Teacher suspended over 'gay animal' article

Can you believe a local teacher has been suspended after reports that he had students in his classes read an article about homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The teacher is said to have allowed students to read the article "The Gay Animal Kingdom" from the June issue of Seed Magazine, a science and culture publication.

(Click the title link for the newspaper article).

I read the article and I can't understand what all the fuss is about. I certainly don't think it warrants a teacher being suspended! What do you think? If you read the link to the Jacksonville newspaper article, be sure and read the readers comments at the bottom (always very informative and thought provoking).

Being farmers, we have often wondered about some of our animals over the years. Here's a photo of two male pigs we had a little more than a year ago. Let's just say, at minimum they were very "close." Another farmer gave them to us ... hmmmm, I wonder why.

And these two roosters showed no interest in hens and fought with all the chickens. They were eventually housed in their own coop, where they lived happily ever after.

Mini Pumpkin and Gourd Gift Basket

When I did my last post on the final pumpkin and gourd harvest, a commenter asked what was I going to do with all those pumpkins and gourds. Here's one thing I did. A bowl or basket of them makes a nice Fall decoration.

I made this basket last night for a friend I met up with today. She loved it! The basket is a chicken wire egg gathering basket and I filled it with assorted gourds and mini pumpkins from the garden. I added in some artificial fall leaves and acorns and cat tails. My friends office is all done up in teal, purple, and black. I thought the teal and black with the Fall colors would be tacky, but I did add her color purple by spraying the wheat purple and then adding silver glitter spray to give the purple some sparkle. The bottom was also lined with purple tissue paper.

The filled basket is a unique centerpiece as is or the arrangement can also be taken apart and all the Fall goodies could be spread around. It's not themed for Halloween, so it can be enjoyed through Thanksgiving.

Fireflies

It's been out for awhile now, but all of a sudden it is getting heavy air play both locally and on XM Radio's 20 on 20 station. It's a catchy song that I like and makes me think of the days, when I was a kid. We didn't have a lot to do and would catch fireflies (we called them lightning bugs) and put them in a mason jar with holes punched in the lid. Did any of you do that? As far as the video goes, would someone please tell me what it's all about! Do you like? Yay or Nay?

Fireflies by Owl City
Album: Ocean Eyes [released]

Lyrics:
You Would Not Believe Your Eyes
If Ten Million Fireflies
Lit Up The World As I Fell Asleep
Cause They Fill The Open Air
And Leave Teardrops Everywhere
You'd Think me Rude
But I Would Just Stand And stare
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems

Cause I'd Get A Thousand Hugs
From Ten Thousand Lightning Bugs
As They Tried To Teach Me How To Dance
A Foxtrot Above My head
A Sock hop Beneath My Bed
A Disco Ball Is Just hanging By A thread
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
When I Fall Asleep
Leave My Door Open Just A crack
Please Take Me Away From Here
Cause I Feel Like Such An Insomniac
Please Take Me Away From Here
Why Do I Tire Of Counting Sheep
Please Take Me Away From Here
When I'm far Too Tired To Fall Asleep
To Ten Million Fireflies
I'm Weird Cause I Hate Goodbyes
I Got Misty Eyes As They Said Farewell
But I'll Know Where Several Are
If My Dreams Get Real Bizarre
Cause I Saved A Few And I Keep Them In A Jar
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
When I Fall Asleep
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
When I Fall Asleep
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Because My Dreams Are Bursting At The Seams

My Autumn view out front

Fall is here, and I don't have to look far for a nice Autumn view! I took all three of these photos yesterday, and all I had to do was look out front. Many of the leaves still aren't falling, since we still have not had freezing temperatures. As a matter of fact, it was quite nice today. But it does get chilly at night. The grass in our yard is still very green and had to be mowed again. I wonder if this will be the last mowing of the year?

This cornfield across the highway still hasn't been harvested, probably due to all the rain that we have had lately. This photo is actually part of the same one above, but I have zoomed in a little.

The neighbors across the highway certainly have some vibrant colors going on! This is my favorite picture of the day. I

Last of the pumpkin harvest

We picked the last of our pumpkins and gourds Sunday. That little green one is actually a watermelon. The pumpkin patch still has quite a few half orange/half green pumpkins and lots of gourds. We had three big piles of pumpkins a few weeks ago and I didn't get a chance to take pictures of them. We have so many small pumpkins and gourds, it's ridiculous! It's a lot of work transporting them around, cleaning them, etc.

