Yello!

“My roommate got a pet elephant. Then it got lost. It’s in the apartment somewhere.”

“I installed a skylight in my apartment… The people who live above me are furious!”

Quotes by Stephen Wright

We didn’t run across any elephants and we didn’t install any skylights, but Kalie and I had a great time yesterday as we invaded Jesse’s apartment when he was at work to give his living space a little facelift.  We discussed his preferences and got his permission before we started, but we were on our own yesterday for the entire day as we reorganized and redocorated his Haymarket loft.  It was our own little version of the popular television show, “While You Were Out”.  We went a bit over budget, but Jesse didn’t seem to mind much when he saw the results last night.  Our major purchases were an area rug, a futon cover, a ladder-style bookshelf, red wicker baskets, plants and a blue Betta fish that we think he should name “Ol Yellar” or “Red” or something like that!  We pretty much gave every area of the apartment some attention, but the photos below show a before and after of just the living room.  (We left the maze of eletrical cords attached to the entertainment center for Jesse to sort out so we wouldn’t accidently unplug something vital!) It was a lot of fun!  Now if I could just talk someone into coming to my house to do the same thing!  🙂

Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.  ~Gail Lumet Buckle

Ok, so this post is about our week-end trip to the above mentioned places (the mice part I’ll explain later!).  Five of us ventured back east for the long holiday week-end for the main purpose of visiting my Uncle Johnnie.  He’s eighty-seven and my mother’s only sibling.  He is a real gem – they just don’t make ’em like my Uncle Johnnie any more.  He is still very sharp – able to navigate a car around the area where he lives in southern Maryland and maintain the home he built himself years ago (he cut the trees down himself and hauled them into a mill in town to make them into the lumber he used to build his home).  We enjoyed our visit, even though it was only a couple of days – it was great to see him and his friend Kitty.  He reminds me a lot of my mom.  I wish we lived closer so we could see him more often.

While in Maryland we had the most fantastic seafood at the Captain’s Table (http://massarosrestaurants.com/captainstable/ )  and Catamarans Restaurant (http://www.catamarans-restaurant.com/ ), both located in nearby Solomans Island along the Patuxent River in Maryland.  We also drove over to Piney Point, MD to spend a little time on the beach and see the old lighthouse.  While there I had to admonish Francis to follow the sign that read “no crabbing!”  🙂

Before going down to Maryland, we spent July 4th at the Smithsonian’s Folk Festival and Washington’s Independence Day parade.  Along with tens or perhaps hundred’s of thousands of others, we braved the warm, humid, and sometimes rainy weather to take in as many of the events as we could manage.  The evening was spent sitting on the steps of the capitol for the hour-long “A Capitol Fourth” concert (http://www.pbs.org/capitolfourth/ ) broadcast by PBS listening to Huey Lewis and the News, Taylor Hicks, and Jerry Lee Lewis followed by some pretty big fireworks. Although some of the Smithsonian buildings were closed, we did get to visit the new National Museum of the American Indian, the Air and Space Museum, Union Station, and the National World War II memorial (http://www.wwiimemorial.com/ ). 

And now for the part about the mouse!  As we waited a few hours in the Ronald Reagan National Airport for our rain-delayed flight, we were startled when Kalie alerted us to the fact that a mouse was just standing on the floor right in front of us near our carry-on luggage.  It wasn’t moving or causing any problems, but it still was a bit unnerving just having it stand there looking at us.  I went up to the airline desk to let them know that a mouse was standing guard in their waiting area, but the man in charge just sort of shuddered and said he couldn’t do anything about it because he had a fear of mice!  So I went over to where Francis was standing visiting with an old college acquaintance and told him about the mouse and then went looking for an airport maintainance worker to see if they’d have a solution to the mouse problem.  And that’s when my fearless husband decided to take matters into his own hands (umm, I mean feet, I guess).  He considered picking it up by the tail to dispose of it, but the prospect of many people screaming in an airport if he did that caused him to go to Plan B. He just walked over to the mouse, stepped on it and kicked it into the corner in one smooth move… but much to both the dismay and delight of interested onlookers!    He was proclaimed a hero by the airline desk attendant who was afraid of mice and the offensive mouse was still belly-up in the corner as we finally boarded the plane.

“At once impressive and unremarkable, pie can be complicated and challenging or simple and homey. Whether ordinary or elegant, though, a pie is not something to eat by yourself. It should be made to share, preferably while fresh and warm.” —Lisa Chernasky, author of “The Artful Pie”

We had pie coming out of our ears yesterday as we hosted a pie stop for the Tour de Nebraska bike riders.  A community plea for volunteer pie bakers and pies contributed by our group members netted the thirty pies we needed to satisfy the cravings of the 200 bike riders that passed through our town.  The bicyclists, who had already pedaled 45 miles from their overnight campgrounds, starting arriving by 9:30 am.  The last of the group left our pie stop by 3:00 pm, so the group was really spread out.  In addition to the free will donation basket, the appreciative bikers heaped on the praise as they surveyed the tables covered with many different kinds of delicious-looking pies.  Topped with a scoop of ice cream, they seemed to taste as good as they looked.  I wouldn’t know for sure, since I didn’t even get a slice myself!  After serving pie for nearly six hours, we ran out and had to offer the remaining stragglers ice cream sundaes instead.  It was a fun day and a great opportunity to meet lots of very nice people.  If you want to read more about the Tour de Nebraska, check out their web site at http://www.tourdenebraska.com/about.html.

