|
Post by Siren on Sept 18, 2006 20:56:55 GMT -6
Aaaah, very nice, Gams. 30 pounds of apples? Lol! That oughta hold ya. Excellent description about your "trash picking" sticks. That's just what it looks like.
I had the best apple today - the first of its kind I've had - a Pacific Rose from New Zealand. The skin is a beautiful rosy red. It was probably the crunchiest, crispiest apple I've ever had. And so sweet. Normally, I like a sour apple, like a Granny Smith. But this was a fabulous, sweet apple.
Fall has come our way, too. The sunlight looks different now. And you can see a slight change in the color of the leaves. Thistles are blooming their pretty lavender fuzz. They make such a pretty dried flower, too. Yesterday, my dad and I hurried back from the barn after feeding the chickens. The air was a bit too wet and cool for comfort. And for the first time this season, I wore a jacket to work to work today. Just a little jean jacket. But still, it was jacket weather this morning.
NFL season has begun, another sure sign of fall. And - yay!! - my Sooner girls were named top-5 in one pre-season basketball poll.
BTW, I'm going out on a limb, and predicting right now that my girls are gonna win it all this year - Coach Coale and OU's first women's basketball national championship. This post may come back to haunt me later. But I'll take that risk.
Come on, ladies - don't let me down!
Ahhhh, I love fall!! My favorite season. Thanks for kicking it off, Gams.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Sept 20, 2006 0:02:38 GMT -6
Hoping for you and your Sooner gals, that the only haunting done this season is of the Halloweenish kind, and not of basketball predictions. Keep us updated; I don't follow the sport, but always enjoy reading your playbacks. Is Jordon still a fan, btw?
Speaking of sports updates - Katina never did mention how his Cats finished off the season.
Thought of you, Siren, at work today. Thinking to myself, "I wish Siren could see this". It was the cutest thing: I was working out in the children's garden, and beneath the black-eyed susan leaves I found a toad, no bigger than the tip of my thumb, burrowing in the sandy soil. I kept stopping my work, and going back to look at him now and then, until I saw he'd buried himself so that only his head showed. Digging in for winter? Already? Dang, I hope not. Though it was cold today, (only in the fifties), I still keep hoping we have a few weeks of warmer weather coming.
The skies opened and dumped down rain in buckets this afternoon. Right on top of me. Sheesh, it could have waited just a bit longer; I was almost off work. Instead, I got soaked. At least the toad probably stayed warm and dry.
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Sept 20, 2006 21:16:07 GMT -6
Thanks for the good wishes, Gams. Season opens November 1. Yes, Jojo is still a big fan of the Sooners, and as she said, is "dying, dying" till season starts. But she is on her high school basketball team, and will have to miss some OU games to be at her own. She accepts that pretty well, though. Would you believe my little niece is 16 now, and about 5'10"? I remember when I held her in my 2 hands, her shoulders in one hand, her behind in the other.
How sweet! Oh, I wish I'd seen that little toad. I would've had to give him a little squeeze and a kiss. My mom digs one up in her flowerbed just about every spring. Says they give her a nasty look as they hop away. Sometimes they remain asleep, and she buries them again. I think they're feeling the chill already. As my sis and I were leaving the folks' Sunday night, we spotted one in the driveway under the light. He didn't move a muscle till my sis picked him up. I think the chill had gotten to him a bit.
Ate an enormous corn dog at the State Fair tonight. Mmmmm. And had my first Wonder Bar of the year, too. It's like a homemade Eskimo pie, rolled in toasted peanuts. Blissfully good. Every year at the fair, I have a couple of them. The Oklahoma Hospitality Club has sold them at the same booth, at the same spot, for more than 25 years. And they're only 2 bucks, easily one of the cheapest, best things at the fair.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Sept 21, 2006 0:09:36 GMT -6
Oooo, I envy you your fair going. I love fairs and festivals of all sorts. I've never been to a state fair, but we always go to the county fair; it's been a tradition for about 10 years now. Way back on our 10th anniversary, and Hubs asked me what I wanted. Take me to the fair, I said. I think I dragged him on every ride at least five times - I like the twirly, spinning ones best. We missed the fair this year, though. Sniff.