Only in Japan: The Burger King Windows 7 Whopper

Only in Japan: The Burger King Windows 7 Whopper | csmonitor.com

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Who can open their mouth wide enough to bite into this?!

Not me!

~ John

Rihanna reveals new single, "Russian Roulette"

Rihanna reveals new single, 'Russian Roulette' | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times

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It's a sad song, especially the end of it. But I like it.

Do you like? Yay or Nay?

~ John

Is my stepmother an alien?

This post is about one of my Moms (yes, I have two). It's not what you think, LOL. Technically, I have a Mom and step mom, so this would be about my step mom. I don't like that word "step," especially, when it's about my Mama. I love both my Moms, but I am especially close to this one, whose name is Jean. She did so much for me during my teen age years and left a positive long lasting impact on my life.

Even though my Dad passed away nine years ago, I am still close to Jean to this day. In fact, I have more contact with her than my biological Mom. After Dad died, Jean sent me almost all of his things and also all of her old photos and newspaper clippings. In this post I will share a couple of things that was sent, but first some back history.

Jean is also one of my Mom's first cousins, which makes her my second cousin. Our families were very close, especially in the 60's and 70's, when we all lived in the Memphis area. During their teen years Mom and Jean were BFF's.

Many years after my parents divorced and Jean and her husband divorced my Dad and Jean found themselves in love and later married. My mother became angry and felt betrayed, wondering if something had been going on during all the earlier years.

My Dad and Jean swore to me that they never had any interest in each other until long after their divorces. Of course, I told my mom this, but she refuses to believe it and to no avail always tries to turn me against my step mom. Even if they did have a fling or a thing that is not something for me to concern myself about.

During high school I moved back and forth from my two sets of parents and I couldn't have had a better step mother. She never had anything negative to say about my biological mother, but my own mother to this day hates Jean. It has caused much friction, with me caught in the middle. Let's just say, I don't put up with this. I am not going to let others tear down my good relationship with my step mom, Jean.

Jean used to be a member of the Germantown, Tennessee Police Department. In the fall of 1968 she was chosen to be the first officer to use a new futurist tool known as a radar gun. Here is a copy of a newspaper clipping that appeared on the cover of the Memphis newspaper back then. This one is actually a rerun clipping that appeared in her home town newspaper. I can remember everybody in both families being exciting, when Jean made the cover of the Memphis paper! To me, it looked like an alien's ray gun though!

Here she is trying out the department's new radar gun at a school crossing in Germantown. The Memphis Police Department did not own such equipment at the time, which is one reason it made front page news. I always thought this clipping looked straight out of a science fiction movie! Anyway, I'm proud of her and have her blessing to show this off on my blog.

You can magnify this page by pressing Ctrl + one or two times or more.

Here's a vintage photo of my Mom, Jean in her police uniform, as she stands in front of her beautiful Germantown, Tennessee home. Check out the long skirt! For school crossing duty, she had the choice of wearing the skirt or pants. She was such a stylish lady back then, and of course wore the skirt.

Jean is retired now, 71 years young and living in rural central Alabama. With that long distance I don't get to see her as much as I'd like, but we do keep in touch by phone and mail. I love my step mom! By the way, in the south we say "Mama." So, she is really my Mama! And no she's not really an alien (even though she did have that big hair like the female alien in "Mars Attacks") and it looked like she used an alien's radar gun at work! Anything is possible, but I don't think she's really an alien.

Matthew Shepard - Never Forget

Eleven years ago today 21 year old Matthew Shepard died from injuries received after being driven out to a field, beaten mercilessly, strung up, and left to die in freezing weather.

In October of 1998, the world was stunned when Matthew Shepherd a Laramie, Wyoming college student, was kidnapped, tied to a fence post, beaten and left for dead. Matthew Shepherd was killed for being gay.

Y

YouTube is full of Matthew Shepard tribute videos and it was difficult to choose one of them to post.. I liked this one, because it's not too long and has a great song playing. The following is from the maker of this video (named BLOODplusRulz22):

Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 -- October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was fatally attacked near Laramie on the night of October 6 -- October 7, 1998. Shepard died from severe head injuries at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12, 1998. His murder brought national attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.

His two assailants, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, were convicted of the crime and imprisoned. Henderson is currently serving two consecutive life sentences and McKinney is serving the same but without the possibility of parole.

This is just awful... how could someone do this!? Matthew Shepard was KILLED because he was just a little different, because he was GAY. big woopdy freaking doo, that's NO reason to kill him! This is for you, Matthew, I'm sorry.

Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Honoring Gay Activist Harvey Milk

Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Honoring Gay Activist Harvey Milk - NYTimes.com

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By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Published: October 12, 2009

LOS ANGELES — In a surprise reversal of his veto of the same bill last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill late Sunday to set aside a day of recognition for Harvey Milk, the gay San Francisco politician who was assassinated in 1978...

(click the shared link above for the full article).

(photo from Creative Commons)

New Michael Jackson single debuts online

The Associated Press: New Michael Jackson single debuts online

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From The Associated Press:

Extremely tight security accompanied the release of the new Michael Jackson single "This Is It" on Monday. The new track will feature in an upcoming album and documentary of the same name, to be released at the end of October.

The song "This is It" is now streaming here at the Michael Jackson website. Check it out for lots of details on the upcoming cd release.

Gay rights marchers in D.C. pressure Obama

First I wanted to let people know that C-SPAN2 is showing all the speeches from yesterday's National Equality March. It airs at 8:30 a.m./Eastern 9:30 a.m. central today.

Gay rights marchers in D.C. pressure Obama | National | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

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And here's a news video from the Associated Press:

Thank you to everyone that participated or attended the March!

~ John

President Obama vows to end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

During tonight's address at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) fundraiser dinner, President Obama proclaimed that he will end the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Although not very specific, he did sound believeable.

He also said he has called on Congress to end the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Again, the President was not very specific about this most important topic. But there's no doubt he can give a good speech! (CSPAN)

CLICK HERE to see the entire President's Speech at the Human Rights Campaign Dinner.

Lady GaGa takes part in National Equality March

Lady GaGa, an avid supporter of gay rights, is calling on her fans to take action and lend their support to the Equality March. The march begins at noon eastern/1:00 central. “This march is a call to action for all people from all over the country to gather to march to be visible as one and to speak out and demand full equal rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens in all 50 states,” says Gaga. (andPop)

CSPAN will be showing the March LIVE, Sunday, October 11, 2009 starts at noon eastern/1:00 p.m. central.

Tonight CSPAN will show President Obama at a Dinner in Washington at 6:50 p.m. Eastern/7:50 p.m. central. President Obama addresses the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) fundraiser, a U.S. gay rights advocacy group. He is likely to remark on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. (CSPAN)

If you missed CSPAN's broadcast of the President's speech at the dinner, you can catch highlights of it tomorrow afternoon. Worth mentioning, the President said HE WOULD END "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL."

Illinois license fee set to triple

Illinois license fee set to triple - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

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Gee, it was just last month that I posted about Illinois raising taxes on candy, shampoo, and liquor. Starting next week it will cost more to drive in Illinois. In addition to the cost of a driver's license going up.

The cost for Illinois' annual license plate registration sticker will jump from $79 to $99 starting January 1st. It is becoming very expensive to live in this state, and I won't be surprised when more and more people start moving out of Illinois.

~ John

School Kicks Out Boy Who Dresses Like A Girl

Maybe all schools should have school uniforms, huh?

~ John

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

So what can men do to help raise awareness?

Bet you can't top this PINK RIBBON for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Here is a photo that took the other night of the year old "Jacksonville Gateway" to the town at Community Park. In the upper right corner you can see our beautiful Ferris wheel with it's large pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon.

Here is a shot of the entire Ferris wheel lit up. The pink ribbon will only be on it for the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness. You're probably wondering why we have a Ferris wheel in our park, so let me explain. Eli Bridge Company, founded in 1906 produces Ferris wheels and other amusement rides and provides Jacksonville with it's signature image.

Jacksonville, Illinois is the only place in the United States that produces Ferris wheels. The only other known place to produce Ferris wheels is in France. The most famous individual to purchase one of the "Big Eli Ferris Wheels" was Michael Jackson for his Neverland Ranch in California.

In this photo is one of the firm's Big Eli Wheels, which graces the gateway to the town at Community Park. It is still in operation by the Jacksonville Rotary Club during warm weather. The beautiful gateway and Ferris wheel are located on the corner of Morton Avenue and South Main Street.

Decorating for Fall

I mentioned in a previous post that Fall was one of my favorite seasons, and I had began decorating my home for the season. Well let me correct that and say that Fall is my favorite season. I love the many shades of Fall colors. I have a lot of fond childhood memories that took place in the Fall, like raking a big pile a leaves and my brothers and cousins and I jumping in them LOL!

