Just For Fun!

Monday One Liners

My husband is on the roof – only a few inches away from an insurance claim that could completely change my life.

( I feel the need to add a disclaimer to this one. I have a fairly sarcastic sense of humor. My husband is afraid of heights, and I really do love him and want him around as long as possible.)

Just For Fun!

Friday Trivia

This trivia is for the birds. All you bird fans out there should give this a try. Some of the answers had me smiling. I guess everything has a name for a reason! (The answers are below the grumpy owl. Take a look at those eye brows!)

 

  • What is the proper term for a group of parrots?
  • The Passenger Pigeon, now extinct, was endemic to which continent?
  • What is a group of owls called?
  • What is the fastest bird in the world when in its hunting dive?
  • What is a baby swan called?
  • What is a flock of crows called?

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  • Pandemonium
  • North America
  • A parliament.
  • The Peregrine Falcon
  • A cygnet
  • A Murder

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A Day to Remember

Happy Endings

I think it’s safe to say that most of us enjoy a story with a happy ending. You want those characters that you fell in love with, or even hated, to go on and do great things. Readers want to be left on a high note, not feeling depressed.

If you have read my posts over the past couple of months, you know about our kitten capers. You shared in our loss of our beloved Cassie…shortly after we gave the two kittens to the shelter. We wanted Cassie to feel at home in her waning years, not harassed by kittens, or having to share her space. So, we gave them away, rather than share our home with them.

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Then, the third kitten, sibling to the previous two was found. So, after only a few days, about a week and a half after being cat-less, we decided to keep Callie. We had missed the kitten duo, but prayed they had found good homes. Callie has become a fat and sassy four-month old kitten. She has filled out, and has lovely fur.

I had named the two kittens Georgie and Feonie. I have taken a lot of grief about that last name. But she just looked like a Feonie. Say peony, but replace with an ‘f’. Names that are different intrigue me. Growing up as Deborah, morphed into Debbie when I was in school. Half the classes I attended back in the ’70’s were filled with Debbies! So, in my late teens, I went to Deborah, to set myself just a bit apart.

Feonie was a very special little kitten, as you can see by the above picture. She is the one on the left. Georgie was adorable too, but very rambunctious, and rather a bully. We wanted Cassie’s sweet demeanor. Feonie had the loudest purr, and she loved to just cuddle on your lap, or snuggle around your neck. She was very loving, and I thought very special. After she was gone, I felt terrible for giving her away, but I didn’t want to keep her and not Georgie. It didn’t seem fair to him, and I didn’t want to be the one to separate them. I would wake in the middle of the night, thinking of ways that it would be possible to get Feonie, but not Georgie, but always praying that they were well and in good homes. We also thought it would be very special for Callie and Feonie to be able to grow up together. Callie was a very lonely kitten on the days when we couldn’t all be at home!

Yesterday, we were in Topeka to have our car worked on. My husband had taken the day off because there was the potential to have some major work done, and I didn’t want to be the one dealing with that. So it was a rare day for all three of us to be together. We walked around the mall and had lunch…just different and enjoyable. As we were leaving, I asked if we could stop by the animal shelter, the same one where my father had taken the kittens. We are rarely in Topeka, and not usually during business hours. So, the timing was perfect. I just wanted to see if Georgie and Feonie had been adopted. It had been two months since we had given them away…August 1st. No chance for them to still be at the shelter.

This shelter is lovely inside. Very well taken care of, and I’m so very happy that there is such a place in Topeka. They are doing an amazing job! We walked around all the places where cats and kittens were staying. The cages, behind glass had little speakers so you could talk to the occupant. There were several rooms behind glass where feline’s were grouped according to ages, it seemed. After about the third large room, we came to a window with kittens about the ages that Georgie and Feonie would have been. There was a kitten there that looked very much like Georgie, and it was scrapping with another kitten. So the same attitude was there! Then, a calico kitten walked out from beneath a set of kitten hammocks…and it turned and looked at our daughter and I. There was Feonie’s face staring back, walking toward us. She reached up a paw, and from the look on her face…she recognized us! But none of the names on the window matched.

We filled out the paper work, after telling our story. We were then sent in to speak with a counselor, so we could find out the details about that particular calico kitten. We all kept thinking it couldn’t be Feonie…not after two months.

That little kitten was our Feonie! They had renamed her Dandelion, which is why her name didn’t match. Her brother Georgie had been adopted on August 29th. Because Feonie had a respiratory infection, she had been taken off the adoption list until she was well. She had just been released for adoption a week or so before.

