Carving Contest

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO EVERYONE!!!!!!

Don’t try this at home. Keep all power tools out of reach of pets.

A Corny Post

When most people think of Southern California, they think of palm trees, sand, ocean, succulents, and perhaps tall grasses.

So when I saw that my neighbor had corn planted in his front yard, I had to capture it for the rest of the world to see. It is, or course, unusual to see corn in California, but as part of landscaping – well, that’s extremely rare. The corn only lasts about 3 months, then it starts getting brown and wilty, so they cut it down. Frankly, I am surprised that the homeowner’s association (which actually bans things like having an open garage door for long periods of time, working on your car in front of your house, having a home of the wrong color, and a host of other sins) has allowed the corn embellishment. But, lo and behold, every year around the end of August, the little corn plants sprout and thrive till the beginning of November or so.

My Rubber Ducky

Moira J. Kelly takes the cutest photos of her bird Brody. Here he is again sharing his bath with his rubber ducky. He seems quite content at first, but then seems to have a change of heart about his rubbery friend! I love the eye contact between Brody and the duck on the first photo. So sweet! I wonder how much of a mess Moira has to clean up after each of Brody’s baths!

Bird’s Eye View of the Bird

Love, love, LOVE this shot of Tim, son of my friends Mark and Svetlana. He and his family were enroute to Russia for a family vacation via JFK airport.

Little contemplates big…

If Humans Disappeared Today…

They forgot to mention that cockroaches and Cher would still live on…

Drawing borrowed from Casual Slack.

Cross Your Legs and Hope to Die

Have you ever felt like this? All filled up and nowhere to go?

Thanks to Shaymus O’Flatulence for the use of this photo. He runs the funniest blog I have ever seen!

Answer to Yesterday’s Quiz

Yesterday’s quiz photo is the underside of a Plecostamus (algae eating fish). It resides in my 70 gallon home aquarium and keeps the tank nice and tidy. Here’s a more global shot of it.
His/her name is Sweet Lou Fischer – (s)he was given to me by my neighbor B. Fischer, Jr. and co-named after Fischer and Sweet Lou Johnson the baseball player. S(he) is a pretty large fish, approximately 7.5 inches long (that’s about19.5 cm for my out-of-US readers).

If you guessed right, congrats. No prize unfortunately except for a good feeling about yourself and the world in general.

What the ^%&$ is this?

Can anyone tell what this is?

Submit your answers. I will post the correct answer tomorrow.

All You Need is Love, Paul

The Heather and Paul McCartney divorce is getting ugly.

She claims he has beaten her in the past and that he would not let her breastfeed their baby because they are “my breasts” (his words).

I don’t know about you, but I have always had an intuitive dislike of his soon-to-be-rich ex-wife. It’s not nice to judge, but I can’t help but feel that she is just not a nice person; I have always gotten the “gold digger” vibe from her. Sure, nobody can look inside a person or a marriage; no one knows what goes on behind closed doors (bad song lyrics). Perhaps Paul is no angel either. But I can’t help siding with Sir Paul in this row. I have always liked Paul. He and the late beloved Linda raised four children together and breast possession never seemed to be an issue.

There is no prenuptial agreement, because it was deemed by the McCartneys as being “unromantic”. According to reports, this divorce may result in one of the world’s biggest settlements. It’s interesting to further note that Heather has retained Princess Diana’s divorce attorney, while Paul has retained Prince Charles’s lawyer. The rich are different…

So Paul, I wish you well. And particularly I wish you the wisdom to seek a partner who loves you; one who doesn’t want to exploit you for your wealth or status. I also hope you will get a lawyer who will force you to sign a prenup next time.

The McCartneys in happier times, 2002.
Photo from the Sydney Morning Herald

My Amazing Friend

A few weeks ago, my friend Shirley was sideswiped by a truck driven by illegal aliens from Mexico (no, this will not be a rant about immigration). They hit her car at an intersection and took off (hit and run). Luckily Shirley was not injured, but her new Toyota Matrix was damaged in the right rear quarter panel.

She took the car in to have the dents hammered out, but the guy who did it was a con man and did a very poor job (see “before” picture below). He left globs of bondo on the work and it looked horrible.

My friend Shirley never ceases to amaze me.

What did she do? She did some research about car paint and painting techniques; she had the paint mixed at an auto paint store, since the dealer could only provide little “fingernail polish sized” paint bottles. She purchased primer, sanding materials, clear coat, gloves, and other protective equipment. Then she waited for a wind-free day.

She sanded. She primed. She spray-painted. She clear-coated. She actually fixed the car herself! See the before and after pictures below.

Now here is the amazing part: Shirley is 73 years old!

Remember my post yesterday about the elderly and the amazing abilities of the older brain? Well…Shirley is my inspiration and observing her in action gives me constant encouragement about the resilience and learning power of the older brain!! I am so grateful to have such a wonderful role model in my life!!

Before and after photos!