Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Another Wordless Wednesday

Here's the photo for this week's Wordless Wednesday!!
Please leave a comment with your guess!

Later!!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Answer to Wordless Wednesday photo question

Well, apparently there isn't too many of you interested in my Wordless Wednesday photo game....but I'm not going to give up yet!

I only received two comments/guesses, and neither of them said to NOT post what they said. So.....

Dickie said : FLOWER BUT DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND

Jean from Prim Crafts said : Looks like it could be a tulip. Maybe an iris.

They are both partially correct. It IS a flower, just not a tulip or an iris. It it what we always called "railroad flowers" because the grew along the railroad tracks in Ohio. They are actually called Tawny or Orange Daylily or the Ditch Daylily. They are wonderful for places that you don't want to hassle with, grow well in poor soil and don't need to be given attention.

Here is the original photo:


I'm going to continue with Wordless Wednesday for a few weeks. I may change the day for the answer to the Wordless Wednesday question from Thursday to Saturday, but I'm not sure.

Please pass on the word about my blog. I really need more readers! More readers will mean more posts!! LOL Plus, if I get more readers I will post more of my manuscript for your comments and opinions!

Blessings y'all!

Dodadaghovi


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Something new....

I'm starting something new today. It's Wednesday, the traditional "hump day" of the week, the middle of the week. What I'm going to be doing every Wednesday for a while is this.

I will post a picture that I have taken. There will be no theme or anything, just random pictures. After today there will be no words at all, only the picture. AND, here's the hook, the picture will be ONLY part of the whole picture.

What I want y'all to do is this, look at the picture and and let me know what you think it is a picture of. Post your guess along with your name. You can make as many guesses as you want.

On Thursday I will post all of the comments.....I won't include your name if you don't want me to, but otherwise I will include your first name.

Let's see how well your eyes and your imagination works!!

Help me out okay??

FIRST WORDLESS WEDNESDAY PHOTO
We will start with an easy one!


Good luck everyone!!

Dodadaghovi

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

MUD.....what is it?

Well, this is the second post of the day! LOL

Once again, I am here to discuss MUD.

Here we go~

Mud, what is it? According to Dictionary.com mud is:

noun, verb, mud·ded, mud·ding. –noun
1. soft earth or earthy matter, as on the ground after rain, at the bottom of a pond, or along the banks of a river; mire.
2. scandalous or malicious assertions or information: The opposition threw a lot of mud at our candidate.
3.Slang . brewed coffee, especially when strong or bitter.

Or it could be
[muhd] noun, verb, mud·ded, mud·ding.
–noun
1. soft earth or earthy matter, as on the ground after rain, at the bottom of a pond, or along the banks of a river; mire.
2. Informal . scandalous or malicious assertions or information: The opposition threw a lot of mud at our candidate.
3.Slang . brewed coffee, especially when strong or bitter.

–verb (used with object)
5. to cover, smear, or spatter with mud: to mud the walls of a hut.
6.to stir up the mud or sediment in: waders mudding the clear water.

–verb (used without object)
7. to hide in or burrow into mud.

Origin:

1300–50; Middle English mudde, mode < Middle Low German mudde. Compare mother2

un·mud·ded, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.


World English Dictionary
mud (mʌd)

n
1. a soft wet deposit that occurs on the ground after rain, at the bottom of ponds, lakes, etc
2. informal slander or defamation
3. informal clear as mud not at all clear
4. drag someone's name in the mud to disgrace or defame someone
5. informal here's mud in your eye a humorous drinking toast
6. informal someone's name is mud someone is disgraced
7. informal throw mud at , sling mud at to slander; vilify

This is what the Merriam-Webster has to say:

Definition of MUD

1: a slimy sticky mixture of solid material with a liquid and especially water; especially : soft wet earth
2: abusive and malicious remarks or charges mud at each other>
3: anathema 1b —usually used in the phrase one's name is mud
4: a mixture of water, clay, and chemicals used in oil-well drilling and having various functions (as lubrication and cooling of the bit and flushing of rock particles to the surface)


Both of these definitions are a bit off if you ask me! But then again, I live in West Virginia and it's raining once again.....harder than "kittens and puppies" this time, but still not Cats and Dogs raining.

Anyway, living here has taught me that MUD is simply liquid dirt. Or more accurately it's liquid clay.

