Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Palindromes



Palindromes are a lot of fun to fool around with. There are words that are palindromes and then there are phrases that are palindromes. The above example is of a phrase. It reads exactly the same forwards and backwards.



Actually, the phrases are very hard to come up with. Words are not so hard but phrases are very hard to think up. I tried to think of some original ones and was unable to come up with a single phrase.



Examples of words are: mom, pop, dad, bob, level, did, wow, pep, pip ,civic --I am sure you can think of many other words. In fact, on Google there was one entry which was named 886 palindromes and the whole list is there.



Many of the palindromes I saw listed in Google made not much sense at all and it was even stated in the article that they didn't. But they are palindromes.



One that is credited to Napoleon is " Able was I ere I saw Elba." Another one is " Madam, I'm Adam."



I spend a lot of time when I can't sleep thinking about these weird things I run across during my research for ideas. You might say, I need to get a life! By the way, my first name, Anna, is a palindrome!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Am I Lazy, or What?









I am so spoiled by my way of life that I can't believe it. I do so little to make things work out!




I have every bit of any income I get automatically deposited to my bank account so I never have to go to the bank except maybe once in a while to draw out some cash.



I pay every bill I get by computer. I don't mean I get online and pay them every month but I have them set up so they are automatically taken out of my checking account every month and I don't have to do one thing except check on line to see that they are paid. I have only one bill that I have to do anything to pay. That is my cell phone bill. I do pay it on line but I have to get on line and actually pay it. I would have it automatically paid but Centennial Wireless, the company I have my cell phone with, has been in the process of being bought out by ATT and I have not been able to do it yet. But as soon as they are finished with their changeover I am going to make that a draft also, that is taken out automatically. I just check out my bank account on line often to see that the bills are actually taken out of my account. I have never had one problem at all with any bill.



I have my yard light with its electric eye so every day when it starts to get dark outside it comes on automatically. Then in the morning when gets light the light automatically goes off. I put a florescent bulb in so they last quite a while. Maybe once a year I have to change the bulb--and that irritates me when I have to do that!




I have a lamp set up with a timer in my living room and I set it to come on near dark each day and go off about midnight. I am aggravated that I have to change the timer for a different time in the spring and fall according to when it gets dark and light. So every night I have my living room light come on at dark and go off at midnight while I just sit and do whatever I am doing!




I do have one other light that I have to turn on and off at night but I am figuring out how I can set it for automation!



Now if I could find a way to set my clocks forward and back in the spring and fall automatically when time changes to daylight saving time I would be one happy person. I have about eight different clocks that I have to set ahead and back for daylight saving time--what a drag that is!




Thank God that computers are made to automatically adjust to the time changes. However, I have two video recorders that do not adjust automatically. I have to set them by hand--what a drag!



So, I sit on my couch and just watch as all of my stuff automatically does its thing! How nice.



I do still have to make my meals and cook them, most of the time. I hope that changes before too long!




I still have to do my taxes in person every April. Maybe Obama will fix that so I don't have to pay any! Right!



I don't think I could have made it if I had lived during the olden days when you had to build fires in the winter and cook on a wood stove, not have hot running water, fill oil lamps and light them every night and run around to pay each bill I get--not for me!



There may be disadvantages to progress but not too many. I find it all to be very advantageous!

Monday, May 24, 2010

BOX SUPPERS

A box supper auction



Do you know what a box supper is? There may be box suppers somewhere these days but I never hear of them. I think they mostly took place in the churches or maybe schools.
Back in the olden days--actually, my mother's olden days-- they would have box suppers. All of the young girls would make a nice lunch for two and put it in a pretty box, maybe decorated with ribbons and bows. Then the boxes were all put on a table and someone would auction them off. No one knew who's box was whose. The young men would then bid on the boxes and if they got the bid they would buy the box and whichever girl had made that box got to eat her lunch with that young man. I am sure there were probably hints passed on to the men about which box belonged to which girl.
I never went to a box supper but my mother did and she told me all about them. It sounded like fun and probably was much cheaper than going out to a fancy restaurant these days!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

YUCKY THINGS!




I happened to be channel surfing the other day and I ran into a show about the desert and camels. I was not particularly interested in it but I did listen for a few minutes.


I was shocked to hear someone on there, I guess the narrator, say that sometimes the people would force their camels to drink an excessive amount of water right before they started on a desert trip. Then when they were some distance out into the desert and their water got low, they would force the camels to regurgitate the water and they would have water to drink. Can you imagine that? I think I would rather dry up an die than drink that water!


It all reminded me of some other things that I have heard of that seemed just about as yucky as that.


One thing that definitely shocks me is the old idea that many years ago people used their urine to whiten their teeth. I do know they claim that urine is sterile and clean, I certainly wouldn't want to put it on my teeth--no matter how yellow they were!


