So Far, a Great Day

Yep, so far it has been a great day.  I woke up alive this morning, that is always an important part of having great day.  The weather is beautiful.  Yep, blue skies and not too hot, yet.  It is still in the upper 70's, but I am sure that will not last long.

To top it all off, I just walked through the kitchen and my wife was putting to pieces of boudin style sausage on to cook.  When it is near done, she will add a couple of eggs.  Oh my, that is one of my most favorite meals.  Of course, I like all my meals, but some are extra special, like white boudin sausage.  Well, maybe if I tell the truth, all my meals are special to me.  It sure helps to be married to a great cook who has been known to make a gourmet meal out of nothing in just a few minutes.  She is a kitchen magician, for sure.  Now enjoy your  meals and have a great day, you hear?

Words I Didn't Know.

Even though I like to talk a lot and like to write blog postings, there are a lot of words that I don't know nor do I know their meanings.  Maybe I could list them and see if you know their meanings.  Then at the end, I will list their meanings.  Let me know how many of them you know.

1  -  Valetudinarian

2   -  Agastopia

3   -   Zoanthropy

4   -   Titynope

5   -   Kakorrhaphiophobia

6   -   erinaceous

7   -   Bibble 

8   -   Halfpace

9   -   Nudiusterian

10  -   Doodle sack

I think that is enough for now.  Did you know all of them?  If so let us know, you are way, way smarter and better educated than I am.  If not, then look below for the meanings
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Now, I will list one definition for each word.  Some may have multiple definitions, but I will only list the most common.

1   -  A sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health.

2   -   Admiration of a particular part of someone's body.

3   -   Delusion of a person who believes himself changed into an animal.

4   -   A small quantity of something left over.

5   -   Fear of failure.

6   -   of, pertaining to, or resembling a hedgehog.

7   -   To drink often; to eat and/or drink noisily.

8   -   A platform of a staircase where the stair turns back in exactly the reverse direction of the lower flight.  (And here I thought it meant to just take little steps)

9   -   The day before yesterday.  (boy was I way off on this one)

10  -   Old English word for bagpipe.

OK, now tell us, how many did you get right.  I will tell you right now that I got zero right.  You know, if you can't get them all right, you might as well get them all wrong.  Now have a  great day, you hear?

PS  Here is a link to the site that lists the words:
https://voxy.com/blog/2011/03/weird-english-words-from-a-to-z/

Beating Myself Up.

I have usually heard that phrase, "beating myself up", to mean that I am finding fault with my actions, lack of action, or doing the wrong thing, etc.  But this time it was physical.  Yep, I took a hard fall.  I was bringing in the bird feeder, the suet, and the hummingbird feeder when I came up the steps, opened the screen door and entered the screened in porch section of our deck.  The next thing I knew was that I was laying face down with bird feed all around me.  What the heck happened.  I looked around and saw lots of red fluid beside me.  Oh Oh, am I bleeding that much?  Then I realized that it was the red humming bird liquid feed that spilled after I fell.

That was the night before last and I am still sore.  Got a gash above my wrist a few inches long and my middle finger on my right hand got a deep scrape on it.  Yep, that is the finger that some drivers use to signal to other drivers what their IQ is.  I just sort of hurt all over in general.

Also our male Shih Tzu went to the groomers the day before yesterday.  He was knotted up so bad that the groomer had to shave him.  He is an old dog and has never been shaved before.  I guess that has been quite a traumatic experience for him.  He is still not acting like his old self and he looks oh so much different.  At first glance I thought they were giving us the wrong dog.  I am sure in a couple more days he will get used to it.  He has to feel a lot better, right?  Now, don't fall down and don't get your dogs shaved, but have a great day, you hear?

A Sign Of a Better Day

.It was the end of my second year of attending Penn State University.  At the time, I was living in a house off campus where other students and grad-students lived.  We had finished our finals and were waiting for the results.  I expressed my uneasiness to the group and one grad-student said that he had been grading the final tests and that I had failed the test.  This test was very important, I needed that class credit to go on.

Yep, that hit me real hard and I walked out of the house, got into my car, and headed for the mountains.  The forests have always been my best friend and I sure needed a friend so I headed for the mountains.  Parked my car and took off on foot.  Walked and walked and it started to get dark.  So, I found a good spot, sort of a depression, and filled it with hemlock branches and leaves.  Collected some more branches to cover over with and went to bed.  Oh what a beautiful star filled night sky overhead.

The next morning I woke feeling a lot better and then noticed two deer standing a short ways off, staring at me.  To me, that was a sign that everything would be all right.  With a better attitude, I took the long walk back to where my car was parked and drove back to where I was staying, all refreshed and ready to take on another day.  Then I found out that the grad-student who told me that I failed, was just kidding.  I got mad and happy at the same time and the happiness won out.  In a way, I was glad that happened since the experience of waking up with nature and wildlife is still one special memory.  When I went to bed last night, I kept thinking about that experience.  Now you all have a great day you hear?  I plan to. 

Oh What a Beautiful Day.

We are having some gorgeous weather.  It is cool for this time of year (highs in the 80's), and a low humidity which is rare for this area, with a slight breeze.  Can't beat that and it is suppose to stick around for quite a few more days.

I was laying in bed last night and for some reason, I started to think about my parents and how much I loved and appreciated them.  I was an only child so maybe that is why I got a lot of attention.  My Dad took me fishing and hunting and canoeing and all that "manly stuff".

My Mom was great.  Yes, she treated me like a mother but she also was my friend and companion.  I remember one time that will prove what a great friend she was to me.  I loved to take walks in the woods behind our home.  One day, as I was returning home, I saw an animal way up at the top of a tree.  To me and at that distance, it looked like a baby groundhog.  For any of you who do not know what a ground hog is, think of Punxsutawney Phil, who predicts if winter will end or last another six weeks just by whether he sees his shadow or not.  Just google "Punxsutawney Phil" and you can read about him yourself.

Anyway, I ran home and told my Mom that there was a baby groundhog up a tree and would she help me carry the extension ladder up there so I could get up there and catch it.  The tree didn't have any low limbs so it was clear up to the branch that the groundhog was on, about 20 feet up.  I would have never expected to find a groundhog up a tree.  I didn't think that they could climb and why the heck would he want to.  Maybe it was chased by something that wanted it for lunch.

She and I carried the ladder along with a shopping bag up into the woods.  Set it up and I went up the ladder wearing gloves with my Mother right behind me carrying the empty bag.  I reached up and grabbed it by the neck and, by the way, it was not juvenile.  It was full grown.  I pulled it off the tree and dropped it into the bag my Mom was holding.  Wooooops!!!  It went right through the bag, fell to the ground with its feet already running, and disappeared in a flash, leaving my Mom and I up the tree laughing at ourselves.  That is what kind of Mom I had.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

After The Storm

Oh what a beautiful day.  Harvey had come ashore near here and dumped tremendous amounts of water but it decided to move on.  Good riddance, but it did clear out the skies and we have had a beautiful sunshiny day with highs only about 88.  That is cool for this time of year here near the East Texas coast.

We went to Walmart to get some groceries and supplies yesterday.  The shelves were half empty.  I figured that before the storm, people made a rush trip there and cleared the shelves but overheard a clerk talking to someone and she said that the warehouse had flood waters all around it and couldn't ship out supplies.

I really don't have much more to say.  So if you want more, use your imagination (grin).  Now, have a great day, you hear?