I walked out to the mailbox and guess what? My WHITE tennis shoes are now that horrible reddish-brown, baby crap, stained for life color that we are all so familiar with. BUT, the good news is: My shoes had been treated with water resistant stuff and cleaned up very nicely!! They aren't the brilliant white they once were, but at least they are NOT that horrid color that has become the "Color of the Season" here.

But, that's not what prompted me to write this surprising second post of the day! (surprising because I'm lazy when it comes to blogging and usually only put up one a week, if I'm lucky)

What prompted me was the fact that it's raining enough that most of the gravel in my driveway is now in my yard and my driveway is now one big, slimy, goo-ridden, slime pit from Hell! And to make matters worse, if anyone pulls into my drive they will leave behind those wonderful reminders of our Mud Season, RUTS!! Even a two year old on a tricycle could leave a rut in my driveway right now!

I had written earlier that I HATE MUD.....I had strangely forgotten the fact that I hate RUTS more than I hate mud! Although, without the loathsome skin staining slime we call mud there wouldn't be ruts.....so maybe I DO hate mud more.

I'm not sure anymore.

All I know is that my driveway is a mess, which I suppose shouldn't bother me too much since I don't have a car, the road is now a swift running, although very shallow, stream, the ditches along the roadways are filling up and water is still falling from the sky at an amazing rate!!

ISN'T SPRING GRAND????

This is what you step off of my porch into!! One of the miniature great lakes of WV!

My driveway! I jokingly call it a driveway, but it's actually a mud hole!

Close up of one of the ruts left over from last year.

This is what it looks like in front of my mailbox.

Oh yeah, I forgot....besides being cold, damp and muddy....all of what I hate.....this weather makes grass grow faster than most weeds! LOL My grass needs to be mowed....BADLY!


The wet, wet, water running across it street! Notice my grass isn't the only grass that needs to be mowed?

Well, that's enough bitching about mud, rain, water and oh yeah, cold weather! The high today was 57 degrees.....are we having fun yet????

Dodadaghovi


Random Page....questions, rants, photos and one very loud bird



It's been raining kittens and puppies today. Notice I didn't say cats and dogs? Well, it's not been raining real hard, just a steady, medium hard rain, so it's only rates at the "kittens and puppies" level. Which brings me to my first set of "Teri's Questions that are Just Dying for an Answer".

Why do we say it's raining "cats and dogs" when it rains hard? Has any of us actually witnessed cats and dogs falling from the sky? Wouldn't it at least make the 6 o'clock news if cats and dogs began falling from the sky to splatter on the asphalt? (sorry for the graphic mental image, but let's face it, if animals began falling from the sky it WOULD make a real mess.)

You know the old saying about opening an umbrella in the house being bad luck? Did that start because someone actually opened an umbrella in the house and then began having horrible luck, or was it something as simple as opening the umbrella and then trying to get out of the door that was the bad luck?

Why is it that birds always seem to take a bath in mud-puddles WHILE it's still raining? Is it that they figure "We're already wet, so we might as well be clean" or is it just some type of weird bird behavior that we, as mere humans, will never understand?

Okay now, so much for the first set of questions.....on to the rant! LOL (for those of you who haven't read this blog before, this is where I bitch about things that I have no control over. The only good thing about it is that if I bitch about it I feel that I have a small amount of control....and I, being an oldest child and a type-A personality, NEED that sense of control!)

I'm sick of rain!! (pretty much a sad little rant isn't it?) Actually, I 'm sick of mud....I can put up with the rain, it's not that bad, actually it makes everything seem fresher and cleaner......but the MUD???? The mud just defeats the whole entire idea of Mother Nature washing the hills and valleys with fresh clean water. Usually when you wash something with "fresh, clean water" you don't turn around and dip it in muddy gunk. But that is what happens during this time of year.

It's the month of May. We almost always have rain in May....I mean, this is West Virginia and that equates rain 3 months out of 12, so I don't really mind the rain. It's the fact that the rain turns the usually non-threatening West Virginia dirt into horrifying, skin staining, clothes ruining, shoe sucking red and yellow West Virginia slime. ( the red or yellow part depends on what part of West Virginia you are in at the time)

This horrific sludge that we jokingly refer to as mud has been responsible for some of the worse personal disasters known to woman-kind. Here are a few examples:

West Virginia mud can and will suck the heel off of a $90 pair of stilettos at the very first opportunity! Not only will the mud suck the heel off of ONE of the shoes, yes, it's always only one shoe, it will encase your entire foot in a mixture of cold slime and rough, sharp edged gravel and sand, easily ruining your $20 nylons!

