Hayseed Dixie looks like a fun group; but They Might be Giants are awesome & we love them! Somewhere I have a copy of "Birdhouse in your Soul" on cassette. I think it's really appropriate that they've gone on to do kid friendly music as well.
When dh discovered this little number, he listened to it every day for weeks. Still loves it!
I listen to a lot different kinds of music. Up until recently, had pretty much avoided rap. Then I discovered Flight of the Conchords. Their "rap" I can dig. I know I've mentioned them before.
My husband has written & recorded music/lyrics himself. I don't have anything that he's done in a post-able form. He'd probably kill me if I did post something. He doesn't fancy himself to be much of a singer (he is really self critical!).
About the only kind of music I don't care much for is mainstream country. Nothing gets me outta the Dollar Store (or any store!) when they have that stuff blaring on the radio! However, I do have respect for some older country music/performers, but it's nothing I seek out. Dh has less tolerance for it than I do, but he works in construction and has it shoved down his throat every day. We are both big fans of western swing styled music though. Absolutely love "Riders in the Sky" (on myspace, they have nothing on youtube, also have a website) http://www.myspace.com/ridersinthesky
Ray Benson IS Asleep at the Wheel. He is a fantastic performer with a great voice. We've seen him/them and Riders in the Sky live. They are top notch entertainment!
Good idea about the chairs. My dining room chairs have wheels (no carpeting on floor, chairs roll easily) and I have 5 cats. There's a chuckle in me just visualizing that fracas! Cats getting hung up in the mattress pad, freaking out trying to run, chairs rolling, fur flying. Oh my!
I'm bringing the mattress pad in when it gets dark. If still damp, I'll hang it in the garage, I have a clothesline out there. I usually don't even bother to wash this thing unless the weather allows...but our weather is just hopeless these days!
This mattress pad is super thick and king size. I would love to have it hanging in the house where I could make use of the humidity it's giving off. It would dry faster too. My shower/tub area is really small and holds the humidity for a long time after we shower, so I didn't think putting it in there was worth the bother. Was also afraid the weight of it would pull down the shower rod. It's one of those spring loaded ones, not permanently mounted to the wall. I've had it outside for a few hours now. On a sunny day, it would be totally dry by now, I will say that I'm surprised it's drying at all, but it actually is. Very slowly.
Ok, I had to wash a mattress pad today & it can't be dried in the dryer. Sooooo, it's hanging outside. It's 36 degrees and the humidity is 61%. At this rate, I expect it will be dry by...MAY!!!
Well, at least the sun is trying to peek out of the clouds.
I think if I were to build my dream barn, it would definitely have a combination of floorings, and of course the type of animals in that barn would have an affect on my choices. You can't beat concrete for looks, ease of cleaning, etc. It sure has it's drawbacks with safety for large animals. I have seen one too many horses slip and fall in nice fancy concrete aisles. Watched the sparks fly from their shod feet! Yikes! Yet, concrete is helpful and more sanitary, as Leah mentioned. I think a slope and drainage is a good key point.
I can remember being at a horse barn that had concrete grooming stalls with rubber mats, but nobody gave drainage much of a thought when they built those grooming stalls. Ugh, when a horse would decide to urinate in the grooming stall it was an awful mess to clean up. The urine would just puddle underneath the rubber mat, there was no place for it to go. You had to throw a bunch of shavings down to soak it up and even after getting the majority of it out, it still stank to high heaven! A little slope and someplace for it to drain would have helped that situation immensely!
Dirt/screenings that drain well would be my choice for the majority of flooring. Horses in particular seem a lot more comfortable standing on that type of footing, vs. concrete. Concrete does have it's place in a barn though, that's for sure.
Gallagher makes some good points! Our language has got to be one of the toughest to learn.
In the last decade or so, I've noticed that somewhere along the way, the word troop (when referring to the military) is often misused. When I was young, I was in a troop (aka group) of girl scouts.
These days, I can't even count the number of times I've heard the media and/or government/military persons refer to a troop as one soldier. You hear "3 troops were killed by an explosion today." ...and you think OMG, that's a lot of soldiers! When actually, they are talking about 3 individual soldiers. It drives me crazy when they do that! I don't understand why they can't just say soldiers when they are talking about individuals.
What about ground up limestone (or "chat"), screenings, etc.; does it fall into the category of dirt? Or it it inadvisable for goats? Seems like it works pretty well in the horse barns I've been in. Seems safer footing for horses vs. concrete aisles which can be slippery.
I'm sorry Leah, it's facebook's fault! My page was down all day today (for maintenance, whatever the heck that means!) and I had to do something to feed my addiction!
