Thankful for Cranberries

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Today I am thankful for cranberries.

Ah yes, you may think, cranberries and Thanksgiving.   And while many folks enjoy some form of cranberries on Thanksgiving, that is not my main reason for being thankful for them.

Nope - - - I have a better reason than that.

I am thankful for cranberries because they are a MAJOR player in the economic health of our county.

This is paper and cranberry country.

Our paper industry has been forced to pare down to the bone, but cranberry marshes are still alive and well.

I've posted before, here and here, about the fact that our county is the largest producer of cranberries world wide.   And our economy is THANKFUL for those tart little red berries.

Very thankful.
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But I AM also thankful for cranberries to EAT at Thanksgiving.

I'm not much of a fan of cranberry sauce, but I do love me some cranberry bread.  I'm going to give you a recipe for an easy and tasty variety.

1 2-layer size white cake mix
1 small package of vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil
Zest of one orange
Juice of one orange
Enough water added to the orange juice to total one cup of liquid
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries, halved
1 4 oz package of chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, cream the eggs and oil until smooth.
Add the cake mix and pudding mix and blend until dampened through.
Pour in half of the orange juice/water mix.  Blend until smooth.
Add the orange zest.
Slowly add in the rest of the water mixture continuing to blend until everything is smooth.
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Drop in the cranberries and nuts, mixing just enough to cover all the berries and distribute them evenly in the batter.

Grease and flour two bread pans thoroughly.
Divide the batter between the two pans,  smoothing it out until it is even.

Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
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Place the finished loaves on a cooling rack for a few minutes, slide the blade of a butter knife along the edges to loosen the loaves, then dump them out on the rack to finish cooling.

Now, here's the REALLY important part - - -

Slice a thick generous slice while the bread is still warm from the oven.
Slather on real Wisconsin butter.
Eat before anyone can stop you.

It's Thanksgiving - - - be thankful you can indulge because we are so blessed in America with plenty of food and to spare.
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Worth Far More Than a Thousand Words

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Because everyone deserves to "spit and snort" at the beginning of their week, I give you my Grandson, Mackinley, "enjoying" an Atomic Warhead - or two.
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It's such "sweet" torture.

I totally stole this series of photos from our daughter Keri's blog because I felt you NEEDED to see them.

You're welcome.

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Hunting This Way Comes - A Sunday in My City Post

Yesterday was opening day of gun hunting season here in Central Wisconsin .   There have already been weeks and weeks of bow hunting season.

Now, to MOST of you, this probably means absolutely nothing.

Oh, but my dear bloggy friends, up here on the edge of the frozen tundra where I live, IT IS A HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE deal.

HUGE.
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Signs of the approach of hunting season have been cropping up all around the place, even taking precedence over other, more important, things.

The world comes to a screeching halt for opening day.  Shoot, (pun intended) it comes to a screeching halt for the entire opening weekend.  

Now, for those of you who are feeling a bit sorry for our furry friends who are being hunted I've only got two things to say to HELP you with that:

1)  The deer herd in this part of the world is LARGE and HEALTHY, due in part to controlled hunting which annually reduces their numbers sufficiently to help the survivors find enough forage for food to endure our long frozen winters.  There is nothing more heart rending than starving deer with legs bloodied from ice crusted snow.

2)  In nature it is all about eat or be eaten.  Sorry for those of you with delicate sensitivities, but that IS how it IS.
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Some of the signs of hunting make me shake my head and HOPE they don't mix the hunting with the adult beverages.

This is Wisconsin.

We are known for cheese and beer.

I can only hope the cheese is consumed WHILE hunting and the beer AFTER.
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You know you're in Wisconsin during hunting season when you are greeted by THIS bright orange display just inside the door of your favorite local super store.
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And the truly eager hunter can't even wait to get to the dressing room to try on his bib and tucker!!!

