Boo 2

     Scary stuff wasn't so scary fifty years ago.  We didn't have "Poltergeist," and "Paranormal Activity" and all those "Dateline" shows that take you into the minds of serial killers.  We had cheesy horror movies like "The Fly."  We also had cheesy TV hosts that introduced the late night fright fests.
     Does anybody remember Roland (pronounced Ro-land, with the accent on the second syllable)?  I lived for those nights I was able to stay up late to watch "Shock Theater."  Roland had a lab assistant named Igor.  We named our English Bulldog after Igor.  John Zacherle is the real life person behind Roland.  He's still alive and looks darned good for being age 94.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zacherle

John Zacherle as Roland

     And what about Stella?  "Saturday Night Dead" aired after "Saturday Night Live" from 1984 to 1990.  The hostess, the "Maneater from Manayunk," was Karen Scioli.  I just friended her on Facebook.
http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/bp/karenscioli.html

Karen Scioli as Stella

     I also got a kick out of Mystery Science Theater.  This show was on the air until 1999.  Though there are still horror hosts introducing B-movies in some areas of the country,  the genre is gone from local broadcasting.  I miss it.  I'd give a whole bag of candy to the person who comes to my door dressed up as Roland or Stella.
   
       
         

Sandy

     I hope you charged up the laptop, netbook, ipod, or iPhone.  At the very least, I hope you have some fresh batteries in that big, old boom box that collects dust on the shelf in the garage.  We're stuck inside for at least two days and it's time to rock.

          The Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXLfsJDEWGY

          Neil Young - Like A Hurricane  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeaGThqYgkc&feature=related

         Alice Cooper - Hurricane Years  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYjzvchPPo

     This one is for Christian Thoma, CCR's biggest fan in France -
          Who'll Stop the rain?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPan-rEQJA

     And since I really go way back  - The Hollies - Bus Stop - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGjSQmKqos   Today, that umbrella would be inside out and the bus wouldn't come.
     How about The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3rnxQBizoU
     Stay safe, stay inside.  The nice thing is you don't have to stay sober.  Wine goes nicely with hurricanes.  They're predicting the sun will finally shine on Saturday.  I'll see you outside for the clean up.



   

Smells of Rats

     That's how Mma Makutsi described bush tea in the third book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.  I just finished Book #6.  It's high time I tried some bush tea.  But where do you get the stuff?  It's not on the shelf at Shop Rite.
     According to what I read online, bush tea, red tea, or rooibos tea is full of antioxidants and is caffeine free.  The tea is brewed from the oxidized leaves and stems of the rooibos shrub.  This is a broom-like plant that reminds me of the scotch broom plants you can buy at Lowe's.  Once red tea was popular only in southern Africa.  Now it has caught on around the world.  In fact, the best quality tea is exported, leaving the lesser blends for the locals.  The taste of bush tea is described as nutty, fruity, even citrusy.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos

Rooibos plants

 

Red Tea

     I decided to check with my favorite online tea merchant, Mighty Leaf Tea Company.  They sell pure, organic rooibos tea, so I placed my order.  http://www.mightyleaf.com/index.cfm
     I approached my pouch of tea like a CSI.  It was reddish brown.  I inhaled deeply.  It smelled like the loose tobacco my grandfather used to roll his own cigarettes.  I didn't detect the odor of rodents.  The directions specified one rounded teaspoon of loose tea per 12 ounces of boiled water.  I threw the tea in a teapot and poured in the hot water.  After five minutes, I poured the red liquid through a strainer and into a mug.  I sipped.  It had a nice, smooth, mild taste.  It tasted like unsweetened tea.  I added some honey and enjoyed this new tea experience.
     For just a moment I felt like a No. 1 Lady Detective taking a break from sleuthing.  I did solve a mystery of sorts - the great bush tea mystery.  Now I know how it looks, smells, and tastes. There's no mystery though when it comes to the power of reading.  Books open up whole new worlds.  They expand your horizons until you can see all the way to Africa.    
   

