1. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using the ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way. The glass in windows (even double pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

2. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "Uh-oh", it's already too late.

3. Brake fluid mixed with bleach makes smoke, and lots of it.

4. Shredded aluminum foil, when combined in a large plastic bottle with a brand of toilet bowl cleaner will explode if you put the cap on. A good thing NOT to tell kids.

5. A 6-year-old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year-old man says they can only do it in the movies. A magnifying glass can start a fire even on an overcast day.

6. Play Dough and Microwave should never be used in the same sentence.

7. Super glue is forever.

8. No matter how much gelatin you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water. Pool filters do not like gelatin.

9. VCRs do not eject peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

10. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

11. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving
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12. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

13. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

14. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earth worms dizzy. It will however make cats dizzy; cats throw up twice their body weight.

15. Bloggers would have an easier time hiding their "other" identity if they wouldn't use graphics from their own photobucket account in the "that's not me, I'm not a fake" blog.

A moment ago I had an internet connection. At the moment, while I'm writing this, I don't. There was a time when that would have bothered me. I would have been frantically watching the flashing light on the modem and gnashing my teeth when it didn't stay steady. It occurs to me that the change in my attitude regarding these little blips in the internet highway are a result of having them happen much less than before. Due to the phone company's failure to replace all of their telephone lines, my Verizon DSL didn't work as well as they claimed. Since having to make the change, I get much more reliable service with my satellite. I can come online when I want to, and not worry about getting bumped off and losing my connection on a daily basis. Into each life some rain must fall, however, I prefer it to not happen on a daily...nay...hourly basis.

It's pouring here, which has knocked out my satellite connection and I'm sitting here laughing. I looked out the window at the curtain of rain, saw how hard it was falling and heard "It's Raining Men" in my head. From a heterosexual female point of view that might not be a bad thing, however I'm married so I slipped in some Nickleback to clear the earworm out. So far it's working...sort of. I'm still laughing because although I'm not hearing the song, I'm just vegging out and thinking about the actuality of waking up some morning to find it actually did rain men. From where I'm sitting, it beats raining cats and dogs.

Despite my silliness, I am enjoying the soaking my garden is getting right now. I do wish it was coming down with less force. I'd love an all day gentle soaking for it. I can remember when we used to have those all day rains that were so nourishing rather than destructive they way they are of late. Now it seems we get torrential downpours that last awhile then tease you by stopping only to start up again just as hard. It honestly looks like a fog out there.

Our local volunteer fire department will not be overly happy about this. This is their Field Day weekend. For some reason it always is ungodly hot and humid for the first day, and then we have major storms on the last day. Today is not a day of major storms...yet, but when it begins to cool down some pretty severe thunderstorms could pop up. Probably about the time the fireworks are due to start.

Hubby and I usually go on Saturdays for the parade. As we age, it doesn't seem to us that we are all that interested in standing out in the heat and humidity to listen to bands and watch the fire trucks roll by. Some of the NYS fire departments have drum corps and drill teams that are really interesting to watch, but when it's 90 and the dewpoint makes it feel as if it's 100, I'm more inclined to stay indoors where it's air conditioned.

This rain will eventually cool things down and allow the cold front that really isn't all that cold to flow through and reduce the humidity. The rain will stop, I will again have an internet connection and be able to post this so I can share my laughter with you all. Might even hunt down a video of "It's Raining Men" just so we can have a sing along. Then you can amuse yourself with the idea that it could rain men, or women and decide for yourself which ones you might like to see fall from the sky onto your lawn. I've got dibs on Rob Lowe. You get your own fantasy.

Making choices for Saturday is sometimes a matter of actually making a decision to feature one artist or group that I love over another. I've worked for two days on this post because I simply couldn't make up my mind. I was groovin' in the 60's with the Spencer Davis Group last week so this week I looked for something a bit more current. I spent time listening to disco thinking maybe I'd find something there. I ventured into the club music and artists like Snap, Technotronic, C & C. Music Factory and nothing was really getting my attention. I was shakin' my booty but something was missing.

I took a break from my search and started thinking about Steve Winwood. He was the voice of the Spencer Davis Group, of the 70's group Traffic and then he went solo about 1980. I don't remember for sure, but it seems to me his popularity had slipped a bit while fronting for Traffic. He definitely came into his own when he went solo and released Higher Love. Everybody knew that Steve Winwood was back and better than ever.

I took another trip through youtube and listened. I found "Roll With It" first and as soon as I heard the door open in the beginning of the video I knew I'd found what I was looking for. Now this is booty shakin' music at it's finest.

Roll With It



Higher Love

It appears that Barack Obama should have done something besides promise his daughter that they'd get a dog...after the election. According to an AP-Yahoo poll, McCain is ahead 41% to Obama's 37% among pet owners. It seems that dog owners prefer their presidents to have...dogs, while cat owners just like the idea that a presidential candidate with a pet has shown himself capable of taking care of something. What walking the dog or cleaning the litter box has to do with being president eludes me at the moment. However with that large a response from pet owners, obviously it must have something to do with it.

