What did you say that was? Oh Another Tuesday!

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." ~Anatole France

"The greatest and most amiable privilege which the rich enjoy over the poor is that which they exercise the least - the privilege of making others happy." ~Charles Caleb Colton

"I have found out in later years [that] we were very poor, but the glory of America is that we didn't know it then." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The difference between a rich man and a poor man is this - the former eats when he pleases, and the latter when he can get it." ~Walter Ralegh

"I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better." ~ Sophie Tucker

Welcome to my blog.. It is Tuesday and today we do have another what is it? I think someone will get this one pretty easy. But I have been wrong at least once in my life so far.. Maybe I'll be wrong again someday.. Take a good look at this and then give me a comment if you think you know what it is. Give me a comment even if you don't have a clue or could care less. Some of you who have lived on a farm or just out in the country have probably grown this before yourself. Maybe you knew someone who grew them in the past. My daddy grew them as did my Aunt Lucy and my Grandma. The first one I ever saw was at Grandma's little house in the woods. They are really kinda ugly aren't they? Believe me it's just from this angle that they are ugly. Everyone wants seeds for these from my yard. They make a beautiful exotic plant.Everyone used to have this plant on their farm... now they are very hard to find... They have no close relatives in the plant world..

It is native only to Africa but has been carried around the world. By people who thought them to be beautiful. They also have a special purpose that if you recognize the plant you should also know what their purpose was or is...

In tropical areas it grows as a shrub or a tree that can reach 40 feet in height along streams and rivers and on bottom lands with well-drained, nutrient rich soils. In temperate areas,they are grown as annuals. Up North they are grown as ornamentals and can be directly sown into gardens in late spring, or started earlier indoors and transplanted outdoors when the weather warms. I personally have never had luck with moving one or transplanting one.. These plants grow at an amazingly fast rate, if they are situated in full sun and provided with ample fertilizer and water. Ten-foot tall plants are not uncommon by late summer. I often have clumps of the huge trees by the end of summer each year. The leaves are giants.. Dave always says he could make an umbrella from just one leaf... They will often drop their seeds and will come up the following year in bigger and bigger clumps. They hate cold though and die as soon as the temperature drops below 32^oF.

Do you know what this plant is called? Do you know why the old time farmers grew it? .. have you ever grown it? Give it a guess. Who knows you might be right..


~~ And now for a small bonus.. On this day in 1572 the English Poor Law, the first known welfare legislation, was adopted under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Local churches were responsible for distributing food; clothes and very rarely money; to those who couldn't work... this included the very old.. mothers of babies.. orphan children.. the blind or crippled... and in some cases widows... public jobs were created for the able-bodied and if they refused work they could be beaten or jailed.... healthy unemployed persons were considered vagrants and were punished... Many were jailed.. You could be cast out of your neighborhood if they thought you were simply lazy.. others in the neighborhood could whip you if they caught you being lazy and getting welfare when you were able to work.... They had people chosen to watch over the welfare receivers.. Of course it was much easier then when they weren't as many people to watch and it was all handled by Churches.. I personally think the welfare system that we have now is unfair.. I went through the system many years ago and if I hadn't grown a lot of our food we would have starved.. Now I hear young and yes, able bodied women talk about how they get over a thousand dollars a month in just food stamps... that is not to mention that they get help on their housing and electric bills.... plus a check for their children... Most don't work because to get a job would cut their assistance.. What I'd I'd like to know is if I can go under the old law and beat them????? What do you think? I wouldn't really beat them.... (or would I????) Maybe we should go back to the public jobs for public assistance... I am in favor of giving to the elderly and the mothers of the very young children.. How-ever I do think they should have to do something .. anything.. to get their money! Maybe the Old widowed Grandma's can babysit the babies for the Mother's to do some kind of work... I know that many will disagree with me and that is OK... I do have my own opinion.. And I am sure you have your opinion too.. Thanks for reading about mine! I will be glad to read about yours if you care to leave me a comment!

Don't forget to make a guess on the plant! Have a great day!
Patsy

Friday~ Yes Kids I'm back!

"Love your children with all your hearts, love them enough to discipline them before it is too late.... Praise them for important things, even if you have to stretch them a bit. Praise them a lot. They live on it like bread and butter and they need it more than bread and butter."
- Lavina Christensen Fugal

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower."
- Shigenori Kameoka

"Give me the fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truth for yourself."
- Vilfredo Pareto

Did Y'all think I was gone? I bet at least one of my "kids" was hoping I was done with the Friday's advice for the kids... No such luck.. I love giving advice to those younger and even older than me.. Now on to today's advice!

1:) Hating everything and everyone around you doesn't help! I know because I have tried this myself.. some mornings I even wake up mad with the whole world.. You might even ask me.." for what?" and I would have to reply.. "just for!" Sometimes people do things that make you angry.. sometimes it just seems like absolutely nothing goes the way you want it too; or feel that it should.. that's the days that most of us hate the whole world and everyone in it.. I guess it's just the way things are.. I don't think fate has anything personal against any one of us.. then again he has been rather nasty to me.. I have never won any lottery.. I didn't have any rich uncles to leave me a pile of cash... I can get both ends to meet in the middle every once in a while but I have never had them tied.. Not even once... and yet My oldest son says that I always survive.. he said it like that was a bad thing.. Maybe I won't be mad with the whole world.. just those who inhabit my own personal world.. do I have any volunteers to be first on my list?

2:) Just because someone else stopped talking doesn't mean they agree with you and what you are saying! This happens to me a lot.. when I am fed up with trying to tell someone something and they are obviously not paying any attention to me.. I just shut up and move on... if someone shuts up and walks away you should not assume that you are right.. you should instead realize that you just made it on to someones "I hate the whole world and everyone in it" list! ...Wouldn't you like to see where you are on other people's Hate list? Sometimes I'm sure I am way up near the top of every one's list.. other times I wonder why any one could ever dislike a wonderful humble little old lady like me.. ( WOW!!! I even scared myself with that comment!) I guess it's a good thing we don't all write down our "lists" otherwise we might all see just where we stand in the eyes of others.. I think I'd rather be ignorant...

3:) Going on Reality TV is not cool!!! First of all ~I truly hope that Not a single one of my "children" have ever done anything that Jerry Springer or Dr. Phil.. or any of the other TV hosts would find interesting enough to put on their show.. If you have done anything that stupid and have it hidden away like a skeleton in your closet~ then please keep it right there in your closet for here ever after!! If you ever go on any TV show and parade 100 baby daddies across a stage looking for a father for your baby~ I will put my foot in your behind.. If you don't know who the daddy is then let that be just between you and God and the woman at the welfare office.. the rest of us would rather not know!! If you are one of the hundred baby daddies there for the same woman.. I will put my foot in your behind still....If you ever go on any of those shows for any reason~ I will put my foot in your behind.. If you have done something that stupid.. try to forget it.. Let the rest of the world forget it.. because every time you remind me of it~ I will put my foot in your behind!! I don't care how much they paid you.. if you went on their show now the whole world knows you are stupid and careless it wasn't enough money... I might even show up there and put my foot in your behind for the whole world to see.. Just thinking about it makes me want to put my foot in some one's behind!!!

