The Worst Star Spangled Banner I Ever Heard

I try to be open minded when it comes to music but what my ears heard at the LA Kings vs the Phoenix Coyotes NHL game from Zakk Wylde was pure alright, pure annoying noise. How anyone can like that is beyond me. I've heard some long, bad Star Spangled Banners in my day, ie Rosanne, but this one was all-time bad.

Woohoo! Done Before the Snow Flies

• Not quite done but will be. I'm close to finishing up all painting on the exterior doors, porch floors, railings and pillars. I even repaired the front stairs and have them painted.
  
  
• In prior years, you would see me on a ladder still painting outside as the sleet and snow flies, using a blow dryer so the paint dries enough so it doesn't get washed away (it works, but an electrical hazard). I even had people walking and driving by that have had yelled comments on this practice. I have a history of waiting until the last minute. In years prior I just hadn't adjusted to the fact winter sets in about 3 months earlier than California. This year, I can't explain it, other than I think I've got it. I live in ERIE, I've run out of time, get with it!!
  

How Not to Spackle

• My spackle job turned out pretty bad because I had to use a spatula with a long handle to reach the stairwell ceiling (I guess I have incredibly short arms). After I made a big deal about how I can't reach the ceiling and can't use a ladder on the steps, my husband comes out with. "I can reach the ceiling, easy."
• So, my wonderful, very tall husband volunteered and gave up a day of his weekend to sand it for me. I decided to give him the orbital palm sander that orbits and spins in a circle to make it a bit easier. He did a fabulous job.
  
• I knew ahead of time the result of using an electric sander on spackle. (I've been through it before and swore never to do it again but this was kind of an emergency.) The whole house is still full of fine white silt that has finally settled...everywhere. Every piece of furniture, fixture, book, every shelf, every nook and cranny in the house has a film of powder that is like fine baby powder. I have a couple of plaster patches yet to make and then comes a complete fall cleaning.
  
• DRAT! Luckily, I now have Swiffers.
  

Flightplan Review

My husband and I went to see Flightplan at the movie theater last night. All in all it was a good movie but it is one of those movies you have to chuckle here and there because, come on, it just couldn't happen, and wouldn't happen. Luckily, it had Jodie Foster, she's so good at "tense". At the end it became a bit ridiculous, music and the loose ends all tying up in a neat little package, and again, it wasn't believable. But it was entertaining with plenty of tense moments. I judge that part by how fast I eat my popcorn.

I asked for it

I asked for it (please, honey, please) and I think I'm getting it. The NHL package!!! Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, something worth watching on TV. TV is sooooooooo bad. I have watched reruns of Seinfield and Everybody Loves Raymond until I'm blue in the face. Everything is just plain junk out there in TV land. What happened to writers? It's all teenage crapola. We did rent the first season of LOST. And we got hooked. So, on Wednesdays, we will be perched on the couch watching each episode of the current season. Oh, but conflict arises. Wednesday is the first day of the NHL season. I'll have to tape LOST.

I thought "If Walls Could Talk" on HGTV was gone forever. I came across an episode last night. I wish they would bring back "Modern Masters", too. I love these shows and they disappeared for a while, even in reruns. I used to listen to the shows while I scraped wallpaper and spackled the walls. Now I listen to my MP3 player with Etta James, BB King, Taj Mahal, and, of course, Jakes Blues while I shellac and paint. I'm not complaining as the blues have served the walls well. The texture of the walls seems to have rhythm, but I was trying for the "Modern Masters" look.

I'm a Hypocrite with Hockey

• I'm a starved hockey fan and I finally got fed last night (what a cliche!). The Otters put on a great show for us in their home opener. It had it all, a win with penalties, some hard hits, some great scoring plays and a big brawl complete with sticks, gloves, helmets flying and plenty of punching. That's where I become the hypocrite.


• Years ago when I first saw some hockey on TV I thought it was terrible. Look how those guys hit each other. Violence! When I saw my first Chicago Blackhawks game in Chicago, I was very put off at first by the crowd. They scared me. Somewhere between getting scared and the end of the game, I got hooked.


• Last night before the 10-year anniversary of the first home Otter's game, they had a presentation with clips of great plays and memorable moments over those previous 9 years. When the clips of the goal-scoring skate dance and exhibition celebration after each goal was shown on the screen, the crowd roared and laughed with glee. The clips with the hard checks against the board and the brawls all drew the crowd's approval. And there I was, ( Mrs. anti-violence, I hate swearing, supposedly-mellow me) laughing and applauding with the rest of the crowd. Hockey must be exempt from normal sportsmanship for some unknown reason and it just seems OK to boo the opposing team, yell at the ref (because they deserve it most of the time) delight in bench-clearing brawls. I figure if I get it out of my system at the game I can go home and be my old self again.
  
