Halloween: History (As Promised)

History of Halloween, like any other festival's history is inspired through traditions that have transpired through ages from one generation to another. We follow them mostly as did our dads and grandpas. And as this process goes on, much of their originality get distorted with newer additions and alterations. It happens so gradually, spanning over so many ages, that we hardly come to know about these distortions. At one point of time it leaves us puzzled, with its multicolored faces. Digging into its history helps sieve out the facts from the fantasies which caught us unaware. Yet, doubts still lurk deep in our soul, especially when the reality differs from what has taken a deep seated root into our beliefs. The history of Halloween Day, as culled from the net, is being depicted here in this light. This is to help out those who are interested in washing off the superficial hues to reach the core and know things as they truly are. 'Trick or treat' may be an innocent fun to relish on the Halloween Day. But just think about a bunch of frightening fantasies and the scary stories featuring ghosts, witches, monsters, evils, elves and animal sacrifices associated with it. They are no more innocent. Are these stories a myth or there is a blend of some reality? Come and plunge into the halloween history to unfurl yourself the age-old veil of mysticism draped around it.

Behind the name... Halloween, or the Hallow E'en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows', also called 'All Hallowmas', or 'All Saints', or 'All Souls' Day, observed on November 1. In old English the word 'Hallow' meant 'sanctify'. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherians used to observe All Hallows Day to honor all Saints in heaven, known or unknown. They used to consider it with all solemnity as one of the most significant observances of the Church year. And Catholics, all and sundry, was obliged to attend Mass. The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them. The festival was celebrated on February 21, the end of the Roman year. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13. Later, Gregory III changed the date to November 1. The Greek Orthodox Church observes it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Despite this connection with the Roman Church, the American version of Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient (pre-Christian) Druidic fire festival called "Samhain", celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Samhain is pronounced "sow-in", with "sow" rhyming with cow. In Ireland the festival was known as Samhein, or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun. In Scotland, the celebration was known as Hallowe'en. In Welsh it's Nos Galen-gaeof (that is, the Night of the Winter Calends. According to the Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society: "Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops (esp. the Fiann) were quartered. Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it the half year is reckoned. also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess).(1) The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Soula. Sam + Fuin = end of summer."(2) Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a "lord of death" as such. Thus most of the customs connected with the Day are remnants of the ancient religious beliefs and rituals, first of the Druids and then transcended amongst the Roman Christians who conquered them.

Halloween Eve

Tomorrow is Halloween! Vampires, devils, zombies, and other assorted scary creatures will be lurking. Ah, but let's leave Congress out of it!. No I am of course referring to the little creatures that will be going door to door demanding treasure, or at the very least, a handful of bubble gum and candy corn. What the hell, it could be worse. It could be The IRS or Mormons ringing your doorbells!

Halloween is an interesting holiday. Some celebrate it, some don't I have seen signs on doors that proclaim that they do not celebrate this evil, pagan festival. Well fooey on them. I am a Christian, and my church is one of the many that now offers a safe alternative called "Trunk or Treat. We decorate our cars, and hand out candy to the kids in our neighborhood near the church. We even give out prizes to the car with the best decorations. Last year 3rd place went to a car that was decorated with pumpkins. The Prize: A pumpkin intricately carved with "3RD Prize!

Tomorrow, I will post a history of Halloween, and how it is practiced around the world.

My Bad!

Okay, okay. I got the blasted time change thing all screwed up. It's in April that it's dark in the morning. Nobody's perfect.
The point is, I hate these Daylight Savings Time! Arizona and parts of Indiana don't change! Who came up with this Daylight Savings Time garbage anyway? I'm so glad you asked!

Reason for Daylight Saving Time:
To make better use of daylight.
Conserve energy
Saves lives because people travel home in the light which is safer.
Can prevent crime because people do their errands in the daylight which is safer.
Contrary to popular belief, it was not created for farmers nor does it benefit farmers.
History of Daylight Saving Time:
First thought of by Benjamin Franklin in his 1784 essay, "An Economical Project".
On March 19, 1918, an Act to preserve daylight and provide standard time for the United States was enacted. Daylight Saving Time was set to begin on March 31, 1918 until the end of World War I.
It was repealed in 1919.
President Roosevelt instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time during World War II. He called it War Time and it lasted from 1942 to 1945.
Daylight Saving Time was not a law after 1945 and some locations still used it, which created difficulties for scheduling.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson. It had Daylight Saving Time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October. States that wanted to be exempt had to pass a State law to do so.
During the energy crisis in the 1970's, President Nixon signed into law, the Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973. This extended Daylight Saving Time to longer periods in an effort to save energy.
In 1986 it was amended to start Daylight Saving Time on the first Sunday in April and kept it ending on the last Sunday in October.
April 2005 - Starting in April 2006 Indiana will join 47 other states in observing DST.
On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed an energy bill that increased Daylight Saving Time from the second Sunday in March, to the first Sunday in November. (see pros and cons below)
Places in the U.S. and it's Territories That Do Not Participate in Daylight Savings Time:
Hawaii
Most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of the State of Indiana (starting in 2006, Indiana will be observing DST)
The state of Arizona except for the Navajo Indian Reservation
American Samoa
Guam
Puerto Rico
Virgin Islands