Most of my childhood was spent in rural southern Illinois along the Ohio River. When the leaves start to turn colors it is absolutely beautiful down there in and around the Shawnee National Forest, where I lived. The area is a nature lover's delight, full of forests, hills, hollows, bluffs, spectacular rock formations, and so much more. It is unlike any other part of Illinois. Most of the rest of the state is very flat and very much a big prairie. During the Autumn months it is truly breathtaking in southern Illinois. If you ever get the chance to visit southern Illinois, please do. I highly recommend it, especially in the Fall. If you didn't see the previous post of my own photo taken at the Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest, then please take a look. You won't believe your eyes!

I'm sure there are many other reasons why I enjoy Fall so much. These are just the first things that come to mind. And now without further ado, here are some photos of my home decked out for Autumn. I still have some ceramic pumpkins and Fall dishes to put out, so I will have to post those photos later.

When I bought this rake, it was very plain with just a few leaves at the top. I added the berry garland and then attached a Fall swag in the center. You can get a closer look by pressing Ctrl + two or three times. The rake is about 48" long, so I don't have it on my door. It's actually hanging in my kitchen next to the door and nicely covers an unused wall phone outlet and a light switch that is still accessible, but not as noticeable. That part of my kitchen is knotty pine, so Fall colors don't photograph well against that background. So I moved the rake to the dining room just for this photo.

This cute scarecrow head hangs on the kitchen door and has bells dangling, which you can hear each time the door is opened and closed.

Here's my fireplace mantel, which I almost didn't post. I didn't realize my lamp cord and rear speaker was showing. It also looks like a big blob of Fall colors in the middle in the picture. Believe me, it's all perfectly balanced viewing it head on. Unfortunately my framed art doesn't photograph well head on due to reflections from the windows on two other walls. That's my grandchildren in the frames. I have many framed photos of relatives, but these are the only two in my living room.

Here's those very tall candlesticks at night. See what I mean about light reflections in the framed art. I know it looks like a fire hazard! Don't worry, I really only lit them for the photo. I'm like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz--I'm afraid of fire! We were without power one night during an ice storm, and I had enough candles to light the room very nicely! I am very careful with them though.

I have an antique dry sink in the kitchen that I change each season too, and also some window boxes. When I get those changed over to Fall, I will post those photos too. Hope you enjoyed something here.

Late Fall in beautiful Southern Illinois

I took this photo a few years ago at the Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest, which is located in extreme southern Illinois. It was almost winter, so most of the leaves had fallen already. Can you imagine how beautiful this rock formation would be with the Fall colors surrounding it! This particular photo is of a formation called "Camel Rock." The camel's head is on the left and you can see the hump to the right. This is a gigantic rock formation, so large that people professionally rock climb on it.

Springfield's Illinois Times did a feature article in May called Exploring the Shawnee National Forest. Click here for the link, which includes several stunning pictures of the natural beauty.

One of my first summer jobs was at a very young age (about 14), when I worked in the Youth Conservation Corps program. I was so happy to get to work at the Garden of the Gods. We built and maintained trails, retaining walls, cleared brush, painted signs picnic tables, etc. We worked in crews of about a dozen kids and had a Park Ranger as our crew leader. Each day about two hours after lunch, we would gather around for thirty minutes and have "Environmental Awareness," which we called "E.A." During that time we would learn details about our surroundings. For instance we learned what kinds of trees were among us.

I still remember from that time learning how to tell a White Oak Tree from a Red Oak Tree. I bet you don't know, but it is so simple. The White Oak has "rounded" tips on the leaves and the "white man" used bullets fighting the Indians and those bullets had round tips. The Red Oak has "pointed" tips on the leaves and the Indians (red skin) fought with arrows, which were pointed. I hope that makes sense!

As far as I know the YCC program is still available in areas that have a national forest. This National Park website gives you all the details. Many teenagers that work for YCC go on to become Park Rangers after high school. I know several Rangers, including my aunt who worked for 40 years before retiring! I thought about going into that line of work, but during YCC I once stepped right over a poisonous Copperhead snake. Luckily I had protective leg gear on, but it still scared the crap out of me. Rattlesnakes are also very common in southern Illinois. My fear of snakes was enough to keep me from being a Forest Ranger!

McDonald's restaurants to open at the Louvre

McDonald's restaurants to open at the Louvre - Telegraph

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(photo from Creative Commons)

Je me demande si les pommes frites seront populaires ?

~ John

Will YOUR Stimulus dollars be wasted in Obama and Durbin's home state?