Yes, Master

     If you read yesterday's blog entry, you know I don't read my Bible.  Rachel Held Evans has been reading the Good Book.  She decided to live for one year according to the Bible's rules for women.  She blogged about it.  Then she turned the blog into a book.  http://shine.yahoo.com/photos/rachel-held-evans-woman-living-slideshow/-photo-2524083-181000106.html#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Frachel-held-evans-woman-living-slideshow%252F-photo-2524073-181000767.html
     Ms. Evans, a self proclaimed liberated woman, says she performed a lot of "crazy stunts" during her year long experiment.  In the end though, she says she really wanted to get at how we interpret and apply the scriptures.  Some of her stunts included:
          1) Not cutting her hair for the entire year
          2) Sewing her own clothes
          3) Setting up a jar into which she deposited pennies whenever she gossiped, nagged, complained, or engaged in anything other than polite conversation
          4) Sitting on the roof of her house for one minute for every infraction that caused her to put a penny into the jar
          5) Sleeping in a tent during her monthly period
          6) Learning how to celebrate and cook for the Jewish holidays
          7) Ordering a mechanical baby (Ms. Evans is childless) in order to explore the Bible's directions for motherhood
          8) Addressing her husband as "Master"
          9) Holding a sign proclaiming her husband as "awesome" as she stood on a highway at the entrance to her town
     Evidently, that hair issue sure is a big deal with God and man.  Shortly after Mike and I got married, I cut my hair.  Mike begged for me to grow it back.  Since, in my case, short hair was a lot more work than long hair, Mike got his wish.  I sewed my clothes in high school, but these days, it's cheaper to go to Kohl's.  There wouldn't be enough pennies in my change purse to feed a penny jar.  I'm pretty good at keeping gossiping and nagging to a minimum, but swearing and complaining occur quite frequently.  I wouldn't have a problem standing on the corner of Rt. 38 and the Rt 541 By-Pass holding a sign proclaiming Mike awesome.  It is what it is.  I don't know about addressing Mike as "Master."  He might laugh it off.  But what if he gets a fifty-shades-of-grey kick out of it?

      
   
   
     

Boo!

     I'm all out of ideas this year, but I threw a fun Halloween luncheon last October.  The food was standard fare - no eye of newt or slimy stuff.  The decorations were dollar store chic.

Dollar store ravens and rubbery bats hung with fishing line added that certain something to the dining room fixture.

I wrapped old wine bottles with strips of  fabric to "mummify" them.  Those glue on eyeballs are fun. We kept it non-alcoholic and drank mulled cider. The black goblets are from the dollar store.  You can't really see the centerpiece.   It's a bunch of dead silk  roses from the clearance bin at Michael's.  I had to pay full price for a big black and silver bow.  Darn it!   

     Mulled Cider - I heated up a half gallon of cider, added a couple of tablespoons of cinnamon, about a teaspoon of ground cloves, and a teaspoon of ground nutmeg.  I added a sliced up orange and simmered for about 20 minutes.  When it cooled to the point of being nice and warm, I transferred it to the wine bottles.

I bought the black sheer fabric with flocked bats at Joann.  I layered it over a beige table cloth. I made the purple napkins from 100% cotton, also from Joann.  I had 40% off coupons, of course.

     Halloween is the one time of year I can let my true nature out.

     It was a little toil, not much trouble, and a really fun afternoon.