And if that isn't enough to confuse you, things are about to change!
Starting in 2007, the United States will have new dates for Daylight Saving Time. It will be:Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March at 2 a.m. local time.It returns to standard time on the first Sunday in November at 2 a.m. local time.

Busy Saturday

We had a pretty busy day. Sandy was at an Orienteering Meet, and we managed to get the garage straightened out. Found some things that we wern't certain where they were, other than they might be in the garage. For example, the umbrellas.

We have already turned the clocks back and hour, and are getting ready to give it up. The clocks now say 11:00, but it is still really 12:00. I never understood the logic of daylight savings time. How the hell are we saving daylight? We now have to send our kids to school in the dark. It seems to me it would be better to leave things alone. Oh well mine to to reason why.

Well, here's hoping everyone had a nice Saturday.

Friday's Movies

This went well last week, so I am going to do it every week. Here is a list of movies coming out today:


New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Saw III
Sadistic serial killer Jigsaw is back to his old tricks, just in time for Halloween. This film was not screened in advance for critics.
Driving Lessons
Director Jeremy Brock based this poignant coming-of-age tale on his experiences as the son of a vicar.
13 (Tzameti)
Curiosity leads a roofer in France to a deadly game in this diabolical thriller.
Deliver Us From Evil
Documentary examines the Catholic Church's pedophile priest scandal with barely controlled outrage.
Running With Scissors
Disappointing adaptation of Augusten Burroughs searing memoir is glib and uneven.
Conversations With God
Adaptation of the best-seller focuses on the author's unusual life story and his perceptions of God as a result.
Catch a Fire
True story follows one man who was falsely accused and tortured during South Africa's apartheid era.
The Genius Club
A group of strangers tries to solve the world's problems in this ambitious but static and stultifying film.

Thursday

Well, here it is Thursday. I don't have a whole lot to say, but we are nearly at the end of the week. Today has been kind of a lazy day. Tomorrow, I will continue the new feature I started last week, and post the movie reviews for the movies that are coming out tomorrow.

There are a few movies coming out over the next few weeks that look interesting. One of them is Déjà Vu. Starring Denzel Washington, James Caviezel. and Val Kilmer. The story has to do with time travel. From the trailer I saw last night, it sounds interesting. Apparently, from what I recall of the trailer, there is a way discovered to go back in time 4 days. Washington plays an ATF agent who travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process. Kind of like the show, Seven Days.

Anyway, that's it for today.

Wednesday Thoughts

It is Wednesday, or as I used to say when I was in the workforce, hump day. (Get you mind out of the gutter!) It signifies the middle of the week. I did a little research and came up with the following:
here's a reference to hump day being used in a song lyric by J.J. Cale (song is called 'Friday'), dated 1979.
"Wednesday's hump day, hump day's Wednesday
Over the hump, the week's half-gone
If I had my pay on Wednesday I'd hang out, the hump day's gone"
Full lyrics at http://perso.magic.fr/aramis/five.htm#7

HUMP DAY -- "Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, H-O" by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994, has several slang uses of the word "hump" in print going back to the 1800s. "Over the hump," meaning beyond the midpoint or most difficult part was in print in 1914: "...Jackson & Hellyer, 'Vocab. 46: Hump...the half-way point in a prison sentence."
"Hump Day" -- ".the day that is at the midpoint in a given period of work; (often) Wednesday, the middle of the work week. Similarly, Hump Night. 1955 AS (American Speech) XXX 226: Hump Night.Wednesday night, which is over the hump of the week. (1977 Langone 'Life at Bottom,' 202: Some of the parties in midwinter, that's when you're over the hump. Hump Night, they called it, halfway home.') .ca 1965 in DARE (Dictionary of American Regional English): Hump day was used by counselors at summer camp to mean Wednesday."

