Two-faced :-( :-(

This was always one of my top pet peeves.  So many people of my generation felt it necessary to try and be all things to all people.  reality check.... that doesn't work so well. Usually you end up ticking off everybody and end up a pretty lonely gal or guy. I never had to play that game as I've pretty much always said what I think rather than what you think I should think (or say)... (not always the best policy but you remain pretty true to yourself ) People usually knew/know that if they ask my opinion... that's just what they're gonna get!
I decided I'd look up the term two-faced and see what Noah Webster thought it meant....Instead, when googled, the Urban Dictionary was first on my search..I actually think I enjoy these definitions better than what Noah may have penned.

two-faced is when someone is nice to you in person but when not in person talks shit behind your back...



a person that smiles in your face and then turns around and talks bad about you


To say one thing and do another. Also to act one way on Saturday, and flip a bitch on Tuesday.

I think I've known a few two-faced people.......in fact, I think I know a few now... I take them with a grain of salt ( in my bloody mary) and go on about my business. This morning though, I actually saw what being two-faced looks like.....

                                                    kind of creepy---eh?                It does make talking out of both sides of your mouth a bit easier :-)

Get that plate #

Well, I'm convinced I was hit by a truck. Yesterday was the pits.... Slept little the night before and did NOTHING yesterday except pop pills, blow my nose (to no avail) and whimper a lot.  I could be an addict... if something makes me feel good, I take it... and sometimes I take something before I feel bad just so I won't.  Seriously, I could be a candidate for the Betty Ford clinic.... Thankfully, I've never needed the really good stuff....and I'm probably smarter than that...just sayin'    but.... I can see how feel good things can get you!  It probably is a good thing to read the pamphlets that accompany drugs of any sort....and when it says do not take this for longer than ? days...I think they mean it!!! I'm not really sure which med made me feel better. It could have been the tiny sinus and allergy pill or it could have been the NyQuil....or the Tylenol..  My best guess is the custard Jess made me last night....My only sustenance for the day and the best custard anywhere....even better than Mom made....Today I'm using laughter.. I hear that works too!!!!

Sinus...sucks

I am not positive if I am suffering from a crappy cold or a sinus infection....or both but last night I felt like there was something inside my head pushing on my eyeballs, my nasal cavity and my teeth. Unless I am in need of an exorcism, I have a sinus infection.  I just returned from Kinneys where I purchased nearly one of everything in the "cold aisle." Of course, the one staple that I have medicated with for MANY years is no longer available.. of course not....but my friendly, local pharmacist pointed me to the next best thing.  So far....not so good:-(  I've taken that pill, netti potted, washed my face with the hottest water I could muster and wasted 1/2 a box of Puffs Plus. I hate to double dip but I'm thinking when it comes to drugs...more might be better...My chair is calling and the rain has arrived so there will be no guilt when I recline, eat some homemade custard Jess made me and watch a few soaps and TiVo'd shows from last night. I'm hoping I feel a wee bit better by lunchtime tomorrow... Our monthly gal's luncheon is in Skaneateles at the Sherwood Inn. I hope to go and reminisce a bit.... Not only did I work there, but I lived there....waaaaay.......back in the 70's. Come on drugs... cut me a break!

Just wingin' it!

If it's unusual, it'll happen at EIEIO.  Started yesterday morning off my perusing the front yard where a deputy sheriff crashed her cruiser in the wee hours.  Going nearly 100 mph around a horrible curve notorious for deer crossing might just facilitate such a "mishap!"  After all, it must have been a minor mishap as there was no reporting of it in the local papers.  It seems that 2 deputies were headed to a possible burglary at a local coffee shop in the village.  Hold on, that's life or death...well it damn near was and I presume took a back burner after.....the mishap.  Left a nice mess in our yard and the neighbors but of course, we'll take care of it...no problem...along with our share of the insurance cost as I believe the county Sheriff's Dept. is self-insured....which means we help pay for that too.  Bitter.... just a bit.  I see NO NEED for high speed anything....it's never safe and usually ends in another disaster.  Case closed...heck it was never open!