(Thank goodness his head was buried in the rack so no need to ask his permission - - - I doubt he will even recognize himself should he stumble across this blog, which he won't 'cause he'll be too busy out in his deerstand ALL WEEKEND AND ALL THE COMING WEEK.)
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And up here on the edge of the frozen tundra, it is NOT just the guys who go all wild and crazy over hunting.

Oh non mes amis!!!  The cutest, girliest girls you can imagine strap on their orange hunting togs and head to the woods.

Fisherhubby and I have even heard of camo weddings.

Yes, you head me right CAMO WEDDINGS, where the bridesmaids may have been attired as pictured above.
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And the brides?  Perhaps they wore this, I do not know FOR SURE not having been invited to witness the nuptials.
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And lest we forget the groom and groomsmen, there's plenty of camo for them too.

I wonder, do ALL the camos need to MATCH at a camo wedding?

And that's what's happening in MY neck of the woods - - - what's been going on in yours?

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Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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Photo Credits:  Bridesmaid - simplyformal.com 
                       Bride - my-wedding-reception-planning.com
                       Groom - thetuxedostore.com 
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Helpless on Life's Escalator of FWPs

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We here in the First World tend to take ourselves and our petty self-induced First World Problems (FWPs) WAY too seriously.

WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

It renders some of us incapable of helping ourselves, sort of like this:
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My purpose in this post is to expose my OWN silly little FWPs.

Perhaps if you laugh at ME, it will help you see similar issues of your own.

Maybe.
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Keetha's Top 10 FWPs of Today

10)  I want a new laptop, but don't know what kind to get or from which store to get it.

9)   Someone stopped following my blog AGAIN today.

8)  I'm SICK of getting email forwards from people who need to get a life if they have time to send email forwards.

7)  I have to go straight from running my heat to running my AC because of my allergies.

6)  My dishwasher won't load or unload itself.

5)  The clean clothes NEVER fold and put themselves away.

4)  Socks disappear in the dryer black hole void.

3)  Fisherhubby NEVER makes the bed.

2)  I can't seem to keep the throw rugs STRAIGHT on the floor.

And my #1 TOP Petty FWP of today:

1)  I don't have enough reds to make a full load in the washing machine.

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And while I worry over these "major" issues, some girl or some woman in some African village is "dinking around" carrying a jug of water for something as "mundane" as cooking or washing.

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Oh, How I Miss You Angie

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When I saw this particular blogfest on a friend's blog, I immediately knew I wanted to join and exactly who it was I wanted to talk about missing.
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If you are missing some bloggers who no longer are blogging and you'd like to join in this fest just click here.

Several years ago I had a blog friend named Angie.

Angie and I bonded the way one does with certain bloggers.   

I heard from her nearly every day, and soon found myself looking forward to those contacts.

Then suddenly she stopped commenting on my blog.  She stopped e-mailing.  I noticed pretty quickly because she had always been regular as clockwork with her blog following.

Then I got an e-mail from a mutual blogging friend confirming to me that Angie had indeed passed away.

There is still a gaping hole in my blogging world.  Who knew we could get so attached to folks who live across the ocean (Angie was in England) and whom we have never once met live and in the flesh.

Evidently no one knew Angie's blog password nor how to update it for her.  So, if you click over to her blog you will still find the very last post she ever made, making us laugh first and then telling us that she wasn't feeling very well.  Nothing more from her ever.

Here is a tribute I wrote to Angie just days after she passed away in January of 2011.

Angie - - - I'm STILL tearing up just thinking of you and how much I miss you.

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Tribute to Angie
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I am beyond sad today. I am stunned and shocked. Blogland is missing one of its own - - - one of its dearest.
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Angie, of "Can You All Hear Me at the Back" passed away sometime on January 30th as a result of pneumonia.
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Perhaps you would most recognize her by her cute little mouse avatar.

Angie "found" me and my blog somehow - - - in the way most of us "find" each other.

She had a sense of humor that just wouldn't quit. Life had dealt her plenty of lemons, but she insisted on making lemonade from them instead of groveling about in sourness.

Once she found me, she left comments on ALL my blog posts and even e-mailed me in between.