SO there you have it. Perhaps I will start a feature here of finding the origins of obscure phrases.

Vote Early, & Vote Often!

Sue and I have performed our civic duty!!! Whoo Hoo! We showed up at the Denton County Services Building this morning and voted. We have a Gubernatorial election this year, and also a whole bunch of judicial seats. One thing that kind of bothered me, was the fact that some races only had one choice. There is a certain party that I generally avoid voting for like the plague. This is on the internet, so I am gonna be a chicken and not state which one it is.... Ahh the hell with it! REPUBLICAN! Anyway, it torked me off that had no choice but to vote REPUBLICAN for some of those races! Oh well, crap, as they say, happens!

We showed up, and didn't even have to stand in line. We went to a little booth, and had an electronic device that was our ballot. (No hanging chads, thank God! Voting has certainly come a long way. Frankly I was glad to see that we didn't have to dip our fingers in purple ink!

Friends of ours, May and Earl work the election as volunteers. (Well, they get paid, so is that really volunteering???) Something we may look into the possibility of doing. It might be interesting, and could give us some ideas for writing. Or it could be boring as hell!

Several years ago in Arizona, I worked for a few days for the State on the Alternative Fuels Project they had. The State of Arizona, in their infinite wisdom, offered a monetary incentive for converting your car to run on alternative fuel. People went nuts thinking they would make a ton of money. I had to verify VIN Numbers, and other information for these. One thing I saw a lot of were car dealers who bought a bunch of cars, converted them, and got the money. Then they turned around and sold the cars at a steeper rate, because they were converted. Then the bottom dropped out. So many people applied for this incentive, that Arizona didn't have enough money in the budget to pay all these people. They had $2 Million available, and ended up something like $4 million in the hole to pay all these people. Of course if they had written the deal so Car Dealers were exempt, it might have been better. Hey what can I say. Tax dollars at rest!

Monday Musings

Monday is here, and I am trying to figure out what to write about. Actually, it's Monday afternoon, and I do have a project I need to work on. I am part of a Health and Wholeness Ministry at my church, and we are putting together a survey for our congregation. So that gives me something to work on today.

I have also started work on a short story, so that gives me something else to work on.

If that isn't enough, we need to continue working on the screenplay that we are working on. Unfortunately we are not working enough on it. SO here I go again, needing to kick myself in the butt to get writing. So at least I am working on the blog. That should get me kicked off for the day!
So to both of you that read this, Have a great day!

Wedding Bell Bliss!

Well, I can't really call this wedding bell blues. We had a wedding for the son of dear friends of ours. Mary and Earl. Their son David, married his fiancée~ Debbie. It was a very nice wedding. The Groom, and his groomsmen wore blue jeans, and a medium blue shirt, and cowboy hats. The Bride wore a lovely off white dress with a train, and a veil. (Fairly traditional. ) The bridesmaids wore cream. Actual colors they may be able to wear somewhere else! We read a Dear Abby the other day in which the bridesmaids had to wear a moss color. I am still attempting to picture that!

The reception was pretty nice. The weird part is Sandy cough the bouquet. Did we ever get teased about that!

Instead of rice, we tossed birdseed at the happy couple as they headed for the car. I guess the idea is that birds will eat rice, and then blow up. However, I just looked it up and the myth that birds will blow up by having the rice expand in their little birdie tummies...is completely bogus. Read this: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp
One of the bridesmaids was telling me that this was absolutely true. I counted with,"If it's pigeons, Who cares?" I got a dirty look. SO I retreated behind a "Just kidding!!!!"

Anyway it was a lovely wedding and we wish David and Debbie well.

Have a happy week, every one!

Attack of the Killer Movie Spoofs

Last night we were treated? to a viewing of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. It was running on DirecTv Channel 101 last night, along with stuff like Toxic Avenger, and Class of Nuke Em' High. (The last 2 we Tivoed to watch later)

Sue and I were among the few people who had never seen AOTKT. We alternately laughed, chuckled and looked at each other in complete Whatdahell was that? One thing we noticed was there are several things going on in the background that you missed if you weren't paying attention.

It was an obvious spoof of the genre of low budget Sci-fi/horror films. What's interesting is that they filmed it on Kodak 5247 negative stock - very unusual for a low budget film at the time. Most low budget films were shot on positive stock. The quality of the negative is one reason why many people thought the film cost more to make than it did.