4:) The main difference between a cat and a Lie is that a cat only has nine lives... Daddy used to say that if you are planning to lie you should also plan to have a good memory... That is because a lie will be repeated and told over and over.. you will need good memory to keep all your made up details straight for the million and one times you may have to tell the same story... Have you ever noticed that people will believe the most absurd things about others and will carry a rumor all over town and it will get more and more outlandish with each re-telling? A cat you can kill.. you might have to run it over and then drown it and shoot it.... electrocute it.... stab it.. throw it to the bull dogs.. hit it with a hammer and lay it out on the tracks for a train to hit..... But eventually a cat will finally die and be no more.. Not a lie... and the more flamboyant and outrageous a lie is.. the longer it circulates.. if you don't trust me on this.. make up a "secret" about yourself.. let it be something harmless... lets say.. You fell into a sink hole and had to climb out while wearing only purple underwear..... it took you all day.. now tell this lie to a couple of people.. with-in a few days someone will ask you about your adventures in the sink hole.. So be careful what you say.. never make up or add to stories about other people.. you can damage someone for the rest of their life with just a few words spoken untruthfully.. Honestly I think it's better not to say anything about someone at all, unless of course, you know something good to say about them... Somehow though people usually only re-tell the bad things... apparently the good things about others are boring...The old saying about sticks and stones is ~ is only half true.. sticks and stones will break your bones; but WORDS do have the power to hurt others too....

5:) Go fishing! ~ It sounds simple doesn't it.. it is hard to be mad at the world~ ( and everyone in it) while you are sitting on the soft grass beside moving water.. Even at a pond or the Lake the water will lap the shore and every once in a while you might spot a minnow rushing by going about his tiny little life doing his minnow things.. If you are lucky and the time of day is right you may catch a glimpse of an old gray heron or maybe just a noisy quacking duck.. But there will be something there to take your mind away from your own troubles even for just a little while.. Anthony and I have caught our supper on baby diaper pins in water so shallow I just knew we were wasting time... Cooper and Emily have caught bream on sticks with line that barely reached the water. There were happy and I was getting a wonderful break from the same old same old of everyday life... I don't actually fish... I love to watch others.. the kids or even Dave fight and struggle and talk a fish up onto the bank.. It is like the closer the fish gets to shore then the more excited they get.. when they hook a fish even if he's just a tiny bait stealer their adrenalin kicks into overdrive and the battle begins.. I can sit in the sun on the grass or on an upside down bucket and crochet until they hook one.. then I just watch and enjoy.. I also love to lie back and listen to the sounds of the water and look at the clouds.. Go fishing.. it will relax you and things won't look so bleak afterward .. who knows you might even catch enough for supper and even if you don't catch anything you will have had a good time.. you will have relaxed for a while.

That's all of my crazy advice for today.. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!
Patsy

Welcome to Thursday! I have at least three things for you!

“We have sat on the river bank and caught catfish with pin hooks. The time has come to harpoon a whale.” ~ John Hope

"If I go down in for anything in history, I would like to be known as the person who convinced the American people that catfish is one of the finest eating fishes in the world."
~ Willard Scott

"You ask me if I will not be glad when the last battle is fought, so far as the country is concerned I, of course, must wish for peace, and will be glad when the war is ended, but if I answer for myself alone, I must say that I shall regret to see the war end."
~ George Armstrong Custer

"There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry."
~ George Armstrong Custer



1:) ~ I would like to say happy Thursday! I can't.. today hasn't been very happy for a lot of People.. Death has been poking around here in our town this week with three people that I knew having died this week. First was Shane: a little fellow that used to live beside me.. I know he was grown but I will always think of his smiling, chubby cheeked face when he was a baby.. Then A fellow that went to school with me died, Joel was a great person and will be missed by his family and friends.. What's worse is that he was young and in presumably good health until he was involved in an accident at work last week. Last night My Daughter-in-law's (Myranda) Grandma died.. She was old and recently diagnosed with Leukemia.. She too will be missed by all of her children and grandchildren and great grands too... so like I said death has been busy in Barnwell this week.. My thoughts and prayers are with all of the families whose lives have been touched by death this week... No one escapes death when it comes calling your name.... even the rich and famous are not immune to death...

Today will be remembered as a sad day in History. First, Farrah Fawcett died at the age of 62, Loosing her three year battle with cancer .... and Later in the day Michael Jackson died at the age of 50, from what is being presumed was cardiac arrest. The latest news says that an autopsy is planned.. My thoughts and prayers will be with the families of these famous ones tonight.

2:) Today is Catfish day! I love catfish.. I like it fried or stewed or grilled. I love the nuggets that the fishermen cut from the Giant catfish that they catch in Santee.. (and in other places too I bet!) My brother's- in- law ( Wade and Roland) once had some catfish so big that they looked like pigs laying in the back of the truck. They carried a Big freezer with them to put the nuggets in.. those big fish would have rose up and laughed at any cooler I have ever seen. Today even has it's own proclamation making it an Official, National, DAY!

Proclamation 5672 -- National Catfish Day, 1987
June 25, 1987

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

More and more Americans are discovering a uniquely American food delicacy -- farm-raised catfish. In 1986, catfish comprised the third highest volume of finned fish consumed in the United States. Ninety-nine percent of all these catfish were farm-raised. Between 1975 and 1985, production of farm-raised catfish increased by 1200 percent. Most observers expect that production will continue to increase in 1987. Production costs of catfish farming, which have averaged only 65 cents per pound over the past 8 years, have resulted in a stable income for growers and an economical food product for consumers. The accompanying growth of the catfish processing industry also has created thousands of permanent jobs.

Farm-raised catfish have come a long way from their bottom-feeding ancestors. The catfish that are available today, fresh or frozen in markets nationwide, are products of state-of-the-art methods of aquaculture. They thrive in clean freshwater ponds on many American farms, where they are surface-fed soybean meal, corn, fish meal, vitamins, and minerals. Farm-raised catfish not only furnish American consumers with a tasty delicacy but also provide a nutritious, low-calorie source of protein that is also low in cholesterol.

In recognition of the value of farm-raised catfish, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 178, has designated June 25, 1987, as ``National Catfish Day'' and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in its observance.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 25, 1987, as National Catfish Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:

13 p.m., June 25, 1987]

3:)On this day in History~ The Battle Of Little Bighorn~

• The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, took place on June 25th-26th, 1876. It was fought by three Native American tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army.

• Fast Facts:

  1. Date: June 25 to June 26, 1876
  2. Location: Little Bighorn River, Montana
     
  3. Also known as: Battle of Greasy Grass
  4. War: The Black Hills War
  5. Victor: Native Americans
  6. Commanders:
     • Native American: Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
     • Army: George Custer, James Calhoun, Marcus Reno and Frederick Benteen
  7. Battlefield is now a National Monument
  8. The entire battle was reported to have lasted only half an hour

• • Native Americans: 36-136 killed, 160 wounded

  • 7th Cavalry: 268 killed, 55 wounded

• Lieutenant George Armstrong Custer was kill ed at Little Bighorn. At the time, he was viewed as a hero who sacrificed his life for his country. In later years Custer and his actions during the Indian Wars became a symbol of the United States Government's mistreatment of Native Americans, even though he had publicly opposed the the use of reservations.

~~And now as a bonus because today hasn't been a good day in times past or even in our own time ~ well except for the whole catfish thing.. and that was good for us but not for the fish~ I am sharing with you what I enjoyed today in my own yard..

1)~ a beautiful water lily

2:) Dave's almost orange ~
reduced for quick sale~ Hibiscus!



3:) Blooming Gardenia.. the smell is as beautiful as the flower!


Have a great day!
Patsy

Whoa! It's weird Wednesday again!

"Bride, n. A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her."

"Coward, n. One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs."

"Imagination, n. A warehouse of facts with a poet and liar in joint ownership."

All by: Ambrose Bierce ( from his satiric "dictionary"; known as "The Devil's Dictionary" published in 1911)

Bierce who was born on this day in 1842 wrote his definitions as comic satire in columns for several different newspapers before finally publishing the collection. I chose his quotes today because they are so delightfully weird. I have read a great many of them and find most of them to be very accurate... I am often thought by others to be satirical myself... I just state the facts as I see them.. For some weird reason a lot of people don't like it when one does that! For more weird definitions you can search for "The Devil's Dictionary".. I might just be weird but I quiet enjoyed reading over the examples I found on-line! I know it's weird but I'd love to have a copy of that book! Maybe I'll find one in an antique book store somewhere; sometimes!

