#200

This is my 200th blog post. I zoomed right by #100 without even noticing. Is it possible that I have had that much to say that I have posted 200 times just since January 7th? I guess it's true that the older you get, the more garrulous you get. And I guess the question is: Is it just talk or am I actually saying anything?

I started out telling about my kids, then my grandkids, and I went through the 30's, the 40's and the 50's in my own life, in no time flat. I could fairly hear my kids moaning, "Yes, Ma, we've heard it before." But here I was, with a blank page in front of me, and even a new audience. And I discovered that blogging is about saying what I feel like saying. If someone doesn't want to read it they can just move on to another blog. And you know what? My kids do read it. (Well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad. - My son doesn't even read his own email.)

I've sounded off about a lot of things, and I've discovered other people who feel the same way about things that I do. That boosts the spirits. And I've found some people who don't, and that's OK too, because we can still be friends. I like it! Think I'll keep at it for a while longer - probably as long as I last. I love getting up in the morning and finding friends on my computer screen. Thanks for being there.

Mystery Shrub

Good morning. Who can tell me what this shrub is please? It was outside a doctor's office. Saw it yesterday. Then I forgot to ask inside if anyone could name it for me. I'm sure I should know, but can't recall.


It looks very familiar. But the older I get, the more often I fail to remember the simplest things.
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Found the answer, thanks to Garden Author and Country Girl. Crape Myrtle.

If anyone else needs this kind of help, Country Girl gave me this link:
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/trees/ (or, I assume you can leave off "trees", depending on what you're looking for.) Check the comments for their answers.

Something Light - Too Hot to Rant About Anything

My friend, Wyetta tells me she now has access to a computer in the convalescent center sometimes. Yea! Here's an incident she might enjoy:

My daughter, Rita is employed at the local library, where they now give us a choice of a regular sized library card, or a little one for your key chain. She asked a patron which he would prefer. His reply: "I'll take the big one. If I lose it, I'll know where it is."

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Well, "something light" usually mean more chicken jokes.

We like to look up at the clouds and find pictures in their shapes.






































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Gee. It's even too hot to think of anything particularly amusing. There is the matter that Lisa and I were discussing earlier. That is - have you ever stopped to sound out some of the weird things spelled by the word verification for comments? I'm not sure I even want to mention the one I found this morning. Not that it was a bad word - just weird. Take a look at some of them you see this week. Pretty darned funny. I wonder if the strange little people who make them up might be doing it on purpose.

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Uh-oh. I have to add one more chicken. This is for Deb just because she mentioned pet rocks in a comment today.

Olympics

I am not a sports fan.

I know - I know - that makes me a bad person, or un-American, or something. That's pretty much old news to me. But I am not happy that the Olympics will be starting so soon. What's left of watchable TV will shrink even further. I will be reduced to watching the Game Show Network practically all the time.

But more importantly, I will never understand why The Powers That Be chose Beijing for the site of the games. Aside from the fact that China is totally out of step regarding human rights, which does not, to my mind, fit comfortably with the ideal of good sportsmanship, etc. - just look at the place. Air quality is atrocious - not exactly ideal for the athletes. And to deal with that (superficially) they are cutting down on how often their citizens may drive their cars; they have shut down factories in the area, depriving owners of profits and workers of jobs; and in order to build the Olympic Village to begin with, they simply pushed their people out of their homes and off their land. According to Amnesty International, human rights violations in China have actually increased since they were awarded the Olympics.

Nice.

Once again, politics rears its ugly head.

Charley

When I sent my entry to Camera Critters this week, I included pictures of our family dog, Charley, and one of my oldest daughter's dog, Harley. Neither dog is with us any longer. I got so many nice comments that I decided to do a little post on Charley today.


Charley came to our family in August of 1969. I was about eleven months pregnant at the time (not an exaggeration - but that's another story). He was the sweetest puppy ever. We soon found we had to nurse him through puppy distemper. The vet didn't think he'd make it, but we were determined, and somehow we managed.

My daughter, Kitty, was born on August 12th. Charley wasn't jealous. He just loved her as he loved everyone in the whole world. He used to bring his chew toy and drop it on her wherever she was if she fussed. I never knew him to growl or bare his teeth at any but two people. The first was our next door neighbor, who was the meanest old man I have ever known. Charley knew what he was like. He never did anything except growl and bare his teeth, then walk away from the fence. The other was a teenage boy who came sometimes to play with my son and his friends. Not too often, thank heaven. This boy teased the dog constantly, so we could hardly blame Charley for getting a little cranky.

I've mentioned that he was afraid of water, and we used to call him "Charley, Chicken of the Sea". That started when we took him to Cape May with us to visit my mother. We drove down to Poverty Beach, fastened the leash to his collar, and thought we'd have a run along the edge of the water. After all, he was a lab. He went with us happily enough until we reached the edge of the water. One tiny wave came lapping in. He freaked! He backed right out of his collar and went tearing back up to the car and jumped into the window.

Everyone loved Charley - except the new mailman who didn't know what to expect when the dog came gallumping up, put his feet on the man's shoulders, and licked his face.

A family story is told about Kitty when she was still very small, sitting beside him one day, rubbing his head. She said, "We get a lot of use out of this dog."

He was bought for me, and was supposed to be the family dog, but in reality, he was Ralph's dog. He decided that for himself. They were great buddies. The night Ralph died, Charley knew when it happened. And he never looked for him again out door or window. He just knew, and he was very sad. He remained a companion to me for a long time, but we both knew he was just putting up with me to be polite.

Camera Critters #17

These critters are no longer with us. They were favorite pets




















The first is Charley, shown here with my husband on the day he joined our family, in 1969. Next is Charley again, at least twelve years later, with me. He was such a sweet dog. A lab who was afraid of water! We called him Charley, Chicken of the Sea. His fear went all the way from ocean to bath. He was the most lovable dog imaginable - loved the whole world. I turned and looked up from my gardening one day to see him standing on hind legs, with his forefeet on the shoulders of the mailman, who was paralyzed with fear. But all Charley wanted was to kiss him.



The second is my daughter's dog, Harley. She was an amazing animal, very sensitive to the needs of her humans. She wouldn't let the children fight. And when I grew older and wasn't doing so well, she sensed that I wasn't well, and would stay quietly by me, and move with me if I got up.

I miss them both.

Please visit Misty, who hosts Camera Critters, and enjoy all the other critter pictures.