If you have never seen this movie, it starts out with a housewife being killed by regular sized tomatoes in her kitchen. The tomatoes grow throughout the film to about 4 to 5 feet around. The sound effects of the tomatoes as they advance is hilarious. There are a lot of lines that fall flat, but some of the dialog goes by, and you have to think: Did I just hear that? For example:

Dr. Nokitofa: Technically sir, tomatoes are fags.
Dr. Morrison: He means fruits.
General: You'd better bring a coat Mr. Richardson, there's a little Jap in the air.
Dr. Morrison: He means nip.

Then theres the bit where the Japanese scientist stands up and is pointing to a map explaining where the Killer tomatoes are at the moment, and as he goes to sit down, he knocks a picture of the USS Arizona into a fish tank...
The conference room they are in is so small the Generals and scientists have to literally crawl over the conference table to get into their seats... Like I said there are sight gags, and dialog thrown in that you can miss on a first viewing. We will likely have to get a copy of it on DVD to catch some of them.

What can I say, you have to like spoofs and you have to have seen a few of the low budget flick they are lampooning in this movie to get the humor in it.

Another Friday - Guess What, A New Feature!

Here we are. Another Friday has arrivved. It just seems that a week ago I was talking about Friday the 13th.

Actually, I was!!!

A new Feature to the Blog will be Movies coming out This Friday. I am going to try this and see if it works. If not, I guess I will be doing this manually next week.

From The Dallas Morning News:

New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Flags of Our Fathers
Smart, well-acted tale follows three Iwo Jima flag raisers whisked into a stateside war bond tour.
Marie Antoinette
Kirsten Dunst plays the monarch as a rich and spoiled heiress in this visually stunning film.
Flicka
Coming-of-age story of a girl trying to tame a wild mustang offers memorable acting and lush scenes.
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D
Thirteen years later, this classic not only stands up, it stands out thanks to its digital 3D transformation.
Little Children
An unhappily married mom (Kate Winslet) has an affair with a married stay-at-home dad (Patrick Wilson).
The Prestige
This tale of a blood feud between rival magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) is emotionally distant.
The Queen
Helen Mirren gives a precise performance as Queen Elizabeth II dealing with the death of Princess Diana.
Heading South
This piercing indictment of sex tourism makes its point without much screaming, hectoring or preening.

Has Fall fallen?

The temperatures here in North Texas seem to have finally decided to cool down. I was beginning to think that sumer was going to hold on to the year like it does in Arizona. Good old Phoenix. Where you have temperatures of over 100 degrees for 8 to 10 months out of the year. Where you walk outside and it feels like you have walked into an oven. Where if you hear somebody tell you "Well, at least it's a dry heat" You can respond, "Yeah, and so's a blast furnace!" while you cheerfully pummel them to within an inch of their lives!

Halloween is nearly upon us. Soon we will have the pitter patter of little feet, with their grubby little hands stretched out - Demanding sugar. Mass quantities of sugar. (OK so they refer to it as candy. But let's face it, it is pure sugar we are giving them. Frankly I used to have more fun doing some kind of a costume or make up job to answer the door to pass out the candy. One year I did a pretty good make up and costume as a werewolf, and hid in the buses with a chain around my neck, and jumped out and snarled. I remember scaring the crap out of a few mothers, while the kids just went Werewolf! Cool! (I am reasonably certain one lady needed a change of undies! (Ain't I a stinker!)

But if I remember I started this by mentioning Fall, didn't I? Man do I ever go off on a tangent!!! Anyway, the temperatures are getting cooler, the leaves are starting to change color. I love seeing the change of colors that fall brings. We didn't get that in Phoenix. The air is a little crisper, and it feels like the year is beginning to wind down. Soon, we will be able to get a fire going in the fireplace. Man I love this time of year.

No rant today

Greetings fellow bloggers. (Both of you that actually read this!) Nothing to rant about today. Oh I am sure I could come up with something, as I have a tendency to rant and rave about a lot of things. My disdain for George W (Or as I like to call him, "Shrub") or his untenable war.Then there is the fact that Congress is so busy trying to cover up all the ethics violations, and Congressmen going after young pages, and how much money they can put in their pockets...that they can't seem to take the time to handle trivial matters like running the country! Or the gaping wound that is our border, bleeding illegal immigrants. Oh forgive me, undocumented aliens. (Undocumented my ass!! Let's call them what they are- Law-breakers and criminals!) They come here squeeze out a bunch of babies, and live off of our generosity!