“Ya mon, no problem.”  …Everyone in Jamaica we talked to!

We recently returned from a quick four days in Jamaica.  The reason for going was to celebrate the wedding of friends Mitch and Susan.  While there we enjoyed the beautiful beach at Negril, ate many new things, and met some very nice people.  Over fifty friends and relatives of the couple traveled to Jamaica for the wedding (which was also witnessed by one very curious Italian tourist!).  We found the people of Jamaica to be very warm and friendly, even though the poverty evident as we traveled to Negril was in stark contrast to the conditions at the Rui Tropical Bay where we stayed.  We came back with a rather large wooden parrot which was the result of some good salesmanship and some intense bargaining with a Jamaican vendor.  We found that the airline will check practically anything as luggage and “bird” showed up at the airport baggage claim in Omaha with “no problem”.  We now have a huge souvenir and some great memories of our trip!

“Believing we can improve schooling with more tests is like believing you can make yourself grow taller by measuring your height.” Robert Schaeffer

“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” Albert Einstein

Keeping in mind that I want to keep this blog focused on the positive, I feel compelled to comment on a program of our current administration called No Child Left Behind. However well-intentioned, this one-size-fits-all program has been responsible for many, many, many hours of instructional time wasted in our schools. It has created mountains of paperwork devoted to writing and categorizing standards, testing each standard and reporting test data that could potentially label an entire school system as “failing”. It’s hard to put a positive spin on a program that has arguably taken some of the joy out of learning and replaced it with the fear of failure. I have yet to read any success stories of children, parents or teachers who credit this required system of testing as being the determining factor in their quest for academic excellence. With all of this emphasis on assessments and testing, many important areas of the educational experience such as career and technical education, music and art have sometimes been minimized or completely cut from the school curriculum. Although these areas are not considered core subjects, they are critical, core components to a child’s potential success in the real world. Unfortunately, there are some who have been elected to positions that make them the … um…”deciders” who don’t always seem to share the same “real world” as the rest of us. I could go on and on, but I’d rather that you take a minute to click on the link that follows. It will lead you to a video by Tom Chapin that sums up my take on NCLB quite nicely. http://notonthetest.com/

I like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind! ~Author Unknown

Something strange was happening at our dinner table tonight. We kept hearing intermittent beeping noises similar to the warning you might hear when the battery on a smoke detector was running low. We looked around the room, unsure of what could be making the sound. Until we started searching for the offending appliance, we didn’t realize just how many items of technology we had surrounded ourselves with. Was the annoying beeping noise coming from the wireless phone? The TV or remote? Maybe it was the new digital photo frame? Francis’ cell phone on the counter? The clock or the radio? Perhaps a stopwatch or something in the drawers? Could it be the old smoke detector stored in the cupboard? One by one we kept ruling out possible sources of the noise. The odd thing was that the sound seemed to move from place to place in the room… it seemed impossible to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. Scratching our heads, we decided the strawberry shortcake dished up on the table took precedence over whatever it was that was producing the beep and sat back down to enjoy dessert. There it goes again… beep, beep, beep some more. Finally, Kalie said, “Mom, is there something in your pocket?” I reached into the big front pocket of my hoodie and, guess what? My cell phone was there complaining of a low battery! I’d forgotten I’d stashed it there to free up a hand to carry in groceries from the car earlier. Geez! Now it made sense why the noise kept moving around the room! We had a good laugh and the mystery was solved. 🙂

“The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”
Eisenhower, Dwight D. 34th president of the United States (1890-1969)

The first ever Democratic caucus was held yesterday. As a result of an e-mail I sent a few weeks ago inquiring where our county caucus would be held, I found myself helping to organize and host it at our local library meeting room. Like most other caucus sites around the state, we were pleasantly surprised by an overflow crowd of citizens who turned out to discuss the issues facing our nation and make their presidential preference known. It was encouraging to hear the genuine concern and heartfelt passion of those who attended. And it was refreshing to see so many local Democrats turn out considering the Republican to Democratic ratio in our state.

My interest in becoming more involved in politics has to be due, in part, to my experiences as a child who often tagged along with mom to political events across the state and nation. My mom first became active on the state level when a high school classmate ran for and won a seat in the legislature. After that, she spent the next twenty years fundraising on the local level, serving on the State Republican Central Committee, attending dinners for candidates, and volunteering to work on various campaigns.  I accompanied her on nearly all of those adventures. Probably the two most memorable were the National Republican Women’s Convention in Washington, DC where I met presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and the Nebraska Republican Party Family Camp one summer at Fort Robinson.