Now, you can say that this was all by chance. It was luck, just a coincidence. I believe that God had His hand in the workings of the kitten saga from the very beginning. He knew that Cassie would no longer be a part of our family. Callie was found, moments before being crushed, and Feonie was waiting for us. I pray Georgie is in a good home, playing to his heart’s content in his kitten, rambunctious way.

When we went into the little room to visit with Feonie, to see if she would be a good fit for us to adopt…she ran to us. She climbed to each of our shoulder’s in turn, wrapping her tiny body around our necks, and tapping her head against our chins. Her purr filled the room.

She is in her forever home, with her sister. She recognized our furniture, and her little dishes. She and Callie are getting to know one another again. God’s timing is perfect, His ways are not our ways. And that’s a Happy Ending!

 

Just For Fun!

Friday Trivia

It’s Friday, so we don’t want to think too much! I’ve always enjoyed trivia, so I wanted to share some with you. Note #7. I don’t think I’d want to be popular in Denmark!

1. The most common street name in the U.S. is “Second.” Oddly, “Third” comes in second place, and “First” is in third place. This just doesn’t seem to add up!

2. Eighty-eight percent of recent home buyers financed their purchase in 2016, and the average amount financed was 90 percent.

3. The longest main street in the nation is 33 miles long. It’s located in Island Park, Idaho, a town incorporated in 1947 for the purpose of accommodating a liquor law. The law required all establishments selling liquor to be within a city’s limits. The businesses along U.S. 20 at the time joined together to form the town of Island Park. The town’s length is about 36 miles. Its width varies between 500 and 5,000 feet.

4. The median size of a new home in the U.S. is 2,467 square feet, which is 61 percent larger than 40 years ago. So much for the downsizing movement!

5. When you first enter your new house, bring bread so those in the home will never know hunger. Also, take along a new broom. Bringing an old broom into a new home is considered an invitation to bad luck.

6. Here’s some good news if you are a germaphobe, especially one who cringes at the thought of touching door handles: Brass, copper, aluminum, iron, lead, and silver are essentially self-disinfecting materials. It’s called the oligodynamic effect and has much to do with why homes have brass doorknobs since, as an antimicrobial metal, brass leads the list of sanitizing materials. However, the reaction does take some time.

7. In Denmark, it is considered good luck to break dishes outside your friends’ homes. The bigger the pile of porcelain shards you wake up to on New Year’s Day, the more popular you are. Although, you still clean up the mess.

8. When Americans move, we don’t move very far. The median distance between the homes people purchased in 2016 and those they moved from was 12 miles.

9. The concept of a housewarming party began due to the need to literally warm up the house. Guests brought firewood for the new fireplace.

10. Even as the interest rate on 30-year mortgages rose in 2016, they still registered near the historical low end on such financings. The high was established in October 1981, when they hit an astronomical 18.45 percent.

 

Read more at https://www.newamericanfunding.com/blog/homeownership-trivia-15-facts-to-share/#Vk6lD1sJSBWAgbA6.99

Just For Fun!

Do You Understand Your Computer?

Friday is the end of the work week, unless you are in a profession like nursing, retail, police, etc. So many of us still think of Friday as the day to look forward to the weekend, a time to relax and be with family and friends. So, let’s kick off this Friday with a little quiz. No groaning allowed! Just something fun to see how familiar you are with your computer. I was shocked when I missed only one question…and that was me not thinking it through. So it really can’t be that complicated. You don’t need to download it, just hit the little blue start button. You get to see if you are wrong or correct before you answer the next question. I like that!

https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=basic-computer-skills-assessment&user_name=I

So how did you do? I’m thinking fairly well considering you blog and have a website! Just figuring out WordPress has my head spinning most days! Have a great weekend!

A Day to Remember, Our Christian Walk

Remind Me, Dear Lord

When I first learned to play the piano, I had visions of playing for hours, any song that I wished. Most of what I wanted to play was the popular music of the 1970’s. I took one year of piano lessons, with almost no music theory involved. Of course I played by ear as much as I possibly could…not something a piano teacher advises, or even tolerates. What I ended up playing much of the time was classical music, and that was what I usually listened to when I wasn’t finding my way around so many other options. My great grandmother on my maternal side was a classical pianist, my grandfather played violin in the Phoenix symphony, and my mother was classically trained on the piano. There wasn’t much room in our house for the popular music of the day!

Many years later, I was asked to play piano for our church services. I had never played a hymn, even though my mother was usually the pianist or organist at whatever church we attended. I was not great with chords, and the older hymns are full of them! I learned to play those hymns, with much practice every day. Not an easy thing to do with three small children.