But I am not going to go of on a rant today!

Anyway, this is Wednesday, and that means LOST!!!! Are the others the Good guys like Henry/Ben said? What are they forcing Sawer and Kate to dig up?

What will they do now that Sun has shot one of them?
Maybe tonight we will have more answers. I have no doubt we will have more questions....

Animal Rant!

This is going to be a little short tonight.

We are watching Animal Cops Houston, on Animal Planet. They had a story on about a dog that had been left with a jumper cable around his neck as a tie to a fence. There was no water, no food, and the dog had no slack in the so called rope. This left the poor dog sitting in it's own excrement, for over 30 days. At this point in the show, they have not located the owners. Hearing the poor dogs cries are heart wrenching.

People who do things like this should be taken out and shot. Or at the very least, treated the exact same way they treated their animals. These people probably abuse their children too. Is it really a stretch to imagine that? I don't think so. As far as animal cruelty, here in Texas the law provides a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison. Not enough. Not nearly enough!

I think the prison term for animal cruelty should be no less than what the sentence for child cruelty is. ( I am not certain of the maximum term on that is, but it's a damn site more than animal cruelty.) But animal are considered chattel, and up to a point you can do whatever you want with them.

Oh well, What can I say, this is a subject that I get very angry about. Rant for the day done!

Even more Rain!

Monday again! Well we managed to get some things accomplished today. I was able to get Social Security on the phone, and transfer our direct deposits over to the new account. They tell me that the November checks will go into the new account. I hope so!!!

The rest of this week is going to be busy. Sue has a couple of Doctors appointments over the next couple of days. Plus I have several projects I need to get off my dead butt and work on. Sue and I need to get working on the script. We have gotten a couple of pages actually written which is a plus. I also have to write my column for the Challenge, our church news letter. I also have to condense a survey on health for the congregation. I am part of our new Health and Wholeness Ministry Team. Kay found this survey for church members, so I have to see what may pertain to our congregation, and put it together so we can determine what the needs of our congregation are.

Not only that,. but I need to sit down and start coming up with some short story ideas, and writing. Once I start getting a few together, I can start sending them out to different magazines, and start trying to get published! One of these days.. NO, darn it, NOW!!!! I really need to push myself.

Rain, Rain, Rain

After months of drought conditions, we are finally getting rain here in North Texas! Yea! We really need it. It comes on top of several communities imposing either actual water rationing, or voluntary restrictions.

In some communities here in the Dallas area, people are not allowed to wash their cars, or water their lawns. There are hefty fines if you get caught watering the water. In other places, including The Colony where we live, the restrictions are as I stated before, voluntary. Here we are asked to water lawns on Monday, Wednesday and Friday if your address is an even number, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday if your address is even. Restaurants are asked not to automatically give water to customers unless asked.

Of course having lived in Phoenix, Arizona for several years, a drought is not new to me. What used to rankle me was the restrictions placed on citizens, while every golf course in town was always watered to be a beautiful, verdant green. What is wrong with this picture?

Weekends are fun

Saturday again. We were kidless most of the day. Sandy had an Orienteering meet for Jr ROTC. She had fun with that. I had the mens' breakfast at church. We had a speaker who was a former school principal at the school near the church. He talked about guiding kids to Christ, among other things. and then Sue had a women's luncheon at the church. (I was the token male) We had a little excitement. One of the older ladies there got a piece of candy corn stuck in her throat, and I had to do the Heimlich maneuver. Then Sue won the centerpiece from our table. Apparently if you had a smiley face sticker on your chair, you won it. It's a cute little ceramic pumpkin candy dish!

So basically we all had our own things going on today.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Time for us to turn our hearts and minds toward worship.

Thank God it's Friday!

This is the actual Friday the 13th. I should have written yesterdays blog today, but what the heck. I got off on a tangent, which I often do. This is kind of a lazy afternoon. Later tonight, while the DVR is recording some shows, we are actually gonna sit down and get some work done on the screenplay... About time!!!

I guess we have dragged our feet on this, because we have never adapted a book into a screenplay before. It's definitely a learning process. The beauty of this is that when we finish, we will have another style of writing under our belts.

Another difficulty is in writing battle scenes, because this story takes place during WWII. Maybe we should see if we can find some war movies online for download to get ht e idea on how to write it. I will look into that later.

SO anyway Friday is here, the end of the week. (13th notwithstanding) When I was able to work, I used to live for the end of the week. Now the weekend doesn't really mean a whole lot any more. Not as much as it used to anyway. Whatever the weekend means to you, here's hoping you have a good one.