Message in a Film Canister

     On September 8, 2012, hiker Larry Wright found a message in a film canister while hiking in Sequoia National Park.  Mr. Wright began looking for Tim Taylor, the 13 year old boy who wrote the message in 1972.  
http://news.yahoo.com/hike-becomes-quest-writer-decades-old-letter-193624434--abc-news-topstories.html
By October 8, 2012, Larry Wright and Tim Taylor, now a 53 year old San Diego County Superior Court judge, had connected, thanks mostly to the story getting out on the internet.  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/10/hikers-note-brings-two-families-together-40-years-later.html  Since the mountain peak where Mr. Taylor left his message, and Mr. Wright found it, is unnamed, Mr. Taylor was hoping that it might be designated Taylor-Wright Peak.  That would be nice.
     People have been tossing messages into the unknown for more than 2,000 years.  The Greeks tossed messages in bottles into the Mediterranean in 310 B.C.  They wanted to prove that the Mediterranean Sea was fed by waters from the Atlantic Ocean.  The English navy used messages in bottles to report sensitive military information.  Queen Elizabeth I established the position of "Uncorker of the Ocean Bottles," making it a crime, punishable by death, for anyone but the Uncorker to open these military communiqués.  The oldest message in a bottle ever found was thrown into the ocean in 1914 and discovered 98 years later in 2012.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_in_a_bottle
     Modern communication has made the world a smaller, knowable place.  Bottle lobbing (or film canister dropping) is a romantic activity these days - people just want to connect with other people.  Here are some very interesting stories of what can happen when we rely on the cosmos to make a connection:  http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/36541.html     Literature, movies, and music have used the bottle tossing theme.  Nicholas Sparks wrote a novel titled Message in a Bottle, and Kevin Costner played the lead in the movie based on the book.  The Police had their first hit song in 1979.  You guessed it - "Message in a Bottle."
     If you are a traditionalist and you need a few pointers, there is a website that teaches how to properly prepare a bottled dispatch.  http://www.ehow.com/how_4431974_send-message-bottle.html  On the other end of the spectrum, there is Virtual Ocean, a website that allows you to cast your message into their site, Facebook, and Twitter.  From there, it's anybody's guest who might pick it up.  Some people scrawl messages on bathroom walls.  Others write on dollar bills.
     I like the idea of sending messages up attached to helium filled balloons.  It's a game of chance, and I think balloon messages might have a better chance of being found.  I found just such a balloon a few years back.  I put fear of ticks aside and crawled into some shrubs along the side of the road to retrieve a deflated yellow balloon.  The attached tag contained information that this balloon was released by a second grader at a Pennsylvania school.  There was a request that the finder return the tag along with naming the location where the balloon landed.  Also requested - the name of the finder's favorite book.  I began to feel the heavy weight of adult responsibility.  What should I say was my favorite book?  When we were kids in Sunday School, we were strongly encouraged to say our favorite book was the Bible.  To have said that when I was a child would have been a lie, and it would be just as big a lie to say it as an adult.  Second graders are smarter than when I was a kid.  They don't read that boring Dick, Jane and Sally stuff.  They have probably grown tired of the Dr. Seuss books they have been hearing since their daycare days.  What book could I, an adult, select to which a second grader could relate?  I decided to say my favorite book was the dictionary.  All you need to use the dictionary is a little phonics background to help in locating words.  This lexicon would shed meaning on the many words a second grader might not know.  It would contain proper spelling, synonyms, and antonyms.  The dictionary could be used for playing word games with friends.  I decided to let the kids figure this one out on their own: the dictionary was a place where you could obtain juvenile amusement by looking up words like "ass" and "damn."
     I enjoyed this opportunity to be someone's cosmic muffin.  The dictionary is still my favorite book.  I use it for just about every blog entry.  These days it contains a lot more slang and swear words.  I'll bet you can find the definition of "wussy" in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster.
       

Solving The World's Problems

     There are always people out there who are hard at work solving the world's problems.  Izhar Gafni, an Israeli industrial designer and amateur cyclist, has just completed a successful prototype of a cardboard bicycle.  The bike goes into production in a few months.  This bicycle is strong, weatherproof, and will cost about $20.00.  Since production grants to factories and advertising on the bikes in the form of decals will bring production costs down to zero, the $20.00 price would go to the retailers handling the bikes.  Most of the time, the two-wheelers would be handed out for free.  The bikes also have a mounting for an electric motor that operates on a daily charging.  The cardboard bike could eliminate a lot of traffic and pollution in cities.  It would be especially welcome in poor places like Africa where people desperately need cheap transportation.  http://news.yahoo.com/cardboard-bicycle-change-world-says-israeli-inventor-090732689.html

The cardboard is cut and layered in a special way, then soaked in organic materials that make it waterproof and fire resistant.  Finally, it's coated with lacquer paint.

     I don't have engineering skills or a science background.  I don't have a ton of money to throw at a social problem.  I am, however, full of ideas.  My blog entry from July 23, 2012 featured a competition for one square meter houses.

Knowing about these small houses, and also knowing that Nanook lived snugly in an igloo, gave me an idea.  Could the problem of homeless people freezing to death be solved by either passing out portable shelters or setting up these shelters in an open area?
     There was a local homeless guy who kept all his worldly goods in a rolling Rubbermaid® tote. Wouldn't it be possible to increase the size of this container on wheels, add some insulation between the two plastic walls, and add an air vent?  Wouldn't it even be possible to run some electric heating elements through the walls or floor of the container so that it could be plugged in like an electric blanket?  These lockers would be a snap to keep clean - just use a little disinfectant and hose them out.
     A couple of people have suggested housing the homeless in dog houses.  This idea was met with plenty of opposition.  Some say it's demeaning to put a human in a large dog house.  One guy raised the roof of a dog house, thinking the structure would be less demeaning, and he was told that his new building looked like an outhouse.  That design was also too demeaning for human habitation.  The proponents of dog house living suspect that the real reason politicians refuse to embrace this solution is because no one wants the homeless in their community.  If it's too cold, and a few homeless people die on a freezing night, maybe all the homeless will move on.