I've been thinking a lot about your post, Charles. I am sorry to hear you are struggling with this. Personally, (IMO) you need love & support from you friends to help you. I do not think smokers should be vilified or treated as pariahs. Nor do I think they have anything to be ashamed of. Shaming people doesn't always help them quit. It just makes them feel bad, which is counterproductive. At least it has been for my husband. Case in point, the "truth" commercials. I understand they are done as a public service. It has been years since they quit advertising cigarettes on TV. When dh was trying to quit & one of those "truth" ads would come on, it would of course make him think about smoking, irritate him because of it's in-your-face attitude, and make him want a cigarette. Their point is well taken. We all know smoking is bad. I realize those commercials are targeted at younger smokers & if it helps fine. I'll still question whether it really helps or not.
My b-i-l smoked for over 40 years. He also drank. When he decided to quit, he had to quit both & he quit cold turkey. He was 56 at the time. Previous to that he'd tried to quit a number of times over the years. He even tried hypnosis, but it didn't work for him. He was told that he wasn't a good candidate for hypnosis in general.
My mother had 2 friends who smoked for decades. They did the hypnosis thing and it worked for them. Whether is was REALLY the hypnosis or just making the decision to quit via a placebo (such as hypnosis) to give them support, I don't know, but they never smoked again. They were in their early 50's.
My husband has smoked for 40 years. He is one of the sweetest guys you'd ever meet. We've been together for almost 25 years. He too has tried a number of times to quit. The brand he preferred (supposedly) had the lowest tar/nicotine content on the market. He tried the patch once, but even the lowest dosage of it delivered more nicotine than what he got from the cigs. The patch made him feel jittery and no wonder! He experienced the same thing with the nicotine gum & could only chew small sections of it at a time, with poor results. He got a prescription for chantix (Not cheap; even with insurance coverage). He had marginal results that weren't good enough to warrant the medication's cost.
At about the same time, the cost of cigarettes here really jumped. For a long time, it was cheaper to buy cigarettes here in "Indian Territory" than in most places of the US. When he crunched the #'s and realized just how much he was spending (just about the price of a monthly payment on a motorcycle) that helped more than anything else! So a new motorcycle was his reward for quitting cigarettes. He managed to avoid all smoking for quite a while. Unfortunately, job stress and other factors made it increasingly difficult to stay quit.
The main other factors were social drinking and playing in a band. My dh has played the guitar since he was a child. Like other musicians, playing in a band is something many strive for. Unfortunately, when he is in that environment, there are (of course) smokers & drinkers around. The band members (don't smoke) but many people who come & listen to them do smoke. Believe me, I would LOVE for him to stop associating with this group, for my own selfish reasons. I'd like him to be around as long as possible. He's 6 years older than me. It's his enjoyment. Even during the breaks the band has taken (which lasted a few months) didn't help. He was just depressed during that time. Friends and socialization are more important to some than they are to others. My dh really misses his friends when they aren't around.
He has gotten past cigarettes, but has substituted little cigars that are made with pipe tobacco. He doesn't smoke them as often & doesn't smoke at work anymore. Has he given smoking up completely? No. He struggles with his habits & the dependency every day. But at least he has cut down a lot. I've come to the realization that (for some) smoking isn't just about the nicotine addiction. It's something to do with their hands, oral fixation & there's a ritual involved/a habit. That's how it was for me. I don't believe I was ever addicted to nicotine when I smoked. I guess I was mostly a social-smoker. I have smoked off and on over the years, but never more than a 1/2 pack & I have always been able to just stop, whenever I wanted to. I think part of my ability to do that has something to do with my menthol preference. I only want to smoke menthol's. Non-menthol's are as repellent to me as menthol's are to people who don't smoke them. If I didn't have cigs of my own and there were no menthol smokers, I had no desire to bum cigs from anybody. Currently, I'm back in a non-smoking phase & hope to stay there. I have no desire to smoke, but I don't look back and think why did I ever smoke? I know why & I know I might even do it again, but my hope is that I won't.
I wish I had better advice for your Charles. I'm sympathetic and supportive. Some people can quit cold turkey, and some people can't. I don't know much about herbs & being as I've tried every dang herb I can lay my hands on to help me sleep (without much success), I question their efficacy. All I can say is try to stay positive, don't beat yourself up with negativity because I don't think it helps. I don't think saying quit because you have a wife and a child really works all that well. You have to quit for you. That's the best advice I have. Hang in there!
wombat wrote: my greyhound just found a nest of new born mice.
