Answers you've been waiting for

I'm sure you all are waiting intensely to find out the answers to the questions I posted in my last blog, so here they are:

1. The tick is not an insect, it is an arachnid, belonging to the superfamily, Ixodoidea, which, along with other mites, constitute the Acarina. Caterpillars, which is what I thought the answer was, are the larval form of Lepidoptera, which is the insect order belonging to butterflies and moths.

2. False. According to "Everyday English", every sentence must end with either a period or a question mark.

And there you have it! You are more informed than you were before if you got these questions incorrect.

So, I am mowing this morning before it gets to be 90 degrees at noon, although with the humidity, it feels like 90 right now. I mowed for 30 minutes, which was about half the backyard and I am wiped out. I'd like to finish it this morning, so I'll drink my water and go back out in a minute. I really should hire one of my sons to do this (actually, shouldn't they come over here and do it for free?).

In other news I have, either for the better or worse, activated my facebook page which has been inactive for quite a while now, since I first set it up. I think facebook could be the biggest time waster that we have in our society today, but I can see the appeal. I think. Linda and I are playing a Scrabble game lasting over the course of several days, which is a new idea for me-I always thought Scrabble needs to be played to its ultimate conclusion the same afternoon you start it, but what do I know? I told my husband he needs a facebook page, if for no other reason than to play the games on it. He wouldn't be good at "What are you thinking", as he:
*** 1. Is semi anti-social, depending on where he's at
*** 2. Cannot imagine that people would want to know what he really thinks
*** 3. Cannot imagine that he would be that interested in the minutia that other people are thinking

Time to go back out to the heat of the jungle.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Two recent questions from my calendar, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader:

Which of the following is not an insect?
1. Ant
2. Caterpillar
3. Tick

Every sentence must end with a period. True or false?

What do you think? No extra research allowed on the net. Just your first impressions on both questions, please.

The "F" word for the day

The word for Wednesday, June 10 is: FLOCCULENT a. Covered with soft woolly tufts. Condition of certain spiders, an alpaca, or a male teenager's face.

Living where?

Word for the day: EREMOPHILOUS a. Inhabiting a desert. You might use this word to describe any number of wildlife such as snakes, camels, spiders, or coyotes. The author of the book, "The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird & Wondrous Words" states that it also may apply to the classic condition of a person who has just had a new home built, but has to choose between curtains or a lawn.

I was quite busy outside today, and, I might add, I got quite dirty. I potted up all the annuals I purchased which will decorate the tables for my son and daughter-in-law's wedding reception on Saturday, and, while I was dirty, I decided to plant all the other things I'd bought previously, as well as move and replant three bushes. I pulled grass and weeds out of a front flower bed, and gave out about 6:30pm before all the work was done, but tomorrow's another day.

I love wearing my crocs outside to do yardwork, but my feet get extremely grimy in them. Usually I rinse them and my feet off with the hose, but I didn't do that this time. I talked to somebody at church who, get this, liked her crocs, but didn't like the dirty feet she got while wearing them, SO, she installed DUCT TAPE over the holes of her crocs - works like a charm she says.

Time to get to bed. Tomorrow more weeding and yard work awaits me, but I really need to do some things in the house too. The days go by way too fast!

Observations

I had amensia once --- or twice. I forget.
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Protons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic.
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I am neither for or against apathy.
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All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
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What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?
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They told me I was gullible and I believed them.
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Teach a child to be courteous and polite in the home, and when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway.
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One nice thing about egotists-they don't talk about other people.
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My weight is perfect for my height-which varies.
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I used to be indecisive. Now, I'm not so sure.
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How can there be self-help GROUPS?
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If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?
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Show me a man with his feet firmly planted on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.
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Is it just me, or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?

Sparrows and the word for Monday

What a beautiful cooler day today-skies are a little overcast and it's in the 70's. A great day for yard work-and to have the windows open in the house. I trimmed up the forsythia in the front, and plan to do a few more chores outside before it gets dark.

I set up the bird and squirrel feeders several days ago and there's a lot of activity out there-I think a lot of sparrows, but also I've seen blue jays and I think I saw a finch or two. What is it about sparrows that they are considered sort of a nuisance bird? My dad in his later years made it his personal mission to rid his property of sparrows as much as possible by setting up traps for them. I looked on Wikipedia at several articles on sparrows, and one article says that house sparrows are the most widely distributed wild bird on the planet. It also says that house sparrows are aggressive in forcibly usurping the nesting sites of other birds, and in fact, sometimes even build a new nest right on top of an existing nest with babies in it. Did you know that the house sparrow has the shortest incubation period of all birds-10-12 days- and that a female can lay 25 eggs in one summer? They also don't have a very exciting "call" - the article calls it a "short and incessant chirp". So what we have is a bird which is very prolific, which has an annoying and constant chirp, and sometimes is destructive to other species of birds, taking over nests and housing boxes.

Yet, I think the sparrow is the only bird that I can find that Jesus directly mentions in the New Testament - other than maybe a dove? Perhaps you scholars reading this can help me out there. Nevertheless, Jesus says even though sparrows were sold 2 for a penny or 5 for a penny, depending on which book you reference (Matthew 10:29 and Luke 12:6 NIV), not one of them falls to ground without God knowing about it, or, as Luke says, God forgetting about about them. The point is, if God knows that about such a common bird as a sparrow, what does He know about me? What does He care about me? Jesus goes on to state that we are worth more than many sparrows to God. I don't know about you, but this gives me great comfort.

In honor of my spouse, the word for the day is: DEMOPHOBE n. This is not a fear of Democrats but, it is a morbid dread of crowds and massed humanity, i.e., the 5-10 people that might be waiting in a restaurant lobby, or, the 30 people gathered in a church fellowship hall, or, heaven forbid, the crowd of several thousand at a concert or other community function. The author of book I have referenced previously states rather cleverly that this is one of the more common phobias, and if all the sufferers of this malady were put together in one place, they wouldn't like it one bit.