End of the week is closing in!

Today, is Thursday the 12th. Hmm. It doesn't mean the same thing as Friday the 13th, but does Friday the 13th really mean anything? A lot of people think so. Frankly I have never really placed any credence in the superstition. Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the medical term for fear of Friday the 13th. This is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia (fear) of the number thirteen. There are many stories about the origin of this fear.

DID YOU KNOW...
* 17 TO 21 MILLION Americans suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia - the fear of Friday the 13th? (4 to 5 million in the UK)
* it has been estimated that 750 MILLION DOLLARS will be LOST in business because people will not shop, travel or take risks of any kind on this Friday the 13th?
* that the U.S. NAVY to this day will NOT LAUNCH a ship on Friday the 13th?
(Note, this information was found on Google, and I do not guarantee the veracity of these statements)

Some people believe that this fear began with the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified on a Friday ( Good Friday) but there is no evidence that He died on a Friday the 13th. There are others who believe this superstition began on Friday, October 13th 1307 was the day that Philip IV of France arrested and subsequently tortured and killed hundreds of the French Knights Templar to get their money for the French treasury. Yet others argue that the belief traces it's origins back to a Norse myth.

I would be curious to see what anyone who might read this blog think. In the mean time, I need to cross my fingers, find my lucky rabbits foot, and look in the back yard for a four leaf clover!

Waiting on hold

Here I sit, writing the blog, on hold with Social Security. Sheesh. They said on the recording that the wait would be approximately 8 minutes. We will see. All I want to do is change the Direct Deposit to a new bank. I tried the automated service, and gave them the exact information that they wanted, but the recorded voice tells me that the information doesn't match. AAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So my only option is to sit in hold, or as I like to call it, ignore! I think the automated deal is just a dodge to get you frustrated!!! @^%$#!!!!!

I finally got through to someone who started the process, and then put me on hold, and managed to disconnect me! CRAP!!! Oh well, just as well, I have to have them talk to Sue anyway to verify her information. So I guess I will start over later. I am letting her sleep in today so it's back to the drawing board. I just love morons who don't know the difference between the hold button and the disconnect button!

I could do all of this on line, except they want you to have a password. No problem one would think. Wrong! TO get the password, you fill out an on line form, then they send it to you through the mail. You get to the end of the form and it says "Wait up to 15 days for your password to arrive in the mail." Have the people at Social Security ever tried waiting for the mail to arrive? I doubt it, or they wouldn't ask us to for a lousy password. I mean the internet is at least as secure as the mail. You can set up firewalls, and security on line. How do you do that with your mailbox?

Yes I am on a rant. I get this way when I have to deal with red tape and bureaucracy! God how I detest bureaucracy. We live in an increasingly (supposedly) paperless society. Really? Bull$%&#!!! One of the reasons I am changing banks is that there is a check-box on the on line banking page that asks if I do not wish to receive mailed statements. For 6 months in a row, I clicked on this, and told them to stop mailing me statements. They are still killing trees to send me the statements. ( Not that our statement is that long, but you get the idea!) That's only one reason. The major reason is that they keep stealing money form our account. Stealing you say? How can a major bank steal for a customer? How about this. We only write checks, and use the debit card for money that is actually in the account. Yet 8 times over the last 8 years that we have had the account there, the bank has overdrawn our account, and charged us overdraft fees every time. In August they did this for two items, and in September only one. We put every cent we spend in the check register and deduct it. How in the name of all that is holy can they present an item for payment, and then say there are insufficient funds to pay the items? If any financial geniuses out there can explain this to us we would dearly love to hear! I won't mention the name of the bank, but suffice it to say that since they have stolen over $300.00 from us this year alone, we have changed to another bank.

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant away here. Have a great day. Or if you have had 247 great days in a row and you're tired of them, have a rotten day or whatever kind of a day you want.

Monday, Monday (actually Tuesday)

No I am not going to break into the Mama's & the Papa's song. Just noting that today feels like Monday.There isn't a song titled: Tuesday,Tuesday! Here in Texas it is rainy, and blah!! And guess what, It's actually Tuesday any way! Have you ever noticed that the Tuesday after a Monday holiday feels like Monday? When I became disabled, I thought that would not happen any more. However it still seems to work that way! Maybe it's because we have a daughter in school. But I don't think so, since she went to school yesterday. Oh well.

