A oh s*** moment

I am not much on swearing, but folks, there are some situations where only that word fits!

I rode a dirt bike myself for a few years and I can tell you that right before you fall your thought is.........................................oh s***!

A friendly reminder

It's never good to compare yourself to others.

Forgetting

Don't you hate it....not being able to remember things.

Sometimes I get kind of scared about this forgetting stuff.........................but wait, I just read the best news..................................

"forgetfulness isn't necessarily a sign that something is wrong with your brain. Rather, it's a natural response to the incredible amount of memory overload of names, information, experiences, and so many other things that you have stored in you mind over the years".

So you see it isn't that those 20 year old's are so smart....they just haven't had to remember very much yet! Whew, I definitely feel better.

Behind the Scenes

This is an ongoing post of how the book "Buckskin Bessie - Her Lost Letters" came about. It is posted every Monday and the original was posted in Jan. 2008

No part of this information may be reproduced in any way.

It must be understood that although I am trying to give a of a step by step view of the writing of the book, it must be condensed because the whole process took over two years, so although I may simply mention something it may have in reality took days, weeks, or even months to accomplish it.
My questions abounded, I was full of them. One afternoon while talking with my step-son about all this he says....."Mom, there were two old photo albums on that garbage pile......oh, my heart just sank........but another miracle, he went searching and found them!!!!
As I poured over the letters that spoke of different people I searched through the old photo albums to see if there were any matches...there were. (Special note: always write the names on the back of your photo's) It took a long time to figure it all out but eventually I began to piece it together. The next step was to buy the letters and old photo albums from Teen Challenge. No, they hadn't seen them as having any value and didn't really have them for sale but it was the right thing to do, so I set a price and wrote them a check.
The question of why these things were thrown out after being saved for so many years haunted me. I mean in the photo album there were family pictures, wedding pictures and all sorts of things. I felt pretty sure that whoever had been saving them must have died or become so disabled they could no longer make choices.............but what if there were immediate family who they belonged to?
Finding the family tree.........................................................................Ancestry.com

Around Town

It has been a while since I did a around town post and was recently reading a list towns with unusual names that sparked some interest so here is one I will share.

Boneyard Arizona

The Airplane Graveyard - Bone Yard - Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center Just outside Tucson, Arizona in the Sonora Desert is the famed Airplane Graveyard-Bone Yard at Davis Monthan Airforce Base. The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center AMARC is where the U.S. Air Force mothballs planes until they either need them again or it's time to salvage them for parts. Whenever the U.S. sells surplus planes to foreign governments part of the sales pitch is that there will always have a ready supply of spare parts. Some are turned into pilotless drones and used for missile target practice. The Airplane Graveyard, is not just a fence around piles of out dated scrap metal, millions of dollars of surplus parts are salvaged to keep other active aircraft flying. You can think of this place as a huge warehouse for all types of spare parts which saves taxpayers millions of dollars every year. Many people think the government sells flying airplanes to the general public, this is not true. Anything the government sells, which could cause potential injuries, like a life raft, pilot helmet, or a flying aircraft will be demilled before it leaves the base. Demilling which stands for de-militarize, includes slashing rafts with a razor knife, crushing helmets, or in the case of an airplane chopping the wings off, or cutting the fuselage into three pieces. Some of the aircraft stored at the Bone Yard are turned into remotely controlled drone aircraft like what was done with the F-106 drone program. There are over 4,000 planes in storage, most now from the Vietnam era. In the 60's there were still planes from World War II there.

High Noon

This replaced our normal movie date:) My husband and I have a display table at this show.

It is a very unscaled show with a multitude of displays and items for sale. I wanted to take a picture of something somewhat unusual to post and I came up with this

Now I have to tell you that when I first looked up at this I thought "Wow....that is some kind of chastity belt". It is actually a breast plate for a horse:)

This was one of many saddles to be auctioned. There is art, jewelery, guns, old books, Indian blankets, pottery, old slot machines, hats, bronzes and on and on and on and on............

My husband loves these things....as for me....one day is enough:)

Show and Tell Friday

This is a butter press. It belonged to my Grandmother and was well used. After making the butter it was pressed into this and it would leave it in a nice shape with a pretty design on the top.

I don't know that our plastic tubs have been much of an improvement:)

Gourmet

While opening this can of dog food this morning I got to thinking...........................................

Gourmet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
A gourmet is a person with a sensitive and discriminating palate, and who is knowledgeable in fine food and drink or haute cuisine. The word is from the French gourmet, a valet in charge of the wines. It is often used as an adjective for meals of especially high quality, whose makers or preparers have used special effort or art in presentation or cooking the meal, or for facilities equipped for preparing such meals, such as a restaurant. The term and the practice may have negative connotations of elitism or snobbery, but is often used positively to describe people of refined taste and passion.