 She made me feel like I was a special friend, though now I suspect that she had the GIFT for making many of us feel that way, because we were ALL special to her.

Angie - - - I am not ready to say good-bye to you yet. I feel that I had you "with" me too short a time. I shall miss your witty comments and humor more than I can say.

Rest in peace, my dear friend.

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"Round, Round, Get Around, Frags Get Around!

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Once again it is time for Friday Fragments hosted by Mrs. 4444.  Fragments are for those of us whose lives have gone round and round enough times that all we are left with is a handful of weekly fragments.

I am ONE of THOSE bloggers.  Good grief, I haven't even posted since SUNDAY. 
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Someone who has no more control over her camera than to snap a random shot of the ceiling of her car, and doesn't even know she did it until she finds it upon downloading her pictures really shouldn't be GIVEN a camera.

These are the things that make Fisherhubby say:  "Keetha, I have a room reserved for you at the home - - - - the NURSING home."

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Theoretically speaking, one may be DESPERATE for fragments when one walks around one's house moments BEFORE making her frag post just HOPING to see something that will trigger a brilliant idea for at least ONE frag.

(Because we all know that last minute random photos ALWAYS make for brilliant posts.)

Theoretically speaking that same person must lead a very dull life.

I'm just sayin'

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If a person has to walk around their house trying to DREAM up frags, maybe that person should be kicked out of the frag party.

Theoretically.

Again, I'm just sayin'

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I walked into a local discount super store this week and spied this cute little face peeping out at me.

I thought about leaving him sitting in the discount super store display HOPING someone else would spy him and give him to me as a gift.

Then I thought, "nah - - - I want him and I don't want to risk not getting him.  BESIDES, if anyone DOES give me another, then I'll just have TWO!!  Joy Joy!"

So I brought him home with me.
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Released from the prison of his box, he's even cuter than I thought!!!
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He's found a place of honor, blended in with all the vintage stuff on the coffee table - - - 'cause that's what we eclectics do, we eclectisize things.

He's looking me right in the face while I watch all my TV shows.

He's more interesting than the shows I'm sure.

I just LOVE him because - - -
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EVERYONE needs a little Pig Leaguer in their life!!!

Spit and Snort - "Pig League"  Get it?  Pigskin. Big League.

Never mind - - - you had to be there.

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You may remember the first installment of the ongoing Fisherhubby Reading Glasses Saga that made up one frag last week.

This week we find that the reading glasses are multiplying - - -

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All over the house, just like rabbits.

Sigh.

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Do you, like me, have a kitchen gallery FULL of people you love?
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Mine's got friends, relatives, former students, and even some of my bloggy buds, LIKE MAYBE YOU, that have sent me photo greetings.

I love that you all WATCH me every time I dig into the fridge to get a snacky snack.

Your guilty stares AREN'T stopping me, so there!

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I know "duck decor" isn't "all it" anymore like it was back in the 80's.  But I still love my little duckies.

I've had the big one for years and years - - - well, since the 80's - - - but the little guy just showed up a couple of weeks ago in the Shepherd's Loft.

I brought him home right away so he wouldn't get that "last kid picked for the team" feeling and realize he was past his decor prime.

I love him just the same as if he were still all the rage.

Who decides what is "raging" anyway??

See - - - THESE are the thrilling kinds of fragments you get when I wander the house with my camera LOOKING for frags to fill my post.

You're welcome.

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Here's another of the "random photo around the house" variety frags.

Does ANYONE ELSE out there in blog land LOVE to live right out of the clean clothes basket - - - like all WEEK?

Now WHO would DO that?????

Beulah is rolling over in her grave at this.

Beulah is my mother, and she did NOT raise me this way, so please don't blame her.

Sister Pam is very much alive and she's probably shaking her head at my slovenliness right now as she sees this fragment.

Don't worry - - - neither Beulah nor Pam shall deter me from my slovenly "live out of the clean clothes basket" ways.
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Saturday I will have to pull out ALL the Badger stops.   I shall have to dress to the hilt in my Bucky wear.  I shall have to bite my nails (figuratively - I pay too much getting them done to literally do it) to the quick.

