It's the Little Things in Life

I think I have a water leak, ok, I know I have a water leak, the question is where? I have checked everything and everywhere, now the water meter which I would like to have a look at is under about a foot of standing water and it hasn't rained in a week. You would think that could be it right? I called CPW and they take no responsibility but will charge me $30 and have someone come out and look at it. The stupid box was never even installed to code but I won't start or I may never stop. So they are coming out Monday and hopefully it's on CPW's end and all will be resolved in a pleasant way without me having a red headed heated Yankee discussion with them. I then drive off for work, run into my neighbor Family Man, I stop and ask him for the neighborhood plumber’s number. Family Man is one of the nicest men I have ever met, he is also a rock star father, but Family Man is not a plumber. Pete offers to have a look at my box and tells me he had the same problem and CPW fixed it. I drive off and read my emails, I had only recently allowed my friends onto the blog and I had emailed several the other night about it. I got a reply today that said "I m not really into it", I am trying to not be offended but…I mean really? On a HIGH note my father’s heart is fine, thank GOD

A Rechercez: Petunia

OK. I told you that my gold Toyota Solara--a very pretty car BTW and highly recognizable so everyone knows where I am at all times--is named Petunia. Now, I'm not prone to naming cars or other things. I do tend to come up with names of my own for people and if I start calling someone "What's his/her face" I am like so over them.

Petunia is not the kind of car that I would buy my self. This was all Mr.P.'s doings. Yes, this is another Mr.P. story. When I met him, I was driving a 5 speed 4WD pick-up that I had kitted out with a cover over the bed in order to sleep there while I was travelling around Canada working with farm women trying to save their family farms. I drove that truck from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan. He was driving a Chrylser New Yorker. When we got married he wanted me to drive his car and he took my pickup. That was OK since I still had something I could haul stuff in.

Then the New Yorker got rear ended so bad that it needed some chassis work and we were thinking that we really needed two 4WD living in the mountains, especially in winter. We also needed something that would handle hauling dogs. So, we got the green Grand Cherokee. My car and I loved. I could haul, it went in the snow, it handled well.

Now, if you will recall, CD and I got solid when Mr.P. started his trucking business (which I was against) and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia and congestive heart failure. (Don't think Mrs. P. ME wasn't spitting bullets.) So, there is my true love driving truck with a partner and working much harder than I approve in order to "buy me out of " my job as a professor (that's a whole nother story). The business was doing well until the price of gas shot up. It didn't help to find out that the partner was a crook (to be kind). That year 35,000 trucks were repossessed from owner operator truckers. That didn't happen to us (Mr.P. is smarter than that) but we were in debt for those damn trucks. (I know you are going, "what does this have to do with naming cars--hold on.)

The deal Mr P. made was we could get rid of the trucks, if we were to trade them in on a new vehicle. Mr.P. was going to get me a new car. I really did not want a new car but he was feeling bad enough as it was, so I went along with it. I was looking at Tundras when he picked the convertible which, let's be frank, is a sweeeet ride.So that's how Mr. P. had maneuvered me from a Mountain Woman to a Southern Belle vehicle wise. He can be crafty sometimes. And, as CD has pointed out to me on numerous occasions, when I'm happy he's happy. You can't help but love him and I sure do.

One November we are going on a tour of potteries and I think "We will be on some dirt roads and some major pot holes," so I say we better take the Jeep. Yup, we're going up this verra, verra long laneway in the middle of be all and splattering mud all over the place and I say "I'm glad we brought the Jeep. Petunia would not like this." She's been Petunia ever since.

Now isn't that a better story than just saying we named her Petunia because she doesn't like to get muddy?

"And so" said Buford "I just got me a pick-em up truck"

Yesterday we discussed Melissa's crappy day. I mentioned that I,too, had had a much less than desirable day. I know, you are thinking "what exactly does that have to do with Buford (whoever he is) and pick-ups. Buford is Buford T. Honeygutt, one of the many characters that I have created for my unwritten novel. Buford is the sheriff or deputy sheriff in a small southern town. No, do not think Andy of Mayberry or Barney Fife. Buford is seriously southern and big.

