Organics

I found this picture at this site.

I'm glad there are watchdogs out there.

Einstein Quote

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

Asylum for the Verbally Insane

I heard this on the radio yesterday morning. I love words and find this very amusing.

Asylum for the Verbally Insane

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let’s face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

English muffins weren’t invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly,

Boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
Grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?

Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all
But one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.

And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop,
How come Mother’s not Mop?

SNOW!!!!

I AM SO SICK OF SNOW! Woke up to no electricity and 10" of snow. Started the wood stove so I could make tea. Electricity is on now, but it's still snowing, and this time of year means it's very wet and heavy snow.

I remember my lilac getting flattened one year, so snow into late May is not unusual. Luckily no leaves are on the trees and bushes, so the snow won't break branches.

How much snow will we get is the question? Tornadoes, cyclones, earthquakes, electrical storms and volcanoes - the news is sure full right now. We still can't control nature.

Compost and Mother's Day

I get interesting gifts for Mother's Day - but they are what I ask for! There's been many years that I ask for compost bins. We've finally learned how to get great compost, so this year Monte made me a supper-nice 3-compartment compost bin. I've asked for rototillers and other gardening stuff.

I came down Mother's Day morning to a wrapped gift for me from Dawson. He's a gift giver and a creative wrapper. Lately his gifts have been wrapped in the many pages we helped edit for his college classes. He gave me a rock water-fountain. So now I can sit here in my recliner, surrounded by my many house plants and have the soothing sound of tumbling water.

When the rest of the world is waiting to be seated at restaurants, I prefer not to join the masses. But I get taken out quite a bit, so eating out on Mother's Day isn't so special. Just like when the rest of the world is vacationing, I'd rather stay home. But then we often go on mini vacations, so there isn't that need.

So is it that we enjoy treats, like dates, on a regular basis so there isn't this huge need for needing a holiday to make things happen ... or is it that we don't like crowds ... or are we just rebellious? (I do have a rebellious streak in me.)

Actually yesterday, after church, we went with friends to eat at Pannera Bread and sat talking quite awhile before Monte and me went to the REI outdoor store to get a new GPS he needs for his geology field trip he's going on next week. But like gardening paraphernalia, I like looking at all the camping, backpacking, and outdoor activity paraphernalia too. So maybe it wasn't a thing most would do for Mother's Day, but I enjoyed what I did with Monte. 

Can you believe it? - today, late this afternoon, the weather instantly changed from sunny upper 60's to freezing wind and rain. Denver is supposed to get 3" of snow overnight, so we'll get more! I finished planting my summer flower pots, but of course they'll stay inside awhile more. I filled all the bird feeders. I trimmed the grapevine in the greenhouse (so many grapes coming this year!) and emptied all the garden and kitchen scrap buckets in the compost bin.

High Tea

Just a quick note before going to bed ... I'm busy helping at church - tomorrow is a Tea. I was at church most of today helping set up. I got my ingredients ready for one of the tea sandwiches this evening - a Smoked Salmon Watercress Mayo and Radish open-face sandwich. I baked the bread for it yesterday. So tomorrow morning early I go back to church to assemble the sandwiches and help with all the other things needed.

Online Bible

Check out this - the Bible, almost any translation you prefer, on line

*Funny!?**

You need a laugh for the day, don't you? You need to watch this movie clip of Babies and Their Fathers. I forwarded it to Monte and he said it made him legitimate.

History

Most people don't know that back in 1912,
Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England.
In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment
scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico,
which was to be the next port-of-call for the great ship
after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of
mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know,
the great ship did not make it to New York.
The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise,
and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss.
Their anguish was so great, that they declared
a National Day of Mourning,
which they still observe to this day.

The National Day of Mourning occurs each year
on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

WHAT!!!! You expected something educational from me?
I just had to post that. I've had this fun story for a long time
awaiting the right timing in history to post it.
I was too busy, and then tired, to post it earlier.

I grew up next to Mexico. I do know the real Cinco de Mayo story.
Though a small victory against the French,
it was a turning point for Mexico.
Lots of gaiety, color, good food, and fun pinatas.

Gardening at T&S's

We went to Ft Collins Sunday through Monday to help Travis and Sarah get this year's garden ready. Since they have a new dog, they felt the need for garden boundaries. So after spreading the well decomposed manure over their back yard and tilling it in, Monte and Travis screwed together boards for raised beds.

Sarah and me carried on spreading the manure on front beds after aerating them and made a new narrow bed in the front patio and planted flowers and scarlet runner bean seeds with some sweet pea seeds.

We're all excited about home-grown produce! We did Mexican last night, fitting with Cinco de Mayo, with typical burritos we make and the stuffed grilled poblanos (see my recipes). Poblanos did so good in their garden last year (I'm jealous) that they were having grilled chilies several times a week and are missing that. 

It looked like it might rain today, so I scattered old wildflower seeds along with grass seed and threw manure to cover in one of the done areas Monte had made last fall next to our campfire area. Got to get our garden ready to plant now. I've got my greenhouse full of sprouting and growing seed flats, and more to do.