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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday Salubrious Signs - Taurus
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Friday, February 27, 2009
Another Postcard Friendship Friday!
- the privately owned Railroad Pier in 1889,
- the privately owned Electric Pier in 1906, with wonderful night lighting
- The Municipal pier in 1914 (seriously damaged by the hurricane of 1921)
- The Million Dollar Pier in 1926
- The Pier in 1973 to present
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My take on the people involved here is:
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Realistic Virgo
And more like this
I need to start writing my own horoscopes. Those in the paper are always speaking to an energetic, moneyed, superhuman, organized, perfectionist, and social career woman.
What I need is a daily word of encouragement for a late sleeping 401Kless, nere-do-well, drop it anywhere, leave it there for 5 weeks, unemployed hermitized unemployed blogger.
I want it to say stuff like this:
Thursday, February 26th: This is a good day for Virgo's to stay in bed. Fluff those pillows and move your coffee pot to the nightstand. Take out a good book, but be ever so careful lest the tall stack that bows in the middle and defies gravity should fall on your head necessitating the need to shower (and don't forget to shave those legs - it's been 4 days now and you are starting to look like a subject for a Cactus Monday post) in order to go to Emergency. To-do lists are not for you, Virgo. If you have one, use it for a coffee coaster. Plans for the day should consist soley of a trip to the You So Lucky Nail Salon or the candy aisle at Publix. Circus Peanuts candies will improve your aura and with your current financial situation, 3 for $5 is like found money. Virgo's are optimistically inclined to get by on good looks and the seat of their pants today. Wallow in that attitude. The Mister can do the vacuuming and empty the dishwasher. Energy level equals your lucky number of the day: ZILCH.
Virgo Lucky Number
The Hermitization Of the Virgo Psyche
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I Am Not Making This Up
"MIAMI (Reuters) – Florida wildlife managers have launched an experiment to see if they can keep crocodiles from returning to residential neighbourhoods by temporarily taping magnets to their heads to disrupt their "homing" ability.
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Researchers at Mexico's Crocodile Museum in Chiapas reported in a biology newsletter they had some success with the method, using it to permanently relocate 20 of the reptiles since 2004.
"We said, 'Hey, we might as well give this a try," Lindsey Hord, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's crocodile response coordinator, said on Tuesday.
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Crocodiles are notoriously territorial and when biologists move them from urban areas to new homes in the wild, they often go right back to the place where they were captured, travelling up to 10 miles (16 km) a week to get there.
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Scientists believe they rely in part on the Earth's magnetic fields to navigate, and that taping magnets to both sides of their heads disorients them.
"They're just taped on temporarily," Hord said. "We just put the magnets on when they're captured and since they don't know where we take them, they're lost. The hope would be that they stay where we take them to."
Hord and his co-workers have tried it on two crocodiles since launching the experiment in January, affixing "a common old laboratory magnet" to both sides of the animals' heads. One got run over by a car and died, but the other has yet to return, Hord said.
Self Explanatory
Once an endangered species, American crocodiles' numbers have rebounded to nearly 2,000 in coastal south Florida, their only habitat in the continental United States. That puts them in increasing contact with humans, especially in areas where backyards border on canals around Miami and the Florida Keys."
A couple of things came to mind when I read this:
1) I imagined a crocodile with Betty Boop refrigerator magnets taped to his head.
.2) I pictured the Wildlife guys at a meeting, feet on the desk, short sleeved shirts with ties, pencils behind their ears, donuts everywhere, throwing out ideas to keep crocs from going back to the pond. So far the list reads 1) shoot 'em 2) shoot 'em again.
Then Herbie Saltpeter, who hasn't said anything at all in any meeting for 27 years throws out the magnet idea. They jump on it because 1) they all have duct tape in the truck and 2) they also figure since Herbie hasn't had an idea in twenty seven years, this must be the voice of God that has spoken through him.
.3) The quote "Hey, we might as well give this a try" sounds suspiciously like the question: How do you know when to dial 911 in Florida?
Answer: Anytime anyone says "Hey ya'll watch this!"
