parfleche - hairless preserved rawhide
huapango - Mexican folk dance
rhyton - drinking horn
sheitel - Jewish female wig
nacarat - vivid red
ecrase - crushed texture
posaune - trombone
thymele - Greek altar
oxylophytic - acidic soil loving (plant)
sinicize - modify by Chinese influence
aptyalism - absence of saliva
opificer - skilled artistic worker
hyphaeresis - omission of a sound or letter from the body of a word
kulturkampf - conflict between civil and religious authorities
taleggio - creamy cheese from whole cow's milk
introuvable - impossible to find
esclandre - incident which causes a scandal
prosopopeia - absent person speaking as if present
guerdon - reward

Whew - - - no WONDER I never entered a spelling bee!!!

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Pretty Little Places Along The Way

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This week I used my camera to try to capture some of the pretty little places I saw on my way hither and yon about our new home town.


You may have noticed this in my blog header, but I wanted to include it here because I am so enjoying seeing it each time I pass by - - - which is FREQUENTLY since it is smack dab on my way to lots 'o places I go.


And at the very same spot, but on the other side of the road - - -


Is this working water wheel. Now, by working I do not mean that it is grinding Little Red Hen's wheat - - - I don't think it's doing any menial task. Rather I mean it is rotating as the water pours through it.


This is the pond which is feeding the water wheel. I imagine a small creek runs through here which has been dammed to create this peaceful vista.


This is my very favorite type of pine. They tower above other trees into the sky and their irregular silhouette fascinates me. They are the signature pine in this area.

I wish I could install "scratch and sniff" on my blog so you could enjoy their piney aroma.


Man. Dog. Lake. What could be better?


Pines, water, sky.


Our town is on the banks of the Wisconsin River, thus the name Wisconsin Rapids. This is the mighty Wisconsin as seen to the south side of the expressway bridge.


And this is the Wisconsin to the north side of the same bridge. When I was in high school, we called this island in the middle of the river Mead Island after the family that lived there. I need to find out if it still bears that name and if any of the Meads still exist there.

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WHAT??? You Mean you DON'T Hang onto My Every Word???

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Two people asked me, after reading my last post, what sastrugi were. Pretty sure I blogged about that back in February and naturally I THOUGHT everyone on the PLANET would remember.

NOT.

Go ahead, follow the link, we'll still be here when you get back - - -

Fisherhubby found out today that he still has a while to wait before he can actually start working in the ER (red tape, complications, don't get me started- - -) so that means he has plenty of leisure for catching some more of these:


Four pound large mouth bass that he pulled out of Lake Nepco today. Don't worry all you fish lovers, he practices catch and release, so this bad boy lived to fight another day.


27 inch northern pike, which is a cousin of the Muskie he caught yesterday. He caught a little "hammer handle" pike too, but didn't bother with a picture of that one.

Oh, and while fishing Fisherhubby saw a Bald Eagle fly over too. So majestic.

As I drive around this town I'm seeing a lot of cute little "cottages." I PLAN to take my camera one day and do some "catching" of my own, which I will naturally share with you.

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This Got Me in BIG Doo-Doo

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This little winter decorative sled was one of the first things I found as it came off the moving truck last week. It was a frosty morning that day, and since I don't have any fall outdoor decor handy, I decided to just go ahead and set my snowmen outside the garage door. Usually I put it out the day after Thanksgiving.

Seems my friend Connie told my friend Sharon what I had done. Sharon rolled her eyes at me and said, "I can't believe you put out snowmen already! I don't want snow!"

Well - - - I'm a snow baby. I love snow. I don't mind if it starts snowing soon.

HOWEVER - - - my little snowmen are NOT summoning up arctic air and sastrugi. (Read: they ain't a makin' it snow!) It's been sunny and in the mid 60's here all week.

Sharon can relax.

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Fisherhubby's Maiden Wisconsin Resident Voyage

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The skies are just barely streaked with clouds here in central Wisconsin. The mercury is reading in the mid 60's, amazing fall weather for this far north of the equator!

I imagine you can GUESS what this makes Fisherhubby LONG to do - - - and it has absolutely NADA to do with unpacking boxes.

Though he HAS already been a big help in the box unpacking department.


