Ricochet Rabbit

I may have to change the name of my blog to "Wow, I have an amazing memory". I was lying in bed this morning, racking my poor little brain, trying to come up with an "R" post. Suddenly, my brain pulled out, "boing, boing, boing, Ricochet Rabbit".

www.cartoonlair.com 

I tried to download a free cartoon, but it was taking for-ev-er to load, so you will be spared. 

Looking at this picture has made me realize that a lot of cartoons from my generation revolved around "the Law."  Ricochet Rabbit was a sheriff, and his deputy was (his name just left me...oh yeah,) Droop-a-long. Of course, complete opposites. Then there was, Deputy Dawg and his sidekick, Mr. Mole. 
And, we can't forget Sheriff Quick Draw McGraw. His deputy was a slow poke, too. Then, there was Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, too, always trying to outsmart Ranger Smith(?) and get pic-a-nic baskets. 

My brain is a little tired after coming up with all these images from the past, so I'm going to boing! Boing! boing! Ricochet outta here!

QQQQQ

I had been dreading this post, until, miraculously, a word from my past, popped into my head. Now, there is some controversy about this word, but, it's not what you're thinking. How do I know that? Because I can read minds! Muwahha.

The word for today is "queep". I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of it, because I made it up. 

Back in the day, before the cursed political correctness ruled our lives, there was a perfectly great word, queer. In my dictionary (from 1975, it's an antique, I know), it was defined: 1)differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal, 2) eccentric, unconventional 3) mildly insane:touched...and finally,sexually deviate:homosexual. I had my own definition: weirdo. 

I used that word a lot on my sister and brothers, yelling at them, "You're so queer, you weirdo!" Redundant, I know. But, I enjoyed the satisfaction of name calling. One day, my sister and I were fighting. Again. I think she threw me in the closet. But, I also think it was because I took some of her candy. Hey, it was chocolate! And, on the way in the closet, my arm scraped against a nail head that was sticking out. I still have the scar, but it's starting to blend in with my wrinkles. Blinded by the pain, my mind was racing, trying to come up with the perfect word to hurl at her. Creep or queer? But, my words got mixed up, and I screamed, "You, queep!" 

"Queep? What's a queep? She mocked me.

"You're a creep! You queer!" It was too late. My vocabulary blunder destroyed the effect. Instead we started laughing at the new word. 

The controversy? My silly sister thinks that she came up with the word. How ridiculous is that? I just gave you the play by play account, (and my memory never fails me) so, if you should ever hear anyone say "queep", you will know the true story of its origination. 

In case you are wondering, my sister and I do not throw each other in the closet anymore. However, we may still fight over chocolate!

P is for Pressure

The pressure of this A-Z Blogging challenge is profound. Every day a new letter to ponder. This causes quite a predicament, because my psyche goes practically blank, with each letter. I sit at my computer, staring out into space, probing my mind on what starts with the letter "p". Such a perplexing plight I'm in.

I worry about what persnickety people (I'm not talking about you) might be thinking about my pitiful blog. I'm not a perfectionist, (n)or precise. 

Please be patient while I  persevere and persist. I may come up with something pertinent to write about.

But, you may think, it's just a bunch of poppycock!

O, Oh, Ohhh!

"Oh. My thoughts on "o". Here is a little story from days gone by, when my chillen's was little.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and we had just gotten home from church. I told my kids, ages 6,5,and 4, to change into play clothes before lunch. My 6 and 5 year old sons, were, for once, quite obedient, and they changed their clothes. My 4-year old daughter,(aka Amazing Daughter) on the other hand, decided that she did not want to change her clothes. I was in my room, and I could hear my 5-year old telling her to change her clothes. It went something like this:

5 year old: Mom said to change your clothes.
4 year old: I don't want to.
5 year old: But, Mom said to.
4 year old: I still don't want to and I'm not going to. 

Then there was a knock on my door. I opened it, and there stood my 5 year old, looking very serious, and exasperated. He said, "I told her she had to change her clothes, but, she won't do it." And, then he said, rather matter-of-factly, "She's just being obstinate." And, he marched down the stairs, washing his hands of the matter, leaving me with my mouth hanging open, wondering, "where in the world did he learn that word"? 

And that was my introduction to the Letter People, Miss O is obstinate.

N is for New

This month we have had a lot of new things. New kittens top the list. They (all 6!) are now starting to open their eyes. Oh my, they are so cute, especially now that they are starting to look more like kittens than rats. I'm sure I will post more photos in the near future.