Today, my friend and I mounted Baldhead - or more affectionately known as "Baldy". It was not a particularly grueling mount; not too big. Though both of us got a bit out of breath at times, and definitely felt it in our thighs, it was exhilarating.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Sept 22, 2006 0:24:27 GMT -6
Courtesy of Scrappy Sweet Hostess Cupcake, who hosted a couple of pictures for me, here is Mount Baldy. It is a giant sand dune, forested - whether intentionally or naturally, I'm not sure, but it keeps the dune from moving inland towards the town and river. Interestingly, there is also a dune, unforested, named Mount Baldy in Indiana, I think, that moves approximately five feet per year. "Our" Mount Baldy has stairs on one side. Two hundred and eighty two very steep wooden stairs. The view from the top is magnificent. It was very cloudy though - threatening rain - and shoot, the pictures were too dark. Dune on the other. No stairs; just sand. Pure sand. Sand is much harder to climb than stairs. One hundred and fiftyish feet of sand. Whew, it was a trek. We made it to the top. Looking down did wonders for my fear of heights. At the bottom of the dune, is of course, the Lake. See in the distance the blue sky. See where we are standing, the black clouds hanging over our heads. The rain held off just long enough for us to make it back up the dune, and nearly down the stairs; it started with only about ten steps left to go. We've been trying to to this for about six months, but conflicting schedules kept us from making it. Finally. The scenery and company - it was worth the wait.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Sept 22, 2006 23:05:25 GMT -6
I said this? Pfft. Of course I did; I'm the only one here and am talking to myself. The dune is 600 feet high. No wonder why my thighs were burning.
|
|
|
Post by katina2nd on Sept 23, 2006 1:29:10 GMT -6
Go the Sooner girls, got room for another supporter Siren? Speaking of sports updates - Katina never did mention how his Cats finished off the season. Was kinda hoping you may have forgotten about the Cats Lady P, though we did finish off the season fairly well, just like we started it. Pity about the stretch in the middle though, where we got clobbered on a regular basis; we finished two spots out of the finals, so that's it for another year, no more footy, oh, there's still another two boring weeks of finals to go yet, but with the Cats not there, who cares. <grumble grumble> Nice pics, those steps look kinda daunting, do they have rest stops with refreshments at regular intervals.
|
|
|
Post by mabd on Sept 23, 2006 4:04:38 GMT -6
Courtesy of Scrappy Sweet Hostess Cupcake, who hosted a couple of pictures for me, here is Mount Baldy. Wait up... is this near Oval Beach? Doesn't Baldy move cause it's like a barrier island -- Superior and Michigan are at the same height, but you're in a winter drainage basin, aren't you? And if you want a testament to the power of the wind, look at those oaks and hemlocks... Maeve and that sense of water thing again
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Sept 23, 2006 9:41:38 GMT -6
Very nice pics, Gams. But like katina, I'd be looking for resting spots. We're not all as fit as you, missy! Oh, indeed, kat, plenty of room on the Sooners' bandwagon. Here's a link to their official site: www.soonersports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&KEY=&SPID=193&SPSID=2534There was an exciting commercial for them there yesterday, but it's gone now. When I find the link again, I'll post it. Ooooh, I can't wait for season to start!! Sorry about your Cats, katina. Better luck next year! Season's end is so depressing. Months and months to wait.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Sept 23, 2006 23:15:06 GMT -6
How could I have forgotten about the Cats, Katina. There they are in big, bold letters beneath your name. Sorry for their less than stellar performance, but there's always next year. Surely, they've got more lives left in them; they haven't used up all nine, have they?
The Wolverines won today - the conference opener against Wisconsin. I was at work and didn't see any part of the game, but Yay anyway.
Be rootin' for your Sooners for you, Siren. But please - all these years I've watched college football, and all this time I've known you and of your love for basketball, and I've still no idea what a "sooner" is - can you explain where the name came from?
And yes, Divining Maeve; your sense of water is right on again. Mt. Baldy does indeed, lead down to Oval Beach. I don't think it moves though; the stairs would have fallen long ago, don't you think?
|
|
|
Post by katina2nd on Sept 24, 2006 6:32:12 GMT -6
Thanks for the link Siren, nice site, I'll be able to follow the fortunes of my new team. How about those Aussies at the world championships, gold medalists, fantastic effort, there's no stopping us when it comes to sport. You're right, seasons end is a real downer, six months before the ball is bounced again and I'm living in hope once more, oh well, there's always the cricket to fall back on. "There's always next year", if I had a dollar for all the times I've said that Lady P, I'd be a very rich man, and yep, reckon we've used up ten of our nine lives now, very disappointing after promising so much early in the season, but hope springs eternal, and of course ................ there's always next year.