REALLY high-speed rail a better option? - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

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(photo from Creative Commons)

Yes, that's right I said it. Your stimulus dollars could be wasted in Illinois--the home state of President Obama and Assistant Majority Leader, Senator Dick Durbin. Oh and let's not forget to include U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, who is also from Illinois. That is, if they have it their way.

Why would I make such a claim? Well, finally I have found a very informative news article about the proposed high speed rail system to be built between Chicago, Springfield, and supposedly to St. Louis. (Please click the shared link at the top). As I read more and more of the article, I found the figures and statistics hard to believe. I worked for several years at a state funded administrative office as a Data/Statistics Specialist, and one thing I will never forget is hearing that "statistics can be manipulated" to help prove a point. Also some known statistics that don't support a claim can just be left out. My disbelief was also confirmed at the end of the article, where I read the readers' comments. Be sure and read the readers' comments at the bottom of the shared link!

As you might know I live very close to Springfield and keep up with all the news there. Our ABC television station is based out of Springfield. It seems like every single day and night for the last several months, this has been in our local news. Most of the local controversy has not been about the wasteful spending on this proposed project, but instead it has centered around the city of Springfield and whether this new set of tracks should go through Third Street in downtown Springfield as the tracks already do now. The City would prefer the proposed new tracks be built along some tracks that are on the east side of town. If the city of Springfield has it's way there would be would a "wrong side of the tracks" section of the city. Actually Springfield already is a much divided city with the east side being the "wrong side." But that's a whole other story! Anyway...

What really makes me angry about this whole thing is the fact the Illinois has been building a new interstate highway--I67 (U.S. Route 67) for over ten years. This project is called Corridor 67 and would be the only north/south interstate highway from the Quad-Cities to St. Louis in western Illinois. The economy of western Illinois would pick up, if the highway were complete. This is especially true in towns like Jacksonville, where east/west interstates (I72) would cross with the new I67. I live less than a quarter of a mile from one of the exits. Over ten years ago the state annexed part of my long front yard, taking out trees, ruining my driveway, and making my property smaller to widen the highway out front that is very close to an exit. Back then it was exciting to know that the project would be completed in about ten years. But it is no where near complete.

After the stimulus package was approved, the Illinois governor had a website created to allow the people of Illinois to see how the state is spending the funding received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus package). When the website Recovery.Illinois.gov was created, anyone could make suggestions on how to spend the money. As a citizen of this state, I submitted my request that some of the money be used to finish Corridor 67. In a matter of days I received an email saying something like, "we're sorry, but only 'shovel ready' projects are eligible for these funds." Finishing this project is not "shovel ready?" I beg to differ!

This proposed high speed rail project certainly is not shovel ready! They don't tell you about all the little details like how lots of overpasses will have to be built in all the cities that the 220 mph trains will travel, how a great number of farmers will lose land, and lots of new crossing bars will have to be built. Not all of these "extras" will be funded by the stimulus money either.

U.S. Route 67 is the route we always take to and from St. Louis, but it is not completed. We can drive on it south for about thirteen miles and then it merges to the old two lane highway running through several small towns full of stop signs, stop lights and a very slow speed limit. Most of the unfinished expressway between Jacksonville and Alton is in Greene County. Once you are out of Greene county, the road again becomes a divided four lane highway almost, but not quite to the Missouri border.

Heading north from Jacksonville to Quad-Cities (Davenport, Iowa area) the situation is the same. Part of the way is two lanes and part of the way is four lanes. As far as I know, there are no immediate plans to finish this project any time soon. In March, the Associated Press reported that the state of Illinois had a budget deficit of over 11.5 billion dollars. So why isn't the stimulus money being used on finishing the highway? Well, just go back and re-read my first paragraph and you will find your answer. How many decades will it take to balance the Illinois budget anyway? Nobody knows. Using the stimulus money for the highway just seems more logical, since we already have Amtrak from Springfield to Chicago.

As you can imagine, this is not a very safe highway to drive on--especially at night or in bad weather. Semi trucks use the route more and more and I'm sure each time they must think, "surely the highway is finished by now." But the highway is not finished. Earlier in the year a semi truck killed a pedestrian on this highway. According to the police report, the semi driver was negotiating a series of curves in the dark early hours, when he struck the pedestrian. No citations were issued and there were no witnesses. Some people think it was a suicide, but whatever the reason, one thing is for sure. If I67 were complete, it would not have happened, because the new highway would not be going through the tiny town of Carrollton.

But they want to build a whole new set of train tracks to Chicago just to save a little bit of travel time. Like the title of the link says "REALLY--high speed rail a better option?" This state needs to get it's priorities in order. Of course, that's just my humble opinion.

