Late last night when many of you sane people were sleeping (and therefore not staring at your computers), Chris and I created a contest for all of you aspiring writers out there.  See the previous post for all the details of this fun little diversion, and find out how YOU can win fame and fortune (in the form of tbucks).

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about the details.  Have fun!

It's your big chance to win again.  The previous contest was won by my mother, who doesn't even have a blog, thus leaving the million tbucks available for another contest!  It could be YOUR lucky day.

The Challenge

Write a short piece using at least ten of the following words.  The form of the piece is your choice (poetry, short story, political satire - you get the idea).  The pieces will be justly judged on originality and interest to the mighty Nolan.  He will make the final decision.

The Words

dolt   &nb sp; jiffle   & nbsp; puny   &nb sp; mook   &nb sp; scrawny      natty

filthy   & nbsp; dunce   &n bsp; lachrymology  & nbsp;  "more secret"

fool   &nb sp; infidel      incendiary  &nb sp;  tedious      insidious

A Few Rules

1. 
   
   Keep it clean - remember Nolan will be judging, and in his world foul language is unbecoming and a sign of terminal ignorance!


2. 
   
   Deadline for submissions is midnight, September 22.  I will post frequent reminders about the contest, as we look forward to many entries.


3. 
   
   The first place winner will receive massive satisfaction and ONE MILLION tbucks.  Unless of course you don't have a tblog, do not let that keep you from entering (or entertaining), as you will still experience the glory of winning.

Good luck and happy writing!

Typos!  They lead to the most unusual discoveries!  While just trying to innocently type "Amazon" into Google, I accidentally hit enter with just the "AM" finished.  Among the sites listed was Coast to Coast AM (Art Bell, you know), and linked from that site was - are you ready?

Alienscalpel.com - "...the only website dedicated to the victims of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon"

Well huh.  Don't miss the Alien Implant Store, where you can buy the video called The Scientific Study of Alien Implants, the description of which is prefaced with "WARNING!!!!!!!  NOT FOR THE FEINT OF HEART."

If you are feint of heart, does that mean you've got got a heart that beats in a misleading manner?  I wonder.

Stay tuned for more exciting information.  I'm on a roll.

Here it is just about midnight and I really ought to be going to bed, but I went and drank Coke™ with dinner, what a dunce.  I sure like the new posting engine, because I don't have to think about how to put links in properly.  Now it's so much easier!!!  You can be sure I'll share many more interesting sites now that linking is such a breeze.

But for now, have you ever said the word "dunce" over and over?  How about "bleach"?  What strange words they are.  I'm very fond of words.  We're always coming up with good ones here, that we catch while reading or listening to the radio.  My favorite book for words is called There's a Word for It!, by Charles Harrington Elster.  I love to look through at all the great words, but I have a hard time remembering many off the top of my head.  I used to put new words on my other blog each week, I suppose I could do that here, too.

Only one week left until Nolan heads back to school.  His teacher will be posted just a few days before school starts, so it's still a mystery which class he'll be in.  We asked for a particular teacher who seems to run the most studious of the 5th grade classes.  Nolan will do best in a class that isn't full of the goof-offs.  I realize that every class has them, but if the number can be minimized that will be good.  Anyhow, he's looking forward to getting back to it, and so am I.  Not that I want to send him away, but it will be nice to be in the routine again.  I'm especially looking forward to returning to my volunteer work in his school library.  One of the first things we have to do is get ready several boxes of new books for the kids.  Just like Christmas!!

Next weekend we'll be heading over the the east side of the mountains to see my parents before they take off on a long trip to the east coast.  It will be nice to visit and relax for a couple of days.

Finally I'm starting to feel tired.  Good thing!  I have to go to work tomorrow!  I stopped by the library today, and due to a number of factors they weren't able to make much progress on the boxes of delivery.  I guess there won't be a lack of things to do tomorrow!!!  That's okay, I'll just go into zen mode and get as much done as possible.  I like the challenge, and trying to improve my efficiency.  Not much more I can do with that after four years plus.  I have a very particular system for doing my work depending on which station I'm working at.  Also, I'm amazed (and somewhat appalled) when I watch some of the other people working with total inefficiency.  Heck, there's alot of books to be moved, you'd think people would try to work smarter, not harder!  Oh well.  It's really none of my concern how others work, as long as I feel good about what I do.  And I do.

Great news - I'm not as sore today after working at the farm as I was last week!!!  It shouldn't take too long to get into weeding shape.  I'm so pleased to be working there.  I have the most awesome gardening tool, which I call my "hacker whacker."  Ooooh, I'm so please I found it, here's a lovely picture of a new one:

The beloved hacker whacker

And with that, good night.