The Buckeyes are coming to Mad Town to play MY BOYS on the gridiron.

We really need to smash them into the ground.

No - no - no - DON'T SAY IT you Buckeye fans.

This is a BADGER blog, save your trash talking of us for YOUR blogs.

K?

I promise - - - win or lose, I shan't trash talk you in your blog comments.
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And that's all for today folks!

Now please hurry over 

To Mrs. 4444's place

To see all the other fragments.

Fragments that also go round and round,

But will likely have more substance,

Than those that are herein found.

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Click this: Mrs 4444

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Visiting Tom - Michael Perry in My City

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I spent Thursday evening in the theater in our local library listening to Michael Perry tell tales.
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Michael Perry is a "local boy who made good" so to speak.

At least he was born right here in this town.  Then as a toddler his parents took him and moved to a dairy farm on the edge of the Northwoods near New Auburn, Wisconsin.

Today he is an author and communicator.  He came to our library to read excerpts from and talk about his latest book, "Visiting Tom."

He writes about Wisconsin, living on a farm, raising pigs and children, and other bits of every day life.

But he isn't an "every day" read.

No - - - I find his stuff a very special read indeed.

I could have sat last night and listened to several more hours of his story telling.

I found him interesting, funny, and poignant all at the same time.
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But don't just take MY word for it, listen to some of HIS.
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And here's some REAL Wisconsin humor 

For those who are not so faint of heart.

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Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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One is the Loneliest Fragment That You'll Ever Do - - -

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"Two can be as bad as one,

It's the loneliest fragment since the fragment one."

With deepest apologies to Three Dog Night, but it's FRIDAY and I find myself sadly deficient in fragments, thus the tribute to the song and the band.

Honestly, I don't think I COULD name these FF posts WITHOUT poems, songs, movies, and books.

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Yes, you CAN go home again.

Recently I ran into these friends from my childhood days, from left to right Linda, Mary Kay, and Irene.

These sisters were enough older than Sister Pam and myself that when our family spent time on their family farm these girls hauled us around like baby dolls, even propping us up on their pony to take a ride.

I remember one Easter their family gave EACH of us a "store boughten" dress - - - which was to us, children of a seamstress mom, a delight beyond description!!!

The gal on the far right is Becky, daughter of Irene and childhood friend of my oldest daughter Keri.

Yep - - - sing with me - - - "Will the circle, be unbroken - - -"  (thanks to an old hymn.)
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I believe I've mentioned before that Fisherhubby has a propensity for LOSING his reading glasses.
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Just guess where I found a pair today - - - "ride, ride, ride, hitchin' a ride."  (This time thanks to Vanity Fair for the quotable line.)
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Yep, that IS a huge gouge-y scratch right on the left lens.  That's what happens when reading glasses hitch rides in places where they have no business being.

No WONDER we have to buy new ones all the time!!
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I truly did intend to stop with 2 frags - - - thought that was all I had - - -but then I found a third.  Please, consider it a "bonus" and go with the flow, ok?

My students used to LOVE a bonus question or two on their tests.

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When I am volunteering at the church, and when the Pastor wants to speak with one of us, we JOKE about getting called to the principal's office.

One day last week I received this summons.

GULP!!!

That old fear of the principal's office NEVER GOES AWAY, ya know??

The smiley faces should have been a give-away for me to stop shaking in my boots.

All the meetings in THIS particular principal's office have been of the un-scary variety.
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And that's all for today folks!

Now please hurry over 

To Mrs. 4444's place

To see all the other

Fragments which will be

More than one or two

And not lonely in the least.

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Click this: Mrs 4444

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For those of you who can't "guess" - the reading glasses "hitched" a ride in the DRYER.
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First World Problems I Wish I Could Solve Today

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AKA:  I Know These are My Own Insignificant Miniscule Issues, But I'm Saying 'Em anyway!!