But be that as it may, yesterday started OK, but quickly went down hill with a staff member showing up in the office to quit. Now, this person probably needed to not have this position because it was too challenging for her but I was trying to help her grow into it. Little did I know she was more likely to do the "Miss Scarlet, Miss Scarlet, I don't know nothin' bout birthing babies" after talking a good game. This threw a lot of planning into chaos, meant we would have to close a program down, and brought on an emergency meeting which I really had no time for.

Then, the grants officer at the school system, emailed that the school had decided that it was too much trouble to apply for a federal grant (some major money) and didn't want to be fiscal agent. Well crap. I informed my director of education programs whom the staff and I not so fondly call Brother. Now, I raised this man from a pup. CD knows him and they were both my students. By telling him this bad news, I was basically telling him that the programs I was directly responsible for would continue to be under funded, a worry he does not have. His response was to explain the point system on the grant to me. No, "well damn." No, "well that sucks." No. I got informed. By someone much younger and much less experienced. Sigh.

I went to the post office. Double crap. A certified letter from the US Treasury. Don't you just wait for days like this. That's when I ran into Melissa and her crappy day.

So, where does the pick-up come into this. Shopping therapy. My yard man Giovanni had a truck for sale. We need a truck to haul food to give out at the fire house on Mondays and Fridays. I got Bobby,the husband of a my friend Kathy, who's a great guy and works on cars as a side line, to come with me. This a 1981 Dodge with new engine which is seriously large and transmission which is automatic. This is important since I'm the only one that can drive a stick shift. Giovanni had already dropped the price from from $2000 to $1200 seeing as how it was for me and stuff. So, it was half sold before we ever got there. Then the check engine light came on in my car--a gold Solara Convertible named Petunia. Well, double damn. That truck was as good as sold. There is only so much negative energy a woman can stand before she has to taken things into her own hands. So as Buford said, "I got me a pick-em up truck." Bobby approved. Shopping therapy.

The Princess & the Tempurepedic

Recently my friend and neighbor Kelly had given me part of her old tempurepedic mattress topper for Calli's bed. (Kelly had purchased a new bed and the topper was a little damaged from her dog Skylar who had eaten some little holes in it) Calli moves around at night so realizing she didn't like the new addition took some time. I never got around to inserting the tempurepedic into the bottom bed layer and recently I removed it completely after realizing Calli was not sleeping in her bad at all anymore. Calli loved her bed prior to this new addition, she slept in it, played in it, and most of all dug in it! Her bed has always been two stories, the top being super soft to the touch and the bottom soft with odor eating stuff, both layers she can dig into which she loves. The tempurepedic topper was added as the bottom it was a third layer under the two already existing layers. I know you are wondering why a dog wouldn’t like sleeping on a nice tempurepedic, that is unless you have met Calli. Two other dogs were given pieces of the topper and they both just love it! I knew when I added it Calli may not like it; she is very particular about her bed, she is very particular about everything! I once tried to combine the two existing layers and the same thing happened, no Calli in the bed. I removed it Sunday afternoon and have awoken the last two nights to find Calli sleeping like a princess in her two story bed!

Melissa and the Crappy Day

This blog is in honor of my good friend Melissa who had a crappy day today which she had in solidarity with me. I also had a crappy day. But more on my day later. Melissa who is a red head like CD --actually three of my very good friends are red heads, what are the odds on that--was falsely accused of something she would not do and in fact something that did not come out of her office and she had no control over. Someone we both know got up in her face, very angry. Now Melissa is a very even tempered person but she is a red head. Well, his stuff just flew all over her as we say down here and made her feel unjustifiably used and abused. So, Melissa, consider this a public celebration of your response to the unfairly crappy day.

BTW, we've gone international. Mr.P.'s sister in British Columbia is now reading us. Hey, Evelyn!!!!