Okay....so who tests the dog food to know if it is gourmet or not?
In a restaurant gourmet can mean names on the menu you don't recognize and presentations that are unusual

or pretty

but the thing that is the most sure......It is more expensive:)

Simple Joys All of my blogger friends are special for different reasons but I find that this one meets a special need in my life and that is to remember to be grateful for the simple things. Go over and visit, read through a few of her posts...You too will enjoy a fresh picked flower:)

I qualify

Behind the Scenes

This is an ongoing post of how the book "Buckskin Bessie - Her Lost Letters" came about. It is posted every Monday and the original was posted in Jan. 2008

No part of this information may be reproduced in any way.

My step-son was part of a group called "Teen Challenge". This is a Christian drug and alcohol rehab program. One of the many things they do to help raise funds, is go out to estate sales when they are completed and sort through and remove all the things that have not sold. Their pay for doing this clean up is that they can keep what they think they can sell at their on going carport sale. While at one of these estate sales, my step-son saw a Manila envelope with letters spilling out over the top of a garbage pile. The bright red letters of the return address on many of the letters said "101 Wild West Show" and he noted that the postdates were very old. He decided to take them back to his room and check them out before they were thrown away.

Now my step-son is a real pack rat and often brought things home for us to keep for him so when he hauled these letters home I did not pay any attention to them until my husband said, "come look at these letters, they are really old and postmarked from all over the world". The two of them were debating over who they thought the woman was that wrote the letters and etc. and I said "You guys are just wasting time, you can't even begin to figure out who this woman is without reading these letters in the order they were sent"! One of my strong points is organization so I went about putting them in order...the problem is that I also started reading them and the more I read the more I wanted to read. I was hooked, they were fascinating.

I didn't think I would find anything but went to the computer and googled Buckskin Bessie (her show name)... low and behold some info popped up. There was a newspaper article in Ponca City, Okla. stating that a man there was displaying his collection of Buckskin Bessie's personal things! Who was this man? How did he know her? What all did he have of hers? Would he want these letters? Was she famous? What was the 101 Wild West Show?

Will be continued...............................................................................

What

What do you call a woodpecker with no beak?..........

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................................................................................................................................ A headbanger!

Movie Review

The Great Debaters

I must be on a roll because this too was an excellent movie. I did not know it was a true story until the end of the movie when it told how each character ended up. There is a lot more to this movie than it just being about a teacher who encourages the underdogs to succeed. It is about courage and choices and the power of those two things.

Show and Tell Friday

For today's show and tell I have chosen one of the two matching pictures I made several years ago.

These were made with fine crochet thread and then glued onto the background. My Mom taught me to crochet when I was about 10 years old..these were more fun to make than potholders:)

Wind versus Breeze

I think I should have made the title of my blog "Changes in the Breeze" instead of "Changes in the Wind". You see, I really don't like the wind and especially the kind of wind that has been blowing here for a couple of days now. Not just a nice gentle breeze but the kind of wind that makes things bang, whistle and get moved around. I thought I had the perfect solutions for the wind chime that was beginning to sound more like a siren ALL night long when suddenly in the middle of the night it started up again. When it turned daylight I found out why............................ That old pair of pantyhose I tied them up with slipped down to simply wave like a flag. See those old pantyhose aren't good for nothing!

Restaurant Meme

While visiting over at The Geekwif this morning I decided to join her in this Meme.

Here are the meme rules:
*Link to the name of the person that tagged you
*Include state and country you live in
*List top 5 favorite local restaurants
*Tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged And like her, I don't play by the rules when it comes to memes, so my standard rule applies. If you want to be tagged, consider yourself tagged!

I live in Arizona, USA and my five favorite restaurant are:

1). Carvers Steakhouse. Like many restaurants my Hubby and I prefer to sit in the bar area, more cozy and comfortable. They often have a Pecan crusted sea bass special that we share and they offer scalloped potatoes as one of their sides.

2). Manuel's Mexican Restaurant. They have the BEST chips and salsa ever and over-all the best mexican food. I have to have my Manuel fix a least once a week.
3). Hammerhead. A seafood restaurant that has two huge fish tanks and the best deep fried shrimp appetizer.

4). Arrowhead Country Club. We go here nearly twice a week. They have a great prime rib but most important is they have Karaoke and dancing and great Margarita's.
5). The Olive Garden. This is a nationwide chain but my favorite here is their salad and bread sticks and the Eggplant Parmigiana.

If you haven't figured it out, I no longer cook so we eat out every night....that is why this spoon lives at my house!

Living Statue of Liberty

Click picture on to enlarge
Living StatueCan you believe this??????????

Behind the Scenes

I am fascinated with what makes things tick. A good example is the musical I recently went to see "Menopause the Musical".

No part of this information may be reproduced in any way.