There has been a lot in the news over the last couple of weeks about former Florida Rep. Mark Foley. You remember, the guy who likes to run his fingers through pages... Well maybe not quite. He did however get busted for sending quite a few emails and text messages to some under age male pages of a highly sexual nature. EWWWWWW!!!! This guy may have put the nail in the coffin of the GOP. Hmm must stand for Groping Our Pages... Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert today said that anyone who knew of this before hand should resign from Congress.. Does that include himself? Of course not. He didn't know anything until the media found out. Two problems with this. One: If he did know, then he should resign with everybody else he says knew about it. Two: If he really didn't know, then he should resign for being complete clueless!

Then yesterday, Kim Il Jung of North Korea detonates a nuclear device Bush and his cronies are probably sending Kim a thank-you card for getting their party off the front pages. It's interesting that we went into Iraq 3 years ago looking for weapons of mass destruction that North Korea already had. What the heck is wrong with this picture?

And apparently, an even lazier Sunday!

Well, I blew it yesterday. I have been making the attempt to write here every day. I have managed to for the most part do that. Yesterday I missed! Rats! Oh well, God took off at least one Sunday. I guess I can once in a while!

At any rate, I managed to get the grass cut on Saturday after all. I borrowed the lawn mower from my next door neighbor, Chris. I tried to get mine started, no luck. Chris wandered over and we both figured out that the little rubber plunger that primes the carburetor is dry rotted. That's why I can't get the thing to stay running. Ross, neighbor across the street says I should be able to get the part from any lawn mower repair shop for around 5 bucks. I can certainly look into it, but I may just get a new mower at Wally World or Home Despot or something like that.

Any way the grass is cut, and I feel like I finally got something accomplished around here! That's one of the biggest problems about dealing with chronic pain. You have to get used to not being able to do everything ( hell most things ) you used to be able to do. Crap!

There are things around the house that need taken care of, that I just can't do. I got a replacement faucet for the kitchen sink, and a couple of months ago borrowed a tool from Kurt at my church. The crock here is that I can't get myself down on my back to install the damn thing! ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh well. One of these days I will have to break down and ask for help. That's something else that is really hard for me to do. Well anyway, it is now Monday, and Sandy is home from school. She is sitting at the table, working on her Algebra homework. I need to get dinner going in a bit. Time to close for the day.

A lazy Saturday

Here it is, Saturday. I feel a bit lazy but what the hey. I am trying to get hold of the guy across the street to help me fix our lawn mower. He is willing, it's just a matter of catching him at home when he has the time, and when my back will put up with going over there. The problem with the mower is that I can get it started ( using starting fluid) but I can't get it to stay running. It has to be a problem with the choke. I just can't find the choke adjustment to fix it!

The grass meanwhile is getting higher. Oh well, one of these days. In the mean time, Sandy is gone next door playing with one of her friends, so once again it is kind of quiet here.

Sue is sitting on the couch watching a special on the History Channel about the 1935 Hurricane that devastated Florida. We should both think about doing some writing, but can't seem to get motivated to do so. Well at least this is a form of writing. Now that I have updated both of the people that read this on whats going on,Time to quit for now.

Friday and kid-less!

Here it is Friday. We are as the title says, kidless. Sandy will be ushering the football game tonight for her ROTC company. She won't be home until 10 or 11 tonight, so it will be a quiet evening!


She is really enjoying being a Cadet. We have hopes that she will graduate, and go into the Air Force. She is interested in the possibility. SO far High School is going pretty well.

As I have said I am making a concerted effort to write here every day. and thus far I am managing to do it. Some days I don't have as much to say. Today we went and got some bills paid, and changed banks. Wow exciting stuff!!!
I will make an effort to find something more interesting to write about tomorrow.

Kitty Antics

We have 3 kitties, Jenny; our calico girl, Shadow, our Siamese mix boy, and the newest member of the Bacon menagerie, Mac. An orange Tabby mix. We have had several cats, and they all have their own special personalities. Each one seems to have more personality than the previous ones.

Jenny for example has a tendency to jump into boxes, and hide in them, We have plastic basin she loves to lay in, but what she really loves to do it to tap at it with her paw until it comes up and bonks her in the head

Shadow thinks he's a dog. He will play fetch if you throw a ball, he will bring it to you and meow until he convinces us to throw it for him. He also has a strange raspy meow that he can turn on at will. He does this when he mooches food from us. We refer to it as his "Darth Pathetic".