Bits of Heaven

My very good friend is currently pregnant with twins, we went for lunch last week and as I get in the car and announce I am starving she offers me some pretzels. I am always very skeptical of new foods and most would say I am not a picky eater but...I do have a lot of rules. Anyhow, these pretzels I have never seen and they are called Pretzel Pieces and the flavor is Buttermilk Ranch, I am not really a ranch fan but, I am starving and I trust her judgment so I dive in and OH MY GOD, bits of heaven on my tongue... They are SO freaking good that I had to go out the next day and buy the Buttermilk Ranch and another flavor called How Buffalo Wings. Hot Buffalo Wings are one of my favorite things in life but very time consuming. This new discovery and new love of Snyder’s Of Hanover Pretzel Pieces may have saved me hours of grilling. The two flavors I have had are both excellent and I highly recommend them, the trick is they use the pieces, maximizing the flavor! Thanks Sand!

http://www.snydersofhanover.com/

What We're Reading

As we've said Ducksters love to read. Since the first of the year I've finished three books and am half way through my fourth. Two are mystery novels which I must confess I love. My taste leans toward British mysteries but three of my favs Martha Grimes, Elizabeth George, and Deborah Crombie are actually Americans. In authors in general there are some genres and geographic areas I tend to favor. I like southern women novelist both the serious and those who write what I call confections. The two mystery novels are Crombie's Necessary As Blood and Margaret Maron's Sand Sharks. I've liked Maron since Bootlegger's Daughter ,her first, maybe because we are on the fringe of bootleg country and know alot about how they get caught. Several years ago a local store was selling tons of sugar and plastic containers. Duh. You didn't have to be TAF to know what THAT meant. Both novels were very satisfying for a light read. The two main characters in both novels are love interests now married and the novels advance their relationships. Crombie's novel was sad making because you very much like the victims of the murders. Maron's novel has a surprise ending. However, the people you don't like get their just desserts so all is well. You'll like both.

More difficult to address is Kingsolver's The Lacuna. I loved the ending to this novel which makes sense as well. The problem is getting there. Partly its the style for the first half of the novel which is the supposed rendering of notebooks from the 1920s of a young man half Mexican (mother) and half American (father). He speaks of himself in the third person and it feels like there is no plot. As all the reviews and the cover tell us,he lives with Diego Rivera and Frida as well as Trotsky. Although sort of interesting, if you know anything about them, there is nothing new here. What's really happening is the creation of the backdrop for what I read as the parable of the novel: the US is a nation that set its feet on a certain course and that in our founding is both our greatness and our tragic flaw. It also suggests we make the same errors over and over again because we can not question our rightness. Some will love this novel and some hate it.

Talked with The Great HB last night. Over an hour. Topics: film, novels, the blog (he hadn't seen it) and the issue of retirement. Re retirement, bottom line, I need to feel useful, as in of use to society. HB totally got that I was not talking about fear of being bored but something more profound. What would I be retiring from? I'm the founder of a nonprofit that works with low to moderate income families. I've been the Executive Director of it since 1997 and I work for free. I can do this because I'm a retire professor and have a pension. OK, more disclosure CDuckser was my student many years ago.

Water Missions International

This is a local company in Charleston, SC doing good work, they immediately sent 10 water systems and need our help to send 90 more. Each system can provide clean water for 5000 people a day so they are currently providing 50,000 people with clean water a day. If they reach their goal of 100 they will be able to provide clean water for a half of a million people. Please donate today!

http://www.watermissions.org/

Mr.P. and the Icy Day

This AM I had 3 meetings, 8:30AM, 10AM, and 11:30 AM. I left the house with the weather verging on icy rain and made the first meeting. During the second meeting everyone's cell was ringing, robo calls of school closing, staff calls of agencies closing, etc. Since I was chairing the meeting, I got it closed down, cancelled the 11:30 meeting, and called Mr. P.
"Hey,I've closed the office and am coming home. Want me to bring something for lunch?"
"Like what."
"I don't know. How about chicken fingers and some fries."
"OK"
Now, this is not a regular food at our house but Mr.P. gets chicken fingers sometimes when he's out and he loves to go for lunch and that definitely was not going to happen today. So, I get the stuff and get home. Since we are in the mountains icy roads are no joke and they can ice up in a heart beat. I made it with only a few skids on the ridge tops. Got the stuff in the oven.
"Are we going to eat right away?"
"Why"
"I want you to look at why I'm not listed as a follower."
I check it out on his computer and can't see anything obviously wrong. I go back to cooking, well heating and getting out plates, etc.
We sit down. Mr.P. likes duck sauce with his chicken fingers. He puts some on his plate and then puts two chicken fingers around it. He says "I'm guarding my duck sauce." I look at him and then realize he is crazy happy that I am home in the middle of the day and we're eating together.
Later, after we eat, he says "Come on, look at this again."
"Sweetheart I really don't care if you are a follower of the blog or not."
"I do."
Clue two. He likes that we are together in the blog posts. Men are so indirect. They should come with a decoder ring. But don't you just love them.. I do.
BTW,his profile was set to be anonymous.
Hugs-
ND

