Among my other complaints is the fact that my Followers gadget doesn't work.  Neither do any of the spots it mentions them anywhere else.  Hence... while I know I have some, I don't know who they are...

So, since I can't contact you directly; if you want to keep on Following (ha) and would like the address for my new blog, please let me know.

Dear Readers.

I don't like google any more (this is an aesthetic criticism, not a political one!) so I am making a new blog hosted by someone else.

For those of you who may be inclined to sniff and say to yourselves, "She just doesn't like change!" I'd like to mention that I did wait to see if I got used to it.  If you look at my posts, you will see one a while back commenting on the state of the new google scroll bar.

There are other problems as well (disappearing menu items, impossible to see check boxes, just plain ugliness...)  The more I have used it, the less I have liked it.  So, sez I to myself, There are other people in the world besides Google!  If I don't like their stuff any more, I don't have to use it!

Now I am having fun creating a new background look in preparation for starting the new one out.  :)

U.S. Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, has never been any great fan of President Barack Obama, but took to Facebook today to answer the question of what, if anything, he could praise about the president. His answer included a complaint that thanks to rising gas prices, it now costs $70 to fill up his 2008 Hummer H3. Is it really a good idea to use your Hummer to argue gas prices are too high?




Hm.  I admit I do find it a bit difficult to feel sorry for Mr. Rep. West.  

Republican Debaters
http://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-errant-claims-auto-bailout-taxes-023532052.html

A thought I appreciated from listening to Keith's funeral.

Mary said in Luke 1 - "He that is mighty hath done to me great things."  There are many thousands of people praying, sometimes many times a day, that God would do great things for them.  But how often are we praying that he would do great things /to/ us?

My scrabble app is clearly not North Dakotan.  It refuses to admit 'OOFDA' is a word!  The nerve.

"One of the main problems with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

I think that goes along pretty well with "I know that you believe you understood what you think I said, but I'm pretty sure that what you heard was not what I meant."

Dear Mister Google:

I don't like your new scroll bar.  It's ugly and it's hard to find.

Sincerely,

the Luggage & Co.

Lowest Annual Salary for Homemakers...

If you were out doing the things you do for your family, for hire.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/much-homemaker-worth-182358580.html

I've been meaning to post these for a little while, and forgetting.

*  "If I had today only what I thanked God for yesterday - what would I have?"

*  Young boy in his testimony saying, "Me and my dad were reading..."  Such a nice picture - Dad reading the Bible with his son.

This is totally unimportant, but exciting in a minor, geek-like way, nonetheless.
Having successfully jailbroken my ipod, I figured out how to put pictures on the background on all the screens!

On the subject of never being satisfied, instantly upon succeeding with that, I began to want a different picture on the home screen than on the rest.... ;)

How to Beat a Moose

• Buy one candy bar of the near-3-oz size.  Preferably 70% chocolate content (or darker).  Mint-flavored is very nice.
• Put ice in a large bowl.
• Put a small bowl inside the large bowl, on the ice.
• Pour water into large bowl so that ice water comes half-way up small bowl's sides.
• Put candy bar in kettle.
• Add 1/3 cup water to kettle with chocolate in it.
• Melt water and chocolate together.
• Pour melted chocolate (and water) into small bowl.
• Whisk like fury.
• Stop whisking when chocolate (and water) is the consistency of soft whipped cream, or thick, home-made chocolate frosting.  It shouldn't run off the whisk.  (*Edited in to say it shouldn't run off the whisk too much.  We've discovered in practice that the amount of chocolate in the bar relative to the amount of Other Ingredients makes a big difference.  Orange-flavored Lindt bars don't work at all.  But if it's still runny, it may set up quite nicely in the fridge.  And if you whip too much and it gets solid on you, you can still eat it, though it will be dry.  But you can also scrape it back into the kettle, rewarm it, and try again.)
• Dump out water and melting ice.
• Pour chocolate mousse into small bowls.  
• Refrigerate as long as possible until temptation is too great to resist.
• Eat.

For those of you who would like to watch a demonstration, as well as listen to a nice chemical explanation in a pleasant British accent, the following you tube video provides such.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g28-9NVUHj0

Seriously, best mousse ever.

Would anyone care to tell me what having a utility bill has to do with getting a driver's license?  I'm a bit peeved with my favorite state in the Union.  Apparently, a social security card and a previous driver's license are no longer enough to prove that you're a citizen; you now have to bring proof in the form bills, rental agreements, pay stubs or... a hunting or fishing license.  

What about people in this uncertain economy who have moved home to live with their parents as adults and aren't paying rent?  Who have been laid off from their jobs?

What about people who have lost their homes and are living out of cars?  

