Y and Z...

      I missed posting on Y yesterday so this post is a double header.

      For Y I decided to do those daring youths who rebel against their parents. 

   Like these young ladies, who the cops had to check out for decency sake...

A cop measuring to see if swimsuit is legal.

  Or how about these young men or is it young women, just look how long that hair is...

   Just remember, when you think your pulling the wool over your parents eyes...They have already tried pulling it over their parents.

   In some cases its..."Been there...Done it Better."

Cover of Will Rogers

"Your mothers get mighty shocked at you girls nowadays, but in her day, her mother was just on the verge of sending her to reform school."

 Will Rogers 1879-1935

   And now to wrap up this challenging challenge, I present Z...as in Zero, Zilch left too write. Wait I need a tissue * dabs at eyes, blows nose loudly*. 

   Okay I am ready now. 

   Z is for ZULU...

Zulu Witchdoctor

This one is for both Y and Z....

Young Zulu Couple

   These pictures remind me of the old joke...

   "I just got back from Africa. I was playing cards with the natives."

   "Oh Zulus?"

   "No. I usually won."

I would like to apologize for that joke. I think I might have had just a bit too much A to Z Challenge fun....

And as a final tribute to the A to Z challenge, a picture that goes from A to Z....

Albino Zebra

   

X is for X-Ray...

   If you are like me when you think of X-Ray, you think of something like this...

   A chest x-ray is interesting .... Okay it's boring unless your into that sort of thing. I'm not.

   Now this is interesting....

And this is funny....

But these are beautiful...

I love the colors in this one.

This looks like a big soap bubble in space.

This one reminds me of an Opal with its flashes of colors.

   These pictures where taken by NASA at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. They have a lot of really great pictures and also some Hi-Resolution once you
can download and print out. You can check them out by clicking here





Related articles

• NASA'S Chandra Finds New Evidence on Origin of Supernovas (spacefellowship.com)
• Chandra finds evidence of Tycho's origin (sluggerotoole.com)

W is for Wind....

   I was thinking about what to post for W and a lot of words came to mind.  Then I looked out the Window and saw how windy it was today. It got me thinking of the wind and all the things I like about it.
   Wind is a natural force. It could be gentle like a cool breeze on a hot day. Or it can be strong like the damaging winds in a tornado or hurricane. I have seen both sides over and over during my life. And I still love the wind. I am mesmerized by it.
   I can sit at the window and watch the wind blow for hours. The trees swaying, the sunlight flashing of the surface of the leaves as they move.
   As a child I use to try to lean into the wind and hope it would send me flying up into the air, like Sally Fields in "The Flying Nun". I alway wanted one of those hats "The Flying Nun" wore so I could fly too.

Image via Wikipedia

    Even today in a strong wind you can close your eyes and feel like you are flying. You hear the roar of the wind in your ears and the caress on your body making your clothes flap and sound like wings.

Here are a couple of my favorite wind songs....







   What are your favorite wind memories???

V is for Volcano...

   I was stumbling around on internet on day (no, I was NOT drinking...okay I had coffee) when I found this....

Eyjafuallajokull Volcano, Iceland

    This was the picture of the day at The National Geographics site.  This is the volcano erruption that played havic with the air travel last year.  Now I see why...WOW.

U is for Useful...

   I couldn't help but post this. I want a useful dog  just like Jesse. That would sure be useful in my daily life. How about yours?




   Now if you will excuse me I am going to gather my mob and sit them down to watch Jesse. Hopefully something will rub off.
 
   There I go dreaming again... but some dreams do come true. Don't they?

Wishing Everyone a Happy Easter...

  

 Taking a moment on this glorious day to wish everyone a Happy and Enjoyable Easter.  

I hope you and yours have a great day, however you chose to celebrate.

T is for Twain...Mark Twain....

   Today's letter is T....

Image via Wikipedia

   One of the most famous and loved American writer of all times was Mark Twain. Below are a few of the quotes he left us and they are just as applicable now as the day he wrote them.


On growing old...

"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not."

"Life would be infinitely happier if  we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen."

On Human Nature...

"The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become."

"Action speaks louder than words but no nearly as often."

On succeeding in life...

"To succeed in life you need two things: ignorance and confidence."

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

He must have had governments and politicians in mind with these...

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time , and your government when it deserves it."

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

"The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it."

And remember his advice when you think about politics and governments...

"When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear."

Twain's advice on writing...

"Substitute "Damn" every time you are inclined to write "Very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

And as a last bit of advice remember this one...

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living.

The world owes you nothing. It was here first."

S is for Spell-Check...

   When I write my blog or anything, the one tool that helps the most is Spell-check. It is also the one tool that causes the most aggravation.

