I'm thinking

So, I'm sitting 5 back in line to pick up a filled prescription - inching forward.  Inching.  Inch.  Inch.

And it strikes me funny, the idea being to drive through quickly and efficiently and not waste time and gas in this line.  And they have closed off one entire line to pick-up traffic.  There's nobody dropping off.

                        DRIVE THROUGH.  YOU'RE DOIN' IT WRONG!

Social networking is hard work!!

Lots of the family is on Facebook and I saw a nephew in Houston who posted that he asked his wife what she wanted to do for the weekend.   She said she wanted to go see the Corpse Flower at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  He asked her, "Huh?"  That was my comment, too -  except that I Googled Corpse Flower. I came up with news about the museum exhibit and all the excitement over this giant stinky flower from the rain forest and how crowds have been visiting the museum pretty much around the clock to see it whenever it opens.  Or maybe to smell it.  Sounds like fun, if you enjoy smelling rotten stuff

There was a link.  Naturally I tried it.  I checked back periodically.  Finally I gave up and just sat at the monitor watching the people pass through the line in Houston and waited for Lois to bloom. 

Lois.  They have named her.  You can buy buttons online that tout Lois. I didn't buy a button but I did keep the page open until 2:30AM at which time I came to my senses and went to bed.  This morning Susan was online telling me she thought Lois looked like she had changed.  Yes, I got her hooked  as well. 

Half the fun is waiting for Lois to unwrap her huge petals.  The other half of the fun is reading the Tweets posted by visitors and people who work at the museum.  One of the tweets may have been from someone called Ol Doc who lives somewhere in Florida.

Meet me in the middle...

When we lived in the Subtropics, my sister and I were in houses situated close enough together for us to meet in the middle of the street to borrow a cup of sugar or a stick of margerine from each other.  After T. was diagnosed with Guillain Barre, the doctor recommended we move from big town to a smaller area so he could live a quieter lifestyle.  It was probably the hardest thing we had to do; move away from friends and family and all the dear things in our hometown.  The places we shopped changed from big box stores to a single small-box and a miniature shopping center took the place of our major malls.  Before we moved away, we thought nothing of hitting a couple of good sized malls on a shopping spree.   Once we settled down in our new home, we took stock of how much change we had undergone.  We went from living on  a city lot to being in the middle of 3 acres, with another 12 acres across the road.  Lots of grass to mow.  Lots of trees around us that dropped pollen and then pecans in season.  You couldn't hear your nearest neighbor and it got so dark at nights that we wouldn't step off the front porch for a long time.  For one thing, you couldn't see that well and for another - what if a snake came by?  Country living meant longer distances to  go  for the mail and a longer drive just to buy staples. 

I think the biggest change for me, though - was moving a state's length from my best friend and dearest confidant.  My sister. 

Over the years, we've kind of gotten used to driving the 12 miles it takes just to get to the road that goes to the grocery store.  And the yard light now seems sufficiently bright at night to hazard a step into the grass to set up the telescope for some stargazing.  There are a lot more stars visible away from bright city lights. 

Oh, but I do miss my own Elder Sister.  We're as close at heart as when we were living just down the street from each  other.  I still share secrets with her and she with me.  And the telephone company keeps us in touch when we just have to hear each other's voices.  So, I will call tomorrow to wish her a Happy Birthday and give her our love on her special day.  We'll have a good talk but - you know, there is a little piece of me that still looks at houses with ForSale signs out front and the thought crosses my mind how close it would be to where we live now. 

Love you, Sis - have a Grand Birthday!

Oh my!

I have this Facebook friend who keeps commenting on the people he sees at Walmart.  He even posted a shot of one lady who was holding a shopping bag and who had laid her purse on the counter.  Visible near her hand was a Crown Royal bag.  Okay, so - there is a website available.  For real.

It's called People of Walmart

Go ahead, click the red link.  You know you want to!

DeSoto

There are signs along some parts of the major East-West highway running through our fair city that say it is part of the DeSoto Trail.  In other words it's the best guess as to the route taken by the famed explorer Hernando de Soto as he trekked through our region looking for gold and a way to reach China.  It's not like Hernando carved his name on the trunk of an oak tree as he passed by. 

There are a couple of places that use the name DeSoto to identify themselves.  One is a lovely  jewel of a lake situated behind the  courthouse.  The commissioners have added a fountain that jets up into the air and adds to the beauty.  This is Lake DeSoto.  In July, weather permitting, we set off fireworks over the  lake.   This year 25,000 people attended the fireworks on Saturday night.

During the Battle of Olustee, which occurs in February of each year, the Merrimack and the Monitor fight a pitched battle on the lake as part of the festivities.   They are miniature versions of the ironclads and are radio controlled.  I got a kick out of watching the mock fight.  At least, I did the first time I watched.  After that one  battle, not so much.

