The Garden

Craig planted the rest of our little garden yesterday. Usually I do it because I'm so fussy about my rows being straight, but I thought about that and concluded it doesn't really matter so long as they grow.

Today we are going to look into putting in some blueberry plants in one of our beds. Are they a bush or what? I'm not sure, but we will find out.

Now all I need to do is convince my friendly neighborhood cat to go potty somewhere else.

Pretty Trees

The little Paul Scarlet Hawthorn and the dwarf Lilac tree are absolutely gorgeous this year. The pictures really don't do them justice. Craig finished mowing the last piece of the lawn in between rain drops and discovered one of our pretty little humming birds dead on the ground. I thought someone had painted his throat feathers with orange flourescent spray paint, they were so bright. I don't know what happened to him. He was below the tree, so probably a raven or bigger bird got him.

A Little Story About Life

On the first day, God created the dog. God said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a span of twenty years." The dog said, "That's too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I'll give you back the other ten." So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey. God said, "Entertain people, do monkey tricks and make them laugh. I'll give you a twenty year life span." The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? I don't think so. Dog gave you back ten, so that's what I'll do too, okay?"
And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow. "You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves, and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years." The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I'll give back the other forty."
And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man. God said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I'll give you twenty years." Man said, "What? Only twenty years? Tell you what, I'll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back, and the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back, that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay, said God, you've got a deal."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family; the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

Author unknown

Where's My Kiss?

SAY WHAT? A billion dollars plus for policing the 'oh so important' G8 Summit meeting. All that money for 72 hours of what? Sitting around, basking in luxury at our expense.

These meetings of the G8 heads of state with all their wisdom, never accomplish anything anyway. And since when did anything that Canada had to say, matter to the rest of the world. This meeting is nothing more than a luxurious vacation and photo op for all these people that think they matter more than the rest of us.

In all the previous summit meetings, NO country has ever spent anywhere near that amount. Where is all this money going. I think I might know, but I'd better not say. Have your meeting. Fine, but does it really have to cost that much? The rest of us have to live on a tight budget, and sometimes more often than not, without. I think it is high time these governments started doing the same, take their hands out of our pockets and quit screwing us.

Yes, I know, all these perks we get have to be paid for. Why doesn't the government give us each one million dollars and we could choose for ourselves what we want or don't want. It sure would be cheaper that what they are doing now and we wouldn't need to have everything some of us don't want, rammed down our throats.

This so called 'temporary tax' on income, brought in many years ago is still here and has turned into a two-headed monster just gobbling up more and more of our money. I'm not a political person, but I sure am fed up.

There comes a point when enough is enough. Maybe one day, people will band together and revolt.

What Are You Building?

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer/contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife and to enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by without him.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favour. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials, just to get the job done quicker. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work, the employer came to inspect the house. He handed the front door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "My gift to you!" The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives, one day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, we realize that we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, there would be things we would do much differently--but we can not go back.

You are the carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board or erect a wall. Life is a do-it-yourself project. Your attitudes and the choices you make today build the 'house' you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!

Short story written by:
Mark Matteson and Kevin Thomas

Thought Provoking

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent? Of course!
Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."
You must live in the present, on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success! The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

Quotable Quote For Today

The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitos and silly people.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Boys At Work

This past long weekend we enjoyed our visit with Steve, Jordan and Sam, Wade and Karen, and Blake and Ann. It was great to get to see them all.

Shari couldn't come as she was expecting her own houseful of guests. We were all wishing she had been able to come as well as it is rare to have them all together at the same time. As it happened her plans didn't work out and she could have come too after all. What a shame because everybody would have loved to see her.

The weather wasn't the greatest but we are thankful for any moisture we get and will be wishing for some as the summer heats up, I'm sure. If it ever does.

The boys did a great job finishing the pool solar project and plumbing it all in. Jordan was right in there as well. He is a great little worker and has grown up so much.

I didn't get a lot of great pictures as my hip was killing me by now. Besides Craig (the regular picture taker) was busy too. Hopefully everyone else got some better ones.

Small White Dot

A kindergarten class had a homework assignment to find something exciting and relate it to the class the next day.

When the time came to present what they had found, the first little boy called on walked up to the front of the class and with a piece of chalk, made a small white dot on the blackboard, and then sat back down.

Puzzled, the teacher asked him what it was. 'It's a period,' he replied.
'I can see that,' said the teacher, 'but what is so exciting about a period?'

'I don't know,' he said, 'but this morning my sister was missing one, my Mom fainted, my Dad had a heart attack and the boy next door joined the Navy.'

Airlines

At the airline check in at Heathrow, William has three bags. He puts them down and says to the young lady, 'I'd like you to send this one to Los Angeles, that one to Hong Kong and the last one to Durban.'

Her face shows signs of confusion before her training takes over and she says, ' I'm afraid we can't do that sir.'

'Why not?' demands William, 'you did it the last time I flew with you.'

Happily Ever After

A couple were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on the beaches of Montego Bay, Jamaica. Their domestic tranquility had long been the talk of the town. People would say, 'What a peaceful, loving couple. The local newspaper reporter was inquiring as to the secret of their long and happy marriage. The husband replied, 'Well, it dates back to our honeymoon in America, explained the man.'

We visited the Grand Canyon, in Arizona and took a trip down to the bottom of the canyon by horse. We hadn't gone too far when my wife's horse stumbled and she almost fell off. My wife looked down at the horse and quietly said, 'That's once.'

We proceeded a little further and her horse stumbled again. 'That's twice.' We hadn't gone a half mile when the horse stumbled for the third time. My wife quietly removed a revolver from her purse and shot the horse dead.