.4) I thought how we can easily cut the divorce rate: Just tape a couple of refrigerator magnets to the Mister's baseball cap and send him out for a pack of cigarettes.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Dr. West Discusses the uhm Wedding Journey
When we last left Dr. West, he was suggesting that the bride starve herself at the wedding in order to avoid embarrassing emissions. Hopefully her mother will take a moment to speak with her of important matters (Millicent, you are embarking on a uhm ahhhh uh journey that is…….well uh aaaaaa whaaa uhm a er neep unh oh you look a bit peckish dear, how about I fix you a nice chicken sandwich?) (white or wheat?)
And now, if you will take a seat, Dr. West will discuss the all important wedding journey:
A wedding journey is the prescribed finale of the wedding festivities. It is usually begun on the day of the marriage and is of variable length, both in the distance traveled (Have you seen the GPS, Millicent?) and in the time devoted to it. It is a custom with some commendable features, but many that are the exact reverse. It is advisable that husband and wife should be alone for a week or two, both in order to enjoy each other’s society, and to become thoroughly acquainted with each other. It is also desirable that this relation should be apart from the family and friends of both (preferably abroad so the bride cannot dash home to her mother, run up the stairs and lock herself in her childhood room)
Millicent, dear, I was just going to ask you if you would like a chicken sandwich
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There is a vulgar familiarity indulged by close friends which cannot but be annoying and humiliating to a woman of sensitive and refined tastes ( Ooooh Milllllllicent how did you sleeeeeeeep last niiiiiiiight ??? (wink wink))
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The looks, actions and sometimes the words of such friends seem to intimate that the one object and aim of marriage – its summum bonom – (I have to look this up in Gray’s Anatomy) is the indulgence of animal appetite (Oh lordy, where did I put those smelling salts!!!!) The sly look, the suppressed twitter, the covert insinuation, all point to this one fact, that such a thought is uppermost in the mind. The husband, poor fellow, is made to run the gauntlet of no end of gibes and intimations, doubly galling because they mean nothing disassociated from the woman who is now his wife. And whom he now loves and respects above all her kind. He can resent nothing. (Except, perhaps, for having been made to sleep in the bathtub on his wedding night) He knows, perhaps – the guilty wretch! -that he has guyed his friends when they were married. Besides, to show irritation is to put himself out of character as a happy bridegroom. It is better, therefore the honeymoon be spent away from familiar (Why you evil, leering, ogling, besmirching, humiliating, taunting, drooling, staring and otherwise insinuating friends!)
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You asked my new bride if she slept well??????? Now see what you have done!
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The foundation of many an unhappy future is laid on the wedding tour. Not only is the young wife tried beyond all her experience, but the husband too, partakes of her weakness. Many men who really love the woman they marry are subject to a slight revulsion of feeling a few days after marriage. When the veil falls and the girdle is loosed (are we talking about his or hers here??) the fair illusion vanishes. ( Well, that’s all I really wanted, Millicent. Thanks ever so) A half regret crosses their minds for the jolly bachelorhood they have renounced. The mysterious charms which gave their loved one the air of something more than human, disappear in a prosaic sunlight of familiarity. This mutual revulsion of feeling is entirely natural, It will pass away in a few days and a deep abiding tenderness, founded on a more substantial basis than lover’s affections will take its place. Patience and self-command on the part of both are needed, lest permanent dislike be established.
Many a woman dates the loss of her health to her wedding tour. Add to this the consummation of the marriage ( oh spare me, my eyesight is beginning to fade) means a great change in her physically, and the reason for her destroyed health can be readily seen. So many cases of permanent unhappiness and permanent ill-health dating from the wedding journey come under the notice of all physicians that it is no wonder that many of them condemn it altogether. (what? condemn what? Sounds like the poor dear thing should just skip the marriage?)
