http://my.greasy.com/susil/ susil's Blog en-us © 2010 Greasy.com All rights reserved. Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:15:05 GMT 30 http://my.greasy.com/susil/life_changes.html Friend Valentina said today that she and her fella were going to come tomorrow and put up a clothesline for me. Haven't had one since the big blow, and have failed thus far to get anyone to put one up. But maybe tomorrow. I like to hang wet rugs and such on a clothesline. I want them to put it in the backyard where I can see it from my kitchen window. I'm country to the core, and like looking out and seeing the wind flapping towels on the line. It is a satisfying feeling. Oops--I don't hav ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/life_changes.html#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:11:59 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/want_tio_live.html Drove into town today and saw Mr.Mose selling greens out of the back of his pickup. Big bunches of turnip greens that had fat white roots with purple tops, and bunches of collard greens, each bundle tied with burlap string. At the post office, I asked the postmaster what's up with news that the P.O.might start closing on Saturdays? Well, it seems the P.O. is in bad shape financially--but the postmaster said closing on Saturdays would have to go through congress first, and we all know- for ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/want_tio_live.html#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:50:21 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/obits.html Sometimes blogger "troutbend" messages me obits that appear in the paper where she is. We share a delight in odd names, and she recently sent an obit of a woman with the last name of Sleepy. You can't top that! In our paper there is an obit for a woman named Bobbie H. Mut. She had two sons, Chuck Mut and Eric Mut. She ws preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Lucille Coffee. Same paper, same day, obit for Mrs.Margaret Pest King, Wrilla June Stuckey, and Mr. Aquilla Hodge Hodge Jr. RI ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/obits.html#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:40:29 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/fyi.html (I forgot, yesterday was March 15, The Ides of March, the day in 44 B. C. when Julius Caesar was felled by knife weilding assassins, including his friend Brutus, to whom Caesar said plaintively "Et tu, Brutus?") On to the main course: This is from the current AARP magazine. Q: I read recently that the 2010 census is under way. When someone claiming to be a census worker knocks on the door, how can I be sure that he or she is legitimate? A: First, ask to see a photo ID and a badge that sho ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/fyi.html#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:19:42 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/census_2010.html SUNDAY MARCH 14 Months ago a census worker knocked on my door wearing a badge and carrying a clipboard. She said all she was doing was verifying my address, then she left. Then I got a notice that a census form would be coming and it urged me to fill it out and return promptly. Okay. I'm an honorable patriotic citizen of America, so okay. I got the census form and was relieved it was a short form, not like the one I got years ago that was a long form of about 15 pages and asked intimate qu ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/census_2010.html#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:36:48 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/socrates.html From the daily paper, a quiz about Socrates:Answers in parentheses He is best remembered as a great Greek (Philosopher.) We know Socrates mainly through this philosopher's dialogues (Plato.) Who declared that nobody was wiser than Socrates? (The oracle at Delphi.) Socrates said "I know that I know (nothing.") What is meant by the Socratic method? (A method of teaching by question and answer to elicit truths.) Of what crime was he found guilty? ( Corruption of the minds of the youth of Athe ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/socrates.html#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:44:14 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/send_note.html I'm trying to keep the little gray cells (as Hercule Poirot called the brain) nourished and stimulated by reading and doing crossword puzzles and painting now and then. But the little gray cells would rather be left alone, so I find I must keep a To-Do list on the table, a written reminder of what needs to be done, otherwise it's too easy to forget. Right now my To-Do list heads up with "Get new windshield wipers." Followed by "Wash Rugs." I go to the washateria to launder rugs so the stuf ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/send_note.html#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:07:41 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/oscars_2.html Sandra Bullock looked terrific, and won best actress. I hardly recognized her with long sleek hair, and a gorgeous simple gown--and she wore red lipstick! I hope the monochrome looks disappears and women aren't afraid of using lipstick again. Jeff Bridges won best actor; good for him. Molly Ringwald was a presenter, and talk about unrecognizable! She looked sleek too, with long straight hair and a beautiful gown, but nothing like I remember her. The actress who played "Precious" in the tit ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/oscars_2.html#comments Mon, 8 Mar 2010 21:23:52 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/axis_bump.html I heard on NPR that the Chilean earthquake bumped the Earth three degrees off its axis. That is astonishing, and I assume the earth righted itself and went right back to its usual orbit and axis right away. I was just grumping about how dreary and bleak everything looks now; then I think of our blue planet, a blue and white pearl in the vastness of interplanetary space, of how precious and special it is and how remarkable and extraordinary that we live and breathe on its surface as it make ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/axis_bump.html#comments Sat, 6 Mar 2010 23:14:59 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/town.html Junior Duggins and his wife Pearl have a business on the outskirts of town and like a lot of other small business owners, they are trying hard to survive during these lean economic times. Their place has two gas pumps out front. Inside to the left is a convenience store type setup, and they've recently converted the right side into a restaurant. They hired an artist to paint the Biloxi lighthouse on the back wall, and shrimp boats on an opposite wall. In between the paintings is a draped f ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/town.html#comments