  
• And something else I don't get. I've always thought the hotdogging dances and celebrations after a touchdown in football was cute, funny and entertaining. Then I found out it is not good, it is unacceptable, bad sportsmanship. Hmmm...Why is it not Ok to celebrate and dance and other such antics in other sports after a great play but it is loved and endeared to in hockey? I'm going on record to say I like it (the great play and scoring celebrations) in hockey and I like it in football. And the fighting? Well, I'll go on record to say it isn't a good thing...but like people who go to car races and say they don't really want to see car crashes.......
  

GoogleEarth is Amazing

I downloaded Google Earth and I'm really impressed. The things you can do! I wasn't sure I had everything that is required when I downloaded it but it seems to be working without a hitch. You can fly from one address to another. When you get down to a real close up it fades out and doesn't show the buildings very well. But it has so many other features. Some selected cities have 3D buildings. It is fun to play with.

Ceiling Quandary

• I'm fixing the cracks in the plaster on the ceiling of our stairwell. I'm too short to reach it with my hands and I can't safely figure out a way to use a ladder on the steps. So I'm using a long-handled spatula to apply the patching plaster and a long-handled sanding block to smooth it when it dries.
  
• It's not a perfect job. I could spend a lot of more time on it and get it a lot better but it will never be "perfect" if I have to use extensions. (I'm burned out on this project already.)
  
• I'm contemplating putting the textured " Victorian ceiling tin" wallpaper on the ceiling in that area and then paint it. It would cover any imperfections in my plaster patching( but mostly the plaster repairs of someone before us) and would look great in my old house. But then again, I can't reach the ceiling. The curse of shortness.
  
• Like Scarlett, I'll think about that tomorrow.
  

As Sweet as Tupelo Honey

• TO DO OR NOT TO DO...Deciding to pick our first and "one and only" pear was a really tough decision. Pick it too soon and it won't ripen properly, pick it too late and it will have a bad core.
  
  
• HOW DO YOU KNOW?...I did research on pears and you can't wait for them to ripen on the tree or the core gets rotten. There were tips on how to pick them but most of them was through a test pear. You pick it and check how hard the stem breaks away from the limb. Cut into it and check the color of the flesh, etc. I only had one pear so I didn't get a second chance.
  
  
• JUST DO IT!!...It was still hard and still had some bumps on the flesh. It was still very green but had lightened up a bit. I lifted it and pulled gingerly just to see if the stem separated. Snap, it did! OK, then, the decision was made for me.
  
  
• WAITING AND WAITING...I set the pear on the counter and waited. According to my sources it takes 4 to 5 days to ripen. At 5 days it still looked the same and was still hard when I put some pressure on the outside. ...6 and 7 days passed. I did notice it was starting to turn a more yellow color. By the 9th day I decided I had better go for it.
  
  
• PHOTO OP AND THE BIG PAYOFF...I took pictures of it, called my husband in and I'm sure he thought I was nuts when I made such a celebration out of it. As soon as the knife grazed the surface and juice flowed out I knew it was ready. I continued to cut and there before us was a perfect sliced pear. Perfect light-colored flesh, smelling sweet. It tasted even better, as sweet as honey.
  
  
• I know I tend to make a big deal out of such little things, chipmunks, butterflies, birds, flowers, a trout and even a pear. But I live for the little things, they are there for you to discover so much more often.
  

My Mother Instinct for One Sick Bird

• Yesterday, late afternoon, my husband called me to the front porch to look at something. In the corner on the ground next to our front steps was a lone pigeon. Not looking at all afraid he just looked back at us. He moved his head normally, opened and closed his eyes normally but just sat there.
  
<>We checked about an hour later and he was still there. He wouldn't move even when I approached very close. I didn't want to touch him because he may be sick with something .

• I brought some bird seed out to him and a dish of water. He immediately drank the water but then proceeded to hunker down in the corner again.
• When darkness approached I went to check on him and he was still there. Then it started raining, hard. About 11 pm I went out into the rain to check and he was still there, all ruffled up and head scrunched down deep into his neck.
  
• I felt so bad leaving him there and thought about putting something over him but I knew it would just blow away in the thunderstorms. Pigeons roost out in the weather all the time so I was just hoping for the best for him.
  
• As soon as I came down this morning I asked my husband about the pigeon and he said he was gone. No feathers anywhere so I'm hoping whatever happened to make him stay the night didn't do him any permanent harm. Maybe he wasn't sick and just flew into something that temporarily knocked the daylights out of him and he got his bearings back today.
  
• Later today I'll do a more intense search for him around the house. I don't like pigeons but there is always a soft spot in my being for a sick or injured animal.