Logic

No one uses logic these days.  Well, almost no one.  Too many people don't even know how to use logic.  Let me give you a lesson in logic.

Let's say, for example, a certain website claims to have 2 million registered users.

Now, let's say that the number of users logged in to this website averages 4000 or thereabouts.  We'll just use even numbers for the sake of example.

We know due to web tracking and hit counters that only about 10-20% of registered site users are actually active on the site.  This holds true for most websites, not just our fictitious one. 

Let's say, for the sake of example, that the owner of the site claiming 2 million members has already admitted to exaggerating the number of registered users.  For what reason, we don't know, but that's irrelevant to our lesson.

Therefore, from the statements made above, and using logic, we can conclude that the claim of 2 million website members is false.  Continuing with our use of logic, and simple mathematics, we can conclude that the actual number of registered members of our hypothetical website is somewhere around 200,000 - 400,000.  Still impressive, but a far cry from 2,000,000. 

There.  Do you see how we used facts, statistics, and our brains to disprove the 2 million member claim of our hypothetical website?

That, my friends, is called logic.

Learn it.  Use it.  Pass it to your children.

You'll be glad you did.

Disclaimer:  The website in this hypothetical situation is purely fictional.  Any resemblance to any website or actual events is entirely coincidental.  

Just Sayin'

Lazy people have no business calling people out for being lazy.

Arrogant people have no business calling people out for being arrogant.

Stupid people have no business calling people out for being stupid.

Selfish people have no business calling people out for being selfish.

Just sayin'.

Here We Go

Here you go, the promised photograph of my front flower bed.

There is so much shade in my front yard, that I'm kind of limited as to what will grow there.   Even the so-called shade loving plants struggle to survive.  The only thing I've found that does well is these Hostas.  Even the Lily of the Valleys aren't doing that well.  But I put them back in, hoping that with some enriched soil, they'll hang in there. 

Want to see something weird?  This petunia used to be a light, lilacy purple.

Over the last three or four days, it's gotten more and more pinkish.  I'm really kind of bummed.  I've got tons of pink petunias, and I'd really liked the lilac color. 

Memorial Day

It's not just another excuse to get drunk.

Busy Prepositions

Busy as can be...

That was always one of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock songs.  Alas, I'm not a preposition, but I was busy today.

It all started when I overslept and missed church.  We can't all be perfect...

But I didn't just sit around watching TV all day, no siree.  I did three loads of laundry.

I blocked the 2011 Anniversary Mystery Shawl:

I love the feel of a fresh blocked shawl. So light and airy, yet surprisingly warm and comforting at the same time.

I continued plodding away at the cross stitch for charity. 

while catching up on my episodes of Sherlock.

And I reworked my front flower bed.  By the time I was finished, it was too dark to take a picture, so I'll take one tomorrow.

Oh, and as always, I watched the National Memorial Day Concert.  It was good, but I was a bit disappointed that they didn't do the Armed Forces Medley.  That was my favorite part of the entire thing.  When Cody was little, he used to insist that I stand up during the Navy anthem.

Soon, the Tour de France bicycle race will start.  In about a week or so, I'm not sure exactly when.  Anyway, for several years, online fiber communities have done what they call the Tour de Fleece. 

What that means is, while the cyclists are spinning their wheels, Tour de Fleece participants are spinning theirs as well.  Spinning wheels, that is.  Or drop spindles as the case may be, which is my case.

I've always wanted a wheel.  A traditional style wheel.  I imagine myself on long winter nights, spinning in front of the fireplace, softly singing hymns to myself.  But alas, I have neither wheel nor fireplace, so that image remains a dream for now.  But I digress...

Some people get really serious about it, but I've never participated myself.  This year, I decided to give it a whorl.  *Snicker snort*  The first week -- May 26-June 1-- is training.  This is the week to pick your project, set your goals, order fiber if you need to.  That sort of thing.  Well, I know I've got plenty of fiber I need to spin up, and some projects I need to work on. 

So, I dug through various closets, boxes, and project bags until I found three spindles partially completed.

Now, I have the rest of the week to decide which one I want to work on, and how much I want to get accomplished. 

I'll let you know how that goes. 

I've got tomorrow off of work for the Holiday, and I think I'll work on inside projects.  You know, cleaning snake cages, vacuuming and shampooing my carpet, that sort of thing.

I'll let you know how that goes, too.

Irony Abounds

Some of you may remember I'd posted about buying some perennials for my flower beds, because I'd given up trying to get seeds started.  The package I got had Blazing Stars, Purple Coneflowers, and Goldsturm Coneflowers.  Well, the ones I really wanted were the cone flower varieties, but since the blazing stars were thrown in with them, I planted them as well.