Now on to the weird questions for today!

Wednesday Weirdness #60
Questions By: Anonymous

1.) To you, what makes the perfect body the perfect body? ~ Well, you can call me weird, but I actually don't think anyone has a perfect body. I am really more of an eye person myself. There are parts of people's bodies that I have found to be near perfect.. I'd have to cut up all the men I ever new and stick parts together to have a man with a perfect body.. ( I am assuming that you meant for me to think in terms of a man!) then he would look all weird and the parts might not fit good.. so .. Yea.. I'm more of an eye person myself.. I like beards too.. but the eyes have to speak to me or the body never gets a glance.. I know three men with beautiful blue eyes.. (besides My sons and brothers! I can't say they have sexy eyes ~ that would make me weird!)
I really like green or greenish eyes the best.. Sometimes Dave's are green sometimes they are almost gold. I like his eyes when he laughs.. He used to walk over at night with his hair in a pony tail.... eyes sparkling.. STOP!!!!! Nope I can't go any where with that.. it would be too weird for my kids!

2.) What part of your body do you obsess about the most? ~ I don't obsess about my body.. Maybe I should.. I do want my hair long and fixed though.. and yes My hair is too fixed.. it's brushed a few times a day and braided back or put back up.... it's long it's hot.. It's mine and I like the way it's fixed.. you wear your hair like you wanna don't you? I wouldn't say I like my body type exactly but I work with what the Lord gave me.. we are getting along pretty good my old tired body and me..

3.) What makes a house a warm, welcoming, comfortable home? ~ This is easy.. It's the people who live with-in.. Call me weird if you want too.. A house can be huge and have fancy things inside and be the place of every night parties and events but Love has to live there for it to feel warm and safe and secure to me. My own house is filled to the brim with stuff.. my own stuff and Dave's stuff and the stuff the kids left here and stuff we are keeping for people and stuff; stuff and more stuff.. Once a guy friend of Dave's was here and he was looking around with his eyes wide and I apologized to him.. saying "I know I have a lot of junk here.."~ He smiled and said.. "never ever change a thing.. it feels like coming home!" I was so tickled.. I didn't even feel weird about all my stuff any more! He later told me that for us to find even the tiniest baby shoes worth keeping and the children's books and the blending of all our stuff on shelves and in every nook and cranny made him feel as if he could almost imagine the happy times we have had here.

4.) What fabric feels sexiest against bare skin?~ Well I could say bare skin but I guess that isn't fabric huh? Well unless you're a weirdo.. If it's sheets you're talking about I want flannel.. satin slides off the bed.. Flannel is soft and soothing and I like them.. If it's fabric that someone is wearing then why are only one of us Bare? Who is bare me or him? Who decided which of us was going to be bare.. can we take turns being bare? Can we afford some silk... I want real silk not that fake stuff... Or am I being weird and you just meant my bare hand? then I don't care... it all feels the same to me.. my hand doesn't care either it's weird like that!

5.) What is the lamest lie you have heard in the last month?~ "I forgot to tell them you worked here!" Yep!! My job didn't pay me one week till the following Monday because they forgot to tell the accountant that I worked there.. Now mind you I have been there several months and always got paid before.. I couldn't decide which was weirder, that they thought I would buy that, or that they couldn't make up a better story than that.. I had a lot of hours that week.. I am told that they wanted to go out of town that week end.. What ever!! I finally got my money on Monday... I Like my job or at least I like parts of it.. I love talking to the people that come in for the breakfast and I kinda like seeing who rents rooms.. It's kinda weird though when someone from Church rents a room with his girlfriend.... I don't even mind doing laundry and I love the housekeepers.. But I hope next time they wanna go out of town they just say they will pay me Monday.. It is way too weird when they forget I work there!!! I ask you~ If I worked for you could you forget me????? I thought NOT!

6.) What always makes you feel better when you're upset?~ chocolate doesn't hurt, nor does a good warm hug.. But KUM BA YAH always works.... When Cooper was little he would see me upset and he would say.."Mommy KUM BA YAH!" If he was scared or couldn't go to sleep or for whatever weird reason kids can come up with I would have to sing to him and no other song would ever work. We sang KUM BA YAH in the cancer clinic and while we fished for supper.. We sang KUM BA YAH laying in bed and swinging on swings at the park... Dave's Kids and Dave too later learned KUM BA YAH and sang with us... I find myself singing it sometimes as I dig in the garden or even while I'm just doing all the things wives do.. I even sing it to myself at the hotel.. I bet they would think I was weird if I sang it out loud in the laundry huh? I don't care.. I feel better right now just singing it here by myself.. You should try it.. You might feel better too..

~ For those of you who don't know.. KUM BA YAH is an African-American spiritual song first sung by slaves. KUM BA YAH meaning Come by here.. a prayer song asking that God Come by Here.. The song has always been soothing to me and to my children.. You should try singing it yourself.. If you don't like it; Just quit singing! It isn't weird.. just try a few verses.. I have even put the lyrics on here for you.. Me and my kids always added a few others to the list we made ours up as we went sometimes.. Cooper even once sang "someone is drawing" Lord.. Kum BA Yah... I guess he thought he needed a little help with his picture!

LYRICS:

(chorus)~ sing first and then between every other verse and at the end; when you are tired of singing!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!

Someone's laughing, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone's laughing, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone's laughing, Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!

Someone's crying, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone's crying, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone's crying, Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!

Someone's singing, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone's singing, Lord, kum ba yah!
Someone's singing, Lord, kum ba yah!
O Lord, kum ba yah!

And those are the weird questions for today.. They weren't even too Racy for me to answer. I managed to answer every one of them.. I guess that is a little weird for me.... Hopefully a few of you will get a laugh from my answers.. I know people think I'm weird.. I even think I am a little weird.. But I like me anyway.. Now I'm going to eat me a bite or two of chocolate and swing in my swinging chair and sing KUM BAH YA while I contemplate all the weird mysteries of life.. Have a wonderfully weird Wednesday..
Patsy

Tuesday's what in the world is this???

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade."
~Thomas Peters

"People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within."
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"My mother and I could always look out the same window without ever seeing the same thing."
~ Gloria Swanson

Hello and welcome to Tuesday! I hope that some of you are here once again because you enjoy the guessing of my strange items on Tuesday?! The item for today has nothing to do with windows... I say that because all of the quotes have the word window in them. and Now on to today's strange thing.. I can't think of anyone who I know that reads my blog that will know what this is. Maybe you know what it is.. Maybe you own one or have even used one. Maybe you can make a good guess as to what today's pictures are and what they were actually used for? Have you ever seen one? what is this crazy looking thing? what would YOU do with it? What did the people who invented it use it for?

I actually do own one of these! I will tell you that neither of these is mine. These pictures are each of one that is in much better shape than mine. If I had known what mine was and what it might one day be worth I would have brought in inside and kept it polished and shined! I didn't know what it was myself until just a week ago! I was looking for something to use for my What is it and My beloved Dave suggested we try to find out what the "thing" on the patio was.. we looked it over and found a few words that we googled and this is what we now know we own.

When I moved here there was one of these rusting away under the window that looks out of a bedroom onto the patio. I thought it was most likely a pea sheller of some kind. I didn't have any peas to shell and I didn't know how to work it so I used it for other things. It made a great "time out" spot for Cooper and Emily. I could move the little "stools" so that they couldn't touch each other and sit one of them on each side.. They would sit there and swing their little feet until their five or so minutes were up. Sometimes they would just go and climb up on their seats and pretend they were shelling peas. Cooper would turn the hand crank and Emily would fill the top with sticks and twigs she picked up from the yard.