A Jolly Roger Breakfast

While on travel with nduckster in the fall Mr. P purchased a coffee mug for me. It is from this very adorable restaurant on the OBX called The Jolly Roger it is quite simply the perfect coffee mug. The shape, the weight, and HELLO it says The Jolly Roger on it. Mr. P was really trying to not to be an accomplice to my theft as I was going to steal the mug because I was in love with it from the moment I touched it. I like to take things from restaurants, it is a thing with me, my friends love and hate this about me. As I was ready to pour my coffee this morning I realized I did not want to put my hot coffee in this cold mug so a light bulb goes off in my head, heat the mug up! Yes people I just realized this, I have been doing this with plates lately but the coffee idea was new. You should know that I have been using hot water in the coffee pot for months in my never ending attempt to make the coffee as hot as possible. My father does not think this in any way makes the coffee hotter but as I am endlessly stubborn I continue with this, I should run a temperature test and present my case to him. It is after all the little things in life...

Have you pledged $10 to help Haiti yet. You know they need you.

Sad Day for readers of The NY Times

Nduckster and I love to read The NY Times, in fact I believe her little notebook Mr. P just bought her was somewhat purchased for that exact pleasure.  Its an interesting and risky idea, they are the first and since they are by most considered the best they may be successful with this.  If they are, you can all imagine where the internet especially anything worth its salt on it is headed. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34953721/ns/business-media_biz/

Tasha

When I was in college I often went shopping and bought nothing, I was a very loved and fortunate child, I am still a very loved and fortunate person and with that said you know my loving father paid the credit card bill. I would like to say I was careful, I probably was, but I didn't know what I know now. I was going through some old papers over the weekend and came upon a receipt for a lady bug lamp I purchase while ND and I were out shopping. I should mention we had also cut class for this specific shopping adventure and I do condone this behavior. I read the very old receipt and realize I spent $45 dollars on a LADY BUG LAMP, what? I was a college student, I wasn't starving and I did work but I was SHOCKED by this receipt. I do love Tasha the lady bug lamp and she was worth every dollar, can you imagine what she would cost today with inflation? I promptly post nduckster about this find and the purchase... I ask her how she let me do this? She responds with "I had no control over you, I did ask if you really needed a lamp shaped like a lady bug, you really wanted Tasha." I would make the same purchase today, when you find something you love buy it!

Mr. P and the Blog

OK, so Mr. P. is "keeping an eye on" CD and me. We were watching Sunshine Cleaning which I loved by the way. All of a sudden he says "I've read the blog."
"Oh ya." My eyes on the screen.
No response. Time passes.
"What did you think?" Still with my eyes on the screen.
"Why didn't you write about the tomatoes? I loved those tomatoes."
"Hey, on the internet, in front of everyone, the whole galaxy pretty much, I said I loved you." I cock my head at him. You know like in "big question mark."
He grins, not looking at me, and says "I know."