http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-12-21/news/dp-nws-tamara-cold-1222-20101221_1_doghouses-homeless-man-empty-house

http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-12-30/news/dp-nws-tamara-doghouse-1231-20101230_1_doghouse-blankets-jim-rudisill

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-04-23/news/mn-1752_1_doghouse-homeless-man-shelter

     I know, from working twenty-five years at the Board of Social Services, there are quite a few homeless people in Burlington County.  Most of them want to get back into a standard housing situation - an apartment or a house.  However, there are people who will never live under a roof. You'll never be able to coax them to come in from outside.  Maybe these folks could pick up a portable shelter at a county facility, use it for as long as they want, and return it when they no longer need it.  This has to be better than huddling under a wet blanket inside a cardboard box. Does anybody else see any merit to this idea?


   

I Thought I was a Big Hit in Russia

     One of the most fun things about blogging is reading your statistics.  Blogger.com provides all sorts of information, such as how many people read the blog, which entries are most popular, and the types of things people search that lead them to stumble upon the blog.  They even show you the countries of the world where people are reading your online writings.  It doesn't surprise me that I have ten people in France who read Happy in Hainesport.  They are my cousins.  Every month I pick up about a dozen readers from places like Australia, India, Germany, and Trinidad and Tobago.  I have noticed that people find me by googling "kumihimo" and "can you catch a bear with a tampon," so I assume this is how I snare the occasional Tobagonian.
     So, why are all these Russians tuned into Happy in Hainesport?  Blogger tells me I have more than sixty Russians in my audience.  Since only about one hundred Americans read the blog, the number of Russians is a statistical anomaly.  Has the word gotten out in the the former USSR that Hainesport is one of the finest places on earth?  Do members of the fast growing Russian middle class want to vacation in Las Vegas as I did?  Or do they just want to sew a new ironing board cover?  I decided to look into this.
     I found out those dastardly Russians (more accurately those dastardly Russian machines - there are no humans viewing the blog) are up to no good.  In some cases they are looking for email addresses so they can spam.  Other times they steal blog content for use on their blog sites. Some bloggers consider this positive if there is a link back to the original blog site, but the link back to the real author is often missing.   In that case, the blogger has been robbed.  In almost all cases, the Russian site posting the stolen material is generating advertisement revenue from the articles they hijack.
     Some people pay to block Russian spammers.  They use things called "plug ins" to get the job done.  Just about the time I caught on to the Russians, they disappeared.  I read that the Russian page views can disappear if you refuse to click on any links in your statistics log.  Ignore them, and they will go away.  Isn't it comforting to know that, even in the cyber world, the old wisdom still holds true?            
   
     

Dumela, Mma

     Dumala, mma.  Or, "Good morning, sister."  That's the traditional greeting used when you approach a lady in Botswana.  For a man, it's, "Dumela, rra."   
     I've been reading the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith.  The books are entertaining, relaxing to read, and full of information about a country the characters consider to be the best place on earth .  There are thirteen books in the series.  I'm on the third, so I have many hours of reading ahead of me.  HBO and BBC made a television series out of the books.  Those DVD's are available at the library.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No._1_Ladies'_Detective_Agency
     I went to Botswana a few years back.  I spent nine days living in fancy tents and going out at dawn and dusk to look at wild animals.    I had a fantastic time, but I wasn't exposed much to the local culture.  I didn't even have a mug of bush tea, the drink that Lady Detective Precious Ramotswe enjoys so much.  One night we had pumpkin for one of our dinner sides, though.
     Here are some pictures of my adventure:

The Okavango Delta

This is a termite mound.  And you thought termites were a problem in New Jersey.

Elephants sharpen their tusks on the trunks of bilbao trees.

  

I admit it.  The lion sitting next to the back wheel made me a little nervous.

An Elephant at Brunch

What if you have to pee?  You tell your guide that you need to check the tire.  After squatting behind the vehicle, you put your used tissue in a zip lock and take it back to the toilet in camp. 

He'll need a couple of his homies to take down a camp buffalo.

That's all folks.

Good night.

     This was a once in a lifetime adventure.  Mma Ramotswe and Alexander McCall Smith make me want to go back to experience the real Botswana, though.