The children outgrew playing with it and eventually they outgrew sitting on it for time outs too. We talked about hauling it away but for some reason I liked it.. It makes a great plant stand and it has held ferns and flowers and all kinds of plants on it's stools. I have sat buckets of blooms up on top of it and even now it has a potted plant on each stool and one on top. We finally moved it over to the corner behind my pond so it is out of the weather and even though we don't use it for it's intended use, it is still very useful to us! It is even useful to the frogs that will climb from the pond and sit on it to call for rain or even for a mate..

Please offer a guess as to what this item is.. I am sure that maybe someone knows. Maybe someone out there besides me owns one of these. Though it would be odd I guess maybe someone could still be using theirs for it's intended use. please leave a comment with your guess and Tomorrow I will let everyone know what it really is! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Guessing!
Patsy

Three for Thursday! short and sweet!

"Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them."
- Adlai Ewing Stevenson

"The investigation of the meaning of words is the beginning of education."
- Antisthenes

"Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own."
- Carol Burnett

Good Evening and welcome to a short and sweet three for Thursday. It is just beginning to storm here so I will keep this as short as possible. Otherwise I will be knocked off-line over and over and By the time I have posted I will hate the rain and the internet and my computer. I will be saying words that will invite lightening to strike me in my nasty mouth... In order to avoid the likelihood of all this unpleasantness; I will simply share with you tonight three of my Haiku.. I will then watch the lightening from the safety of my bedroom window... No getting kicked off line.. no swearing.. no angry lightening striking me from the beautiful red sky...

~Yes I did say red sky. the sky here is red and fades to an almost lavender as it dips behind the trees across the dirt road from me.. I have never seen a sky quiet like this one... Beautiful and yet just a tiny bit UN-nerving for some reason.. birds are sitting on the ground as the winds begin to sway through the tree tops.. I have always heard that if the birds rest on the ground then a bad storm is coming your way... I am glad that I don't fear storms..... ~

Short and sweet.. Please enjoy my haiku tonight.. I hope that each of you have safety in whatever storms life may toss your way.. Have a great Night!

Patsy

Run Away

copper curls rest on
a bulging backpack pillow~
stars light the night sky

written by: Patricia Sawyer
6-16-2009



Stormy Night

rain beats out a song
drumming on a hot tin roof~
frogs croak with delight

written by: Patricia Sawyer
6-16-2009

Fiery Fingers



a lit Lucifer

falls from a fumbling fist

the burned oaf gawks



written By: Patricia sawyer

5-27-2009

It's Wednesday! Another Weird Day!

"Because I get nervous all the time. It's weird but I think it's fun and it's refreshing. It's always good to be that way. That keeps me appreciative of everything. " ~ Christina Milian


"Everyone says I'm like the girl next door... Y'all must have really weird neighbors! "~ Kelly Clarkson


"Everything will be all right - you know when? When people, just people, stop thinking of the United Nations as a weird Picasso abstraction and see it as a drawing they made themselves. "
~ Dag Hammarskjold

Happy Wednesday! Did you do anything weird today? I answered some weird questions and watched a weird storm come almost to us then turn and back away.. It decided to go back where ever it came from I guess.
I was hoping for rain so that I wouldn't have to water and now that the storm decide to go back the other way I guess I'll water in the morning.. We really have weird weather a lot lately! Now on to today's weird questions!


1.) Do you/Did you ever have a piggy bank shaped like a pig? What do you keep your spare change in?~ I have a few piggy banks shaped like pigs. I had a plastic one once that I actually filled with coins. I hated to cut him open but the day came that I needed the money and Homer ( Yes I named my Pig!) got butchered. I have a few glass ones and would love to have more if anyone has some to get rid of... I could start a brand new collection.. I also collect big pigs that go in the yard. I have a fence around part of a flower bed and have a few pigs in there.. We call it the pig pen. Camella gave me my first one that was Granny Jean's..
Now on to the spare change thing... Is there really any such thing as "Spare" change? Sometimes when I'm going into a store someone will ask me if I have any spare change.. My answer is always the same~ " sorry.. I don't have any "SPARE" money!" I do toss change that I am not spending right now into several different bottles or jars around the house. Dave and I went on out honeymoon on a jar of change that I had saved...

2.) Be honest. Have you ever stolen anything before? ~I hate it when someone ask me a question with BE HONEST as the opening.. are they assuming that I would lie? Do they really think their "BE HONEST" will make me tell them the truth?? That's just weird!!! Why do you need to know if I have ever stolen anything? Do you need to know what too? I actually have stolen things before.. At least I reckon it could be called stealing.. I used to go "Old House Rouging" That's when you go in an old abandoned house and if you find junk like maybe an old pot or a bucket or maybe even a jar or bottle.. you take it with you.. I almost always had permission to go into the houses so I'm not sure rather that is stealing or not.. I once lived with no water in my house.. I stole water from the store next door.. I filled up three five gallon buckets with fresh water every night for months. I guess that was stealing since I didn't ask permission to have water from their spigot... without going into any more detail I'll just say yes I have stolen before.. Weird how I never stole anything valuable or important to anyone other than myself.

3.) Would it be more awkward to be walked in on during sex by your parents or your children? ~ I find it very weird that every week we have so many sexual questions.. Are people really so interested in the sex lives of others?? Maybe I'm weird but I really don't care or even want to know about the sex lives of others.. I usually skip these questions but for some weird reason tonight I am going to answer at least this one..... I am not going to be walked in on having sex.. I am an adult.. I have a lock on my bedroom door. I know how it works.. Adults prepare for the fact that kids and yes even parents sometimes wander around the house and open doors without knocking.. At least if it was Parents you wouldn't have to explain to them what was going on.. with Kids you might....Personally I think it would be awkward either way and I can't actually imagine either so I'm going to say.. BUY a LOCK!!!!!

4.) How comfortable would you be at a nude beach? Would you keep your clothes on, keep it modest or bare it all? ~ Can you even begin to imagine me naked at a nude beach.. If you can; then you are truly weird. I know what I look like naked.. I wouldn't scare a whole beach full of folks that way! On the other hand I could most likely walk down a nude beach and not be all red faced by what I might see. Most people don't look nearly as good naked as they think they do.. I have seen a few folks naked in my days and I am not easily impressed.. Most folks look better with clothes on. I wouldn't be covered up from the feet up but I wouldn't be butt naked neither. I'd wear my regular beach clothes... short cut off jean shorts over my bathing suit and a two sizes too big tank top over it all.. OH yea and a beach towel big enough to use as a bed spread just in case I feel the need to wrap up.. who knows I might get to much sun and have to cover up some hot spots... I know.. I'm weird.. don't you just love me anyway though?!

5.) Have you ever had a dream that was in black and white?~ Most people ask me if I dream in color and I always say yes.. I have had a dream though that is always in black and white.. I have had the same dream for years and years.. It is set on an island near Hunting Island State Park.. It is about the light house and a storm.. When I was a little girl and first had the dream I felt that it was weird.. Now I don't find it to be as weird.. It is weird though that this dream is always in black and white and almost all my other dreams are in vivid colors! I have dreams of all kinds.. Funny ones and sad ones and sometimes I even have nightmares... I dream every night and most mornings I remember what I dreamed the night before.. I'll tell you about something weird.. Many years ago I dreamed that I rode a bicycle to My Grandma's house and asked her to ride on the back to a town about an hour away.. she said it was too late at night to go there.. but finally she hopped on the back and away we rode... The next morning when I woke up my legs hurt so bad I could barely stand.. I just had to call Grandma and tell her about my dream.. I figured that I had peddled with my legs while I was asleep and that's why my legs hurt so bad..... When she answered the phone she didn't sound right so I asked her if something was wrong.. she said..
" Last night I dreamed you came and got me to ride on the fender of your bike.. My Behind hurts like the devil this morning from sitting back there all the way to Orangeburg and back.."
Now you tell me.. How weird is that??? Not only did we both dream the same thing but our bodies ached as if we had really done what we dreamed.. Really weird I know!!!