Another new thing this month is a washing machine. Our 13-year old machine went "ka-plu-ey" last week. Pricing new machines can be quite a shock to the old heart! There is a new top-loading style that has a very low thing-a-ma-jig in the center. I briefly thought about going that route, until I simulated getting laundry out of the 40 foot deep drum. Okay, that may be a little bit exaggerated, but it seemed about that deep. I felt as if I would topple over into the thing, and be stuck with my feet flaying about in the air. Not a pretty sight. So, I decided to stick with the front-loader style. We looked at all the different sizes - 3.3 cubic feet, 3.6 cubic feet, and 3.9 cubic feet. I wanted a large, heavy duty machine. As we tried to make a decision, Hubby asked which ones looked about the same size as the old one. I couldn't really tell. They all seemed to be the same size. We finally decided that the extra money for the 3.9 wasn't worth it, so we chose the 3.6. I hoped it was about the same size as my old machine. The delivery guys came and hooked up the machine the next day, then they left. I went to the basement with my son to check out the new addition. "Holy cow! That thing is HUGE!" We just started laughing. The door is about twice as big as the old one. And now, it looks like I really could crawl into the machine. I'll probably be able to get all my laundry done in two loads, and the machine will only be half full! That's just crazy. But, I think I will get used to it in a hurry. Less time spent doing laundry is a good thing!

And now, in honor of the word "new" here is a song, I think you might enjoy. (I enjoy it anyway!) The choral group I'm in will be singing this song at our concert coming up at the end of the month. I wish we would sound as good as these guys. (The King's Singers) (Fingers crossed I did this correctly! It's been awhile.)

Midnight Marauder Mystery

 The other day, Hubby and I were preparing to leave town for a couple days, to do a painting job. He was loading the pick-up truck before breakfast so we could get a good start. We always plan on getting a good start, but it never seems to happen. We just don't move as fast as we used to. I'm not sure why that is!

He came in for breakfast, rather perplexed. He said, "Something has been out tearing up the yard. I also noticed that the blueberry bushes have been uprooted. Now what would do that? I don't think deer would do that. There must be a wild boar running around."

We ate breakfast, still trying to solve the mystery. After breakfast, we all decided to go out and survey the damage more closely.

You can see how much damage was done. Amazing Daughter took these photos of us. Honestly, it took a moment for me to register who that old man was helping Hubby! Sad, isn't it? During the surveying, I spotted a small pile of poop. And, I said, "Look! Here's some poop!" Hubby exclaimed, "That's pig poop! (Only he didn't say "poop".)

We quickly turned our attention to the pig pen. Are the pigs in there? On our quick, little walk to check, we are both mentally wondering how in the world we were going to find our pigs, if they have gone missing! Oh, the joys of farming!

As we got closer, it was clear that they had, in fact, gotten out. I looked under the lean-to and saw two pigs for sure, but they were sleeping in a big pile, so I couldn't be sure. Hubby instructed me to pound on the roof to make them run. I pounded. No one moved a muscle! 

Turns out they were all three back in the pen. While they had a wild night of it, they all had the good sense to come back! 

Hubby triple-secured the gate. We knew Amazing Daughter would not be happy if she had to chase pigs while we were gone!

Library Life

L is for library, and since I've managed to stay employed there for five months now, I thought I'd share a few stories. 

After my kiddos  grew up, I rarely visited the library, so I'm still amazed that, in our small town, there is a line of people at the door, waiting to be the first to come in as soon as we open. 

I was quite flustered and nervous those first few weeks, and unfortunately, I don't have the gift of hiding those flaws very well. Case in point: library card applications. Recently, a man was having trouble checking out items. He said his pin number wasn't working, while also explaining that this was the first time he had used his new card. So, I scanned his card, checked on the pin number (the last four numbers of their phone), and saw that numbers had been reversed. I quickly,(and may I say expertly?) made the change and handed him back his card. As he took his card, he mentioned that the lady that had given him his new card seemed pretty flustered. I'm going to rest in the thought that he didn't recognize me, because it was me.

My next big flustery moment happened when a lady wanted to pay for her express movies (new releases - 53 cents). Then handed me a $10 bill. Then, as an afterthought, said to just put the rest on her fines. I was already in the computer cash register, and now the process was backwards as to how I should have done it. By that I mean, I was going to have to use my little brain to figure out the math in my head. I started to sweat and get that flustery feeling. Then I happened to glance up and see that my high school math teacher (of all people!) was waiting at the desk. Now, she wouldn't remember me from Eve, but still, knowing she taught math, made the sweat start rolling down my brow, my face felt red, a hot flash was coming on, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to do the math. I got out pencil and paper and started writing it all down. It turns out, she just did the math in her head and told me how much change she should be getting. "Oh, I said, laughing nervously and wiping sweat away, "you're one of those walking computers. I live with two of 'em!" She smiled sympathetically, with eyes that said, I'm sorry you're so dumb. After she left, I moved on the help my math teacher. I felt compelled to say, "I'm so embarrassed because you were my math teacher." She responded that she was embarrassed because she had fines to pay. 

But, life at the library is almost as entertaining as going to Wal-Mart. Surprisingly, the police have been called three times (that I know about) in the short time I've been there. We get some unruly patrons who like to be noisy and holler at no one in particular. Some people think that we are just adding fines onto their accounts for the fun of it. Some people make sure they have 99 items (the limit) checked out at all times. Some will check out 50 movies at a time. Seriously, who can watch 50 movies in a week? It is an interesting place to work.