   I have always had trouble with spelling. The best I can do is write the word and see if it looks right.

   Don't get me wrong I can read and understand lots of things. But when it comes to getting them from my mind to my hand...well, they sometimes get really jumbled up. I do have a mild case of dyslexia, mostly with numbers and mostly when I am tired.

   I sometimes feel like a teacher. Okay everyone line up in order we are going on a trip...Stay in line...is everyone here... No cutting in line. Get back to your place.

   But alas, like the substitute teacher taking on the unruly classroom. I some times fail miserably. That is when I count on my seating chart. otherwise know as Spell-check.

   But the problem arises when there is more than one student with the same name. Say you have 3 Bobbys (oh and by the way spell-check says Bobbys is wrong),  but which one is the right Bobby. To find the answer you check the last name. You now know who is Bobby Smith, who is Bobbee James, and who is Bobbie Lee.

   The problem with spell-check is it only tells you the first name. So how do I know which one to pick. What I need is a Dictionary or at least a Thesaurus. I never had this problem when I was looking words up in those.

   Why not use the dictionary on the computer, you may ask. Well you see, on the one I have it can't find the word if it is not spelled correctly. See my problem.

   Another problem some of the words I use are words that spell-check doesn't recognize (like the ones Laura at A Shift in Dimensions has been posting on her blog this month.) So I wind up changing the way I write sometimes to the way spell-check wants me to write.

   Ah, well apparently everyone is a critic...even my word processor in office.



Oh and by the way....


        HAPPY EARTH DAY....Get out there and plant something. Even if it is your butt on a bench at the park.

Support your planet, It supports you !!!

I want one..... Think it would help???

Now if I could just find one that will correct my sentence structure
and erase the errant commas.

R is for Real Simple...

   Today I am not talking about something that is simple, I am talking about something that is Real Simple. Have you ever noticed that when someone tells you “It's real simple”... IT'S NOT. 

   Like the time you got directions to a friend's house for dinner party.

 “It's real simple just turn at the church right after the chicken place...”  Sounds easy enough. Then you when you get there, you see 3 chicken places on both sides the road and no church. Now what???

   You don't want to appear like a fool, after all remember it is real simple to find, so you keep driving up and down the road. You finally give up and call to say your lost, only to find out the CHURCH is the old grocery store with a banner in the window that you can't see after dark.

   Another example I just saw was in the Magazine REAL SIMPLE. They show you how to naturally color easter eggs. They actually use these words... “Easy recipes for adding colors to your eggs the all-natural way”

   Here is how they color an easter egg blue...

      Ingredients:
      1 lb frozen blueberries
      2 cups water
      1 Tablespoon lemon juice

      1)  On the stove top, bring the frozen blueberries and water to a boil in a pot. Boil for 5 minutes.
      2)Pour liquid into cup or bowl, straining out blueberries with a strainer.
      3)Add lemon juice.

Letting him do it would be real simple.

   Here is how we always color an Easter egg blue...

       Ingredients:
       blue food coloring
      1 Tablespoon vinegar
      ½ cup Room temperature water

       1)Put vinegar in a small bowl or cup add 20 drops of blue food coloring. Stir to mix.
       2)Pour water in to cut or bowl.


   So which one do you think is real simple. Don't get me wrong, I am all for doing things the natural way with out chemicals. Just don't tell me how real simple it is.

    Besides I like my blueberries in muffins or pancakes, not on my Easter eggshells.

   By the way if you want to find out how to make the colors yellow and orange the all-natural way check out the article on-line here.

Image via Wikipedia

       Next I suppose someone will tell me these are real simple to do.

Related articles

• Color Easter Eggs with All-Natural Dyes (education.com)

Q is for Queen...

   When I hear the word Queen. I think of two things.

   Queen Latifah...





And then there were these guys...



Though you is you have ever watched sports, you would know this one better...





   Though I am sure when most of the world hears the word Queen, this is who comes to their mind....




 I must say HM Queen Elizabeth II has more class and style than anyone else I have ever seen. I have a great admiration for her.

P is for Perfection and Procrastination....

   If there are two words that go hand and hand in the English language they are perfection and procrastination.

   It is usually the pursuit of perfection that causes us to procrastinate. I grew up with the expression “If something is worth doing, it's worth doing well.” or as my Dad like to say...”Whole hog or stay at home.”

   So I decided to look up what other people think of these two words....

First perfection, of course, I mean you can't start with procrastination. There is a law about that somewhere I'm sure.

Image via Wikipedia

   Winston Churchill had this to say about perfection:

   “They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.”

   I knew I liked that man...