Word of the day for Sunday

The word is: CATACHRESIS n. Misapplication of a word. So if you accidently used the word in the previous posting, BICRURAL, to describe, for example, a muskrat, you would be guilty of catachresis. I suppose cathachresis could also be used to describe situations in which people say with great pronouncement: "I could care less!" , or, when Hillary said she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire, or, when your teenage son said he had a "little" accident with the car, when confronted with the fact that the entire side was one big dent.

Friday and, the "B" word for today

What a beautiful morning! Not too hot yet. I went to the garden store and bought a couple of 6 pack annuals and some other things for the front oval flower bed-I still don't have that place worked up yet. I did transplant some peonies out there last fall and they came up great, but a neighbor kid's ball landed on them and broke most of the stems off. I was sick when I saw them. The 3 little bushes I planted out there are just struggling to survive. I bet the soil isn't very good. I'm thinking I need to move the the peonies yet again to another spot where they will have a chance to survive, and the ornamental bushes as well. I then took Lyd for a walk at Riverside Park today-she's getting better and better about walking with me. It seems she still has to stop every 4 feet to sniff something but even that's improving. After we walked a couple of rounds we stopped under a tree and rested. She drank out of her water bowl and I drank my 20 oz. water bottle. Because I've been working outside, the inside of my house needs my attention badly.

Word for the day: Bicrural. a. Having two legs. "I am sorry to have to say this in front of your new boyfriend, Hortense, but he is BICRURAL, and I cannot be persuaded otherwise."

(From The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird & Wondrous Words, by Peter Bowler. )

Word for the day

I recently discovered a book I had purchased many years ago: "The Superior Person's Second Book of Weird & Wondrous Words" by Peter Bowler. I am, by no means, an expert on language or grammar, and I am likely to be bested in a game of Scrabble by several people in my extended family who seem to have a real knack for organizing letters to make words I would have never thought of. But this delightful little book has been quite entertaining for me to once again peruse, so much so that I have ordered from Amazon a used boxed set of 3 books of Weird & Wondrous Words.

From this nifty little book, the word for today is: ADUMBRATE v. To foreshadow in general terms; to sketch out what you intend to do, or what you expect to happen, i.e., "Allow me to adumbrate in general terms the consequences of your continung to block my driveway with your car..."

I, myself, adumbrate the completing of many tasks today, all of which are mundane and trivial, but which are, nonetheless, on my "to-do" list. There ya go.

Thoughts regarding recent news

The recent murder of Dr. George Tiller deserves a blog post-however, finding words to say what I think succinctly and clearly so that there is no misunderstanding by my readers is a challenge. We'll give it a try.

First of all, the act was cowardly and malicious. The perpetrator needs to be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. I feel no differently about this murder than I do when I consider the crimes of serial killer Dennis Rader or of the murders of 4 people by the Carr brothers. All victims were innocent, all victims were in no way at fault, all victims are loved and missed by their families. I am horrified by this turn of events. However, I wish to offer the following thoughts for your perusal, and for some, perhaps your disagreement. That's okay-you may disagree and thoughtfully post your comments.

I am a pro-life person. It is my contention and belief that every conception is human life and bears a soul. I am adamantly opposed to abortion. My opinion is that this legislation should be returned to each individual state to decide and that the federal government should step out of it.

Point number one:
I do not think it is fair to hold me responsible for what this extremist did on Sunday morning. It appears that in some newspaper columns, and on some news programs, there are those that are branding this crime as coming from the pro-life camp and nothing could be further from the truth. How dare the insinuation be made that those of us who value and respect life above all else would in some way be associated with this lawbreaker, whose heart was full of hatred and vengeance? Forty nine million abortions have been performed since 1973. Forty-nine million persons will never have an opportunity to live life-would you like me to hold you on the pro-choice side responsible for those whose lives ended so abruptly? Is there blood on your hands? Is there blood on mine?
Point number two:
Although I am sure that Dr. Tiller was probably a kind and compassionate man, I will never lose sight of the fact that he indeed, spent his life "terminating pregnancies". Some are saying he was a hero, some are saying he helped them in very difficult circumstances, some are saying he was a saint here on earth and was carrying out the work his God entrusted him to do. I think we need to be horrified by his murder, but also, be horrified by the fact that legally, he ended life for thousands and thousands and thousands of pre-born children. A caller to a radio show I listened to said that when people think of you after you have left this life, they don't think about what you DID, they think about what kind of person you were, and that what you DO in life does not define you.

I tend to disagree just a little bit. A person's work, and what they were able to accomplish in life DOES in some ways, define them. Are we going to say that about Dennis Rader? What he DID does not define him? I hardly think so. What he did personifies who he is. The way I not only do my job but live my life defines me and shows the world, whether it's admirable or not, what my true character is. It does so for every single person, even Dr. Tiller. We cannot as a city, as a state, and as a nation, conveniently "forget" what happened on a daily basis out at that clinic on East Kellogg, and no doubt, will continue to happen as other doctors step in.

Maybe more later.

Busy first day

It's the first day of summer vacation, and I have a list of things to do about 4 feet long (not really, but it seems that way). I even had to make a list to make sure I wouldn't forget something. I'm going to the church to work on sorting music, I'm taking my district laptop back to the adminstration offices, I'm picking up drugs at the pharmacy, taking dry cleaning in to get done, and I'm completing several tasks related to the reception we are giving for our youngest son and our daughter-in-law that will be here in town on June 13. I've got a load of laundry started and several more to follow - although I won't be home to do it, so I don't know why I even put it in the washer. 94 degrees here today. Whew!