No Excuses

Thanks to my little sister who called and suggested the pear entry was getting stale, Melanie for de-lurking to inspire me with all the nice things she says about me, and Zilla who is ever encouraging via email, I am finally posting something.

Something.

Just kidding. I'll give you a brief update on activities here, then I'll go into detail in separate posts.

We've harvested gallons of honey, driven countless miles to get Princess to ballet practice and Nutcracker rehearsals, and spent many hours schooling.

I've read several good books and a couple of not so good books, knitted a jacket, a vest, and have completed half of another sweater, and started on the madness that will be Christmas card season.

My husband has completed one two week trip and leaves for another two week trip Tuesday at 3 a.m. so herding AWOL cattle is beginning to be old hat.

This doesn't begin to paint an accurate picture, as there are a lot of funny stories and interesting tidbits embedded in this madness I like to call normal life. I'll try to be more regular. Maybe I need more fiber.

Page 123

Zilla tagged me in attempt to get my lazy self to post. It worked. I couldn't resist.

Hmmmm. I try not to have any books in my office and for this one time in my life what I attempted and reality is close to the same. I do have one, though. My mother just gave it to my son. Unfortunately, it is a coffee table book and contains beautiful photographs of the Sahara for the most part. There is no writing on page 123, but on page 124 I took this excerpt:

The presence of vegetation, even if sparse and scattered, is an essential condition for the survival of animals. However, endemic Sahara species are rare: no sedentary birds and only three of the sixty-five mammal species are endemic (the fennec, the gerbil, and the addax antelope), along with six reptiles and about a dozen insect species.

From Sahara by Paolo Novaresio and Gianni Guadalupi

I always assumed gerbils came from a pet store. I never thought about them being a native species of anywhere, much less the completely harsh environs of the Sahara.

I once had a roommate with a gerbil. This annoying, squeaky wheel turning, escape artist made my life miserable for an entire summer until I ousted both the roommate and the gerbil at the convenient semester beginning purge. I was ever so thankful. Call me crazy, but I just don't like rodents, even if they are supposed to be cute, crawling on me in the night. I can see the girl and her gerbil, but cannot for the life of me remember their names.

Thanks Zilla for the kick, the interesting information, and the resulting college memory.

Obviously, I failed

I failed. I didn't write yesterday and I have no intention writing any more than this tonight. Sorry, NaBloPoMo people. I've got some great pictures of a cane syruping that I'll share tomorrow, but I can't do another thing tonight.

I'm Completely Insane

But at least you'll know I'll be writing! I was overcome by good intentions and now the reality of being required to write something even when I don't really feel like it, or when I've spent most of the day in the city, or when payroll for 50 people is not yet done, or when my computer wouldn't start this morning when I touched the power button (It was a minor but scary problem since I had no recent backups) has become a blazing truth.

Why don't you join me so I will have more than one friend over there in NaBloPoMo Land. I suspect they are still taking the gullible, the idealistic, and the good intentioned.

Please!!

I Never Do These Things. Really

I never do those blog test things. I'm always scared of what they will say about me. This isn't one of those blog things, but a test none the less. Are you right or left brained? Take a peek. I'm curious what you see. I'll tell if you will.

Top Ten Reasons Why I Haven't Been Posting

10. We started school last Monday. I was in shock. Literally. I changed gears so fast I gave myself whiplash.

9. One of my work clients procrastinates more than I do, finishing 3 new products the day before leaving for a show. I had to do emergency photography, apply Photoshop magic, write copy, and create, then print brochures. Being the never say never personality that I am, I worked like a maniac and finished the project.

8. Another one of my work clients had complete network failure. They really should schedule these things with me. The first week of school is not the time for computer, software, or network failure. Please.

7. My garden has passed its prime so there is little to show that would inspire others to garden. In fact, I try not to go out there. It's just too depressing and it's too hot to do the work that needs to be done.

6. The chickens are hot, walking around with their wings splayed and their mouths open. They are not cute this way.

5. The cats are sprawled on the concrete of the patio trying to leech any relief from the normally cool, damp, mossy area. They are not regal in this position.

4. The Yellow Dog has excavated a huge trench next to the house to find comfort. Neither the droopy, panting dog nor the landscaping is amusing.

3. The pastures are browning, except for the weeds (actually some of them are giving up, too). They are not appealing and I refuse to touch-up my blog pictures. Wouldn't that be cheating?

2. Since the garden is finished, there is nothing to can, freeze, or dry, so there is nothing to inspire anyone.

1. I'm jealous because I can't write with flitting ease like ZBTZahBTzoo. Thanks, by the way, for checking on me.

Having said all this you would think I was battling depression or at least the doldrums. I'm not, just silent. If the temperatures and/or heat index drops below 100° during the day maybe my brain will begin to see words. Cape Jasmine, will this suffice?