Guess which ones didn't come up, and which ones did?  Sigh...

I hadn't seen hide nor hair of my coneflowers, so I bought one.  So there.

I'm thinking of pulling out those blazing stars and putting in a couple more of these.  One of these days, I'm going to check the local nursery and see if they have the Goldsturm ones.

This is a little verbina that I bought, too.  I don't know what the name of the color is, but I liked it.

That's kinda what I'm doing.  Buying plants I like just to see how big they get, how easy they are to grow, etc, etc.  I think next year, I'm not even going to fool with planting seeds.  I'll just buy everything already started.  And I think I'll plan things a little better.  This year, I kind of jumped in willy nilly, spur of the moment. I wasn't sure it was something I wanted to do, but I'm really enjoying it this time around.

I think the difference is going with annuals.

The first time I tried gardening, I thought, "What's the point in getting annuals?  You just have to keep planting them over and over."  Now that I'm actually planting them, I see why.  I get the joy of flowers without the feeling of being burdened with a long term commitment.  If I want to change my flower beds up next year, I can without too much trouble.  With perennials, it's a bit more difficult to try something new.


My petunias are really coming on.  

That orange one in the middle is a marigold.  They make good companion plants, in that they help keep harmful insects from chomping on your plants.  Unfortunately, they don't keep slugs away.

Slugs almost killed this marigold.  In fact, I thought it was dead, but as you can see, it looks like it's going to come back.

I'd done some research and the best solution I found was to put out small bowls of beer.  The slugs will be drawn to the beer, crawl in, get drunk, and drown in it.  So, I bought a beer-- and got carded-- for the first time in my 47 years of life, and put out a few bowls of it.  It worked pretty well.   

The downside of this is that having the beer out for more than a couple of days will attract new slugs to your garden.  The long term solution seems to be to attract and keep toads around.  I looked online for toad houses and like to have pooped my britches.  They are unbelievably high!  Some of them were over $100.  Um, I'll pass on that, thankyouverymuch.

Whilst pondering the situation, I just happened to look over and there on the floor was an old half log snake hide.  Hide as in hiding place, not hide as in skin.  Open on both ends, well insulated, and it seemed just the right size.  I think it might work.  At least until I can figure something else out.

The next problem was, where to put it.  Toads need cool, damp places, so toad houses need to be put in a shady area.  Only there is no shady areas near my back garden.  I finally nestled it down between my two largest petunia pots.  Maybe that'll keep it cool enough.

If I can find that old hunk of PVC pipe that was in my front yard for years, I may cut a length of it off and put it under my back steps.  If all else fails, I'll buy a clay flower pot and cut a door into it.

Finally, the big garden is really coming on. 

The hard part is keeping the grass out.

Cody's Graduation

Sigh, it seems like just yesterday I was changing his little diaper, and now I am the parent of a high school graduate.  People ask me if he is going to go to college now, and I have to tell them that he's been in college for two years.  Part time, of course.

He goes to high school in the mornings, and takes afternoon and evening classes at the community college.  He's got way more drive than I had at that age.

He's got way more drive than I have now.  But then, he knows what he wants to do with his life.  He's going to go to Mississippi College, then on to Seminary and finally he will enter the Ministry full time.

I know, I know, it's easy to say now, but somehow I always knew...

Anyway, here are a few photos from graduation, which was last Friday.  And yes, I'm just now getting around to posting them.

Pomp And Circumstance:

 Cody is in the third row-- fourth from left.

Fourth from the left in the row with the blond girl on the end:

The salutatorian giving her speech:

And the Valedictorian giving hers:

Those speeches have gotten a lot shorter since I graduated.

This is Dr. Dagenault, the Superintendent of Schools

Cody receiving his diploma:

Tossing his cap:

No WIPs This Wednesday

It has been a very busy week!  I'm going to try to get you all caught up, but it may take a few days.  Between family coming in for Cody's graduation, and Cody's graduation, and me still working 9-10 hour shifts 6 days a week, I'm one pooped little puppy. 

Anyway, I haven't knit much at all since I started this cross stitch thing.  Thus, I have no WIPs to show you.  I do, however, have cross stitch progress!

It's coming along, but I'd forgotten how slow going cross stitch can be.  I used to cross stitch all the time, but as I've gotten older, it's become too hard to see.  I'm struggling with this one.  I'm thinking of buying some of those reading glasses from the drug store.  You know, the ones that are basically magnifying glass in glasses frames. 