6:) What is the most bizarre thing you’ve done on a dare? this one is so easy.. the craziest thing I ever did on a dare was to run around the walking track with a dog gone and get the cops called on me because some old people said a weirdo was out there acting weird... You can read about it here on my blog on one of the very first posts.. on the right side of this blog click on 2008... then click on the month of April and you will find it there .. It is called Taking a Dare.. I promise you that you will laugh and laugh at the lengths I went to for a dare! I must be getting old though.. I don't take weird dares any more...


there ya go.. That's the weird questions for today! I hope you Had a great Wednesday and Hopefully your day wasn't too awfully weird! My day was great.. Dave finished a pen and we moved some Phoenixes... those are chickens with long tails.. known as fire birds in all the weird video games.... I cooked a weird new dish with zucchini instead of eggplant in eggplant Parmesan. It tasted great! I ate too much of it.. and Mason spent last night and tonight with me.. he loves me even if I am weird...I hope that you have a wonderful day!
Patsy

Tuesday's Can you guess what this is?

“A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.”
~ Howard Thurman

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it, and Virtue is doing it”
~ David Starr Jordan

"If you don't want anyone to know it. don't do it!" ~ Chinese Proverb


Hi Friends and everyone else who might be here sneaking around! Today is Tuesday and I wonder if you can tell me what My picture is of today? Can you tell me what it is called? Can you tell me what it is used for? Do you have one of these?

I don't have one myself but I enjoyed the one my Mama had when I was a little girl. I didn't know what it was.. but I was sure that it was something special.. It is made of clear glass and has holes in it. I would set my Bright colored cat eye marbles on it to display my favorite ones. It was the perfect size for the small sample lipsticks that the Watkins woman would sometimes give to us from the trunk of her car when she came to sell flavoring and spices to Mama. I would stand them in the holes and sit it on my dresser until I used all of the tiny lipsticks. Reuben would use it as a paper weight in our closet office to hold down important papers that he kept straight for me. We didn't know what it was back then.. we didn't know what it was for.. We would hold it up to the sunlight and squint as the rainbow colors burst from the holes.. We didn't know what it was..but it was a wonderful thing.. what ever it was.. I tried wearing it around my neck with a red ribbon pulled through one of the holes but that soon made my neck tired and I took it off and put it back into my office for safe keeping. I'm not sure when the wonderful glass beauty got away from me. I guess when I got married it got left behind in my room. I saw it at Mama's house many times over the years... She told me what it really was and what it was used for.. But it was hers and she wouldn't give it to me... I'm pretty sure it belonged to her Mother before her... I would love to know where Mama's are now.... They aren't where she thought they were.. She actually had two of them.. the one that I kept hidden for years and the other one... a smaller one... Maybe some of my siblings has it now and don't realize that it should be here with me... I still have marbles to display and important papers to hold down... I gave up on lipstick years ago but I think I might be able to wear it on a new red ribbon at least for a little while. I could hold it up to the sun and Mason and I could squint as the rainbow of colors burst from the holes... I might even use it for what it really is intended to be used for..

It is NOT a marble display stand.. Nor a paper weight... It is NOT a glass bench for a Barbie doll Nor a thing to be worn about the neck with a red ribbon.. It was NEVER meant to hold Lipsticks in bold colors and it was never any of the million things Reuben and I pretended it was.
It is actually a simple and useful thing. Maybe YOU know what it is.. Maybe you know what it is called.. Maybe you even know where Mama's are? Please give it a guess.. Maybe you can be the one to Know what today's item is! Please leave me a comment with your guess and I'll comment tomorrow with the correct answer... I'll bet someone out there knows what it is... Is that someone you??? Have a great day!
Patsy

Friday's Advice for the "Kids"!

"We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." ~ Elwyn Brooks White

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." ~ John Benfield

“Words– so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!”
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Happy Day to you! Today is Friday once again and I will be giving some advice to the "kids" ...
Of course I have been told that everyone just has the best time laughing at my advice.. I am happy that you get a chuckle from my words of wisdom.. If they make you laugh you will remember them.. Hopefully you will recall my words when you need them most!

1:) Find something you really enjoy doing and stick with it. Learn everything you can about it.. and after ten years or so you can't help but become good at it and will be proud of yourself for it! ~
Life isn't all about work and earning money.. find time to do things you enjoy doing just for the fun of it.. then teach yourself all there is to know about it so that even if you do take a hundred years to actually become good at it you will at least look smart when you are talking about it to those who had a natural talent for it all along...

2:) Never wear polka dot underwear under white shorts!~ also never wear a black bra under a white blouse and NO! a sports bra does not count as a shirt~ not in this town ever and if it counts where you came from then you should hurry back there right way.... And please don't argue with old ladies about this bra thing either.. we were wearing a bra before you were a gleam in your Daddy's evil eye... we most likely have a couple just like the one you are trying to pass off as a shirt... so go put on a shirt and hush...

3:) Adults will ask you questions that you would be better off not answering! They will throw them out like candy when they are angry.. Just allow them to rant and rave.. Bite your tongue if you have too.. ~ One of my favorites was "Do I look stupid?" or " Do you think I am crazy?" Another one that was hard not to ever answer was " Do you think I lost my mind?" Thankfully my cousin Sheron warned me about these questions when I was real young. I never ever said out loud... "actually ranting like that you don't look all that smart.." I think we kinda loose ourselves when we get old and mad at the same time.. It doesn't pay to piss off old people.. We will get to Heaven first and everyone knows that the first one to tell their story has an advantage! Even though I tell on them every night in my prayers....I am keeping a notebook with all the things my kids have done wrote down so when I get there I won't have forgotten anything... Now??? Where did I put my notebook?!

4:) Do not ask me or anyone else " Does this make me look fat?"~ You know if something makes you look fat. If you have to ask that then go in yonder and take that ugly frock off and put on something that fits.. It will only make you look fat if you are FAT! If you ask me that I am going to hurt your feelings and tell you that Yes it does indeed make you look fat..
If you think you need to ask that then you know that it doesn't look good on you.. Unless of course you are fishing for compliments.... Don't try that with me either.. If you weigh ninety pounds soaking wet and just want to hear me say that you are skinny then you better try again..
I once told a girl no you aren't fat but you are ugly in that ugly dress.. Try your clothes on before you pay your hard earned money for them.. then put them on and brush your hair and let's go already.. If I have to coach you on what makes you look fat we'll never get to where ever we are going on time.. I hate to be late...

5:) Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.~ Fresh air is good for you.. If it's raining run through a puddle.. Make a splash.. Go for a walk looking for natures beauties. Look in places you wouldn't expect to see a miracle. Dave recently found a tiny birds nest woven through a broken flower pot that we had left laying in an old shopping cart..

~Yes! I have a shopping cart.. in fact I have two.. NO! I didn't steal them from the supermarket. One of Mine is an antque one that I actually found in the woods along with an antique wooden wine barrel and Paid my son a dollar to push it home along the smooth side of the road while I walked home through the woods. I was afraid the barrel would fall oand get messed up unless it was pushed along a smooth surface... I had to call a banker and ask for his junk that we found plundering in his woods.. I certainly didn't want my Barrel to get broken Now did I??~

Finally I have this posting done.. we had a storm that didn't think I should be on-line tonight... But I see that I am more stubborn than a thunderstorm.. I hope today was a good day for you!
Take time everyday to enjoy yourself.. let anger go.. Life is too short to waste even a minute of it... Have a great day!!
Patsy

It's Thursday! Today you get three!

"Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river." ~ Cordell Hull

"He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses." ~ Horace, 65 - 8 BC

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

1:) ~ a thought~ a memory~~~ Happy Thursday! At least I hope today brought you happiness. It has been extremely hot here today. You know that sweltering kind of hot that makes you want to find a slow moving; deep; Icy cold river and jump in head first. Then after a loud squeal that says.." Man this water is cold!!!"... Just relax and float along with the current for a while until you cool off. You will need a few things to do this though.. an inner tube if you can't swim... something to drink.. a six pack of coke ties just fine to the inner tube... something to eat if you plan to stay very long or if you are bringing the young uns. You might want some towels too and in some cases even a change of clothes. It Pays to have at least one Gator watcher.. That is the guy that stands on the shore and watches to be sure no alligators come your way...

~Dave and used to take turns pulling Gator watching duty when the kids were little. We'd pack up the kids and the fishing poles and a lunch... That was usually some sandwiches and what ever we had to drink in the fridge.. we might have some cheese puffs and some home made cookies or even a pound cake to take along too. The guys would dig bait out by the barn while me and Jenny got the food together.. Her job was to empty all the ice trays into the big old cooler while I poured cool-aid into empty drink bottles... We'd make everyone a couple of sandwiches and pack up towels for everyone.. Emily would get cold and shiver till her teeth chattered so she also had to have dry clothes and a shirt with long sleeves..


Pulling in to Little Hell I always scanned the crowd. We knew most of the folks there. They had all been there since sometime the night before.. Some even stayed down there almost every week-end during the summer... they even left their tents up the whole week sometimes... Lots of times someone would offer us a meal down there... I ate the best catfish stew I ever tasted down there on the bank of little hell..

~ But back to where I scanned the crowd ~ I was always on the look out for someone that was just a little too drunk or maybe a tiny bit ticked off. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt.. I had kids with me... Me and Dave almost always had at least one kid along.. They all loved Little Hell.... We would pick us out a spot and set the cooler down.. I would set myself down with some crochet and take the first watch for Gators. Dave would swim out to tread water under the big tree.. He would wait there under that big old leaning tree treading water and standing ( or treading) Gator watch while our children joined in the long line waiting to take their turn on the rope... Cooper was always the first to go... he'd walk up the tree trunk as far out as he could and then reach way out with his skinny little arms and swing and sway out over the water hanging on for dear life.. sometimes he would make three swings over Dave before he would let go.. he was always way out in the river and Dave would swim out and meet him as Cooper swam to him.. Emily was next and she would yell for Dave on her way down.. It was almost as if she just jumped from the tree... she would let go of the rope and yell "DAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE" as soon as her feet left the board nailed to the jumping off point! David would make a decent swing.. He didn't need Dave he told us once but we didn't listen and Dave was always there when he fell into the water.. Jenny would swing a few times and then come and sit by me.. I remember the day I realized she was growing up.. and yes... even away from me and her Daddy.... I think she was about thirteen then and so pretty....

I reckon it's the sweltering heat that makes one remember things like swimming in the river.. drinking from the flowing well there and not even caring if the icy water is clean.... I hope my children realize how lucky they were that we carried them to the river and that they had me watching for snakes and Gators and Dave there to catch them all as they fell... I realize that he and I were also Lucky to have them to share it with.. If not for them we might have been one of the ones people steered clear of.. the ones I looked for when I scanned the crowd.... The ones the Gators wouldn't eat... I am thankful for those times.. I might pack me up some cool-aid and a baloney sandwich and head down to the river any day now!

2:) a Haiku~ read carefully and think.. let me know what you think is going on in this haiku...
and No a Shepherd does not carry a WHITE CANE!

Summer Storm

white cane thump; thumping
he tries to outrun the rain~
I roll up my hose

written By: Patricia Sawyer
6-4-2009


3:) A Picture that I love!!!
























As I walked along behind Dave and His Only Aunt.... Aunt Ruth... I couldn't help but think how wonderfully Lucky I am to have a big family.. Dave hadn't seen Aunt Ruth in many many years and yet just look how alike they are.. Both with their hands shoved down in their pockets... walking in step.. talking quietly together as I tagged along behind them making secret pictures..

There ya go three things I have shared with you today.. three for Thursday! I hope you have enjoyed today's blog! I hope you had a great Thursday! Blessings to all!
Patsy

Wow I won an Award!

Wow I wasn't expecting to be awarded.. Thanks to
the Boomers from Ask Cherlock.com I am awed.
The rules for this award say that I should tell seven things I love
and then pass this award to seven Creative bloggers..
Here goes my seven things..

1:) Books- I have then everywhere.. I have shelves full and stacks in almost every room. I have read all of these I really need some new books!

2:) Animals~ I really love animals from my chickens and dogs to fish and wild creatures in the zoo. It's time for a trip to the zoo..

3:)Camping~ I really like camping. Most people think they might like to try it.. I love it.. I have even camped in my own home town park when the kids were younger. They love camping too.
Dave and I have both been itching for a camping trip.

4:) Music~ I love all music.. I have evn been known to dance a step or two if it's real good music.

5:) the Beach ~ I love to see the waves break across the sand. I love to search through the broken shells hoping to find the very perfect one....

6:) Coffee ~ I love coffee I drink it from morning till very late at night.. sometimes I carry a cup with me to bed!

7:) My family! I love my family.. my kids.. My husband.. My Mom... My siblings.. I love them all.. I can't even imagine life without one of them..

Now for the seven bloggers I am passing this on too... I have chosen the following people because I visit their blogs and love them too!

1~ http://margieandednasbasement.blogspot.com/
2~http://www.otilius.blogspot.com/
3~http://www.myheartvoice.com/
4~http://pjtangel.blogspot.com/
5~http://www.lisa-lisgoldsmemoirs.blogspot.com/
6~http://chillyscookin.blogspot.com/
7~http://hereandnow4angel.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for this award! I will try to always be Kreative!
Patsy

Welcome to Wednesday~ a day for Weirdness!

"Many people hear voices when no-one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing." ~ Meg Chittenden

"Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills." ~ Catherine of Siena

"The devil's voice is sweet to hear." ~Stephen King

Welcome to another batch of weird questions for Wednesday. I actually had to dig for these since the regular weird sight hasn't been up-dated today. It's kinda weird; they usually have plenty of questions.. some too weird even for me. I hope you enjoy today's weird questions and my equally weird answers.

1:) You are in the Witness Protection Program and must invent a new first, last, and middle name. What’s your new name? ~ Wow. can't I just use one of my old names.. No one knows My middle name anyway. How about I use the name I used to sign into clubs with when I was single? I like my name. I don't want a new name. Why am I hiding anyway. Did I see something at the hotel that I shouldn't have seen? Can I take my kids and Grand kids into hiding too? Is Dave allowed to go?I don't think I'm going either.. what if I don't like it where ever y'all put me? Wait now, can I have chickens there? OK.. OK.. OK.. alright already.. My new name is Emily Ann Cooper.. but I still don't want to go!