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Sept 25, 2006 22:57:26 GMT -6
"There's always next year." As a Chicago Bears fan, I adopted that as a mantra years ago. They're looking pretty good this year. But let's just take it one game at a time, as the old sports cliche goes. Gams, the term "Sooner" is from my state's history. Here's an explanation from the Sooners' website: www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&KEY=&ATCLID=30029I've never liked that our team is basically named after cheaters. But according to the site, the word now has positive connotations. *eye roll* As for what fans mean by screaming "Boomer Sooner!", I don't think they know, either. But the "Boomer Sooner" instrumental fight song is terrific. One of the most distinctive in college sports, IMO. Yes, indeedy, kat, your Aussie gals do deserve a pat on the back. A terrific job at the world championships. No wonder WNBA teams are trying to lure more and more of your stars to the States.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Sept 25, 2006 23:47:39 GMT -6
Thanks for the link, Siren. Though, if I would have dug deeper into the site when you posted the link for Katina, I wouldn't have had to ask, and you wouldn't have had to repeat information. Pfft to me for not doing my homework and reading thoroughly the first time around.
And our team - the Wolverines - once our state animal, is named after an animal once so hated it was hunted nearly to extinction here. So nearly so, that because of this the state animal had to be changed to the white-tail deer. Interesting though, that last year a wolverine was sighted just a bit north of here - the first such sighting in about fifty years, if I remember correctly. Such excitement over it, that it made CNN Headline news. Oh, how things change, and if time could be turned back once we learn our lessons.
Ferociously mean, it is a good name for a football team, (or any sports team) though. And "Hail to the Victors" as a college fight songs has got to rank right up on top, (IMO).
Today's weather: perfectly autumn. Sunny, breezy and mid-sixties, it is the kind of fall weather I like best; the kind of weather that makes me glad I work outside.
What else is sneezonal lately? Allergies. Argh. When will they end.
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Sept 27, 2006 5:07:05 GMT -6
Allergies. *sniff* That's why I put in a post around 4am. Can't sleep. The medicine dries me out, but it wires me, too. If I don't take it, I wake up in a panic, feeling like I'm smothering. But thankfully, I only have this a couple of times a year. I have friends who suffer year-round.
Mid-60s. Man, that sounds great. We're not there by a long-shot. But we're hovering in the 80s, which is such a relief.
Yes, Wolverines is a great nickname for a team. Do they call the ladies' team the "Lady Wolverines"?
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 1, 2006 22:46:44 GMT -6
It was a gorgeous day today - so different than the rainy, windy, cold and generally blucky weather we've had most of the past couple of weeks - there was even a couple of tornadoes that touched down on Friday near where I work.
Lots of sun, and we spent the afternoon at the beach. You would have thought it was July 1st instead of October 1st by the number of people there. Obvious difference though: the beach was packed, but no one save a three teenagers were in the water. OMG - I let the waves wash up on my feet and they were immediately numb. BP had no trouble wading up to her knees though - brave girl; the water felt icy. Oh, and this cracked me up: a couple, in their late sixties or early seventies, I'd guess, looked like they may brave the cold water and go for a swim. Like a sacrificial virgin, the woman slowly went out, her arms spread beside her doing that if-my-arms-don't-go-in-somehow-it'll-feel-less-cold thing that I always do. She didn't hop up and down like I do though, keeping that sacrificial stoic air about her. The man, safe and dry on shore, slowly pulled his pants down about his hips, (bathing suit underneath, of course), saw the woman's reaction, and quickly pulled it back up again. The woman was out of the water in less than two minutes.
I played on the teeter-totters.
The girls feed the seagulls nasty sesame crackers that Hubs bought that were so bad no one could stomach them - they even smelled icky. The birds didn't mind though; soon there was a flock of at least one hundred surrounding them. When the crackers were gone and the girls headed back to the blanket, the birds started - all one hundred or so of them - started to follow. I'm thinking Alfred Hitchcock movie.
I started my what my friend calls my "It Looks Like Martha Stewart on Crack Did It" style of seasonal decorating: I lashed some curly willow branches - beautifully bright yellow; perfectly gnarled and twisted - to my porch railing and nestled some of the mini-pumpkins and gourds in-between the gnarls. The kids think it looks cool; Hubs nodded his head and said, "Nice decorating, Dear".....in that same tone he's used when I've asked him to read something I've written....
"Nice spelling, Dear."
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 3, 2006 0:44:49 GMT -6
Yeah, nice spelling; I don't think I made any mistakes there, but pfftt.... Rereading through what I wrote last night, and how many typos is it possible to make in one little post? Too many to go back and correct. Ah well....
Today it stormed.
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Oct 3, 2006 21:36:39 GMT -6
I like the sound of your seasonal decor, Gams. Sounds festive.
Been in the 90s here the last few days. Global warming stinks! (Remind me that I said that when I'm complaining about the cold this winter.)