It is easy to simply sit and enjoy it but I am always wondering...who had this idea? How did they decide to produce it? Who did they employ to help them? How long did it take? What all was involved to get it on stage? How long has this been running? How many states has it run in? How much has attendance increased? How many people are returning from a previous showing? How much money do these performers make? How do they maintain home and family and be on move all the time? Do they change the show and if so how often? How did they pick the performers?
These type of questions can apply to anything...a new building, a restaurant, a museum the local library, a housing project, Sea World and on and on and even the writing of a book. As some of you realize I have written and published the book "Buckskin Bessie - Her Lost Letters". I don't like tooting my own horn so I will direct you to the Jan. 10th post on "Fools Rush in" where Granny gave it a very generous review.
To quote a fellow blogger (Thumper thinks out loud) " I am a published writer. Note I did not say "author". To be an author I would have to had major sales, drink with my pinky stuck straight out, and have done a stint at Betty Ford". I don't even think writer is the best match for me....maybe investigator would be my perfect fit because you see this book is a two year investigation inspired by a stack of very old letters found on top of a garbage pile at an estate sale. The creation of this book is a story in itself and so I have decided to make Monday a "Behind the scenes day" and share some of that very strange process that took place.
First glimpse..................................
I never had a yearning to write a book. Truthfully, I always thought you would have to have an intense imagination to do so and I know I do not possess one or that you have had an exceptional life, like that of crime or fame and etc. and I don't. Now, I like true stories but most of those, especially historical, are really rather boring to me. They tend to just give you dates and actions and I need feelings:) So writing was never on my list of "I want to".
Check in next week........................................................................

Title and Thoughts

Help me out, I have no title for this post but my thoughts......
"Go on, ask him where the pond is".
How about you....what does this picture conjure up for you?

Movie Review

Bucket List

I loved this movie. It was funny and insightful and even hopeful that opposites could unite and become life savers. Not very probable but then real life isn't very entertaining as a rule. I have seen some horrible reviews from other people on this movie but then I usually don't agree with the critics. They like the against the war, President is stupid, drug world wonder, kill everything that moves type stuff....as for me....the happy ever after works every time:)

Show and Tell Friday

My mother left me a huge amount of old sheet music she acquired from a friend. I came up with this wall decoration for my guest bedroom from some of them.
Notice the tuning fork? That is my hubby's contribution.

YouTube - Cockatoo Dance

I am a bird lover and this video is amazing...be sure to see the end:)

YouTube - Cockatoo Dance

This is my bird and as you can see he picks the feathers off the top of his wings. We don't know why he chooses to do this....one theory is because the tops of his wings are red:)

He doesn't dance but he does high five and he talks. He rattles off all kinds of conversation if the radio is on. We think it is because he thinks we can't hear him but when it is quiet he only says just a few things....Hello, Bob (my husbands name) and bye, bye later.

Any guess to his name?

Debates

With all the political debates going on the lyrics to this song seemed to jump out at me.


Now the race is on and here comes Pride up the backstretch
Heartaches are going to the inside
My Tears are holding back
They're tryin' not to fall
My Heart's out of the running
True Love's scratched for another's sake
The race is on and it looks like Heartaches
And the winner loses all


I am very grateful for our political process and can not imagine anyone being willingly to take on such a huge responsibility as overseeing our country. I even have a hard time trying to understand what each candidate supports and all the ramifications of each of these positions. My consolation is that neither can they and that is why the President has a multitude of adviser's from a vast amount of life experiences.
What about you....are you involved in watching the debates?

Where oh Where

Without creating a political upheaval, I must say that I am so disappointed that while we have men and women fighting in a war and in dangers way none of our political candidates can discuss it????

What idiots....without winning the wars we would have no free elections and be just like the countries we are fighting. So on this day I choose to say.......Thank You for your sacrifice and keeping us free.

Words

Thank you Ficke Muse for the link for (free rice). I love words and word games so this is not only fun but also helps others. I have added as a side bar link. You can go to the options and set it so that it keeps a tally of your donations.

Laughter lightens the load

Smiley Face

Where oh where would we be without the smiley face????????????

Do you use it?

Do you like it?

Do you know how it was created???

Harvey Ball

Movie Review

The Kite Runner
A very good movie but done mostly in subtitles. Although it has Pakistan background in it, I didn't think it had any hidden messages but rather a story of loyalty, love and forgiveness.

Show and Tell Friday

There is no place like home

These were my dishes as a girl. They are china and I have them displayed in a room I call "the doll room". In the near future they will go back in a box, packed away, as I am going to turn the doll room into a home gym:)

Fun Scrabble

DORMITORY:

When you rearrange the letters:

DIRTY ROOM

A choice

Norman Vincent Peale

"Change your thoughts and you change your world"
Many years ago I thought whatever you were, pessimist or optimist was an inherited trait like the color of your eyes. I have since learned that you can change from a pessimist to an optimist and that is power!
For a different and new 2008...................change your thoughts! Now if I can just take my own advice:)

2008 News Flash

Forget the resolutions and blog till your hearts content!!!!!!!