2:) You can press a button that will make any one person you choose explode. Who are you going to blow up? What a loaded question... just one person huh? I have a list that I will have to look over.. yes I actually have a list.. It's my @sh cutting list... it's pretty short too... I used to just jump right in.. But there was this promise I made to my Daddy about one of my children being an adult before I might have to go to jail.. All my children are grown now though.. Hmmm.. Just one person huh? Can I tie two together or three? Maybe I can lure the others close to the boom! Hurt their ears a little at least? I'll be honest with you.. I looked over the list and honestly I decided that blowing any of these people up would be way to kind and quick.. I'm weird that way I reckon.. I'd rather just keep their name on my list and one day when they cross me in just the right place and the right time.. I'll be on them like stink on a pile... They will wish I had blown them up... then again maybe I'll just leave them alone.. Daddy said what goes around comes around and if that's true I might even feel sorry for them some day.. in fact looking over the list I sorta feel sorry for them already.. But now if I can tie them all together somehow.. then the BOOM will be on!

3:) You meet a wizard in downtown Chicago. The wizard tells you he can make you more attractive if you pay him money. When you ask how the process works, the wizard points to a random stranger. The wizard says, “I will now make them a dollar more attractive.” He waves his magic wand. Ostensibly, this person does not change at all; as far as you can tell, nothing it different. But – somehow – this person is suddenly a little more appealing. The tangible difference is invisible to the naked eye, but you can’t deny that this person is vaguely sexier. This wizard has a weird rule, though – you can only pay him once. You can’t keep giving him money until you are satisfied. You can only pay him one lump sum up front. How much cash do you give the wizard?
~ This question is just weird.. Why am I in Chicago? Did I get stranded there again while flying somewhere? Am I sure this is a real wizard and not some street freak stealing my money? And anyway why would I think some stranger is sexier? Did I find him or her sexy to begin with? Who thinks up these questions? Can I just walk away from the wizard or will he then take away all my own "sexy?" Can I run from the wizard or will he wave his wand and bring me right back? I'm going to give the wizard five dollars.. That is enough to get him a drink if he is a street freak without breaking my pocket book and I'm already sexy enough.. much more and I'll be so sexy no one would dare to approach me.. I'm still trying to figure out why I'm in Chicago.... Maybe the wizard will just send me back home for free!

4:)Would you rather be able to hear any conversation or take back anything you say? ~First of all, I never speak without thinking. I learned a long time ago that you can't call back words. I try not to say hurtful and mean things. Only a very few times have I let something mean slip out and that was usually when some idiot made me madder than a hornet quicker than my mind could keep up. That doesn't happen to me often. I can say some things that people think is meant to hurt.. if the truth hurts then I am sorry that you were hurt.. Maybe you should work to change the truth.. I have seen people talking and thought to myself and sometimes even said to others; " I'd like to be a fly on that wall!" I wouldn't want to hear all conversations.. I don't think what others think of me is really any of my business. They are entitled to dislike me if they so choose. I won't care if they don't like me. I'm weird like that! I guess if I have to choose one I'd like to hear any conversation.. I sure hope I don't have to listen to boring stuff or worse; weird sexual conversations.. I'm looking for ear plugs right now!!! On second thought~ (are second thoughts allowed?) Maybe I'll just choose take back what ever I say.

5:) Have you ever played naked twister? ~I am sitting here in from of My own personal computer and just shivered at the thought of seeing anyone play twister naked... When I was ten I got a twister game for Christmas from "Uncle J" ( not his real name of course!). He gave us all games that year... Well except Jimmy... he gave Jimmy Lincoln Logs... He was too old for Lincoln logs I guess... Jimmy cursed and carried on.. anyway back to twister.. We all gathered in the living room... us kids and the grown ups and His fancy kids too. We were going to play twister. We spun the little thing and it said left foot green. and by the time it got to me and right foot blue there were foots and hands on every single dot. "Uncle J" said just stack them up and that's when My Daddy said .." that's enough of that twisting and stretching and rubbing and stacking up stuff.".. I looked at daddy and he was frowning over his glasses and I quickly folded up the dotted mat and put it and the spinner back in the box. I ran to my room and shoved the game on the closet shelf where it stayed until I got married. I left it there on that shelf and if someone else didn't take it then it was most likely still there when they pulled that trailer away a few years ago. When I got divorced I went to a party once and out came the twister game.. they weren't naked while I was there but they were making the game into something that made me want a shower..I'm pretty sure they got naked after I left.. Nope I have never played naked twister.. Don't you think it would be weird? Wouldn't stuff that isn't meant to be twisted get in the way? Wasn't twister designed for kids? Why is it that some people want to play a kids game naked.. there are so many weird people in the world!

Well there are five more weird questions for you to laugh at and enjoy with their weird answers too. I used to think that the world was a bright ans Sunny place.... the truth is that there are a lot of weird people in the world and almost all of us have some weird habits... yes even me! At least I don't play naked twister... I guess I shouldn't knock it without trying it so maybe I'll try to find a group to play at my house next week.... See I can be weird too.. I can just see me telling my kids I played naked twister.. I wonder if they have played.. I'm going to email them all and ask.. Now see what you have done with that weird question!!! Now I'm acting all weird and stuff.. That naked twister thing is going to cause me to have nightmares tonight! I'm thinking I'll go for a midnight swim and practice some of my twister moves in water.. Now how weird is that?? I hope you have enjoyed tonight's weird questions.. Have a wonderful weird Wednesday!
Patsy

Tuesday?! Ok What is it???

"Truth maybe stranger than fiction, but fiction is truer."
~ Frederic Raphael

"I write fiction because it's a way of making statements I can disown."
~ Tom Stoppard

"Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything."
~ Ivana Trump

"Get you facts first, and then you can distort 'em as much as you please. "
~ Mark Twain

Today's riddle is more of a why is it than a what is it. As you can see, it is a tree with a brick wall built inside of it. It is a live Oak tree. It is just one of many trees that have brick walls inside of them.
When my children first saw them they were frightened of them. Walking along you can see some that come to the ground like the ones pictured here and others that might be way up high in a tree. They really are a little scary to see being that they are all in the cemetery of some very old Church ruins. It also doesn't help that vandals tried to open all the above ground vaults many years ago and damaged most of them. So to be walking around and spot these trees near Vaults with tilted and broken tops is indeed the stuff you might expect to see in an old Horror film or read about in a murder in the dark mystery book. Cooper and his Friend even knocked and called out is anybody home on one of our stops there. We Love this place.. We have to pass it on our way to the beach. It's a good spot to stop and stretch your legs for a minute and maybe have a cool drink from the hand pump. I have been going there ever since I was a child. My children have been going there for a long time too. Dave doesn't mind stopping there for a few minutes and even agreed to stand by the tree for me but he really isn't interested in being anywhere near this place at night he says..

I would have loved to have seen this Church in her early years. Even as Ruins it is a peaceful and touching place. There are many rumors of ghosts here. I haven't seen one that I was certain was a ghost. I did see what I thought was a Mennonite woman there a few years ago standing by a child's grave. She appeared to be doing the same thing I was and just reading the headstones. She stood there a long time with her head down and I honestly thought she was saying a prayer. It was only after she walked through the gate and was gone that I remembered that there were no cars parked outside the gate. I hurried to the gate and peered up and down the long road.. Nothing!!! She was gone!! One of the ghost stories goes that a young woman is often seen at the grave of her child.. She will leave through the gate and disappear. She is also supposed to wear a brown dress. I can't for the life of me remember rather the Woman I saw was wearing brown or some other dreary drab color. Was she a ghost? I would like to say YES!! but I can't swear it was a ghost. It could have been a fast walking in an ugly long dress Mennonite woman who had a car hidden somewhere outside the gate..... Spooky Huh?!

These pictures were made at a place called Old Sheldon Church! It is the ruins of a Church that was first burned during the revolutionary War and then burned again By Sherman on his Trek to the sea. The walls refused to fall and to this day still stand. Many people choose this spot for weddings and other celebration and it isn't rare to ride by and see people picnicking here.