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 7, 2006 0:14:02 GMT -6
The fall color is here; it is beautiful. I added some bittersweet to my front porch decoration thing. Looks good - in a "Martha on Crack" sort of way.
We are heading out in the morning, (hopefully I'll get a ski in first; I should get my butt to bed), for a brief mini-vacation. No where special, and just a short distance away - but lots to do there with the girls, and if it rains, at least the hotel has a pool. That, to them, is reason enough to stay.
Later Sweet Taters. Enjoy the weekend, and hopefully beautiful autumn weather your way.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 8, 2006 21:57:36 GMT -6
Sure has been quiet here on the boards...actually the last couple/few weeks. Hope everyone is doing well.
Ah....back home from our short little trip. It was a good time for us all. Battle Creek - not a hot-spot in the list of vacation destinations; it couldn't even be considered a vacation desitination at all.
But a one and a half hour drive from home, a free night's stay in a nice hotel, Kellogg's Cereal City, an aboretum with a great Children's Garden, and one of the nicest zoos I've been to, all taken in during a weekend of fabulous fall weather, and nothing could have been better.
Tomorrow - the kids are back in school, but Hubs and I are both off work. A day of play just the two of us....a whole day; I don't remember when the last time that happened. Looking forward to it. A lot.
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Oct 9, 2006 20:44:40 GMT -6
Yes, it has been quiet around here, Gams. I've been pretty busy at work, with a busier time ahead over the next few weeks. Our Children's Miracle Network event takes a lot of preparation - music montages to be mixed, interviews that need editing, re-cutting bits from last year. And I have 3/4 of it still to do in the next 30 days.
Gams, your outing at Cereal City sounds like great fun. And a day for just you and sweetie? Wonderful! I hope it all turned out as you planned.
I think we're about to get our first really cool weather of the season. Such a great time of year. And my Bears are 5-0. How about that??
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 10, 2006 21:29:09 GMT -6
Siren, hope you have a wonderful time with your Children's Miracle Network gig. I remember your posts from last year; it sounds like a cool thing to be a part of.
Our day yesterday was nice. It was goregous weather, (I've really been enjoying it here lately), and we messed around in Saugatuck just window shopping and such, until we met with friends who own a jewerly shop there and went for lunch. It was a bittersweet thing; good friends who will be going back to Texas for the winter after this weekend. Good to spend time together, but kinda sad knowing it'll be the last for a while.
Great weather again today - though I had to spend it inside all day. October is when things really start to slow down with the customers at the nursery, which means we get busy in other ways. Today was the trade show....nine hours of ordering supplies for the store for next spring. It's a lot of fun, actually - finding things on which to spend another's money, but makes for a long, long day.
And now I have to prepare to give a class. My worst nightmare; I hate, hate, hate getting up in front of people to talk. I'm already stressing, and the class is more than a week away. I, of course, got roped into this....again. Sigh. I will never learn, it seems.
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to go to hell in a handbasket: rain, then changing over to snow mixed with rain. Perfect weather for my day off. At least it'll force me to stay inside and get some notes written for this damned class.
Somebody give me a Valium. Quick.
|
|
|
Post by mabd on Oct 11, 2006 2:18:36 GMT -6
Somebody give me a Valium. Quick. Oh, Phalon, you are so yesterday. You need Klonopin or zanex... Maeve, wondering if I *can* outrun Phalon...
|
|
|
Post by mabd on Oct 11, 2006 2:34:16 GMT -6
Our Children's Miracle Network event takes a lot of preparation - music montages to be mixed, interviews that need editing, re-cutting bits from last year. And I have 3/4 of it still to do in the next 30 days. Siren, good on you for making the effort. Your Bears?? We can't share 'em? Pretty please... They are predictable: you know they will always have a good defense featuring amazing linebackers. And they will always have a running-back. What is so cool this year is that they have a quarterback who won't lose games. And I gotta admit 40 -7 is pretty darn impressive... Maeve
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 11, 2006 11:08:14 GMT -6
Maeve, this is the best that you can do?! Pfft. I thought, given your profession, I'd at least get some helpful tips to calm myself down while standing in front of these people who'll be staring at me; it's a real fear of mine. A suggestion like imagining them in their underwear, or something.
Oh, and don't even dream that you can out-run me. <revs up the Gator> I'm coming after you....
...right after I imagine some oh-so-hot guy in his next to nearly nothing BVDs. <wondering how this is possibly going to help me keep from getting flustered>
Phalon, feeling warm already.
|
|
|
Post by mabd on Oct 11, 2006 15:05:21 GMT -6
Okay Gator, gotcha covered. How many people? Is there space enough so that there is no clear stage/audience stuff. There's a reason for that question. If you can, turn the area into a campfire. Stop Bolling, it works.