One of the  best namesakes of Senior de Soto is DeSoto Drug Store.  It's an older building situated on our main street.  It's a brick and glass-front building with wooden plank floors that have mellowed to a satin finish.  Half the store is taken up by shelving for stock and the counter where you drop off your prescriptions.  There are fitting rooms for prosthetic devices and a counter for bill  paying.  The other side of the building is given over to the restaurant.   A long  counter takes up one wall with round red topped stools that await the lunch crowd. The floor is taken up by tin-clad tables and chairs, around nine in all.  Some years ago, the food served at DeSoto Drugs was among the best home cooked in town.  Then the cook retired and the restaurant closed down.  Of late, I had been  by the storefront and noticed diners at the round tables in the window.  Hmmm.  Have to check it out sometime.

Sometime came today.  Elder Daughter called to meet for lunch and we decided on DeSoto.  It was an excellent  choice.  The sandwiches  were better than before and accompanied by either fries or chips with a dill pickle.  I had an egg salad sandwich, lightly toasted and topped with crisp lettuce.  Elder Daughter and her sons had hamburgers and her husband had Reuben sandwiches.  All agreed the meal couldn't have been better prepared or better tasting. 

DeSoto Drugs, we missed you.  I'm sure glad you're serving lunches again. 

Wonder what their milkshakes taste like. 

Happy 5th of July, too.

We are now on day three of a 3-day weekend.  This means the rest of the week will be four days and by Thursday we will be more than ready for Friday to dawn!  We can dwell on memories of the 4th of July holiday to get us through the work week.

The flag pictured at the left flys over Fort Morgan, Alabama.  The Alabama Group  went there for their Fourth of July and I  snagged the flag from Suse's Facebook page.  I think it's an outstanding shot that sums up what the holiday is all about.

I rode with Elder Sister to Walmart on Saturday and she was telling me how she gave her horses some watermelon and their reactions to the  treat.  Bella - the one with the white on her face ate some and came up drooling, she thought it was so good.  Savanah at the other end of the fence took a bite and belled out her lips and showed her teeth, which seems to be the horsie equivalent of, "Eeee-yuck!!"  She did not like the taste at all.  At all! I missed the whole show but maybe there will  be an encore and we will catch the performance. 

Meanwhile, it has turned into a cloudy day and a fine one for reflecting on our blessings; like the ones we have that come from living in a country that affords us the freedom to worship, live and work without fearing the government will batter down the doors and take us away for speaking out against injustice.  We can lay our heads down at night, assured that we are  living in the best nation in the world.  We don't even have to wait until night to prove that blessing is true.  We can take a nap right now - this very minute!  I love it when a plan comes together, don't you?

Independance Day

Happy Fourth of July

God Bless America

We might not be in Kansas -

Ah, the learning curve sometimes gets sharp and there may be no information signs along the high speed internet. 

Case in point:  Elder Sister and her sons were at the house when I arrived from work yesterday-eve.  They left shortly after I arrived with some Chinese take-out and we all sat to a meal in our separate households.  Once dinner was a distant memory, I booted up the lil' red ACER and double tapped Internet Explorer.  Instead of springing to attention and opening my home page, I was told that IE could not take me home because I was offline.  I may be off  the mark and off my rocker but I certainly didn't see how I could be offline.  Wasn't my daughter just using you, snarled I! 

Cursor just sat waiting.

I tried another website  - and another.  I made sure the check mark wasn't on under the Tools menu next to where it says "Work Offline".  I tried a few other sites and then turned the ACER off and  went to the desktop computer where I was rudely informed that I was off-line there, as well.

I check the router and antenna.  All seemed as it should be.  Both computers could see the router but neither was able to gain access and sail off into the Ethernet. 

Frustrated, I chalked  it up to weather conditions and - turning off all computers, I toddled off to watch me some Fox News and  go to bed.

Next morning, I turned on the little red netbook and met the same conditions.  Offline.  I tried the desktop standby. Offline!  WHAT?  Am I never to surf the 'net again? 

Oh, woe is me! What a whirl, what a whirl, I moaned, channeling the Wicked Witch from Oz.  And my eye  fell on the instruction manual for the Wildblue modem.  Vaguely I recalled a discussion about DNS addresses and that their being missing from the modem meant it couldn't go online. 

Same thing as Offline, eh?

What's the fix, what's the fix, Dorothy, I asked!  Dorothy snickered rudely and suggest I try reading the manual.

Three minutes of reading later, I pulled the modem's power plug and waited the requisite one minute before I plugged the power back in. Two minutes later the modem lights clicked three times and twinkled back on, I tapped the IE icon.  My home page opened like it had been there all  the time; just hiding behind some curtain. We zoomed off like a hot air balloon in an updraft - high over the information highway.

This must be why they call all those helpers that install various and sundry software - - - Wizards?