As a cat companion, I suppose cleaning the litterbox is good preparation for facing all those presidential chores that are somewhat less than exciting. One might learn how to keep ones composure when faced with something that smells bad. I know it definitely breeds a strong stomach which might come in handy at Japanese state dinners. A presidential requisite I should think. Learning how not to gag might keep one from embarrassing the nation by vomiting on various heads of state.

Practice cleaning up the dog mess might also have a practical application during a presidential office term. I can't say that practice cleaning Sock's litterbox helped Slick Willy any when he created a few messes while in office. He did however learn that he might have needed a bigger litterbox than he had. With so many available for litterbox duty, it was very difficult for his mess to stay buried. Apparently he wasn't the one that did any of the poop scooping in the Clinton household. Based on her performance while running her primary bids for the nomination, Hiliary didn't have any litterbox expertise either.

George W, has 2 dogs and of course a few horses on that Texas ranch of his. He obviously hasn't any experience in the fine art of cleaning up pet messes either. He put a really big pooper scooper over into Saddam's litterbox and still couldn't dig up any WMD's. Nor could he keep any of his messes very well buried.

After thinking this all through, as far as I can see, all a presidential candidate, who happens to be a pet owner, knows how to do is delegate responsibility. It appears to me that they're a bit like cats...they have staff. Staff that doesn't seem to do some of their jobs very well either. One would think that someone considered to be presidential material would have better judgement. Especially if they're pet owners. Other pet owners apparently think they do.

It's interesting that among American voters, pet owners represent a majority. It's interesting that the majority of the pet owners are going to vote for McCain over Obama simply because Mr. Obama hasn't shown himself capable of taking care of anything by owning a pet. As a pet companion, I personally have never voted for a candidate on the strength of his pet ownership. I believe there are some considerations of more importance, however I appear to be in the minority, according to this poll.

I guess we'll have to wait until November to see if pet ownership sways the decision. The idea rather makes me shake my head, but I do suppose it can't be any worse a criteria than Florida's hanging chads. Still, I plan on voting for the candidate most likely to keep at least 25% of his campaign promises. I'd prefer all of them but I live in the real world. The world where politics are not as pure as the driven snow and where campaign promises are made to be broken. On the other hand, whether Obama becomes president or not, his daughter will be getting a dog. He told her they would do so after the election not after he won the election. Since that doesn't seem to be a campaign promise, I'm sure it's a promise that will be kept.

Since this is a first attempt, on our part, at growing an actual veggie garden I have to say I'm pleased. We got it in later than we should have, the soil isn't as good as it should be, and watering is a major chore, however, things are growing. I need to qualify that and say most things are growing. The peas didn't, which I now know has to do with the lateness of the planting. They like cold soil for germination. So, we learned something.

Half of the brussel sprouts and broccoli are doing well. The seeds for the other half appear to have been scratched up and eaten by something. Squash, tomatoes, and beans are growing like wildfire and have started to blossom. Hubby enlarged the garden to a 10 by 30 foot and planted other things like onions, carrots, cabbage, TURNIPS which he doesn't like but I do. YUM! I think he also put in radishes and scallions somewhere but I am not sure about that. The spinach didn't grow either but the bibb lettuce is coming up. Now I just have to hope that the heads don't blow apart when we pick them.

The rabbits are leaving it alone thanks to the used kitty litter border. The neighbor cats are helping that along nicely as well. I keep finding Tasha, the lilac point siamese kitty, belonging to my one of my neighbors curled up in there. She's keeping the mice out I think. So far she's leaving the plants alone. She just follows me around the rows when I'm weeding and talks to me. Sometimes I wish I knew what she was saying.

I picked up a book at a garage sale for a dollar. Wish I'd had it earlier as it's been a real help in the process. It has helped me distinguish the veggie plants from the weeds so I know which to get rid of. Like most soil that isn't in the best of condition, weeds grow very well. There just wasn't enough compost for the size of garden we have, so some additional fertilizer was used. Next year we will have better compost. It also explained what happened to the peas.

The biggest problem I'm having is the grass that seems to be growing around the plants. I keep pulling it and it keeps coming back so there's a lot of work to this. Today I installed some of the tomato cages so the plants will have support. I spent some of the time laughing at myself while doing it. These cages are almost 5 feet tall. At the moment the plants are 18 inches to maybe 2 feet tall. Looks silly out there, but the plants will be supported so that no tomatoes will lie in the dirt, I hope.

I don't want to rush through summer, but I am looking forward to seeing what we do get when it's time to harvest. My grandmother always used to say there was "many a slip twixt the cup and the lip" so I don't want to be counting my chickens..er..I should say veggies, before they mature. I wonder if anyone has my Grannie's recipe for chili sauce, from the looks of it, the tomatoes will be abundant. I hope.

This garden has been a good experience for Hubby and myself. We work together on it and it gives us time to share our thoughts. Something that computers and TV can't do. A little exercise in the evenings doing the work, a cold glass of sweet tea and some time sitting on our deck sharing a laugh until the mosquitos come out.  All in all a very good experience for both of us.