Well it's just too bad that the comments are broken, because I was seriously expecting about a hundred comments on that last post.  If anybody can tell me where that comment about the lurking turkeys comes from, you will win 1,000,000 tbucks.  That's right, you saw correctly

one million tbucks!!!

Send a private message if the comments don't work.  This contest will last until we get a winner.  Good luck!

Boy oh boy, at the rate we're going now with this rain, we'll be wading to work tomorrow in puddles up to our knees!  No complaints here though.  While the sun is nice for a while, the endless dry days are hard to take.  Now everything is turning green again, and the air smells good.

The sudden grayness has made everyone tired though.  I've felt sleepy ever since it started raining on Saturday.  I guess my body hasn't quite adjusted to the change yet.

I just realized that I haven't reported on Nolan's trip to the Oregon coast with his dad.  They had a great time, and from what I gather the big highlight was sandboarding at the dunes.  Nolan enjoyed their stop at Sand Master Park, the world's first sandboarding park.  He did point out that it was very difficult to keep the park groomed, as sand has a tendency to move around alot.  Other highlights include:

• Getting stung by a jellyfish on the top of his foot


• Camping in expensive campgrounds


• Eating good food at a variety of restaurants, including the famous Pig & Pancake


• Wildlife sightings including two very large banana slugs, one of which looked like a leach


• Visiting the Seaside Aquarium and the Oregon Coast Aquarium


• Seeing a Fred Meyer's parking lot that was being overtaken by a sand dunes

Well, time to go be lazy for the evening.  Maybe I'll check back in later and fill you in on the rain.  Is it showers?  Just rain?  Deluge?  I'd better go see.

Sticks toe in water.......it seems to be working again.......

Let's hope technology holds out for a while!

Greetings from the land of WET!!!  Can you tell we are so happy to have rain?  Last night we even got one HUGE flash of lightning and a very loud crack of thunder.  Very exciting.  Allegedly more thunderstorms in the forecast for today, we'll see.  Right now it's just very windy but not raining.

Not much on the agenda today, except we may head out to the annual mountain man rendezvous nearby.  Last year Chris and Nolan checked it out while I was working, so I'm happy to go see it this year.  Seems like a nice activity for a gray Sunday.

Yesterday we watched Predator and the X-Files movie.  A couple of nice spooky movies promoting restful sleep.  Ha ha!  I had forgotten how hideous the creature in Predator was.  Ewwwww.

I've finished two beaded bracelets in the last couple of days.  Now that I'm back on a roll, I anticipate getting many done while we watch all our movies.  It feels good to make things again!  I also need to decide what to make for everyone for Christmas this year.  Think---think ---think.....

Not much else going on, just wanted to check in.  Apparently the comments aren't working, but I think you can send a "private" message if so inclined.  Hopefully they'll be back up and running soon.  I hope everybody has a great day, I'm sure we will!

Chris and I are just on a movie binge!!! Our selection for tonight and beyond:

• Hannibal


• The Ninth Gate


• The 13th Warrior


• Asoka


• The Fog of War

Now we just need to decide what to watch first!!!!  Tough choice, but we'll manage.

I talked to Nolan, too.  He had a wonderful trip and will be here at 10:00 tomorrow morning!  I can't wait!!!!!

Hooray!  Nolan should be arriving home sometime tomorrow from his trip to the Oregon coast with his dad.  I'm really looking forward to his return, and hearing about all his adventures.

In other news, the scorpion is doing fine.  We're all used to having him around now, even the cat.  And the great news is he's still alive!  Of course, that may not be great news to some of you that don't like creepy crawlies.

Last night Chris and I watched a very interesting documentary about Amish teens called The Devil's Playground.  Did you know that at the age of 16, Amish teens are allowed to go experience the outside world, so that they might make an informed decision about joining the Amish church?  I go through periodic bouts of researching the Amish and other Anabaptist religions (Mennonites, Quakers), and this time I'm actually learning some very interesting things.  I highly recommend this documentary to anybody that finds the Amish culture fascinating.  It was both shocking and sad, but at the same time I felt hope for most of the teens they spoke with.  Despite the exposure to the outside world and all of its sordid temptations, 90% of Amish teens eventually end up joining the church and swearing off the outside world.  Their culture may seem strange to those of us with no exposure to it, but obviously they are doing something right if they have that high of a retention rate.