Today's questions is not what it is; it isn't where is it either. Today's question if you would like to offer a guess is Why are these trees bricked up? What purpose does it serve to have bricks laid in the hollow of a tree? Does anyone know? Do you think there are boogies bricked up inside these trees? Did someone with a stack of bricks and some spare time just get bored? I'd like to hear your response to these questions.. Tell me what you think.. Cooper and Emily used to think there were boogies bricked up there . I'm pretty sure their older brother told them that. I'm also almost sure that I might have told Anthony that so I guess it's all my fault.. I have actually looked into the reasons for there being bricks in the trees. There are a couple of reasons in fact. Do you have any idea why this was done? would you like to make a guess? Please leave me a comment with your answer. And I will leave a comment tomorrow with the reasons I was able to find! Who knows; Maybe there really are boogies bricked up in those trees! Have a great day!
Patsy

For the "Kids" Friday!

"Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn."
~ John Updike

"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold." ~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

"Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold." ~ Mark Twain

"Gold that's put to use more gold begets."
~ William Shakespeare

Wow is it Friday already? This week has flown by. I would love to tell you of the adventures I have been on this week~ But I actually don't think I went on any. I spent last week end entertaining and that even carried over into this week some too.. I think I have had company every day this week.. Right now it is silent here except for the Thunder rolling across a distant sky. Silence is golden.

You will notice that all of the quotes today are about gold too. I chose them because first of all I liked them all.. secondly they each tie in with something wise I plan to share with the "children" today. Maybe some of my words will actually help someone someday. If not at least I can give a few people a pretty good reason to laugh on Friday! I hope you enjoy today's words of wisdom for the kids!

1:) Yes I know how much junk I have in my house! ~ I know how much it's worth too... Most of it is stuff that you or one of the other "children" left here... I am taking good care of it. I plan to leave it to you when I die instead of money! I will pull out your old report cards and share them with your babies when they get older... I will embarrass you when ever I like by showing everyone the naked picture of you brushing your teeth. I will Ooh and Aah over your gold plated baby shoes~ (that gold is fake so no need to try and pawn that after I'm gone! ) and your Graduation pictures. I will think of one you every time I dust this junk. I will plot ways to make you ashamed. I will search every time I think about it for something else that might just might be buried around here that you wouldn't want your friends or your wife to see.. Maybe I'll frame those pictures of the beautiful blue smocked dresses that my boys wore as infants. That should do the trick... and if Not then maybe we can sell all this junk on EBAY!

2:) A lie does not sound more convincing with an I love you Mom attached! ~ An I swear doesn't help either.... Don't you know that I watched as you struggled to tell me the first lie and I have learned how to tell them from the truth.. The best lies always have just a smidgen of truth in them but I hate lies.. Each of my "Children" know this. As bad as the truth can be I would rather hear it than some half cocked lie you made up on the way home from where ever it was that you did whatever you just lied about. Next time say.. "I love you Mom and I hope you don't kill me when I tell you the truth!" Another answer that works after you are eighteen is "Mom I'd really rather not say!" (or Aunt Patsy or Miss Patsy or whatever it is that you might call me!) I'm really easy to get along with.. I won't kill you but once.... If I asked you a question and you are planning to lie.. Don't I already knew the truth before I asked.. I'd be a great detective! Actually I might pinch you.. I used to hit kids but they say it's against the law to hit the little heathens now.. No body told my Daddy he couldn't spank us.. Man why did they wait till I was a parent to change that law?

3:) Don't make love by the garden gate~ Love is blind but the neighbors ain't! ~ Please do not be doing anything that the neighbors are going to tell on you for.... I will be really ticked if the crazy people I live by have a reason to complain about you! I promise that they are looking this way every time you do something stupid. I Know this because I have climbed on top of my house to see what all the racket was; coming from next door. I have crawled through the darkness to be sure no one was being killed by a crazy drunk neighbor man. Neighbors watch.. then they tell their half witted friends and everyone else that my kids are bad.. Do not make me......... You will not like it!

~By the way you can see quiet a long way from the top of my car port. I even saw one my own kids misbehaving once.. You did, of course, try to lie about it.. but at least you didn't hang the I love you on the end of your lie.. Instead you hung an "I would never ever ever do that!" on the end!

4:) Be all that YOU can be! Notice I said :"YOU"! You can't be what ever I might like for you to be.. I can't be the perfect Mom you wanted. I have done my best with what I was given. There were many times I wanted to give in and give up... I didn't. Now I think you should be the best that you can. Use your own talents to become what it is meant for you to be..That doesn't mean that each of you will reach the same heights.. You will not.. Each person is different... we can only accept each other for who we are... Even that is not easy to do. We as humans always think we know what is best for others. We do not... we each must march to the beat of the drums our own drummers play.. Mine plays a kinda jazzy; upbeat; half crazy: flowery; tune. With a few rooster crows tossed in for good measure. Even my shadow dances along with the wild beat sometimes!

5:) Dogs can smell meanness. ~ This is something that my Daddy always said and now I am sharing it with you. It is not simply an old wives tale. I have found it to be true. Over the years I have often had dogs that simply didn't like certain people. One example I can give you was Buddy and a kid we all called Little John.. every time Little John ever came here Buddy would growl at him. As kids go, I couldn't tell where John was any meaner than any other kid that came here. In fact compared to a lot of them he was a good kid. He never gave me any trouble.. never sassed back or did anything wrong that I could catch him at.. finally knowing that he was up to something no good because buddy growled at him all the time.. I made a new rule and began to tell all of them that they had to empty their pockets when they came here to spend the night.. The first night I lined them all up and Little John somehow made it to the back of the line... He was dragging his feet by the time it got his turn to empty his pockets... It didn't take me long to see why.. Man was that kid loaded.. he had three or four knives and a few other illegal things as well.. He said he didn't know who the drugs belonged to or how they got in his pocket... I smiled as he emptied his pockets and when Buddy lay down by his feet and quit growling I knew the kid was clean... I promised that I would return his weapons when he was leaving my house.. I told him since the other stuff wasn't his anyway, I'd just get rid of it for him.. I actually gave it to his uncle who called me and claimed it was his own.. He said the kid had stolen it... I felt sorry for any kid in that situation... He wasn't the only child I ever caught with things they shouldn't have had.. I just used him for an example... I also changed his name! (You didn't really think I would shame one of my "children" like that did you???) Over the years I have found many things in the pockets of kids who didn't need to have them.. from dip and cigarettes to switch blades and knives of all kinds.. I always returned to them what their parents allowed them to have and what was not illegal. If you are mean enough to bring contraband into my house I am mean enough to take it from you!!!! I keep dogs all the time.. If my dog doesn't like you.. I will watch you like a hawk... I will figure out why my dog doesn't trust you.. I won't trust you if my dog doesn't... And please don't kick or hit my dog when he is trying to tell on you.. You will not like the crazy me you see if you hit or kick one of my animals...I might even bite you and I have not had my rabies shots!

~ Tonight I have shared a few more bits of wisdom with the "kids". There are so many things I would like to tell my "children". My own and my step-kids and my nieces and nephews.. their little ones and the list goes on and on. I Have always had children around me from the very earliest days I can remember in my life. First was Reuben, (my baby brother) then Martha,
( My baby sister) and of course there were the foster siblings and the gazillion nursery children that Mama and later me and Trudy too kept in day care.. I will always love children... I will expect certain things from them. I will not hesitate to show them where time out is in my house even if they are just visiting.... Children must be kinda like dogs and have a sense that allows them to know that I am mean.. they behave here.. they don't dare me.... They almost always love coming to my house! Have a great Friday Night!!!

Patsy