Compost Happens: A Misadventure of Garlic

For years we composted and then Mr.P. begged me to stop vegetable gardening for several reasons but the biggie was the deer eating everything--major frustration. We had inherited our garden site when we bought the lake house (yes, we live on a lake in the mountains). I had upgraded the plot somewhat but it was still pretty unsightly, ratty looking chain link fence for example. So I dismantled the garden which also meant the compost bin. However, I still yearned to grow food and started container gardening on the balcony--OK deer if you can make it up here have at it. After a year or two of experimentation I have started raising serious food. This year I have 5 gallon zip lock bags in the freezer of chopped red and green peppers from only 4 plants. As I chopped I resented all that lovely green and red veg material going into the garbage. So I asked Mr.P. for a new compost bin for our twentieth anniversary. As per usual the dear sweet man jumped right on it and without telling me had ordered this truly attractive wood compost bin that I had selected from Gardener's Supply (http://www.gardeners.com/) one of my fav spots to acquire garden must haves. The composter looks like a little hut with access doors at the bottom and a sloped curved roof covered in sheet metal. acre Of course, it had to be assembled and placed. With no flat spot on our acre except for man made I placed pavers over mulch paper in a raised bed between two large ornamental grasses and put red lava rock around it. Mr.P. thought it looked awesome "It looks like it was made for that place." Next steps we got the counter top compost container and the biodegradable bags. By this time Mr.P. is getting totally into this. He becomes the chief take out the compost dude.

OK so where is the misadventure. Wednesday I came home from the office wondering what the hell to fix for dinner. After 40 some years of cooking, figuring out dinner every night becomes a true pain. I settled on pasta putanesca with onions, baby bellas, and baby spinach made with whole grain linguine. I reach for a bulb of garlic from my garlic bowl. NONE. I look around. Where did I put them. Did they get into the pantry? No. Frig? No. OK.
"SWEETHEART?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen the garlic?"
"No."
"Where could it have gone, it was right here in the bowl?"
"Oh. That stuff. I put it in the compost?"
"What?"
"Yeah"
"Ah--it was my garlic."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I thought it was shriveled onions."
"Maybe I can get it out."
"No. I already threw the coffee grounds in and took it out"
Don't you just love him. I do.
Hey. Have you pledged $10 to help Haiti yet. You know they need you.

Help Haiti.

Devastation such as we see in Haiti is hard to fathom,unless you've been in some kind of disaster yourself. Even then its usually nothing like the scale of seeing a whole city crushed and thousands dead. If you have been in a some come kind of event like this you can begin to imagine. I've been through blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, and nor'easter. The one that made the biggest impact was when I was a child. We were having a Youth Day at a small park when out of no where the tornado struck. Trees falling, children screaming and running, parents trying to gather children, trees smashing cars, people trying to move smashed cars so others could move. Feeling trapped. No help. Panic. If you've been in a similar situation you know you look for help, any help, anyone. Now, imagine you look around everything smashed, dead everywhere, people panicked, no help, no one coming, no future, nothing.

We sit in our warm homes with food and drink to hand watching the disaster on TV. Some of us watch while eating supper or having a snack and a beer. Many of us shake our heads and mummer, "Oh those poor people, those poor, poor people" and take another bite, another sip. Some of us get up and do something. Among first responders already on site Wednesday, Fairfax, Virginia Search and Rescue. Most of us take another bite, take another sip.
Please find the way you can best help and help.

Haiti

Not how any of us wanted to start 2010

Breaking up Christmas

It's that sad time of the winter when it is cold and dark and just when we need light the most everybody turns out the lights. Every Christmas The Great HB (my son) and I have the same conversation. Christmas seems to end sometime late in the afternoon on Christmas Day. What happened to the 12 days of Christmas? You know partridge in a pear tree and stuff like that. you know the time from the birth of Christ (December 25th) to King's Day/Epiphany on Jan 6th when the Three Wise Men got there and offered their gifts. When did the 12 days get "moved" to before Christmas? Let's face it all the peace, love, joy, celebrating and well wishing occurs before the 25th. At least the Brits and Canadians get Boxing Day. Comes the revolution and I am Queen (ya, right chick) there will be revels of all kinds from the 25th through the 6th and that is that. Things like this is what make people eccentric. Mr. P. says I can take down the tree when I want and I'm holding out 'til its dusk at 6PM :). Caio for now. Keep the porch light on. Somebody is out there trying to find their way home.

This is Jake my other four legged child on vacation in Hilton Head Island

This is Calli the Blond Beauty I was telling you about yesterday!