~ John

Pumpkins from our garden

Here's a couple of photos I took last week of some pumpkins we grew. There are a lot more, but I haven't had time to take some more pictures. Also all my gourd and mini-pumpkin pictures came out blurry, so I don't want to show those! Hopefully I will have some better pumpkin pictures soon.

White Wedding

It's been a long cold day. One of my friends did attend the wedding reception last night, but she did not stay long. She said they did have some hors d'oeuvres, but didn't see anyone eating. There were no table decorations, except the candle lanterns provided by the reception hall. She said of course, with free beer there would be a crowd! I haven't heard about the "wedding celebration" at the church yet. The two grooms forgot to pick up their boutonnières, and some kid came rushing in at 2:00 to pick them up, so I guess the celebration got off to a late start.

I'm over it and wanted to lighten things up with a wedding video! You may have already seen this earlier in the year on Boing Boing. If not, it is fun to watch. Well, I also have always been a big fan of Billy Idol and a long time ago (80's) I was Billy Idol for Halloween! I got a spiky haircut just for the occasion. I didn't bleach my hair, but I did have white temporary color on it!

Rambling Thoughts

Blame it on facebook! Or blame it on the rain, blame Canada (just kidding--love Canadians)! I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything in five days. Sorry! It's true that I have spent a lot of time on facebook, I can't really place blame on any one thing for not making a blog post until now. As you probably guessed, I have been busy! Oh yeah, if you ever read my "about me" info and wondered what "sometimes rambling thoughts" were, well now you know!

We still haven't harvested all of our pumpkins yet, but have several piles in the weed filled pumpkin patch. Actually, Ron cut all those pumpkins free and never told me or asked for help. I was hoping we would've had a frost by now so that the weeds and vines would have withered enough to see where all the pumpkins are at! It has been chilly, but not cold enough for that.

Since Fall is one of my favorite seasons, I've also been decorating the house with some Fall decorations. But as I'm sure you know, you can't just decorate over dust, you must clean first (not one of my favorite chores)! I'm still not finished! I also have a lot of Halloween decorations and will put some of them out. I love my artificial jack-0-lanterns! They make such neat night lights! My grandkids loved them and I would add to the collection each year. I'm afraid putting out Halloween decorations will only make me sad, since my grandchildren live so far away. I miss them terribly!

What I need to do is get my ass in gear and have an adult Halloween party! I started writing about this and it led to three paragraphs, so I deleted it and saved for a future Halloween post! I will tell you about some of my most memorable Halloweens. In the meantime, you might want to start reminiscing and put something on your blog about Halloweens past and your plans this year--if you have any.

I have a gay wedding to attend this Saturday, so I've been stressing about that too. What do I wear? Rather, I wonder if I can get away with wearing dark jeans with my nice suit jacket and tie? I wonder if I have any dark jeans that aren't too tight! Should I buy a gift? If so, what? The guys already got married in Iowa, but are having a "celebration ceremony" at their local church here and there is no reception. I've asked three people if they thought we were supposed to bring gifts! Nobody really knows! The couple have been together for a long time already, so it's not like they need anything! Does anyone have any suggestions or opinions about this?

OMG, I've had so many "anniversary" dates since the end of August. And when I say "anniversary" dates I'm not talking about happy ones. Some are death dates, and others are other types of "loss" dates. I know that sounds weird, but let's just say there has been a great number of dates that were sad. On those dates, and sometimes for days before and afterwards I would just be in a funk; not really wanting to do anything. Pathetic, I know. There's just so many people I have lost one way or another in September that it has been a little over bearing.

I did have some happy days in September though, especially when Ron and I celebrated his birthday (which I blogged about).

We have had so much freakin' rain this month! On one day last week, we got 4.76" in one day. Now it is supposed to rain for three days straight. All that rain means lots of mosquitoes, gnats, and even soybean aphids. The three kinds of annoying insects at once are like killer insects and they will bite! The gnats even leave big red welts that hurt and itch for like two weeks. Oh great! Not! The only good thing good about this weather that is that I will get to wear my new jacket that I LOVE! YAY!

I am still at work (came in late), but I am finished with my billing and reports. I'm afraid with my unreliable Internet connection at home, that I may not be able to log on at home. I have taken quite a few new photos that I can't wait to share on the blog. Some are of the things I spoke about above and some are ... well you'll just have to wait and see!

Until then, how about some comments!? I covered a lot here, so maybe you have something to say about one of my rambling thoughts! Until next time...

~ John