West Virginia mud can and will embed itself into your skin. If you're really unlucky, you will slip and fall or even wreck your four-wheeler and slide along the ground for 5 feet, and be permanently tattooed with a large, reddish-brown swatch of good old West Virginia mud. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the fact that the slime will also carry with it minute pieces of stone, sand and grit that will take years to work out of your body.

West Virginia mud can and will turn your bouncy, fun loving white dog into a mere shadow of itself. He will be permanently stained the color of baby crap and no amount of scrubbing and bathing will ever make his white coat sparkle and shine again. All of the other dogs in the neighborhood will laugh and point at him, make jokes at his expense and never chose him for the neighborhood doggie games. He will become an insecure, quivering, self-loathing excuse of a pet.

Okay, enough of that! LOL

I have a couple of photos to share today. Someone told me where a Hawk was nesting, so I have been taking photos of the Hawk and it's nest. Below are several photos of Momma Hawk sitting on her nest, trying to keep her eggs warm in the wonderful 40 degree weather we've been having lately.

Momma Hawk looking out over her domain!

Momma Hawk trying to decide if I'm a threat!

Baby Hawk taking a look around!

Checking me out to see if I'm a threat.

So that's it for today! Hope you enjoyed!

Dodadaghovi

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Happy Birthday Daddy!



This is my dad, 70 years ago.

Today is his birthday, he will be 71. I haven't gotten to see him in a few years, I don't have a way to go to Ohio and he is in poor health, so he can't travel like he once did. It hurts my heart that I can't spend time with him. It hurts my heart more that I haven't told him that he has always been my hero!

My dad quit school before he finished the 8th grade. He went to work so he could help support the family. I've never really understood that, seeing as how there were only two children and my grandfather worked at Ford Motor Company, but that's what he did.

This is my Dad in Grade School.

Here is another school picture.

Dad had several jobs when he was young. He always worked hard and seemed to enjoy whatever it was that he had to do.


He worked in a grocery store. Here he is in his apron and bow tie!


He also worked at a dairy. He had to wear a bow tie there too!

My Dad had a rough way coming up. He was the youngest and there were some things that just didn't seem, well, "right" about the family dynamic. It seemed as though my uncle was the favorite child, and my Dad was just, well, the youngest.

Daddy liked to hunt and fish. I have several pictures, including the ones below, of him with his hunting dogs or with various other dogs he had. He always had dogs of some sort around.

Here he is as a little boy with his favorite dog!

Here he is as a young man with some of his pups.

Here is one of his favorite dogs.

We had hunting dogs when I was a child too. He even let me play with them. Those puppies always did love to lick my face!

Daddy and Mom met when they were really young. My Daddy was only 17! They fell in love and loved each other until the day my Mommy passed away. She's been gone now for 11 years and we all miss her so very much. I'm sure that Daddy misses her more than all of us put together though. Mommy was the one to throw my Dad his 18th birthday party!

Daddy and Mommy at Daddy's 18th birthday party!

The big 18th birthday party!

Daddy cutting the birthday cake!

Mom and Dad when Daddy was 17.

Daddy and Mommy on the day they were married.

Dad and Mom with a friend in 1963.

Dad and Mom in their late 40's.

Daddy loved Mommy with all his heart. He loves his children, me and my sister Elaine, and his grandchildren too!

Daddy, Mommy and Me!!

Daddy teaching Elaine to dance.

Daddy has a strange sense of humor. Mommy had a twisted sense of humor as well. When she asked him what he wanted for his 18th birthday he told her he wanted a little black baby with a red ribbon around it's neck. Guess what he got?

Daddy and his baby doll! Happy birthday!!

Told you he has a weird sense of humor!

I guess I got my twisted sense of humor from both my parents! Here I am trying to pull Daddy's teeth when I was just 3 years old. Notice he went along with it!