As an adult, I came to realize my viewpoints were more in line with the party on the opposite side of the aisle from the one I had grown up with. But I’m sure the example my parents gave me in being involved in the political process has shaped my interest in politics and issues.

If any of you are still undecided about who you will support in the race to lead our country, there are a couple of good web sites that can give you an unbiased idea of which of the candidates from both parties are most closely aligned with your own view of the issues. You can answer a few questions at http://votechooser.com/ or http://cbs2.com/yourcandidate and receive a ranking of how your opinions match up with the candidates views.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, one thing is certain… Jan. 20, 2009 will be a turning point for the future of our country when a new person steps into the role of the all-important, top “decider” person in residence at the White House! 🙂

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet

January has come and gone and , hopefully, the bitter cold weather is gone for awhile too. We’ve had snow on the ground for several weeks, so we’re ready for a bit of a spring thaw now. Winter on the farm means extra effort goes into caring for the animals who are, by necessity, out in the cold during snowstorms and bitterly cold nights. Last week Francis went out early one morning to find a newborn baby calf that was nearly frozen by the cold wind and snow. So he carried the 90+ pound calf into our house and warmed it up in our downstairs bathtub! After a soak in the warm water, the new baby calf lounged for a few more hours snuggled in towels on the bathroom floor gathering strength before it needed to be returned to an anxious mama out in the barnyard. The problem was that the bath that saved it’s life also washed off the scent that the cow would have recognized and it took a day or two to convince her that the calf indeed was her own. Francis has been around cattle his whole life and is pretty good at knowing how to handle such delicate situations. Fortunately, mother and her baby are doing well and the calf is relatively unscathed by it’s ordeal with the exception of the frozen tips of his ears.
Here’s a couple of photos Francis took yesterday of some big snowflakes and the cows. Luckily the snow didn’t fall very long and the day warmed up a bit so we didn’t have too much accumulation.

Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. ~ General Douglas McArthur

The Bucket List is a movie that you should see. Although the critics were not all kind in their reviews, I loved the movie. Perhaps it appeals more to an older crowd, but I think it touched on a topic that we’ve all thought about before. If you were told you only had a few months to live, how would you choose to spend your last days on this earth? When two strangers find themselves sharing a hospital room and sharing the same fate, they decide to make a list of things they want to experience before they “kick the bucket”. Soon they are off on a great adventure to explore the Great Wall of China, pyramids in Eqypt, African wildlife, and a breath-taking view from the top of a mountain. It’s a movie that makes you laugh out loud, touches your heart and gives you something to think about later. The soundtrack was great too. Follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX4jBL29aic to see clips of the movie on YouTube and hear “Say”, the song John Mayer recorded especially for this movie.

After seeing the movie, I realized that my dad made his own “bucket list” of sorts. A farmer, he never was one to travel much preferring to stay close to home and the farm. After undergoing treatments for prostate cancer in the mid-eighties he decided to take the trip of a lifetime to the Holy Land. I’m really glad that he took the opportunity to fulfill a dream while he still felt well enough to enjoy the trip.

What would be on your “bucket list”?

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive. ~Gilda Radner

Our farm dog recently had an unfortunate injury to his paw that led us to make a sort of funny analogy. Nearly two weeks ago, Turner – our Border Collie/German Shepard mixed farm dog – somehow managed to cut the pad on his front left paw on some ice or something around the farm. He is Francis’ right hand man, helping to guard the cattle from going out the gate when Francis feeds them and just making sure all the animals stay in their rightful places around the farm. We consulted the vet and were advised that stitches probably would not successfully help the cut to heal, but rather the foot should be bandaged to help Turner remember to stay off it and let the wound heal itself. So Francis played doctor and fixed Turner up with a bandage covered by a sock and wrapped with heavy tape. Turner has been slowed somewhat but is getting around pretty good using only three legs. Much of the time, though, he has taken to staying on our back porch resting in warmer surroundings. Although his bandage has been removed, it still is tender enough that he avoids walking on it. Yesterday, Francis and Jesse were out in the pickup tending to a cow that was having problems calving. On their way back to the farm they decided to buzz on by in the pickup down to the sandpit to check things out there. Turner’s habit (when he’s well) is to follow the pickup when it goes south because that usually means Francis is checking on cattle or doing something that Turner can help with. Soon after the guys got to the sandpit (about 1/2 mile from our farm) they were surprised to see that Turner had followed them, running on his three legs, just so he could be there with them in case they needed his help. When Francis told me this story, I had to admire Turner’s love and devotion to think that he would want to be there so badly he would run so far, all hobbled by his injury. I asked Francis if he was on crutches and saw me driving by… would he also run 1/2 mile in such a condition just to be with me or to see if I needed his help??? 🙂 I guess you probably know what the answer was! So when you hear the saying about a dog being a man’s best friend… you know, it’s probably true!