If any of you have seen the show that's been on recently called Amish in the City I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts.  I've briefly looked at the website, but haven't watched any of the clips available there yet.  Personally, I'd rather watch city kids get sent to live with the Amish, but that's just me.  Remember that Frontier House is one of my all time favorites.

Time to head back to work - everybody have a lovely day!

And one more thing - the cauliflower steamed with hollandaise sauce was absolutely scrumptious!

It isn't painful to eat vegetables!

Chris and I are going to watch The Name of the Rose starring Sean Connery tonight.  We're up for a good bit of conspiracy.  And really, if you want a good conspiracy, read Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.  It's long, but really good!

Can any of you recommend any other good conspiracy novels or movies?  And pleeeeeeeease, NOT The DaVinci Code.  We've already done that one.

What a wonderful day at the farm.  I pulled weeds for three and a quarter hours, and brought home a lovely batch of fruit and veggies.  I even have some extra time banked for the future.

Today, my box had:  carrots, yukon gold potatoes, plums, green beans, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, apples, garlic, a green pepper, a zucchini, and a honedew melon!!  I'm getting ready to put some of it into the dehydrator.

I had forgotten how good it feels to work in the dirt.  All I did today was pull weeds along two rows of cauliflower, and I didn't even finish the rows.  But it's so great to be able to look behind and see the progress I've made as I move along.  And the time went by so fast!  When you're not paying any attention to anything but the task at hand, it's so easy to lose yourself in your work.  There was one other woman out there working; one of the homeschooling moms that comes to the library with her family.  It was nice to see her out there, and we chatted a little bit, but mostly she went about her work and I did mine.

I can already  how my body will be sore later, but that is quite alright with me.  It's such a wonderful reminder of how good it is to really get out there and WORK.

Here it is Wednesday already!!!  How can it be?  Chris' brother and his family are heading back to Montana today.  We had a nice visit with them last night.  The boys were wild and giggly, just as they should be at the end of a long vacation where they go to bed way later than normal.

Today I'm heading out to the organic farm to pull some weeds, and looking forward to it very much.  It will be nice to do something so zen for a while, and not have to worry about anything but what is a weed and what isn't.  I'll report back later on what kind of goodies I get to bring home in exchange for my work.

Finally, in case you were really worried about how the scorpion is doing, here's a picture Chris took last night.

Kitty carefully observes the scorpion

As you can see, Kitty is making sure that nothing happens to the scorpion.  She's such a good girl!!

Well, I'm off to start my day rolling!  Must make coffee.

Bet you thought we got eaten up by the scorpion because I haven't written in almost two days!  Well, we didn't!  I did dream last night that he got loose and was running across the floor, but I'm glad to say he's still safe in his enclosure.  I'll be writing more about him later, as well as all the other little creatures that inhabit his world.  Suffice it to say he is truly fascinating!

We've actually been very busy playing with Chris' brother and his family who are visiting from Montana.  They have two very bright little boys, ages four and three (17 months apart), who are great fun to be around.  We've been to the beach, gone to an arts & crafts fair, and gone out in a little boat to pull crab traps with them.  The boys are so excited by all the fun things we've done.  We bought the most awesome massage device at the fair.  Everyone should have one.

It is, however, time to hit the hay here at our house.  See y'all soon!

Okay, I know you all are just dying to hear about the scorpion again.  I promise I'll quite obsessing about it tomorrow, really. 

Here are some facts about scorpion care that I learned today:

• Misting once a day


• Enclosure temperatur e between 80 and 90 degrees


• Fresh water daily (you can pour from a little cup so you don't have to stick your hand all the way in)


• No direct sunlight


• 4 crickets and 3 mealworms, every two or three days; costs about 40¢ per "meal"

His enclosure temperature is on the low side, so I plugged in the heater that is underneath.  A black light heater stays on at all times.  He turns around under his little half-log shelter every now and then, so I know it isn't dead from the shock of moving.  My biggest concern is the enclosure either getting too warm or too cold for the little guy.  I'd be so bummed if something happened to it while Nolan is gone.

Nolan says it scrabbles around at night and makes enough noise to keep him awake sometimes.  I'm just waiting for it to dash out and eat a cricket, but the chances of actually seeing it happen are very low.  We're keeping the scorpion on our dining room table (great for dinnertime conversation).  There's also a beetle in the enclosure, which apparently hatched from some little worm that didn't get eaten.

The cat doesn't seem to be interested in it, and I don't know if she's even noticed it yet.  Fine with me if she ignores it, but I also don't think she could really do anything to it.  He lives in a fairly large aquarium tank, with a mesh covering.  No scorpions friends allowed in the bedroom, kitty!