Dad was sort of a "hood" when he was younger. He loved his fast cars and his motorcycles. He wore white t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up and peg leg jeans. He also had a "duck-tail"! LOL

My Daddy.....the "hood"

Daddy with his sleeves rolled up and his peg-legged jeans next to his car.

Daddy in front of the garage.

In case you haven't already guessed, I love my Daddy with all of my heart. I miss him and wish that I could be with him today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!! I PRAY YOU'RE STILL AROUND WHEN I GET TO MY 71ST!!

LOVE YOU!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Dogs, dogs, dogs......

I LOVE animals. Anyone that knows me at all can tell you this. I have more animals than I should, but I can’t help it…it’s a sickness. (Not really, I can and HAVE stopped, it’s just that I can’t get rid of the ones I have. I worry about what type of home they would have if they weren’t with me…would they have their own bed, would they have toys…or would they be tossed outside on a chain and ignored??)

I have several dogs, each with it’s own personality and place within the household. They get along well and I very rarely have to break up any type of physical fighting. My Jack Russell Terror, errr…Terrier, is the Queen of the Pack and she knows it, even if there are times when the others do Not know it. The other dogs indulge her in her fantasies of being a Pitt Bull and they go out of their way to encourage her to be extraordinarily brave. She eats it up! But she is NOT the topic of the day.

You see, I have this other dog…she’s a sweet dog, but….well, she’s, shall we say, socially handicapped. It’s not that she doesn’t play well with others, because she does…she even plays well with herself, it’s just that she isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. But she’s sweet! LOL

She learns tricks really easily, she can sit, sort of stay, shake, high-five, sit pretty, jump, speak and when you point at her and say BANG, she falls over dead! And you can sit a treat on her nose and she will toss it in the air, only to miss it 8 times out of 10! LOL She’s actually smart when it come to learning those time of things.

It’s the other stuff, every day stuff that she can’t seem to get a handle on. You see, this poor dog forgets to duck when she goes under the coffee table, and believe me she HAS to duck or she almost knocks herself out. She’ll come bounding through the living room, drop her head just a little bit and then “THUNK” everything sitting on the table rattles, the table moves a foot or so and the dog stops quickly, looks at you with blurry eyes then shakes her head and tries it again. Usually she “forgets” to duck the first two or three times and then she remembers. USUALLY.

She’ll go running into the kitchen and, just as she reaches the doorway, she’ll turn around really quickly, cracking her head on the door frame with a resounding BANG. Then she’ll sit down, look back at you with a look of confusion that is almost pitiable, turn back to the door frame and GROWL AT IT!! She acts as though the entire structure of the house is out to get her.

Sometimes she’ll be playing with one of the cats and the cat will go under the kitchen table. Emmy, THE DOG, with go running into the kitchen and crash into the table leg as though it had mutinously jumped out in front of her. Once again she’ll look at me with those blurry, confused eyes and turn around and growl at the table leg!!

I’ll ask her if she wants to go outside and she’ll head toward the door at a rapid gallop, usually forgetting to stop before actually slamming into the closed door!! She just shakes her head and sits down, calmly waiting for me to open the door, get her tie-out and hook it to her collar and allow her to go outside with her pride only slightly bruised.
She also gets distracted really easily, so easily that if she’s eating and someone or something walks into the kitchen she will bite her own tongue and then get mad at whomever walked in to distract her.

If she’s outside and a bee flies by, she will trip over her own feet and then start barking at the bee like it planned the whole horrible situation.

She will run into the wall when she’s chasing the laser light then turn around and look at you like it’s all your fault.

Today she caught sight of herself in the mirror. I had the bedroom door open and she sauntered by the door, turned slightly and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She stopped, turned and peeked around the corner. She was so shocked that the “other dog” was peeking around the corner at her that she tinkled just a little bit, ran to her box and hid. After a few moments she poked her head out of her door, looked both ways, you know, just in the case the “other dog” was lurking around somewhere close, and then belly crawled out of the box, across the living room floor and directly to the bedroom door. And what do you think she saw? Well, of course she saw the “other dog” belly crawling toward her!! It scared her shitless!! She stood up, every hair on her body bristling and began to growl and bark at the “other dog” doing her best to frighten it away before it could harm her or anything that “belongs” to her.

She’s a loyal dog! Really she is. But the dog is brain damaged. That’s all there is to it!