I remember my mother telling me that one of her sisters used to feed her babies food that she partly chewed before giving it to the baby. Of course, that was probably before they had baby food in stores to buy. However, I would have used a fork to squish up the food for the baby instead of that terrible practice of pre chewing the food. I don't know what she was thinking!


Another thing that used to make me turn green was when someone spit on a handkerchief and wipe a kid's face with it! My mother used to do that but she had me stick out my tongue to wet the handkerchief instead of spitting on it herself--somewhat more acceptable.


Another thing that my mother told me was that someone she knew--an in law or some other person--had a bunch of kids and would be busy washing dishes and one of the kids would pass by and she would grab her dishcloth and wipe the kid's nose and face with it and then put the rag right back in the dishwater and continue washing dishes! Yuck (actually, double yuck)!



I am sure everyone has his or her idea of what is the right way to do things but none of these things seem the right way to me.


I am glad that times have changed somewhat. I don't know anyone who does these kind of things now. At least not so you would see them do it. Maybe in privacy they would. Water is more readily available, and baby food also so you don't have to use spit for washing a face or prechew baby food!



Saturday, May 22, 2010

Do You Like Hard Cookies?




I just bought some iced oatmeal cookies the other day. I like them but they were so hard I felt like I might break a tooth if I chewed on them!


I had a friend once tell me that if your cookies are too hard just put a slice of bread right in the container with them and it will soften them up. I really didn't see how that could work but I thought, I have nothing to lose so I did it. By the next day the cookies were just right--soft and chewy instead of hard and crunchy. I did this with my homemade cookies and it worked fine.


I had never tried it with bought cookies but I decided to try it on my iced oatmeal cookies. So I put a slice of bread into the package with the cookies and the next day they were perfect. So it works with home made or bought cookies.


I will never have to eat hard cookies again! It really does work, believe me.

Friday, May 21, 2010

December 21. 2012--Doomsday?






























If you watch the History Channel or the Discovery Channel you have no doubt seen these following facts stated there. The shows have been on more than once.


The Mayans were a group of people who lived back in the 300s to the 900s AD. They lived in Mexico and Central America. They had a calendar of their own and it ended at December 21, 2012. Astrologists, or astronomers, or whoever else studies them for that matter, assumes that meant they thought time would end then.



It is uncertain why the Mayans disappeared or where they went. But to this day many believe that time will end on December 21, 2012. That is not that far away--only about a year and a half!


If these people would believe the bible, they should check out Mark 13. It clearly states there that no man knows when time will end not even the angels in heaven. So I count on that and know that we, and certainly not the Mayans, do not know when time will end.


Thursday, May 20, 2010

My Bad Dream


Glenbrook Mall


Have you ever had a dream that left you uneasy, upset and just generally feeling terrible?
Well, I had one like that last night. This morning when I woke up I felt like I didn't really want to wake up--I wanted to finish my dream and get things straightened out before I left!
I think what started it all was the things I was thinking about when I went to sleep.
I am planning on Debbie, my niece, and Mary Ruth, my sister, coming to Indiana this summer for a visit. So I went to sleep thinking about things we could do while they are here. I planned out the whole visit including a trip to Glenbrook Mall. I know they like to go to malls and they don't have big malls there like we have here in Fort Wayne.
So in my dream we went to the mall. While we were there we somehow got separated from each other and I could not find them. I exerted much effort trying to get someone in charge at the mall to announce over the speaker system my problem and get us back together. But for some reason, nobody seemed interested in doing that. Every person I asked would say they would announce it but then they would get off my case and get involved in someone else's problem. I was frantic to get someone to just say over the speaker system that they, my niece and my sister, should come to the main entrance and I would be there. I never did find anyone who would do that.
Actually, I woke up before I could ever get the problem fixed. So I left my dream with Mary Ruth and Debbie still lost somewhere in Glenbrook Mall! I was very distraught and fretful about them even after I woke up. I actually slept about a half our longer than usual so I know the old tale that dreams only last a few moments is not true. This dream lasted much longer than a few moments. I felt uneasy and worried for quite some time after I got up.
So when they come we are making an agreement that if we get separated at the mall that we will meet at the main entrance if we get parted while there. So remember that, Debbie and Mary Ruth!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Salt for Cows








When I was a kid we almost always had a cow. We had our own milk and butter.
The thing I remember most was watching the cows lick on the salt block. It was a square block of white salt and my Dad would place it on a peg stuck in the ground. The cow really liked the salt. They would lick on the block until they were satisfied.
It has been proven that cows and horses do not actually need the salt. Wild animals do not get it and they do fine. Some dairy farmers just personally think that it makes the cow give more milk and therefore they give the salt to their cows.
I am sure that salt for animals is just the same as salt for people--too much is not good!