Pinkies! My friends Jack Russell's used to eat pinkies all the time. They'd find them in horse stall bedding. Nothing like a dog with a mouthful of mice getting in your face, wagging it's tail while chomping on the last few bits of baby mice. Mmmmmboy!
Will wiping this laptop & installing a new OS get rid of all the viruses?
After posting my previous question, I spoke to a friend about the situation. He questions whether computer fix-it place will be able to get all the viruses off the computer & says they probably don't offer a guarantee.
Regarding the age of the computer. I don't have the model# or I'd google it again to find out. I know that it's running Windows XP. It only has 256 megs in it & the info I found when I googled it before made it sound as though it was maxed out, memory wise.
I don't really need it to be fast. I mostly just want to use the word program to write blogs, save them to disk and then download them in a faster computer and post them. I really don't care if I can even hook up to the internet, but I probably would if I could without much more expense. It's my understanding that if a computer has viruses and I save a word document to disk, I can spread that to another computer, via that disk. Correct?
Ok Charles & Joshua, I got questions. Reason I don't have answers is because I've always been a MacHead, and this is about a Windows 'puter. My boss has this older Sony Vaio laptop. It wouldn't get online. I took it in to a computer fix it store, thinking that for 50 bucks, it'd be worth it to get it up and running.
WELL, of course that 50 bucks is basically "the walk it in the door/we'll take a look at it" cost. The guy tells me that for 50 $ he can get it to go online, but the computer is full of (hundreds) of viruses. Fixing that will cost another $ 75.
So when I read Joshua's words "wipe-it" I wonder just how to do that. How do you get an older computer to have a clean slate? This laptop will boot up and I was able to use the word program on it. Didn't try to get it online, didn't have the necessary cable for that. It has a disk drive. Can play cd's, dvd's etc.
You have mentioned linux here, Paul mentioned ubuntu in another thread. I've heard of linux before, never heard of unbuntu. I see unbuntu is free for download.
If you guys can give me some tips, I'd be willing to try and fix it myself. Save the 75$. My boss has offered to pay the whole amount, he thinks the computer is worth the $125.
Josh you make is sound uber simple. Just removing windows and putting in a different OS will do it?
The corn dogs he made were actually pretty good, except for that gritty factor. I don't know if he'll try it again. We have quite a lot of corn meal left though & it was nothing special. Just generic store brand cornmeal. I'm not sure if he used baking soda or not. There was a recipe that called for it.
He used those little cocktail wienies & dipped them. I think he used paper towels (I know. A permie sin!) to blot excess moisture from the wienies before he dipped them. That helped the batter stay on.
Regarding the sourdough starter, that sounds like a great idea. I think letting the batter sit overnight before using would have helped A LOT!
I don't like most fake sugars. They're uber sweet to me. I've had stevia & I liked it pretty well.
My mother has been using saccharin (in her coffee) since the 50's. She also consumes aspartame in various sugar-free products. As of now, she is healthier than many of her peers (that I've met) and (unless something freakish happens) will turn 80 in June. She drives, does her own shopping & volunteers at a nursing home twice a week. She belongs to the Y and uses the pool 3 times a week. I'm not advocating using aspartame or saccharin by posting this, but mom could be a poster child for it's use.
The ability of articulation, verbal or written has been on my mind lately. Apparently, I know a lot of people that have similar difficulties.
I have good verbal & reading skills (except reading boring/technical stuff); can also spell really well & I'm deadly at Scrabble. Just don't expect me to do math without a calculator. Long division?...fuggedaboudit!
I couldn't name every president, but I don't think I'd fail a test trying to name them. State Capitals, yeah I'd miss some there too. Probably get a C- on that test.
Yay!!! So glad you are home & extra glad you posted a picture! Shea is a sweetheart, kinda looks like daddy in this pic! I've seen that expression on his face before!
Sorry about the bp issues causing you to have to stay in hosp. No doubt staying in the hosp. only aggravated that situation. Hehheh! Glad to know at least one of that Dr's patients is keeping him on his toes!
Congratulations, dear friend! Lots of love for ya!
Jamie, I like the way you think! Cool gifs on your posts. I want a banana woohoo! (like on your other post) I dunno what it is but it sure sounds like fun!
I'm afraid I threw a bit of a monkey wrench into the communication process by starting a different thread (reg. this) under another topic, but it got moved back to this "drivel' topic anyways.
Sorry, but I'm a stickler for word definitions (even if it's tongue-in-cheek), especially when it comes to something serious & MEANINGFUL!
Leah is at the hospital today. I will try to keep you all posted when I know anything. In the meantime, if everyone could send positive thoughts and energy out on her behalf, it could only help!
Eeek! 