For example, Emmy will chase her own tail. No big deal right, lots of dogs chase their tails. Well, do lots of other dogs chase their tail only to catch it, bite it, yelp and then begin barking at the “big mean pain inducing” tail?

Will other dogs toss their rawhide chews in the air, have it come down resoundingly on top of their head only to pick it up again and repeat the process?

Will other dogs pick up a “tugger” that has large knots on each end, shake them so hard that they crack first on one side and then on the other until they are slightly woozy from the hard knocks to the head?

Will other dogs pick up rocks and toss them into the air while standing in the exact spot to be knocked on the head by said stones?

My poor Emily Rose is brain damaged. She will forever be the dog that runs into door frames, cracks her head on coffee tables and throws things into the air only to be knocked silly by them.

God love her, she really needs to be taken care of.

Dodadaghovi

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

It's Spring! It's Spring????

So, it's the 4th day of May and it's all of 50 degrees outside. And wet. And windy. And muddy.

So this is Spring? Hmmmmmmm, perhaps someone could explain why we had 90 degree days in March and April and now that it's May it's only 50. We've had days that were so beautiful, when the sun shined so brightly and the air felt so fresh that it was almost impossible to stay inside.

Now, however, it's cold, wet, windy and muddy. It's suppose to be in the 30's tonight. The 30's!!!!!

Is there some type of medication that we can give to old Mother Nature in order to control her schizophrenia? Or maybe get her laid so she'll lighten up?

Sorry, that was uncalled for, but damn, I'm really tired of not knowing if I should put away the winter clothes or just leave them out and toss in a few pair of shorts as a "just in case".

Should I put away the quilts and pray that it's not snowing when I wake up, shivering and cold in my bed?

Should I pack away the coats, only to be caught out in the 30 degree cold in a t-shirt and shorts?

I mean, come on, it IS May after all. Shouldn't I be able to at least decide to put the bulky goose-down coat in the coat bag and hang it at the back of the closet?

Apparently the answer to all of those, and many more, questions is a loud, echoing NO, YOU CAN'T!!!

Did I tell you that I LOVE wind-chimes? (Yeah, I know, abrupt change of subject is the sign of a sick mind.)

Well, I do! I LOVE all wind-chimes! Metal ones, glass ones, wooden ones, ugly ones, pretty ones and surprisingly odd ones too! Any combination that when touched by the gentle breeze that SHOULD be blowing across my porch make the assorted tinkling, chiming, dinging, pealing sound that causes my soul to take a moment just to listen.

Now, that being said, please allow me to say a few things about wind-chimes and wind.

Living on the ridge as I do, I get a nice breeze most of the time. But, since Mother Nature has gone off of her rocker, I have been getting a blasting roar of wind that is intent on knocking over trash cans while turning their lids into flying saucers of death, pushing trees over so that their roots glare at us like dead eyed sharks washed up after an oil spill and rattling my wind-chimes so they make sounds that remind you of a tortured animal caught in a painful trap.

Yes, I have begun to hate my wind-chimes, not only my wind-chimes but the wind-chimes of my neighbors as well. The once lulling sounds that these wonderful inventions sang out over the hillside has become the tortured screams of wood and metal being beaten by the gales of vengeful wind that buffets our homes, our bodies and vicariously our minds.

In just a little while I have to bolster my courage and venture outside. I will dodge the flying dagger of death that is the small twigs and limbs being ripped from the surrounding trees, I will duck the whipping papers that will be grabbed and tossed at me in a feeble attempt to keep me trapped in my house. I will dodge seemingly harmless potholes that are now filled with clammy scum covered water, I will fight my way through mud that will grab at my shoes with every intention of ripping them from my poor tired feet, I will lean into the wind and fight my way off of the hill. All in order to simply get out of my house and away from the tortured screams of the surrounding wind-chimes.

While I'm out today I'm going to investigate what types of medication we can get for Mother Nature. She and Old Man Winter need to come to an agreement and allow us poor hapless humans to get on with our lives without the interference of sleet, hail, wind, tornadoes, rain, floods, mud and flying debris!

Well, I'm going to go slip into a nice hot bath, more for the warmth than to actually get clean (I'm not that dirty to start with, but DAMN I'm cold!!). Then I will get dressed and venture outside, hopefully to safely return in a few hours.

Be good y'all. And stay on the down side of the wind!

Dodadaghovi