Hallmark Card Contest

     Creative writing, blogging, and now the Hallmark greeting card contest - the things I won't do trying to become famous!  Mike and I just submitted entries for the All About Pets contest. Hallmark might be looking for pets that are alive and kicking in this present day, but we chose to make our cards from old family photos.  Take a look and tell us if you think we might have a winner.

Inside message: Happy birthday.  Will there be pony rides?

Inside message: The one on the right is cuter.  Congratulations on your new fur baby.

Inside message: Thanks for making me feel like royalty while the folks were away.

Inside message: That first step is a doozy.  Good luck with your pet adoption.  

Inside message: Don't let another birthday get your goat.

Inside message: Keep looking.  The gift has to be somewhere.

Runcible Spoons

     I attended a memorial service this morning for my friend's mother.  I never knew the deceased,  but her family did a fine job of celebrating her life.  By the time I left, I thought I knew her very well.  I learned that she was a crafty woman who loved to knit and sew.  She hated bad grammar.  She believed in hard work and thrift.  She was patient and practical.  She had a deep faith in God.  One of the things I found most interesting was her love of the poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat."  She had committed it to memory, and she entertained children by reciting it.  Her own daughters heard it so many times, they might have rolled their eyes a few times during their teenage years.
     Edward Lear published "The Owl and the Pussycat" in 1871.  Like nursery rhymes and "Alice in Wonderland," the poem is an example of nonsense literature.  This type of literature defies language conventions by using made up words like "runcible" and "bong-tree."  Events in the poem also defy logical reasoning.  Animals can't talk, and birds and cats don't get along.
   

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea     In a beautiful pea green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money,     Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above,     And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,       What a beautiful Pussy you are,           You are,           You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

II

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!     How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried:     But what shall we do for a ring?' They sailed away, for a year and a day,     To the land where the Bong-tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood     With a ring at the end of his nose,           His nose,           His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose. III 'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling     Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.' So they took it away, and were married next day     By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince,     Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,     They danced by the light of the moon,           The moon,           The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.

     So why was this bit of silly verse the favorite of a woman who was more about good sense than nonsense?  It's true that a little whimsy is necessary when you're bringing up children.  In this case though, "The Owl and the Pussycat" might have been her mantra.  My friend had to laugh when she told us that her mother even recited it when coming out of anesthesia.  I'll bet my friend's mother was in favor of inter-species marriage, and taking a 366 day honeymoon before making things official.  I am absolutely certain she would love to attend a wedding officiated by something other than the usual kind of cleric.  I am also certain that she's dancing tonight by the light of the moon.

Boon Companions

     Did you hear about Joseph Katz and Al Spiegal?  These two guys just celebrated their 100th birthday together.  They have been celebrating together for the past 91 years.  They met in elementary school, and their friendship has continued through childhood, marriage and raising families, careers, and retirement.  The birthday bash occurred in Florida where the best buds live.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/friends-91-years-celebrate-100th-birthdays-together-184216023--abc-news-topstories.html

     Parent-child relationships and marriage relationships have been studied to death by psychologists.  Friendship has been studied a bit less.  What we do know is this:
     1. Friends boost your happiness.
     2. Friendships help reduce stress.
     3. Pals help you deal with traumas, like illness, divorce, or job loss.
     4. Belonging to a social group gives a sense of purpose.
     5. BFF's will help you live a healthier lifestyle by telling you when it's time to exercise more or drink less.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/friendships/MH00125

     Another thing we know is that friends don't have to be homo sapiens.  Pets keep us happier and healthier.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/08/11/are-people-with-pets-happier-and-healthier.aspx

     Whether your little buddy is a dog, a cat, or a goldfish, eventually the sad day arrives when the pet dies.  My sister's cat died yesterday.  Chloe was a feral cat who came inside to live when she was less than a year old.  She was also pregnant.  Her kittens went to good homes, and Chloe was spayed.  Chloe's common law husband was another feral rescue named Edgar.  While Chloe accepted Edgar as her life partner, her attitude toward him would best be described as lukewarm.  On the other hand, Edgar's love for Chloe knew no bounds.  He worshipped the carpets on which she walked.  The two felines lead an exciting life including moving to Belgium for several years.  Chloe was widowed last year when Edgar passed on.  Now the two of them are in kitty heaven.  I've heard it's a place filled with catnip mice and big bowls of wet cat food.
     Sometimes people will think you are a little crazy if you mourn an animal too much.  Friends, sisters, and fellow animal lovers know otherwise.  This might also be helpful:

http://www.pet-loss.net/

Edgar is on the left.  Chloe is on the right.