So, I packed him a little sandwich and filled an empty 2 liter bottle with ice cold water. That's every man's dream - - - drinking right out of the 2 liter bottle.


Then I followed him to the old watering hole so I could document his maiden Wisconsin resident fishing trip.


This lake is less than ten minutes from our house. We didn't have THAT kind of fishing proximity in Indiana!!!


Pretty little drive into the park to get to the boat ramp.


Once at the ramp parking lot, something went wrong with the electrical system on the trailer. Fisherhubby says, "With a boat it is ALWAYS something - - - "


Finally, everything is working and it's time to back the boat down to the ramp,


And into the water.


You can't see his face in this picture, but let me just tell you, if you COULD, you would see PURE JOY written there.


Heading out to the old fishin' holes.


Too bad he STILL had to buy an out-of-state fishing license since we can't get our Wisconsin driver's licenses until we've been here thirty days.


No matter - - - this little 20" Muskie didn't know if the fisherman was foreign or not!

Now that's a great first day of fishing in ANY state!!!
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And Then THEY Came and Hauled Us Away to the Pokey - - -

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For failing to comply with city ordinance 7.11.

OK - - - so they didn't really haul us to the pokey. But we DID break city ordinance 7.11.


Seems our brand spankin' new trash container has a 45 gallon capacity. In this town, the largest capacity allowed is 32 gallons or 75 pounds. If we don't comply, there will be a fine - - - or we're going to the pokey.

We got a bright orange notice on our empty trash bin which told us so. (I said the pokey part, they didn't.)

Funny thing - - - we BOUGHT that trash container right here in this little ole city and there was nary a notice in the STORE about size compliance.

At least I must have done the recycling right - - - no bright orange notice there.

Whew.

I'm not buying a new trash can, we'll just haul out a nice little bag of trash that weighs substantially LESS than 75 pounds. So basically, we'll increase our trash since INSIDE that bag will still be our small bags from our indoor trash cans.

But no one's back will be broken.


This was the fire-in-the-sky sunset I enjoyed from my blogging station last evening.

There are no fines in this town for enjoying the sunset - - - at least not that I know of YET.

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Sunday Reruns - Help (?) From my Son

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It's Sunday again, and you know what THAT means!?! It's time for Sunday Favorites!!!

Sunday Favorites are RERUNS - - - if you want to participate, just repost something you previously posted "back in the day."

(NOTICE: This is NOT a current event ;-)

Thanks so much to Chari over at Happy to Design for hosting this meme, "Sunday Favorites."

I'm Drowning in a Sea of - - -
(First posted on June 24, 2008)

Techno-illiteracy. I just want to know how to do some simple things like change my picture file size so I'm not filling up my blogger space so rapidly.

When my techno-geek-bum-college-student son came by for a few days visit, I begged him for help.


He promptly began uploading, downloading, and overloading my computer with things that would help me in my quest for more knowledge.

I TRIED to follow his lingo - - - but it was all GEEK to me. I mean, I'm barely swimming around in a Kindergarten Pool of "Dick and Jane" and he threw me a Tolstoy "War and Peace" lifeline!!!!

When I cried out with tears of frustration - - - -


All he could do was hang his head at my total ignorance.

And I still am - - - - ignorant. :-(

But hey, Kyle, THANKS for trying!!!

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Mama's Happy So Y'all Go Ahead And Be Happy Too

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Before I get to 'splaining why mama's happy, I need to do this one thing for Kathy B. I REALIZE I promised, just last evening, that I was DONE posting pictures of our new place. Well - - - Kathy B asked where I do my blogging. So, the rest of y'all can just IGNORE these first two photos and skip on down to the meat of this post if you'd like.

HA! As if ANYTHING I post has real "meat" in it.

Also, please know that I do NOT consider myself a decorator. I don't "do" the a la mode or decor de jour. My home will never be on the cover of "Better Homes and Gardens" or any other decorating magazine for that matter.

I do what I like and what I find cozy. I love to have my family heirlooms, antiques, and life memory things all around me. That's what I do - - - we call it Decor A La Keetha.


And now, Kathy dear, THIS is my computer room and the room from which I do my bloggy creations. I can look up and see through my curtain to a lovely piney row right across First Street. On my desk and in my bookshelf are some of those life reminders I love so well.