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With Thanksgiving just around the corner, some of you are posting lovely lists counting your blessings.  (Yes that really WAS my Thanksgiving plate one year - - - my FIRST helping.)

I really should be doing the same because I am sooooo very thankful for sooooo very many things.

I may do that a little closer to Thanksgiving.

For today, I'm indulging in a little "I wish these things were different" post knowing the entire time I'm planning and creating this post that these are totally insignificant (in the scheme of eternity) little First World Problems.

Thanks to Laurie for pointing that First World phrase out to me, and let me add, she is SOOO right.

Nonetheless, I forge right ahead with my First World Problem post - - -

(Hey- - - at least I KNOW and ADMIT it.)
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1)  I wish I could play the piano well enough use that skill in worship team.   Because really, in order to accompany for worship you just do need to be able to sight read AND play more than the melody plunked out with your right hand.   In America you just do.

I'm now leading the traditional worship team at our church (which in itself is rather laughable considering I'm no musician) and there has been MANY A TIME that being able to play, either the piano or the keyboard, myself would have solved a bushel basket full of worship team woes. 
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2)  I wish I had a personal accountant who would come in once a month, sort out and organize all the bills, total up my check book, and THEN turn the rest of the whole bill paying process over to me.  I think I could handle that.

Yep - - - it's that time again, BILL PAYING TIME, and I find myself yet once again in procrastination mode.
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3)  I wish someone would take blog comment word verification and throw it into the deepest sea, separate it as far from me as east is from west!!!

I have long since stopped commenting where I find word verification.

However - - - SOME commenting forms are tricky little devils.  They don't SHOW you the word verification box UNTIL you hit "publish" AFTER you've created your long and clever comment.   So, at THAT point, you click away from the comment box, but you've WASTED all that time and energy already in the creation of your artful masterpiece of a comment.

 (Errr hmmm - - - yes, ALL of my comments ARE long and creative so this TOTALLY wastes my bloggy time.)
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4)  I wish I could kick spam outa here.  "To the moon, Alice!  To the moon!"

I've pretty much eliminated my spam issues with e-mail (spam folder) and blog comments (blogger spam filter combined with comment moderation, no need for word veri see rant #3).

However, I have a lovely little cbox in the left margin of my blog where a few folks whom I dearly love leave me comments from time to time.  There is no cbox spam filter - at least that I've found, if YOU'VE found one please do tell!

So, nearly daily I get several cbox spams which require me to click over to my cbox administrator's page where I mark them as spam, delete them, and mark them as forever blocked from my cbox.

I do that for YOU my blogger readers so YOU will not have the First World Problem of clicking on a virus filled or advertisement filled web page.  You are very welcome.  I only aim to please.

However - - - I am getting worn to a frazzle, working my fingers down to the very nubs of bone trying to keep up with it, because as we all know, spammers are far more intelligent than we mere bloggers and they are able to adjust their IP addresses (is that the right term here?)  and respam at will.

And, I haven't exaggerated in a thousand years.

PS - if you don't "get" the "to the moon" reference, you are WAY too young my dear bloggy reader.
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Photo credits:  Accountant - billpay-service.com
                     Word Veri - newsicare.wordpress.com
                     Spam - iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com
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Sunday Shots

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This is not going to be a "traditional" SIMC post.

BUT - - - it IS Sunday, and I'm posting from MY city so I think it qualifies.

Work with me here, k?

It's what I've got today.
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My two granddaughters, stylin' in the dresses our daughter Keri brought them from India.

What really "captured" me in this shot is how little Piper is looking up at big sister Kaeleigh to see if she is doing the pose just right.

Priceless.
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Piper rather likes playing with pumpkin guts.

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Mackinley?  Not so much.

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The "birth" of a ballerina.

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Unrehearsed and unposed.

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Pipes and her second cousin Finley.

Cuteness 

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And now, by popular demand - - - "The" Trick-or-Treaters  from the front.
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That's all folks.

Please click below to find out what's happening

in OTHER cities around blogland today.

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Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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