Mac, the kitten, is the strangest of all. The minute we brought him home a couple of months ago, he took over. He will bug the heck out of the other two trying to get them to play with him. If that doesn't work, he will walk up to one of them and whap them on the head, or bite them on the butt, till they give chase. Which is what he wants. His name, Mac is short for Macarthur. We got the idea for the name from a friend of ours in Australia. She told us he sounds like General Macarthur standing down the Japanese.

It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Did you ever stop to think about that word? Wednesday. Why is it pronounced Wenz -da instead of Wed-ness-da? I was just wondering.

(See this is one of those random thoughts I mention in the intro to the blog. )

There are a lot of words that we don't pronounce the way they are spelled. Pretty much any word that is spelled with a "wh". "What" should be "wut", "who" should be "hu" "when" should be "wen" - you get the idea. I personally think we should have a dictionary that spells words the way we pronounce them. Our kids are doing their homework, and ask us how to spell a particular word. We smile with glee and tell them to look it up in the dictionary. Cruel. aren't we. How the heck is the kid supposed to look it up if they can't spell it? I always wondered about that myself.

Any way, it's Wednesday. Or as some people call it, Hump day.

I won't even get into that one. Let's just pretend that it means the middle of the week and leave it at that!

Sue, the fearless Wasp killer!

Yesterday when Sandy got home from school she noticed that we had a wasp building a nest on our front screen door up near the top. Sue and I went out an looked at it and determined that it was definitely a wasp nest. Sandy had seen the wasp doing her thing. We decided that we would pick up some wasp and hornet spray to get rid of it.

We did some running around this morning, but didn't get the spray as we didn't see any at the place we stopped. When we got to the door, we saw the wasp working on the nest. Sue looked at me and said:

"I'm not hanging around all day waiting for her to decide she's done for now."One of the items we had picked up was a pack of notebook filler paper.

She grabbed the notebook paper, and swatted the hell out of the wasp,. It took two blows, but she squished the flying Sting-Meister! Yea.

(I hate wasps, having been stung in the neck by one when I was ten, and am deathly afraid of them.)
So I salute my wife Sue. The fearless Wasp Killer!!!!

3 Days in a row.

This is a first for me, actually posting more than once a month. Actually this is the third day in a row that I have been here posting. Part of it is that I need to get back in the habit of writing. Writing anything is writing. So the log gets the benefit of my new and improved attempt to get back in the game as it were. What game? Writing of course.

Sue and I are starting to work on the new screenplay, and I also need to start writing short stories to try to sell. ( Couldn't we all use a few extra bucks?) The only problem for me is getting started. The other day I asked what others do to remember to do things they need to do. Well, I use the Calender feature on my browser, and we also have a dry erase board in the kitchen/dining room. We usually reserve that for grocery lists and other lists of things we need to get.

I think however, that the best way to remember to write is to sit down and do it. A famous author ( Don't ask me who this was) said he hated writing, and had to force himself into it. Another one said he had to stand at the fireplace mantle and write longhand. Fortunately I am not yet in that boat. I actually like writing. My problem is that I get lazy, and sit in front of the lobotomy box and vegetate. Yeah I know. I am working on it though. Sue and I have cut down on the number of shows we watch, and no matter how interesting this season's crop of new shows may look, we are avoiding them like the plague. Especially the ones that look like serial types. Like "Lost" or "Desperate Housewives" You know the type that if you miss one episode you're basically screwed as to what is going on.

Anyway if you are going to write, my new philosophy is: WRITE!!!!

Living with Pain

Pain has a way of changing your plans. We got up this morning, and planned to go to church. Unfortunately, the humidity and the dew point went up, and neither of us were able to move. This is the fun of living with chronic pain.
I never understood this until it happened to me. I had been taking care of Sue for several years before my back problems started. She would go through good days and bad days. Having been a Navy Hospital Corpsman, I had a basic understanding, and could empathize, but only as an outsider.
Then I was in the accident. Hit from behind by a pickup truck doing about 75 miles per hour. The seat in the car I was in broke backward ( the car was brand new , and as this is a public forum, I won't mention the make and model - I was delivering it, and was about a 1/4 mile away from the place I was to deliver it to ) and that was the beginning of my introduction into the life of living with chronic pain. Not knowing when you are going to be able to do something, not knowing if you clean a bathroom, if you are going to be able to function for the next week.

Such is the life of dealing with chronic pain. Sue tells me "Welcome to my world!"
Well on the upside, I can definitely empathize a heck of a lot more.