Oh, there is one funny, whole family, skunk story. I'll try to write it after supper.

I was horrified

To find out that many of you who visit here have not seen my blog the way I intended. I looked at my sitemeter to see how abysmal my numbers had sunk since I haven't been writing. To my surprise they were not lower, but higher. Maybe I should quit writing permanently. Anyway, Miz Robyn had linked my bean recipe. I was curious so I popped over to see if she had said anything complimentary, because I'm not completely immune to ego boosting activities. When I arrived at her site I saw no writing whatsoever except the sidebar items. Odd, I thought. Then, I had the bright idea to try using Firefox rather than Safari. I was able to see her blog. This made me question my own blog, so I went to one of my work computers and . . .

There I saw it. Or didn't see it. My front porch and my lime green chair were not to be seen and my text was improperly formatted with the images. Windows with IE apparently does not work with my blog formatting. Windows with Firefox appears to be fine and all Mac based browsers work. I'm embarrassed because I never thought to check my own site, though I meticulously check my work for others.

I'm sorry so many of you have looked at a white screen for a year and a half. I'll get to work and change my look or repair the finicky code as soon as I get the chance.

I'm expecting a visitor!

I've been expecting a visitor, Addie the Adventure Mouse, for the past few days. She may be waiting at the terminal, as I write. Even though I survived the entire winter without a sniffle or even a snuffle, I spent Easter Sunday in bed with the crud. Though not feeling well, I was able to get my contributions for Easter dinner, a lemon cake and a pesto pasta salad, ready Saturday night. I also took care of my bunny duties. Then, I crawled in bed and didn't move until Monday morning. I didn't get the mail.

So, this morning I will check the station and expect to find Addie waiting to accompany us to ballet rehearsals in the city. After that we will show her true Southern hospitality and some warm weather.

Frustration Mounts

I have been having difficulty posting comments to blogs ever since Beta Blogger arrived. I have difficulty posting comments to my own blog which seems really weird. So, if I normally visit and post comments at your blog and you've noticed my absence, don't feel as if I am neglecting you. I'm not. I'm not sure whether I'm incapable of reading the security letters or incapable of typing my name and password. Maybe it's a Mac/blogger hangup or . . . Is it just me????

I don't need these tiny frustrations!

Another Blue Player!!

More Blue players have been recruited!! Check out Stephanie's abacus, chair-back thingie, Zilla's puffy ball and blue something or other, and a tropical entry from Relaxed Homeskool and make a guess!! Visit Jove, Mull-berry, and my other entries, and remember it's never too late to play.

More Blue

Okay, this blue thing has become an obsession.

Yesterday, I had a difficult time finding something blue in the house because my mind was set on one thing that happened to be outside where a cold, miserable rain had set in for the week. Everywhere I look, today, I see blue. Since Mull-berry has gone above and beyond by posting four pictures (one of which I still have not deciphered), I thought I could add two more. I promise I will stop here, unless I find something fabulous.

We need more participants!!!

Blue

Mull-berry suggested in the comments of the last post that we play a game to alleviate boredom. I love games, so I will start. Here is the blue picture. My sister thinks that if we are going to play a game we should have some rules or, at least, some general direction. Since I am first to post, I will add some. Take a close up picture of some ordinary blue household object. Post it and let people guess what it is.

I'm at a disadvantage because it has been raining for two days and I don't want to stand in the rain to take a picture.

All right. Everyone go take pictures!

I'll post the players here:
One Jelly Donut, Please has a more difficult image.
JoVE has a good image, too.

Today is my Blogiversary!

I've been posting for a year and I have written many words! Here are a few of my favorites.

• January is a time to clean Trash.
  
• February is perfect for the Library.
  
• In March there is Yellow Dog and Wisteria.
• April had many good homeschool posts and a good picture of a rooster.
• May brings beignets, bees, and the beach.
• June is the month of food and garden.
• July is Fair Time.
• August I was contemplating shoes though I rarely wear them.
• September has early arrivals and line dried clothes.
• October brings fresh baked bread.
• November brings leftovers.
• December is full of presents and cookies.

I'm going to bake myself a cake to celebrate. Don't you just love the way I will find excuses to eat cake. I wish I could share it with all of you!!

Happy Anniversary

The Carnival of Homeschooling is celebrating an anniversary. Go to the party and and visit with bloggers to learn much about homeschooling.

I could have been writing something fantastic . .

But I spent those hours "upgrading" to the new template so I could access all of the cool new features. I think the features are more cool if you know absolutely nothing about html. I found them a bit restrictive, but have found a way to add my image links for the carnivals and the new one for the winter reading challenge which I will do later (My later list is enormous already).

Hopefully, I will get it all done before we travel to the Delta and before the birthday party for the Carnival of Homeschooling.