Eh, they'll come in handy for lace knitting, too. 

So, am I far enough along that you can tell what it is going to be?

A Request

for all you married women out there.

Please, please, please pay attention to your husband! 

Because if you are giving him the attention he needs, then he won't be trying to get it from me.

Seriously.

I'm Back!

Didja miss me? Didja even notice I was gone? No, I didn't go anywhere. I just really haven't had that much to blog about these last few days.

I don't really have that much to blog about today, either, but you get to suffer through a boring post anyway.

I came home today and realized I'd forgotten to get Jesse a new bag of dog food, so off to town I go. While I was there, I decided to go ahead and get a couple more pots and separate the remaining petunias that I had still in one pot.

They each have their own pots now.  Honestly, this is my first foray into petunias, and I had no idea how big they'd get. This one was in the flower bed, but I put it back into a pot.  Something is eating my flowers up, and I thought picking it up a little bit would discourage whatever it is.

I'd bought some insecticide/fungicide, but it doesn't work too well.  Every time I spray the plants, it burns my blooms.  So I started using the old trick of putting a squirt of dishwashing liquid in my watering can.  It seems to help, and is less harmful to my plants.

This one is still my favorite,

but I love the shocking pink of this one.

It's much brighter than this picture shows.

Anyway, James came out there while I was repotting the petunias, and we got my little trellis up, and I got my moonflower seeds planted.

Meanwhile, the big garden is really taking off.

Grapes are coming on.

We're going to have blueberries out the wazoo.

And it looks like we might even get some figs this year.

The bad news is, something has been getting my plums.  Once the trees were loaded with them, but today when I checked, there were only a few left.  At least we now know that they will still bear fruit. But I still have to get the rest of the poison ivy out of them. 

Anybody have a Hazmat suit I can borrow?

Dear CoWorker

I have a dog who snores.

I have a dog who farts.

I have a cat I'm constantly cleaning up after.

I have a dog who demands my undivided attention every second of the day.

 
They all expect me to wait on them hand and foot, and none of them listen to a word I say.

Now, explain to me exactly why I need a man in my life?

Whew!

I finally finished clue 1 of the 2012 AMS.

Now, I'm only half a week behind.  Not that I'm worried about it.  I still haven't finished the one from year before last, after all.

This is my life.  I'd told Shelbi that I would do a cross stitch picture for a charity auction to benefit St. Jude.  I check Walmart for DMC floss, and they don't have it.  I check again a week or so later, and they still don't have it.  I check one more time, and they still don't have it, so I break down and order it online.

The very next time I went into Walmart, they had DMC floss.

But the good news is, I've been wanting to do a paint by number here lately. I used to love to do them as a kid, and I've had a hankering to revisit my childhood.  While I was ordering my floss, I checked out the paint by number kits and found this one on sale.

I can't wait to get started!

Except that I have to clean off my table first, so I guess I can wait just a bit.  These 10 hour work days really take a lot out of my day.  Oh, and I need to find my good paintbrushes.

The good news is, James found my water hose nozzle, with the hose end still in it.  He said the dogs must have chewed it off the end of the hose and were playing with it.  I appreciate that he found it.

I also appreciate how my dogs chewed my hose in a perfectly straight cut, and didn't leave a single tooth mark in it.  And that they neatly coiled the hose back up after jerking the end off of it.

Boy, I have good dogs.

Still Mad

Yeah, I should be over it, but when I went out to water my flower bed and had to lug that heavy watering can around because I no longer have a hose end or nozzle, I just got all mad all over again. 

So all you get today is a song. 



Kind of appropriate, in a way, doncha think?

Mad

So, I was going to come here and blog about how I'd forgotten to mention that Wal-Mart does have plant growth bulbs there, and that they fit the old aquarium hoods I'm using to light my snake tanks.  And I was going to tell you how I almost bought one, but decided to just wait until next year since it's warm enough to just plant seeds outside now.

And I was going to tell you that I'm almost finished with clue 1 of the 2012 Anniversary Mystery shawl, which is good because clue 2 was released yesterday.  And I was going to take a picture to show you.

And I was going to tell you that I started the cross stitch picture, and I was going to take a picture and show you. 

And there were a few other things I was going to talk about,

buuuuut....

When I went out to water my flower beds this afternoon, someone had stolen my new hose end --clamp and all-- right off the end of my water hose.  Not to mention the nozzle James lent me.

I got so mad that all my plans went out the window, so now I'm just going to sit here and stew.

And wonder at people who think a dollar's worth of brass is worth getting shot over.