Well friends, I think I'm going to go do some reading tonight.  Not sure what I'll end up reading, but I've got lots to choose from!  Blessings to you all, and have a great weekend wherever you might find yourself!

Nolan is slated to head off on another vacation tomorrow, and this time Chris and I will be petsitting his - SCORPION!!!  I'll have to keep you updated on how it goes, having such a cute, fluffy, little bugger in the house.  Hope he doesn't escape!!!

Emperor Scorpion, deader than Nolan's

I haven't done any internet quizzes lately, but here's one that's just a bit different than the rest:

i-Corp Personality Test

There are several versions of the quiz, so be sure to take it again and again!  I found it on the website for the documentary called The Corporation.  I haven't seen it yet, but hope to soon.  There's also a book that goes with the movie:

The Corporation:  The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, by Joel Bakan

Musicalhair has a nice post about this topic, which is what got me thinking about it.  I'm not going write at length about this today, but we really need to think about the role that corporations play in our lives from the most personal level to the national and international level.  Is this something you're comfortable with?

Boy, am I on a roll tonight!  I'm finding all of the good stuff.

The last website you will ever look at.

This is just what we needed today at the library!!!

THE AMISH LAPTOP!

How wonderful it would be if we didn't have to rely on the high-tech gadgets........

Today was just a great day at the library!  Early this morning, some pipes flooded all over the staff room, in the back work area, and into the circulation area.  There's even a big wet spot to greet people as they come in the front door!  Free carpet cleaning - oh boy!

But wait, it gets better.  The computers were down this morning too, and as it turns out completely unrelated to the flood!  Apparently our ISP had two T3 lines out, and things were back online right at 1:00, when I left for the day.  So there was no catalog, no circulation, and

NO INTERNET!

My goodness, how we survived I do not know.  You should have seen the broken looks on some of our regular internet user's faces when they realized there was no internet, and we couldn't tell them when it would be back!  By God they were forced to READ!!!  However did the world get along without computers?

I never really mind when the circulation goes down, even though we end up playing catch up for a while.  We'll still be playing catch up from this one on Saturday when I next go in, but that's okay.  No computers essentially means we can't return books (so we end up with several carts of books that need to be scanned), and although we can check books out all of the information has to be input into the circulation system when it's back up and running.  Some of it we wrote out by hand, and some of it we were able to scan into word for fun cutting and pasting later.

What fun!!!!  It always reminds me how much we rely on technology these days, and how very precarious that can be.  Nolan and I slept outside again last night, and I was appalled at the number of satellites I saw this time.  Every time I looked up and really paid attention, I could see one or two flying over, and occassionally more.  Have you ever stopped to think about how much we use computers for our everyday life?  Almost all money exchanging is done with some sort of computer involved, even at "convenience" stores.  Crazy if you ask me.  While I'm happy to sit here at our computer and blog away, I really think my life would be just fine with less electronic technology.  Probably better.

Thoughts, anyone?

I really hate the messages on the answering machine where the person on the recording acts like their your best friend, and sounds so cheery.  It's a recording, for crying out loud!  I don't know you, and don't want to know you.

Annoying.

Well, Nolan and I made it through the night in the backyard!  No raccoons or possums trampling us, or cats dropping mice on us as we slept!  We saw one very good shoorting star, and two satellites.  Our view of the sky wasn't very large, and there was a fair amount of light pollution, so overall it was pretty good.  Nolan told me all about his astronomical knowledge learned recently on a field trip to a planetarium, so that was great fun for me to listen to.  I woke up in the middle of the night, and saw two more shooting stars just before the sky clouded up.  We slept on a futon, so it wasn't exactly roughing it, either.

As for the satellites, I told Nolan if they were spy satellites they could probably see the boogers in his nose!  But chances are they were just television satellites.

Much to do today, so off we go!

Tonight Nolan and I are going to have a sleeping outside adventure!  The weather is still warm enough that we should be fine.  Now mind you, we live right in town, in a four unit apartment building (between two other apartment buildings) - so it's not like we're out in the country or anything.  Hopefully it will be dark enough that we can see some stars, and hopefully neighboring folks won't be too loud.  I think it's going to be great fun, myself.  Nolan is very excited and keeps asking if we can go to bed, but it isn't even dark yet.  We'll be setting things up when Chris gets home from the library.

Tomorrow will be a day of running errands and taking care of business for us.  I'm thinking we'll wash the car, which is sorely needed.  Usually we just go to the carwash, but it will be more fun to do it ourselves.  Nolan is looking forward to using the hose with the sprayer.