When we moved to Kansas, I played for the little church we attended. They also had a small choir, and a singspiration time. I was pretty excited about those two activities…from the singing point of view. Not the playing-the-piano point of view. Again…I adapted quickly.

What came from that period of time, was a love for hymn playing, and some of the old country hymns. One night, a dear woman requested Remind Me, Dear Lord. I had never heard of it before, and it had three flats, if I remember correctly. Not my favorite to maneuver through. But I learned that song, and it became one I loved. Each time I hear it, I am reminded of that dear lady, that has now gone on to be with the Lord.

I chose this version, and video of the song because I loved the old pictures in it. They reminded me of my grandparents, and a more simple time, when life was hard, but good. This is for you, Vicki…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdT5BK-eqVY

A Day to Remember

State Fair, Anywhere

I would imagine that the state fair was once an anticipated event for many. If you were a farmer, the culmination of your summer’s work would be celebrated and displayed for the state to see.

As a child, living in a home with a father that had grown up on a farm in his early years, fairs were something that we always did. Looking at the animals was a prerequisite for the day…and something I didn’t find too interesting. I mean, you’ve seen one cow…how many more do you want to see? The horse barn was a favorite for my father, and it seemed like we spent hours staring at horse behinds. Remember, I was a child, so that was about eye-level for me. In later years, when my family had several horses, and showed them at all the local fairs, I understood why the horses stood with their backs to everyone. They were just plain sick and tired of people, no pasture and having to look nice every day. When they arrived home, backed off the trailer and were led to their pasture…the first thing they did was roll. Kicking up their feet, and covering themselves with dirt was the highlight of their week! I’ve included these pictures before, but they seemed appropriate here. This one below is my brother showing for halter class with my parent’s Percheron, Bonnie.

Kreston August 1986 with Bonnie
Kreston showing horses.

Larry Johnson August 1987 driving BonnieThis one is of my father, also with Bonnie. She was a beautiful horse! I’ve posted before that my brother restored that market wagon, taking everything apart, sanding and painting to match the colors my family used while showing. He did a great job.

Yesterday, my husband and our youngest attended the Kansas State Fair. Here is a link if you would like to read up on it yourself.  http://www.kansasstatefair.com/ Every year the fair has ‘dollar days’ so you can pay just a dollar to get in. If you have a Dillon’s card, you get in for free! I think that’s a great deal! We usually walk around, look at all the animals, the displays, and a quick trip through the midway. Normally we don’t do rides. Long lines, hot sun, and chaos usually bloom here…not something us older folks find enjoyable. Since our daughter was the only younger one, and she didn’t want to ride alone, she didn’t go on any rides. She and my husband did ride the little train together while I had a blessed sit-down in a pretty gazebo. The breeze and the shade were the favorite part of my day!

At the end of the day, when we were eating someplace other than the fair…my husband said he had tracked how far we had walked. Almost four miles! I was happy to hear that…and believe me, my body was feeling it. My sunburned neck showed it last night. I did have a good time. It was lovely to spend the day with my husband and daughter, and I’m actually looking forward to next year…on dollar days, of course! There was another great find yesterday. Brewed, iced-tea, one dollar for 32 ounces! That’s a great fair deal! Thank you Kansas State Fair for a great day! Thank you to all the exhibitors that are willing to put up with less-than-wonderful accommodations for the week. Animals of all shapes, sizes and ages…I pray a quick return to your pastures where you can roll to your heart’s content.

I love this movie about a state fair. It gives you classic memories. Enjoy this little clip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsqyCVBog8c

A Day to Remember, Our Christian Walk

Be Thou My Vision

I am missing our children this morning. Missing the days when we all attended church together on a Sunday morning. Missing the days when we sung together, lifting our voices…usually in song! 😉

This song was one our children sung the day my husband was ordained at our church. They did a beautiful job, our son on the guitar, daughters harmonizing with him. The words were fitting for that service.

I made a copy of the song from the hymnal, and used a setting to make the paper look ‘old’. I then enlarged the words,

Be Thou My Wisdom and Thou My True Word.

Still Be My Vision, O Ruler of All. 

They are printed over the top of the music. This was hung in my husband’s office at the church, and now is where I can see it everyday, in my office at home. Seasons of our lives. I pray He is still my wisdom, my true word, my vision and Ruler of all.

This particular arrangement is also special because the woman in it is playing a Chickering piano. You don’t see very many of those. My upright is a Chickering and around 100 years old. My mother learned to play the piano on it, and she became an excellent pianist.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihJAJA4ibEs

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