You can't be a citizen unless you're rich?  

Information gleaned from various conversations:

If you are rushing someone to the hospital for an urgent matter (not via ambulance), call and let them know you're coming.

I want to mention a little program I saw mentioned in the Reader's Digest, and tried last night.  It is called f.lux (you can google to find the website; I don't remember it off-hand).  And what it does is change the tint of your computer screen from blue spectrum to more amber colored.
 
It also has the effect of making the screen seem less glaringly bright.  During the day, I don't notice my screen being either blue or too bright; but at night, I am always feeling like it glares and I can't get it dim enough to look at comfortably.  But this handy little program fixed both of those problems for me.  :D  It leaves your screen normally colored during the day, it says, and changes the tint as it gets dark (judging when that is by where you live).

And it's free.  :)

I have mentioned this in passing before (though possibly not here), but I am feeling moved about it again.  Canada geese are really ... well, let's just say that if you grew up firmly believing in geese who flew south for the winter, you would be sorely disappointed by these.

Now that it's fall, they do seem to have some vague notion that they should be doing something.  Flying.  Somewhere.  So you will see long skeins of them V-ing across the sky in proper goose fashion.  So far, so good.  The problem comes in if you watch them for a little while.

This V is flying vigorously in a southwesterly direction.  Over there, another V is coming ... going northwest.  They pass each other, honking happily, and about 10 peel off from one V to join the other.  10 or so more take off entirely on their own, veering around until they're heading almost straight north.  I guess you get to pick whose navigator you like best!

Eventually, they start to circle - and will land on the river.  The same river they took off from - and probably not all that far from where they started, either.  They do this for the next couple of months, on into the winter (at which point, I can only guess that it's become calisthenics, not migration).

On the other hand, it does have some benefits.  Next spring, they'll have a head start on housekeeping over any geese foolish enough to actually buy into that rumor that they are supposed to go south.

I would like to report that my tooth care regimen:
*floss
*brush
*eat lots of really dark chocolate
has passed its first test with flying colors.  Three years with no dental appts whatever, no cleanings, no nothing - and no cavities.
Go Chocolate!

Am now back in Great Falls, the richer by 2 small agates (one sent home with Dad for polishing) and numerous memories.  We stopped by the Blackfoot river on the way up, and spent half an hour or so 'stretching our legs'.  ie: wandering the gravel bars of the river looking for rocks!  Whee.

Dad and I listened to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the way over; I think rock hunting would fit right in.  Possibly under Strange Rituals.  "... consists of people walking silently around a pebbly plain, staring at their feet.  Occasionally, they bend over to pick something up, look at it, and throw it away again..."

I was wishing the whole way over that we'd thought how brilliant an idea it would have been to drive the truck and bring Mom and Dad's new kayaks!  When you have a kayak in mind, there is water everywhere!  Nearly...  There was certainly water all over the place on our road, begging to be paddled through.  However, it's a good thing we didn't, because the trip would have taken much longer, and not nearly so much would have gotten accomplished.

From 68 (and damp) to 86 (and dry)... I am finally warm.  Clearly, I have finally lived out in MT and WY long enough to get used to the weather - this is the first time I remember going home and being cold.  In the summer!!  Being too hot is a far more common occurrence in my life.

Yes.... Yes, I am still alive, though I dare say some of you begin to wonder.  I had a lovely time in Washington.  After conventions, I had some time with my folks who have bought a new house recently.  We went through boxes, recovered chairs, hung up pictures... and went to the beach and kayaking!

I saw someone kite-surfing for the first time.  It looked like fun - and like a lot of very extremely hard work.  I think it would be harder than surfing from what I could tell watching, because it seems like not only do you have to keep your balance on the waves which are coming ashore, but you also have to keep your balance against the wind, which was blowing at an angle along the beach and would snatch the kite away - and you with it.  The man we watched fell once, but then he got up again and zig-zagged down the shoreline.  The kite they use is enormous - and doesn't have any solid structural parts at all!  Even the ribs are only hollow tubes that they fill with air until they are rigid.  Hook said kite to your harness (being sure to put on your wet suit first), hop onto snowboard looking deal, grab handle and away you go.

Truthfulness in politics?  An oxymoron, likely.  http://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-perry-romney-twist-records-debate-021556685.html

And we are here.

It rained solid from Billings to Sidney. This was a Western Washington in November rain - complete with chilly temperatures and solid grey skies. Yes, we were really glad to see it stop. No, the sun isn't out - it just stopped raining. Yes, there are puddles and ponds everywhere. No, the farmers aren't getting very much done re planting things.

Need some water anyone? We'd be glad to share.