Bunches Of Stuff

Since I haven't blogged in a few days, I've got a few things to catch up on.

It all started Tuesday after work. I went into town to get a replacement end for one of my garden hoses. I've had those hoses for at least 15 years, and hadn't used them in ages. For a while there, I didn't even know where they were.

 But, with my renewed interest in gardening, I dug them out and hooked them up. There was a problem, though. Somehow, in the period of their idleness, one of the hose ends got smushed. We tried to reround it with a pair of needlenose, but it just wasn't good enough. I'd try to water my garden, but would end up having as much water spraying back into my face as onto the flowers, so I figured it was time to replace the end.

You know you live a thrilling life when the highlight of your week is replacing the end of your garden hose.

Male

5/8"

Try to contain your excitement.

Well, since I was already in town, I decided to go on to Wal-mart and get the rest of the marigolds we needed to plant amongst the tomatoes. 

And I had a few left over to put into my flower bed.

Speaking of my flower beds, it's getting mighty busy in there.  Even some of my little perennials are coming up.

In order to better deal with my impatience--having discovered that shouting "Grow faster, darnit!" does little to produce the desired effect--I've decided to rework the front flower bed, too. 

I want to spread my Hosta out a little.  Eventually I want to have it all across the front of the house, since not much else will grow there.

And I want to do something with my Lily-of-the-Valleys, since they haven't been doing so well.
 

They were doing great before I moved this new house in, and moved the plants.  I think it might be just a little low where I have them now, and I think if I built that bed up a little, and improved the drainage, they might just pick up a bit.

So there I was in Wal-Mart buying marigolds

Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds... (you were singing it, too.  You know you were.)

 and I saw that they had gotten some more of the border I'd wanted in the first place. 

It was kind of high, so I only got one box.  I'll use it across the front of the bed, and I have some leftovers from the other stuff I got to do the sides.

I got some more dirt to help build the bed up.

And I got one of these.

I've always wanted one of these.  They look dangerous...

See, I figured that once I got all the plants dug up, the soil would be pretty well turned.  Well enough to make the big tiller unnecessary.  This will do to finish breaking up the soil and mixing the Miracle Grow into it. 

Being my normal, impatient self, I couldn't wait to try it out.  It works surprisingly well. 

Anyway...

I had promised to cross stitch a New Orleans Saints thingy for a charity auction to benefit St. Jude's Children's Research hospital.  Well, I went to Wal-mart a while back to get the stuff to do it with, and they didn't have any DMC floss.  I waited and waited, and they never put any out.  I finally broke down and ordered some from Herrschner's. 

Wouldn't you know it, the very next time I was in Wal-mart, they had the floss out.  I bought one skein of each to get started. 

So I guess I need to get started...

Jesse has this thing.  He likes to lick my end table.  When I was growing up and figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, the scenario in which I say, "Stop licking my end table"  never entered the picture.  But now I say it regularly.  You never know where life is going to take you. 

Just thought you needed to know that.

Busy Reading

Life will return to normal (quit laughing!) once I've finished reading this book. 

Ten On Tuesday

It has been a long, busy, tiring day-- which I will tell you all about tomorrow-- so in lieu of a real blog post, I'm going to cop out and do a Ten On Tuesday. This week's topic is 10 Things On Your Bulletin Board. Since I don't actually have a bulletin board, I'm revising it slightly to 10 Things On My Refrigerator.

1. My to-do list, which hardly even gets looked at any more since I keep my to do list on my phone nowadays.

 2. A card reminding me of my next dental checkup

 3. Jesse's Dog License, which they told me was optional, but I chose to get it anyway so that if he ran away, and Animal Control picked him up again, they'd know who he belongs to.

4. Some pictures of Cody, his sisters, and some of our cousins

 5. A recipe for caramel icing, and instructions on how to use ground flax seed as an egg substitute.

 6. A picture of my nephew Joshua with Santa Claus when he was about 5 years old.   Joshua, that is, not Santa Claus.  He's much older than that.

7. A clipping out of the news paper featuring karate promotions which my State Farm agent cut out and saved for me.

8. A picture of me, Amy, and Christi when we got together in Hernando last fall. That was a fun day, and I can't wait until we do it again. And Christi, you still cheated on the yarn buying contest! And a picture of me holding a cat, taken when I was a freshman in college.

 9. A magnet snowman photo frame missing an eye that Cody made in Cub Scouts

 10. And last, but certainly not least, a magnet featuring the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

 So that's what's on my refrigerator. Yeah, that's more than 10 things, but hey, whatever.