I'm looking forward to a visit to a local organic farm run by a woman who used to work at the library with me.  As it turns out, we can volunteer time helping on the farm (weeding, harvesting, etc.) in exchange for credit towards produce, eggs, or meat.  I'm very excited about this.  I used to do gardening work for a man here in town, and am missing it badly.  Lack of a garden is one of the things I dislike the most about living in an apartment.  I have my containers, and a small flower bed, but it just isn't the same.  Anyhow, I'm especially interested in the idea of bartering.

This is making me think of some topics I might blog about soon.  My posts haven't been terribly meaty lately, but there are quite a few things I'd like to write about.  But for now I'm signing off, so Nolan and I can start getting ready for our adventure.  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Well, okay, we're not actually having any lightning here.  Oh to be so lucky.  However, I wanted to share with you one of the coolest websites around:

Lightning Strike Map

At least we can live vicariously through others!!!  After I look at the lightning map, I like to look at this website:

NOAA Weather Map

I admit it, I'm a geek.  But I've always loved maps, and this site has all kinds of interesting maps if you take the time to explore.

Cheers!

Yeah, right!  It seems like summer is racing to an end too quickly.  Soon fall will be upon us, school will start (only four weeks), and there will be pumpkins everywhere!  Even with all the hot weather we're having, I noticed a certain chill in the air the other day that made me think of fall.

Where we are the weather tends to be fairly temperate, and there isn't a terribly extreme difference in the seasons.  But fall is always a wonderful time.  I love the crisp air, and the dried leaves blowing around in the wind.  There's something about the colors associated with fall, too, that have a special feel.

I guess I'm just getting tired of the summer weather here, and starting to look forward to a change.  Do you have a favorite season?  Do tell!

Hello hello, we are now getting back into the swing of things for another week.  It's going to be a busy one, with many projects around the house.

Our sunny weather returned over the weekend, and looking at the weather forecast it appears we'll have more hot weather through the week.  This is all fine and good, but it really starts to get old when you're not used to it.  Here in our neck of the woods, temperatures in the eighties don't usually stick around more than a week or two.  I think everybody's brains are getting fried.

Over the weekend, Nolan and I went to the Stillaguamish Festival of the River, and had a most excellent time.  The main reason we went was to hear the wonderful singer Dana Lyons.  Some of you may be familiar with his song, Cows With Guns.  Many of his songs are political and environmental, and they always remind me of what is important in the world.  The rest of the festival was nice, not crowded at all!  We saw a bit of the pow wow, looked at the arts and crafts booths, and ate Navajo fry bread for lunch.  Nolan bought a scorpion necklace - yet another indication that he's growing up!  It can be viewed in this picture (sort of) -

Italian soda all gone!

Well, that's about it for now.  Everyone have a great day!

Much better.  Kind of.

If it seems that the color of this blog is different every time you visit for the next couple of days, do not be disturbed!  I'm trying to find the perfect color combination, that shows the pictures nicely but still looks good.  We may go back to white, or find a completely different template.  Who know.  But please, let me know if any of the colors I pick are just hideous when you look.  I know that monitors differ, and don't want to scare anyone off.  I kind of like the gray.

The cat just stole my chair, and it's time for lunch now.  Mmmmmmmm.

Ahhhh, finally we are getting some much needed rain here.  It's not a lot, but the air is cool and fresh, and my garden plants are happy.

Yesterday I ate the second cherry tomato from my plant, it was delicious!  The exciting thing is that the plant is covered with little green tomatoes, so I can look forward to mor good eating soon.

Work beckons, so I must be going for now.  Ta ta, friends!

Nolan and I took a most wonderful hike today, and I've got pictures to share!  The weather was cool, cloudy, and we even got rained on a bit - perfect weather for our day.  The lighting was a bit odd, so it made for some tricky picture taking, but I'm really starting to get the hang of this camera.  Everything I see now I think of in terms of whether I might photograph it.  I'd still be out on the beach if I had my way, snapping photos and oblivious to the rest of the world.  And please excuse me, but I just can't help taking lots of pictures of rocks!

The most awesome thing we saw was the baby bat sleeping right next to the trail, no more than four feet off the ground.  Silly little thing.

Baby bat on a thistle by the trail!

Look out!

Beach, looking to the north

Rare northwest cactus!

A gray day

Seaweed on rocks!

Seaweed on rocks, closer!

Rocks, no seaweed (well maybe just a little)

Slump.

I am so excited to see the new blog posting engine!  Life is now simple and grand.  I sure hope it works....

Let's try a link.

Disco squirrels

Okay, that's it for now!  There's housework to be done.