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A short journey is a benefit if it be followed by a week or ten days of quiet, peaceful rest in some home like place (asylum? hospital perhaps? Induced coma?) If in summer a sojourn by the seaside and a stay in a quiet home-like hotel is delightful. If the marriage occur in a colder season, nothing is better than a visit to a prudent affectionate friend of the bride (didn’t you just say NO leering disgusting flatulent friends?) one who is herself happily married (oh Beatrice, how did you EVER survive!). The wife will gain both the home-rest so demanded, and also can confide in her experienced friend what she cannot yet tell her husband ( Louisa! You will NOT believe what Hubert has proposed that I do! I am so mortified I shall fall in a dead faint) and can receive better counsel than even her husband can give. ((Millicent, you are embarking on a uhm ahhhh uh journey that is…….well uh aaaaaa whaaa uhm a er neep unh oh you look a bit peckish dear, how about I fix you a nice chicken sandwich?) (white or wheat?)
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Monday, February 23, 2009
Orchids and Marmalade Monday
Cattleya Aurantiaca
Laelia Milleri
The middle orchid is an Howeria, and it is an intergeneric hybrid between Leochilus (Mexico), oncidium (Caribbean) and Rodriguezia (Panama) It blooms twice a year, and has long lasting flowers.
The orchid on the right is a Dendrobium Farmeri - this is a species orchid described first in 1840 It blooms in the spring and is from India and Thailand. This particular one is a division that I made. These are all old canes that that have bloomed in previous years and have lost their leaves. I'm hoping new canes will grow on this one. The other half of the division is younger, has lots of new canes and isn't bald like this poor guy. This orchid blooms once a year in the Spring. On larger, younger plants there are multiple flowering spikes.
None of these orchids are scented. Bummer dude.
I made more marmalade last week. Notice the difference in color? The middle jar is from the batch I made a few weeks ago. The other three were made last week. For this batch I picked far more blood oranges than I planned to use, cut them in half and chose only the brightest and most colorful ones for the marmalade. I used the rest for juice. Mmmm!
Dr. West has been taking in the waters and having a rest cure over at the Safety Harbor Spa. He said he'll be back tomorrow with another hysterical dissertation - or did he say dissertation on the hysteria pitfalls of marriage. Either way, stay tuned.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
My Favorite F-Words
1) Fireflies
2) Tiny baby Fingers
5) A Florida favorite - Flip Flops
8) Frosty Window Panes
10) Fruit Cake! Somebody's gotta love it!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday Friendship Postcards from Bloggyfriends!
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It's the prefect place for artistic postcards from Bloggyfriends, don't you agree?
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Stop by Marie's Voila! Vintage Postcards to see who else is participating in Friday Friendship Postcards
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Life's Funny Like That - The Party Begins!!
Let's open the pink champagne
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Let those happy bubbles rise
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Bake a pink cake
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And celebrate! Hugs and Love on this happy day, Debby!!!!!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Dr. West The Wedding Planner Part II
I'll have another wee drop of opiates to tide me over during the ceremony
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The wedding ceremony is generally trying to the sensitive nerves of the bride. Instinctively modest and retiring, as most women are, the publicity of the ceremony abashes them. Being the central subject of the day shames, embarrasses and oppresses her. This mental state is trying. It has it.s ulterior effects rendering her nervous excitement greater and the exhaustive process more rapid and more emphatic (Perhaps, Mother, we should drive to the church in an ambulance) . Happily for her the ceremony is brief. If she can carry herself to this climax without experiencing undue excitement she will have little trouble preserving her calmness until the end ( climax? She ain't seen nuthin' yet!)
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The banquet is usually held at an unordinary hour for food consumption. Many persons in ordinary health and under no press of excitement are injured by feasting at irregular house, Much more seriously may it affect the newly-made wife. ( I am not making this up, AND you are going to have to figure this next paragraph out for yourself)
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It must also be added that the nature of the viands is such that, unless sparingly partaken of, the result is certain to be injurious. The materials are rich and highly seasoned substantials, followed by a rich and unnutritious cake ( Except for Millicent's which has met with a disastrous accident). The bride must, perforce, show approbation lest she find herself in a condition where she is unable to retain such gormandizing. (Why don't you just say that Millicent is going to toss her cookies!) Nor is she allowed any repose on this very social occasion.
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(Better to delay partaking of food until such time as conditions are more favorable, Millicent. We'll get a to-go box for some of these wings and fries and we can have a nice repast in bed tonight while we watch the rest of the Buc's game. Millicent? Ohhh curses! Her father warned me not to say the word bed in any form).