Sat, 6 Mar 2010 22:18:11 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/idiot_driver.html Early Monday morning I went to see the cardiologist--about seven years ago I had a spell of atrial fib, so once a year I go back to the doctor, the nurse runs an EKG, the doctor looks at it, every year it's been fine and I go home. As long as I stay away from caffeine, everything's hunky dory. Something in the de-caffeinating process changes the taste of coffee and tea for the worse, but that's what I have to stick with. What's interesting is, the doctor says beer or some hard liquors trig ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/idiot_driver.html#comments Fri, 5 Mar 2010 15:42:19 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/powers_gone.html I saw some men who work for the Canadian National Railroad in the general store in town. Did you know the Canadians own the trains and the tracks they run on in the United States? So I ask what's to keep some terrorist from putting one of those suitcase sized atomic bombs on a train in Canada, and have it come into the heart of any American city? They kind of laughed and said "We have our own policemen." Yeah, I'll bet. They didn't really seem to believe that this would be any great hindra ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/powers_gone.html#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:12:19 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/geographers_library.html Jeri sent me a book, "The Geographer's Library" by Jon Fasman for Christmas. This novel is so good, so packed with great writing it's like a piece of rich dense cake that you enjoy a little at a time--I have to force myself to put it down--(however my eyes only hold out for a few pages every day anyway, so it's a moot point.) I'm only halfway through but already hate the thought of it ending. This is an intertwined story about the past and the present. Here goes: Paul Tomm is a young colle ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/geographers_library.html#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:56:05 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/little_perfect.html My only grandchild, 18 year old grand-daughter Shelle, is in the Miss Teen Texas International beauty pageant. She and her mother are stressed out from the tanning sessions, the work out sessions, the dieting, the shopping for gowns and shoes, the whole nine yards of the beauty pageant scene. Each Teen Texas contestant must have a topic platform, such as heart disease or breast cancer. Shelle chose diabetes--I'm proud of that; it's a devastating and under diagnosed disease. I've seen the T ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/little_perfect.html#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:01:43 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/red_beans_rice.html Here at Mardi Gras time everybody cooks red beans and rice, even myself who rarely make the effort because cooking red beans is like cooking rocks. When southerners say "red beans" they mean kidney beans. You have to soak them overnight, then I put them in a crock pot and cook them all day. Even after hours of simmering, you can stir a pot full of these rocks--er--beans and still find some, well, still rock-ish. But after I think they're completely soft (think) then I add sausage or bacon, ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/red_beans_rice.html#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:03:35 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/heiress.html TCM is having an Oscar retrospective in February. They're showing Oscar winning and Oscar nominated movies all month. The Heiress was shown tonight; one of the best. From 1949, here is the cast: OLIVIA deHAVILLAND--as Katherina Sloper RALPH RICHARDSON--As Doctor Sloper,her wealthy father MONTGOMERY CLIFT--As Morris Townsend, Katherine's penniless suitor MIRIAM HOPKINS--As Aunt Lavinia "a fortune hunter charms a doctor's plain daughter 1n 19th century New York." Katherine is raised by her f ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/heiress.html#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:34:42 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/father_lord.html Israeli movie,2007, subtitled. I've seen a lot of good foreign films lately and this is another one. Abraham, an aging Hassidic rabbi and his wife Esther feel blessed by God when a son, Menachem is born to them. They delight in the boy and love him deeply. The boy's mother never lets him out of her sight because the child is so precious to her. One day the rabbi and his wife takes the boy to the Dead Sea for a day at the beach. The men gather on a separate beach from the women. Mid afterno ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/father_lord.html#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:31:37 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/greetings_siberia.html Hello, and I'm not kidding when I say greetings from what normally is deep south temperate climated Mississippi. It's been Siberia around here. It is ironic that snow is having to be trucked in to the Winter Olynmpic site, while here there has been snow galore. Following a day of sleety rain on Thursday, it started to snow during the night and Friday morning woke to a world covered with a blanket of white, and still coming down. Falling snow is so beautiful, fairy like, fascinating. I push ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/greetings_siberia.html#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:04:09 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/lady_chatterly.html I intended to go to bed early Sunday night because I had errands to run Monday--but noooo, just as I was turning off the TV, "Lady Chatterly" came on the Sundance Channel. This was the French version of D.H. Lawrence's novel "Lady Chatterly's Lover." It had subtitles, and when a movie has subtitles you can't make a run to the bathroom etc. because you'll miss what's happening; you have to be reading the bottom of the screen continuously. A movie in English, you can wash dishes or go to the ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/lady_chatterly.html#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:40:47 GMT http://my.greasy.com/susil/shadows_doomsday.html I was watching just now a show on National Geographic called "Doomsday," about what would happen if terrorists detonated a nuclear weapon on Washington D.C. So the current head of FEMA and other government agencies made statements about how that situation would be handled--and getting a handle on it would chaotic at best. The aftermath would probably be managed better than the mess in Haiti, but organization of resources would be scatter shot at best, because no country can be really prepa ... http://my.greasy.com/susil/shadows_doomsday.html#comments Sat, 6 Feb 2010 20:59:55 GMT