Blinker before BRAKES

I currently live in Charleston, SC where people clearly learned to drive with inept blinders and ear plugs in. They also must never have been given a book or taken an instructional class that they had to actually pass. I am not exaggerating, THEY CAN'T DRIVE, I mean seriously when it rains it creates mayhem like nothing I have ever seen. This includes driving in a snow storm in NJ in 1996 which caused my private school to cancel midterms because the school was shut down for a full week. So this morning I am driving behind someone who brakes, which I know means they are going to turn, so I contemplate laying on the horn, don’t, and then they put the blinker on. All I can think is the blinker before brakes, this is not hard. The blinker is the warning people, you should always apply the blinker before the breaks it simply makes sense. Why is this so hard for people? I don't get it, it takes one second and it probably would decrease the accident rate in this town alone by at least 65%. Blinkers before brakes!

Mr.P. and The Blog

OK. On Saturday I told Mr. P. that CD and I had started this blog. His first reaction was "Politicians post all the time and all they do is get into trouble." (This is a hint of what's to come.) The next reaction was "What is a blog anyway." Followed by "How do you get people to read your blog?" (good question) The next was "What do you write?" I said, "Oh just little stories but nothing personal." (I was beginning to get the gist of where this was going already.) Then I confessed "You're in it."
This was at lunch at one of our favs, Sandro's. I sent him our blog address from my BlackBerry and when we got home he read it. When I asked him "Well?" he didn't say much. I asked if he'd seen the picture of CD and he said "Yes, she sure hasn't changed much. It looks just like her." I waited. He still sat there, looking around. Then he said, "I'll have to read it just to keep my eye on you two." So, we do have a follower (yea!!!) who's watching us :). Don't you just love him.

Four legged children

As Nduckster posted we LOVE our dogs, I have two golden retrievers who I adore more than just about anything on this earth. Jake is my boy, he is a nine year old redhead and Calli is a four year old blond beauty. Jake is possibly the most gorgeous dog I have ever laid eyes on. I obtained him from a rescue when he was about one and a half years old, he is my soul. Calli I bought as a pup, she is the smartest little bitch this side of the Mississippi... She has created many, many ways to lure either Jake or myself out of a bed, off of a chair, into a room, whatever she wants in the moment, all simply to fulfill her wishes. Often the wish is that she wants whatever Jake has, wants to lay where Jake is laying, wants his toy, his bone, his everything and anything. With me she wants me, she never wants me to leave her and she always wants me fulfilling her every need, in a very specific way. A while back I would often wake up and she would be sitting, literally sitting in the bed starring at me, just waiting for that sublime moment when I would open my eyes and be all hers.... Over time this has changed, currently she waits for my feet to stick out from the covers which is how she knows I am waking. She lays at the side of the bed, waits for the feet that magically pop out and she starts banging her tail against the floor, until I am fully awake and ALL hers, she is truly amazingly smart. Recently on a trip to FL where my adored father lives she was sitting in his seat on the couch, he told her to move and she did. Now Calli is very obedient, and she moved as asked and sat in between us for a bit before wanting HER seat back. So, she started banging her tail against the couch and then jumped up and started barking at the noise as if something was there. This of course got my father up to inspect the problem and make sure his daughter and grand-puppies were safe. Calli as soon as my dad got up moved right back into HER seat... My father explained how sneaky this behavior was and then wisely gave up. I of course was laughing so hard that I was crying... this was my four legged child at her finest!

What's in Your Library?

As I said in my Kindle post, we Ducksters read and love to share our books. Two authors that we follow are Wally Lamb or what's her name Picoult. OK. That's a clue right there. When I start going "what's her/his name" I am over them. Finished the Wally Lamb The Hour I First Believed and realized I'd slogged through 700+ pages of tragedy, mistakes, and depression with characters I didn't even really care for. Killing one off really did not improve the situation. At least it was well thought out. Picoult's Handle with Care is peopled with characters you like but wish would just manage to sit down and actually communicate. Which is Picoult's theme. This novel felt formulaic and like a rerun. Too parallel to My Sister's Keeper right down to the death. Both books would be great candidates for Oprah's old book club. I always knew that when I got an Oprah book it would be as depressing as hell. Not that death necessarily is depressing nor that all books with edgie plots are downers. My son sent T.C. Boyle's Drop City to me for Christmas (got to love a son who thinks his old mum is still cool enough to read about communes and the Alaskan bush) and loved it despite all the crap, mistakes, and death. Now want to get Boyle's The Women which is about Frank Loyd Wright's (you guessed it) women.
Well, caio for now. Will talk at you soon. Stay warm and keep the kettle on. Who knows who might drop by.