I shouted at her, 'What's wrong with you woman! Why did you shoot the poor animal like that? Are you friggin crazy?' She looked at me and quietly said ' That's once.'

And from that moment on we have lived happily ever after.

Memorial Plaque

The service:

Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church.

It was covered with names and small American flags were mounted on either side of it.
The seven year old boy had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside him, and said quietly, "Good morning Alex."

Good morning, replied the young man, still focused on the plaque. "What is this?" Alex asked.
"Well son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service."

Soberly, they stood together staring at the large plaque. Little Alex's voice was trembling and barely audible when he asked, "Which service, the 9:45 or the 11:15?"

Retirement

I found this little poem about the joys of retirement and getting old on the internet.

Another year has passed
And we are a little older.
Last summer felt hotter
And winter seems much colder.
I'm racking my brain for happy thoughts,
To put down on my pad.
But lots of things that come to mind
Just make me kind of sad.
There was a time not long ago
When life was quite a blast.
Now I fully understand
About living 'In The Past.'
We used to go to friends' homes,
Football games and lunches,
Now we go to therapy, to hospitals,
And after funeral brunches.
We used to have hanovers
From parties that were gay,
Now we suffer body aches
And sleep the night away.
We used to go out dining,
And couldn't get our fill
Now we ask for doggie bags,
Come home and take a pill.
We used to travel often
To places near and far,
Now we get backaches
From riding in the car.
We used to go out shopping
For new clothing at the Mall,
But now, we never bother.....
All the sizes are too small.
That is how life is,
And now my tale is told.
So, enjoy each day and live it up.....
Before you're too darn old!

Before Cameras

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted.

Some paintings of George Washington showed him behind a desk with one arm behind his back, while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted.

Arms and legs are limbs, therefore painting them would cost the buyer more.
Hence the expression, "It'll cost you an arm and a leg."

Solar Project Beginning

Yesterday morning, Rose and Colin drove up from Penticton just to help us build the platform for the solar panels, for which I am so very grateful as we would not have been able to do this with my hip as it is.

As it was, I thought I could do more than I thought and was worn out by lunch time.

Colin kept telling me I was doing too much anyway, so I sat down and supervised. I found out later that he was right. I could hardly walk by supper time.

I was walking better this morning, but still hurting.

Senior's Discussion

A group of pensioners were discussing their medical problems, over coffee at the local Senior Center one morning.

'Do you realize,' said one, My arm is so weak I can hardly hold this coffee cup.' 'Yes, I know,' replied the second, 'And my cataracts are so bad I can't see to pour the coffee anymore.'

'And I can't turn my head because of the arthritis in my neck,' chimed in the third. 'My blood pressure pills make me dizzy,' commented the fourth, adding, 'I guess that's the price we pay for getting old.'

'Oh well, it's not all bad,' piped up the first senior, ' We should be thankful we can still drive.'

Three Doors

An airline captain was breaking in a new stewardess. The route they were flying had a layover in another city.

Upon their arrival, the captain showed the stewardess the best places for airline personnel to eat, shop and stay overnight.

The next morning, as the pilot was preparing the crew for the day's route, he noticed the new stewardess was missing. He knew which hotel she was in so he called her room wondering what had happened.

She answered the phone, crying, and said she couldn't get out of her room. "You can't get out of your room?" the captain asked. "Why not?"

The new stewardess replied "There are only three doors in here," she sobbed. "One is the bathroom, one is the closet and one has a sign on it that says 'Do Not Disturb'!"

Evening Out

Brenda and Tom are going out for the evening. The last thing they do is put their cat out. The taxi arrives, and as the couple walk out of the house, the cat scoots back in.

Terry returns inside to chase it back out. Brenda, not wanting it to be known that the house would be empty, explains to the taxi driver, "My husband is just going upstairs to say goodbye to my mother."

Several minutes later, an exhausted Terry arrives and climbs back into the taxi saying, "Sorry I took so long, the stupid idiot was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her with a coat hanger several times to get her to come out.

Miracle Fix

Fresh from the shower, I stand in front of the mirror, complaining to my husband that my breasts are too small. Instead of telling me it's not so, he comes up with a suggestion.

If you want your breasts to grow, then every day, take a piece of toilet paper and rub it between your breasts for a few seconds. Willing to try anything, I fetch a piece of toilet paper and stand in front of the mirror rubbing it between my breasts.

"How long will this take?" I asked. "They will grow larger over a period of years." my husband replied. I stopped. "Do you really think that rubbing a piece of toilet paper between my breasts every day will make them grow larger over the years?"

Without missing a beat, he says, "Worked for your butt, didn't it?" He's still alive and with a great deal of therapy, he may walk again someday.

Oil Spill

Yes,it definitely has been a long, long time since I posted anything on my blog. Indeed!!!! I've been thinking about it for some time now and decided to just do it. Procrastination! My number one fault and the story of my life, but more on that another day.


The news of President Obama losing his cool today sparked some thoughts on that subject.
Safeguards and regulations should been in place before anything like this ever happened.

The oil companies boast about stats where spills and mishaps have declined over the past many years, but that to me is no excuse. The devastation and damage done by the Exxon Valdez spill should have been a wake up call.

The oil companies have raped us for years and the governments of the world have been helping them by turning a blind eye, all for the sake of the mighty buck.


The heartache and grief as well as the hardships to come for the families of those killed and seriously injured in the Gulf of Mexico spill is so very sad, but the resulting devastation and economic chaos is going to be felt for generations and the big oil companies will continue to rake in the big money and nary a second of sleep will be lost by any of them. Greed will prevail.


The world needs to reduce it's energy consumption and dependency on oil. Global warming? That's just a myth, they say.

However, it's our children and grandchildren who will be left to suffer the consequences of that. That is, if the planet lasts that long. Enough said for now!