Oh, should you happen to see him in this picture, Harry Potter is NOT mine - - - that's one Fisherhubby condesention in this room with me. He's got some vampire novels in the bookcase too - - - and I wouldn't be caught DEAD reading one of those. (Dead - - - get it??? Vampires - - - - oh, I guess you'd have to be in MY mind to get that one - - - )


And on the wall behind me is the lovely "guest bed" just waiting for y'all to come visit.

That is if you could stand sharing the room with Harry and the Vampires.

OK now - - - so why is mama happy today?????

Well, the MAIN reason is that I'm taking a break from all my box unpacking and watching my beloved college football ALL DAY LONG. That's right - - - you heard me! Just before 11 AM I will descend into my cave with my remote control in my hand and whoop and hollar until about midnight.

But that almost didn't happen, and here's the scoop:

About two weeks before our move from Indiana to Wisconsin I CALLED to order our TV installation up here. I scheduled that installation for Wednesday, Nov. 3. We decided to try Direct this time - - - I was hoping for more HD channels and a lower bill. I mean, afterall the commercials PROMISE that, don't they?

Well, Wednesday - - - right as rain - - - the Direct guy, Mike, and he was a really nice guy too - - - appeared at our door and in next to no time we had Direct TV. The picture was gorgeous. The clicker was going to take a little getting used to - - - but I was well satisfied.

Fisherhubby walked into the room, turned on the TV and began to search for HIS favorite channel:


Yes folks, there IS a network that is fishing shows all day long every day, 24/7. It is called the World Fishing Network and Fisherhubby (duh - - - he IS Fisherhubby afterall) MUST have it.

I KNEW this about him, and BEFORE ordering Direct I repeatedly asked if WFN was on there. They must have thought it was one show on the Outdoor Network.

NOT!

They assured me WFN would be there.

NOT!

Fisherhubby called Direct right up, same night as the installation and CANCELLED it!

Mama wasn't very happy because SATURDAY was coming, and SATURDAY means:


Mama threatened to check into a hotel for the day if she didn't have TV by Saturday at 11:00 AM. Oh yes, mama DID threaten that - - - she was NOT happy.

But Fisherhubby persevered. He called Dish, our old beloved standby TV provider, the one that HAS WFN. They PROMISED they would be here to install on Saturday morning between 8 and noon.

I hear drilling.

I hear pounding.

I can almost hear the Dish TV service coursing through the wires because:

CLAY is here!!! CLAY is my hero!!! He is installing Dish TV and it's only 9:10 AM.

Mama should be watching football by 11:00 and Mama is happy.

So go ahead - - - y'all be happy too!

(Photo credits: WFN from apescar.tv, College FB from jacktimes.com)

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Just Lettin' It All Hang Out - - -

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I'm sure it is getting boring that all I can post about on my blog is my moving process. Trust me - - - it's not real interesting for me either!

But, it is CONSUMING my time, and therefore my thoughts.

Hopefully, this will be my LAST moving post - - - things are shaping up around here and maybe, just maybe, my mind can move on to other pursuits next week.


Welcome to our home. Come on in and make yourself comfortable!

This is the first time I've ever had this "open" of a floor plan with a love seat and end table in the middle of the floor. Makes for "decorating both sides" issues!


This little table was in our entry hall in Marion, but I think it does quite nicely on the back side (dining room side) of the love seat.


Living room side of the end table.


Dining room side of the same end table.

Those cute little "dogs" were our baby's slippers. He can't even get his big toe in them now, but I keep hanging onto them anyway.


School desk with family pictures.

Normally our entertainment center will NOT be wearing skis - - - but until Dish TV gets installed tomorrow, they are a necessary evil.

There is a whole blog post story about the Dish installation - - - maybe one day - - -


Above and below are dining room vignettes.



Computer room book shelf.


Antique bottles above the laundry room cabinet.


Folks - - - we have a kitchen!

Complete with a new microwave - - - the one in Marion was built in above the stove. For some strange reason, the renters balked at the idea of a gaping hole there if I TOOK that microwave with me.

Picky, picky, picky!


Peg shelf above the antique church pew.


Sportin' antique bottles, canning jar, and Fiesta cups.

And now, just because they are neat, tidy, and organized I will bare all - - - don't EVER expect me to do THIS again!





Thanks for coming on my tour!

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