Unusual event # 2.... While working in the yard yesterday, Lee found a red-tail hawk wing laying on the smoke house roof.  He got it down and we saw where it had been freshly disconnected from it's owner.  We scouted the area and found a couple stray feathers beneath the smoke house but no sign of the victim.  A bit later, our CSI team set out to find more evidence. We crossed the bridge to the north side of the creek thinking maybe the perp had attacked the victim while it was roosting. We spotted a few feathers and continued to track.  Soon we came upon what we believe was the scene of the crime.  A pile of white under-belly feathers that were believed to belong to the victim.  To date we have found no skeletal remains and assume much of the victim was consumed.  It still remains a mystery how the wing wound up on the roof. If you have any information about the crime, please call CSI-Aviary Division @ 315-946-4847 (wingtip).  All possibilities will be pondered!!

Aaaa...utumn!

At 5:04 this morning, yes I was awake, I welcomed in my favorite season! My chores were finished by 6:00 and I got to enjoy day #1 of this magnificent fall season. On my way home from breakfast this morning, I noticed a marked changed in the landscape. The color change has begun....I was always under the impression that the color change was due to a temperature change...The Farmer's Almanac enlightened me to the fact that color change is affected by light change....


Several factors contribute to fall color, but the main agent is light, or actually the lack of it. The amount of daylight relates to the timing of the autumnal equinox.
As the autumn days grow shorter, the reduced light triggers chemical changes in deciduous plants causing a corky wall to form between the twig and the leaf stalk.
This "abscission layer" eventually causes the leaf to drop off in the breeze. As the corky cells multiply, they seal off the vessels that supply the leaf with nutrients and water and also block the exit vessels, trapping simple sugars in the leaves. The combination of reduced light, lack of nutrients, and no water add up to the death of the pigment chlorophyll, the "green" in leaves.Once the green is gone, two other pigments show their bright faces. These pigments, carotene (yellow) and anthocyanin (red), exist in the leaf all summer but are masked by the chlorophyll. (The browns in autumn leaves are the result oftannin, a chemical that exists in many leaves, especially oaks.)Sugar trapped in autumn leaves by the abscission layer is largely responsible for the vivid color. Some additional anthocyanins are also manufactured by sunlight acting on the trapped sugar. This is why the foliage is so sparkling after several bright fall days and more pastel during rainy spells. In general, a dry fall produces the most-vibrant color!

The reduced light also triggers chemical changes in me too.  I sometimes become blue..... the only downside to fall. So I will try very hard to look at all the positives that accompany this season.(and there are many).. the beauty, the birthdays, the holidays and the harvest!  Welcome Fall, I'm happy you're here!

Concessions

It's the last day of the summer of 2011!  It was kind of a strange summer...like one I've never encountered in 59 years.  I am a child of "The Lake."  My pontoons never hit the waters of Owasco. My body never hit the waters of Owasco.  I did however, thanks to Chuck and Gail's moored pontoon boat, get to take a ride around the "horn" (Cascade down the west side to Ensenore, across the lake and back down the east side returning to Cascade) as we've always called it when my cousin Jack was here for a visit. Lee only took his boat out once and that was to show it to a prospective buyer.  I'm not a huge fan of change but it appears to be joined at the hip, in some instances, with aging..... Maybe they're really not so much changes as concessions.  I concede to the fact that we no longer have property on the lake....I concede to the fact that putting boats in and taking boats out of the water for an occasional float is laborious and just plain a pain.  I concede to the fact that people's pleasures change. Lee now enjoys the sport of trap and skeet shooting and the social changes that accompany it.  I continue to enjoy Bailee, my reading, my sports, TV and EIEIO...As I said in an earlier epistle, if he's happy, then life's not crappy!  Shooting for Lee relieves his stress.....Stress and a compromised heart don't travel well together and I'd like our journey to continue....so, I concede to the fact that I can accept some change after all....and tomorrow will be bring me Fall and a time full of my favorite changes.. (except that nasty darkness)  I need to find a way to change that!!!

An article to "remember"

The article featuring Alzheimer's, Mom and Walden Place was in the Cortland Standard last night. They did a wonderful job!  We had our photos splashed across the front page and it was very informative for the public and exciting for us.  We were even in "living color!"  Today is also National Alzheimer's Awareness Day so Bailee and I are wearing purple...the ribbon color for Alzheimer's.  I was reading the article to Bailee and Jess last evening and when I finished Bailee looked at me quizzically and a trifle miffed and  said, "They didn't say anything about your younger granddaughter!!" She usually joins us on our visits to see Great Grandma but that darn school thing is "messing up everything."  It really is a good thing that she is aware of the disease and it's effects.  It sounds like the numbers will be rising ... to the tune of 11-16 million by the year 2030.....she will only be 24:-( and hopefully not dealing with it as Jess is....(from my lips to God's ears).