   Christian arthor Edith Schaeffer said this:

    "People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it."


   Arthor Hugh Prather said this:

   “Perfectionism is slow death”

    Boy do I agree with that....


    Okay, I have put it off long enough. Now here is what was said about procrastination.

   Journalist Don Marquis had this to say:

   “Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”

   Arthor G. B. Stern put her own spin on it:

   “One thing that's good about procrastination is that you always have something planned for tomorrow.”

   You gotta admit she is right about that one....

   And then there was this guy, who procrastinated so long he didn't get credit for the quote:

   “Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that there is nothing important to do”

   Like maybe claiming your work....


    I will leave you with this quote that sums both words up nicely....

“Were I to await perfection, my book would never be finished”

    Chinese Proverbs

Oops...

    Oh No... I didn't make my O post.

   I was going to write it when I go back from town. But I got back too late. I even knew what I was going to write about.   

N is for Nest...Eagles Nest...

   There was a story in our area newspaper at the first of the month about a live cam on a Bald Eagles nest. The nest had 3 eggs that were expected to hatch any day . This is a video of the 2nd egg to hatch.




   They say the nest is 80 feet in the air. It is 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep and weights about 1000 lbs. Wow... I could fit in that nest. Though I probably weight more than the eagles do.

   If you would like to see a live shot of the nest you can go to this link and see whats happening now.
Raptor Resource Project.


  You will see the mom and dad feeding and caring for the young ones. It you squeamish I must warn you about the dead animals they bring to the nest to eat. I found it fascinating, but then I am a little weird.

Or so I have been told.

Image via Wikipedia

   There are actually Bald Eagles that live around our area. We see them flying over head every once in awhile. They are huge and their shadow covers more than half of our roof. It is an amazing thing to see.

M is for Memories...

   Today letter is M. So I am doing one on memories, no not about what I remember happening. That would either be too long or blank depending on how much coffee I've had. No today's post is about songs that bring back memories for me.

   To start with there is this one....




Yes, I will admit it I was a big fan of The Monkees. I wouldn't miss a single epesode on TV, and I had all their records...45s and LPs. Besides how could I not include them, their are 3 Ms....Monkees...Micky...Mike (sorry Davy and Peter).

Image via Wikipedia

                                  
                                       Yes, I had this one!


How about this group....




   This song by The Mommas and The Pappas just seem to fit this time of year. I know a lot of you up North are probably California Dreamin' right now.


   This last one remindes me of High School. We had a jukebox in the cafeteria and this song played at least once everyday at lunch.








   So that's what The Rolling Stones looked like...I had forgotten.  How about you can you pick out Keith Richards in this video, without no fair looking to see what instrument they are playing. 
   These guys have had a lot of history and made a lot of memories for all of us.


   Now I'm afraid to look in the mirror and see how much I have changed. I think I will stick with my memories of what I looked like.

L is for Lone Star...Texas that is...

   In my trip around the blogging world, I have seen so many badges. Canadian bloggers, blogging Moms, Australian bloggers, over 40 bloggers, homesteaders blog, etc...etc...

   I was feeling left out. *sniff-grabs tissue*  So I decided if I couldn't be invited to their party, I would have one of my own. So I grabbed a cup of coffee, locked myself into the office, pulled up my graphics program and...

  

The Lone Star Blogger

   The A to Z challenge just seemed like the right time to introduce this to y'all (Hey, I am Texan through and through).

   If you are a Texas blogger...(yes Lori you are one too. Once a Texan always a Texan)... grab the badge and proudly proclaim for all to see "I am a Texas Blogger".

   If you would like let me know and I will add you to the Texas Blogger page I created.

   Come on Texans lets show our colors....

K is for Kindle...

   It seems like everywhere I go on the web people are talking about the Kindle from Amazon. Some with love and adoration. Some with suspension and loathing. So what kind of person are you.

Is this your idea library...

Or is this more to your liking...

When you travel would you rather carry this...

Or this...

Would you rather shop here for your books...

Or here....

Forget the book. Anyone know where I can order the body???

   What would I like???

   How about both.

   I love the idea of curling up in a library with a good book and fire. But the beach thing is very tempting too.
 
   Going on a trip, even if it is to the doctors office, I would prefer the kindle. (And so would my back!!!)

   Nothing beats a good book store. The smell, the excitement of finding a new treasure. Talking about the books and authors.  But ordering it online in your pajamas when you are still awake at 3:30 in the morning sounds real good too. Of course you could order the hardcover and paperback books then as well, but you can't read them until you fell asleep. (At least not that night)



   Check out all the books you can get too...Look here..







Next week Ipad or Kindle....just kidding.