This is the hardest part but it will pay off. TAKE POSSESSION OF YOUR STAGE. Yes, that means using your eyes to gather everyone's eyes to you. Take a moment to settle. Then start. If you can, don't stand behind the podium. Stand next to it and plant your notes on it.
Lower the stakes for yourself. That means two things: given a choice, under-dress; being overdressed makes one disdressed. The other thing to remember is your "touch that and die, child" look. Or to put it another way, act as though you have power and you will.
Write down what you need to. But you'll sound more fluid if you do more than just read. One of the things I do is start talking too fast and then speeding up. Saying/reading it out-loud also helps you know where to put those little clues to life -- like the word breathe. You can always tell which set of notes I've used -- the ones that say "slow down" everywhere are the good notes.
Unless you are going to announce the end of the world or something really big like that, don't just hit the gas and go. One of best ProSems I ever gave was at a college in Maryland. Spring had just come and she was strutting her stuff. And I've got every faculty person they have there. I counted, we could have had a nice softball round-robin tournament. But Nooooo, I've got to go and smear chalk all over a new blazer and mutter something about gender across the curriculum. So I did a 2 hour ditty on how certain parts of the female anatomy appeared, disappeared, were drawn in dashes or with strong confident strokes (oh my) over the last 300 years.
The math teacher asked me out. Ick.
Don't start with a joke. No matter how good the joke is, your voice won't have had enough time to warm up.
Phalon, these folks want to hear what you have to say, just like we do.
Good. You keep imagining cause I ain't got the hemi on the mule yet.
Maeve
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 11, 2006 21:10:02 GMT -6
Got it, Mule. Build a bonfire, and set the place ablaze...and pray my notes don't go up in smoke.
I can do this, <breathe>; I've done it many times, <breathe>, and have always survived more or less. And yes, I do tend-to-start-off-talking-fast-and-get-faster-andfasteruntilitallturnsintoablurandmytonguegetstiedinknots. <breathe, breathe, breathe> I will remember to write "slow down" in the margins of my notes. I will probably re-read your post ten times right up to the point I go "on stage". <deep breath>
<pant, pant, pant> Uhm...how long 'til the hemi is in the mule...how long do I have to imagine the oh-so-hot guy in the Bvds? Lemme know when he can take them off.....err, we can take off to the races.
|
|
|
Post by Siren on Oct 11, 2006 23:36:01 GMT -6
Absolutely, Maeve. OUR Bears. Doncha love 'em??
As for you, Gams, you have no worries. You are so charming and funny and smart. They're gonna love you!
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 12, 2006 6:20:00 GMT -6
Thanks for the kind words, Siren. Can I use them as an epitaph after I die from stage fright?
It is snowing!!!!! Not fluffy wanna-run-out-and-play-in-it kinda snow, but hard icy pebbles. ARGH! I'm going to FMAO, (freeze my ass off) at work today.
Later Sweet Taters.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Oct 12, 2006 21:52:57 GMT -6
For once, the weatherman was right. Damn. It snowed off and on all day today, and is supposed to do the same tomorrow.
I looked out the window this morning, and saw it in the light from the streetlamp. "It's snowing", I stated, quite calmly.
LX groaned. BP started jumping up and down with excitement, nearly spilling her orange juice.
I went about rushing through the morning rituals and getting ready for work. LX comes in the bathroom to give me a kiss goodbye before she left for the bus. "Bye Mom." "And where do you think you're going?" "To the bus." "Not dressed like that, you're not." "But Maa-om", in the two-syllable pronunciation which can only mean exasperation.
BP in the other room: "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...."
"It's thirty-some degrees outside, you need a winter coat - not a hooded sweatshirt."
"Sigh."
"Go - now. Or I'll make you wear winter boots."
"...Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse... Mom, can we make a snowman when I get home from school?"
"ARGH! The jacket is ugly."
"Probably not, BP - there won't be enough snow", (hoping). "Sorry for ya, Dear - You picked it out."
"...open sleigh-a! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all..."
"But it's last year's jacket. Everyone will remember."
"Again...sorry for ya." (trying to hide eye-roll) "I'm getting the boots now....and the Pooh-Bear hat you had when you were six. Go!"
"Sigh. Bye, Mom."
"Love ya, Dear."
"...the way. Mom, I'm ready."
"BP, take off your boots, hat and mittens. We don't leave for another hour."
"But Maaa-om..."
And they get exasperated? Pfft.
|
|
|
Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 12, 2006 23:42:26 GMT -6
Oh Mistress of the night!! My bud my pal....Madam P...... DUCK!!!!
|
|