NEWSFLASH!

hello dear readers! back on march 16th, i asked for some suggestions of topics, as i was having a bout of "blogger's block" that night. five or six of you responded and i've compiled a list of your suggestions. they are as follows:

a) microquasars in relation to astrophysics of black holes
b) anything but ants
c) eliminating a herd of tiny mice
d) the beach
e) snacking-sweet vs salty (?! really?!)
f) how to age gracefully
g) smiling when you don't mean it ( i am a whiz at that one!)
h) southern charm vs jersey charm
i) what happens when you talk politics with others ( me personally??)
j) what part of mars are they from, really (again, me personally??)

stand back! because in this one amazing blog post, i will attempt to satisfy all your propositions.

ahem...here goes...

i read in the news recently, that scientists who study microquasars in relation to the astrophysics of black holes have found that the resultant blasts of radio-emitting gases are shown to obliterate both ants and herds of tiny mice! now i find that to be quite useful information. not because i still have ants despite the best efforts of my ex-hero justin-the-exterminator, ( i'm not going to talk about that), but because, on the northern part of mars where i was born, we have herds of large, mice-sized ants! yes, the possibilities are astounding!

now, as i sat on the beach pondering this new bit of scientific data, my ice cream fell into my bag of pretzels. "sonofabitch!! ", i uttered, which is an expression more indicative of my jersey upbringing than of the southern state in which i currently find myself. but, as a test, i decided to just taste the salty-sweet mixture. "well, i swan!!, i demurely stated. that is a pretty tasty snack!

i continued reading while scooping up ice cream with pretzel after pretzel, and there, in bold print, was the headline-

"doctors find eating diets high in salty-sweet foods halts the signs of aging!"

"HOLY MOTHER OF ELVIS!!!" what a providential discovery, considering my new favorite snack food.

ta da!!!!!!
and i bet you thought i couldn't do it!!!
what? what's that, you say? i forgot the part about discussing politics??
uh, no i didn't. if you know anything about me at all, you'd know this...



I DON"T DISCUSS POLITICS!!! (she says while smiling)

(above image courtesy of the international space art network)

grateful today that i managed to fit all that into one post! :)

boy oh BOY!!!

i have two grown daughters. i have so enjoyed having girls. we have done all the girlie things: played with dolls and barbies, had tea parties, played dress-up and makeover, played "cat's cradle"... you know, the typical female fun.

yet, as much as i have delighted in my gals, i have always longed for a little boy. and as luck would have it, i was given one when kaye gave birth to t.willie almost two and a half years ago! because kaye is a single mom, she has to work two jobs and she is seldom home. i am the boy's primary care taker. and as you all know, we have our good days and our not-so-good days! today was a good one...sort of.

a neighbor one street over was plowing up a garden with a very loud tractor. we could hear it from our yard and t.willie wanted to "go see guy on tractor." we walked back behind the yards and watched the man finish his job then we walked back home. i decided it would be a good idea if we picked up all the fallen sticks in the yard. t.willie was a lot of help...at first.

after he got bored with the stick job, he started looking for other things of interest. a patch of moss inspired him to pet it and lay his cheek against it; that was cute. after that, he collected rocks for a bit . then, he turned to me with something else in his hands and when i saw it was old crusty dog doodie, i freaked! i kinda smacked it out of his hands as i was telling him that we NEVER NEVER touch dog poopie and i scooped him up to take him into the house to wash his hands. we came back outside and for about five minutes, he collected more rocks. but then, i looked over at him and saw him drop something real fast and hide his hands behind his back. i went over to him with a feeling of dread and saw a dead mouse lying at his feet! i said "did you pick up that mouse?" he answered "yes, gammie." again, we raced back into the house, back to the bathroom sink, squirted a bunch of soap into his hands and scrubbed REALLY well!!! all the while, i was giving him the talk about how we NEVER NEVER pick up dead animals.

at this point, i was kinda re-thinking that thing about wanting a little boy. i was thinking, "what i wouldn't give for a girl and a barbie right about now!" so i told him we were done with the sticks and we were just going to hang out on the porch. he played with his wagon for a few minutes and then he stretched up onto the railing to see a big truck go by. when i saw him kinda scratching at something on top of the railing, i just knew it was bird poop and i sighed as i picked him up, carried him inside and AGAIN washed his hands. i told him gammie had had enough nature and it was time for naps. i didn't even have the energy for the "never never" talk.

after all that nature and fresh air, he did take a nap, which was my plan all along when i took him out. little did i know, it would be me that really earned the nap!

grateful today:
1. for antibacterial soap
2. for dove dark chocolate
3. for the dog (that poops), the cat (that killed the mouse) and the birds (that poop on my railings)- oh, and for that little boy!

the mouse-capades

last fall, we had a mouse problem. every time i went out to get the pet food, there were mice snacking and playing in it. and not just your every day, yucky, dirty mice. these were the cutest little bitty mice i had ever seen! and there were always more than one at a time. in the past, when i would see one, it would be all alone- snacking and playing by itself.
so here were these darling little mouse babies and i still had to feed my dog and cats. of course, i was not going to stick my hand in there, no matter how cute they looked terrified, staring up at me!
here was a job for hubby!!! i told him i didn't want to hurt the mice, just get them out of there. so after giving it a minute of thought, he went and got the hose from the shop vac. he stuck one end into the dog food bin and the other outside on the ground. it took a very short time, but then , as we watched, here came three mice up through the tube, looking quite happy to be out! how simple was that?!! the man is a genius!!!
click on image to be taken to my sister's etsy shop
so, i was remembering the mouse episode when i came across this video.
follow the link and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUIxxIhgopA

i am grateful for:
1. bilbo's ingenuity
2. cheese
3. t.willie took a THREE hour nap today! yay!!!