Way cute

CD with a bunny rabbit. How verra verra cute. BTW, CD is a cute young woman. She is also verra,verra bright and knows tons about money stuff. She is devoted to her elderly father who lives several states away from her. In fact, none of us live close to each other except Mr.P. and me and we live in the same house and our big black Labrador. Another thing the Ducksters love, love, love is their dogs. Yes, we are dog people. My lab is the American ADHD type but like Marley a total love bug, way handsome, and very smart. She also is a thief, stealing everything from plastic containers of whole rounds of blue cheese brie to your gloves. However, most things return--well not the cheese, that totally disappeared. One wheel to our artificial Christmas tree was missing when we put it up (we don't actually put it up , we roll it out of the storage room in a neat storage bag). Where the wheel had gone was a total mystery. New Years Day I suddenly saw the wheel in the middle of the living room floor. Yes, Mischief had somehow appropriated it. On the other hand, I lost my memory stick through a hole in my jeans pocket. I totlally retraced my steps hoping to find it between home and my office. No luck. Then it showed up in the drive way, retrieved from somewhere by you know who. It's interesting having a disappearing,reappearing kind of life. CD has two dogs that I'm sure will be heard from at some point. Caio, for now. More later. BTW, this from my new mini notebook which Mr P. got me for Christmas and I truly am enjoying. It's role will for googling recipes and filing them. But that blog is for another day.

CDuckster

You may be wondering who I am, this is me when I was about six. It was taken at the home I grew up in, it is located in northern New Jersey.

2010

I am going to try and be a better blogger in 2010, I am going to try many things in 2010. I am sure I will have my moments of failure and success, they say its the trying that counts, right? I think that my privacy issues previously mentioned are part of the problem. I am sure you are asking yourself then why blog? Well this was a very fun topic of conversation while on vacation with nduckster (ND). ND who was very apprehensive about the whole blogging thing at first called me weeks later and mentioned how she is constantly blogging in her had and I must make this happen. I am a big believer in getting things out, so here is a great place for that... Again I am working on this. Hopefully, this will keep me from saying the many things I think about people out in the world as they behave as if they are the only ones that matter. ....

To Kindle or not to Kindle

One thing the Ducksters love, love, love is books. We trade books. We discuss books. We like opening a new book. We like certain fonts and type sets. We like cover art and end papers. We like rereading our old books. We collect books by specific authors. Then...... Mr P. got a Kindle 2 in October.
The plot had been to find out if he was interested and then get it for Mr P. for Christmas. Mr. P. BTW is my husband of twenty years and although well past middle age and not really, really computer literate, likes new stuff. By not really computer literate, I mean there are some rather pedestrian things that need to be done with his e-mails and documents that I have to do. When I discovered that his Windows operating system did not have Word,Excel, etc (this was a couple years into his computer) and got him up graded, he went wild. It was little like I had performed a miracle. So....would he like a Kindle. OK. I mentioned it on Thursday, he googled it on Friday, and on Saturday he was checking the mailbox to see if it was there yet. He's been using it ever since, loves demonstrating it to friends and family, and has stated that "he can't imagine ever buying another book."
I and CDuckster (CD) on the other hand are much more computer/gadget literate with IPhones and Blackberries, etc as well as working with computers in our offices everyday. We're also younger. So, theoretically we should be very pro-Kindle. We've talked about this. We understand the ecological argument BUT. The physical fact of books has been so central to us. CD actually "shops" in my read books. Actually giving a book to a person and saying "I think you will really like this" or "You should read this." is totally different from getting a gift card to buy books electronically. This is not just an electronic issue. When I share a book with someone, I feel like I am sharing part of me in a very different way than if I said "check this book out of the library." So, do we Kindle, simplify our lives, lighten the load, and go
green or do we keep our books. Oh, and BTW, Mr P. got underwear for Christmas :)