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We will ask Dr. West to stop talking this instant while I pass out the smelling salts and cold compresses. We will be back very soon with The Wedding Journey and The Marriage Contract where Dr. West dances around the issue of the wedding night.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Dr. West The Wedding Planner - Part I
Dr. West’s long absence from the Maidenhood and Motherhood (circa 1886) lecture series is due, he explained, to a recent and prolonged overabundance of nervous disorders and the treatment thereof. He was kind enough to take a break from dispensing laudanum and smelling salts to discuss our next topic, The Wedding:
The Right Time To Marry.
Summer and Fall are the times usually selected. There are reasons that are indicated from the teachings of Nature that would point to springtime as the more commendable. This is the period generally selected by the lower animals as the time for mating which may be a significant suggestion to the human family (Millicent, do you remember seeing those randy little robins this afternoon? Try to keep that in mind as a suggestion of things to come, as it were..that people, as in nature…Millicent? Oh she’s fainted dead away again). An additional reason is if a child is born within the first year, the child will have attained sufficient age to resist the disorders of teething before the approach of the second summer. (Uhm, okay) .
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There are certain times in every woman’s month that alone would indicate an unpropitious time for the consummation of such social relations. It would be quite embarrassing for a sensitive maiden who normally does not even appear in society under certain circumstances to enter matrimony at this particular period. (Ohhhh period…. Why didn’t you just say it?)
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Hence she should select a day about midway between the times of her periodical sickness and allow 12 days to intervene between her entire recovery from her sickness and the day of her wedding. (Why, you ask??) This would bring her safely into Nature’s period of sterility that she need not suffer the embarrassment consequent to early pregnancy. This is usually followed by a few days of premature birth which in a gossiping and uncharitable community might reflect unjustly on her character. (Elvira, we must count the days again. The wedding was on June 21. Do you count the 21st or the 22nd as the first opportunity for you-know-what? Elvira? Oh stop fainting and count)
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Too many brides are concerned with how the wedding will be considered by others and are forgetful of the drain that is being made on their own nervous resources. It is advisable to consult with the bridegroom regarding the particular arrangements. For obvious reasons; his judgment is better than hers (How ‘bout we have it at Inky’s Sports Bar. We’ll get a couple a barrels of Bud, throw in some wings and some curly fries with that cheesey sauce. Besides, them waitresses are HOT!) While she is liable to think of others he thinks only of her. ( Besides, the Bucks are playin’ and Inky’s got them giant TV screens) Men, as a rule, are simpler in their tastes than women. (I don’t have to wear no tie to this shindig, do I)
Whether the ceremony is held in the church or the bride’s home, the conditions are about the same. There will necessarily be considerable excitement of the nervous constitution of the bride. The thought of the great change, the severance of tender ties, and the venture into new and untried conditions – these alone are sufficient to excite her nerves to a high pitch.
You go back out there and get those self sticking stamps right this instant.
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Not all guests will be thoughtful of the nerves of the bride. The novelty of being the central figure in the day’s events, the vigilance necessary to preclude annoying blunders, etc. (is that ETcetera or Excetera?) will add to the drain on her vital powers. It must not be forgotten that nervous exaltation, however delightful is exhausting. It will inevitably followed by a season of depression as great and prolonged as was the antecedent excitement. It is therefore important that the wedding and reception be as simple and brief as social ettiquet will allow. The change from maidenhood to wifehood (You’re going to do WHAT? With WHAT???) is of sufficient magnitude to demand, for it’s safe and happy accomplishment, (OH NO YOU”RE NOT) the most favorable conditions attainable (Don’t you take one more step Stanley or I shall scream). Not a few women there are whose failing health dates from marriage. Many of these women do not know yet, precisely that it was not the marriage which laid the foundation for a shattered system, but the unnecessary and imprudent conduct of the festivities. (This is where the phrase “I have a headache” comes in handy)
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(We are going to ask Dr. West to stop right here and return later for part II of this very important discussion. He natters on in his book for another 23 pages on the subject of the wedding preparations, ceremony and reception! It’s important that you hear every single word, and I am quite sure that he has put you in a high state of excitement already. You probably feel the need to lie down and apply a cold compress for the rest of the day. )