Do Tree Stumps Speak To You?

I love trees. I love them live, dead, tall, and short and as left over Stumps. These stumps I found in the white beach sand on the shore of the Manatee River at Emerson Point Preserve.

when I make the decision on photos for the day, I GOOGLE. Tree Stumps

googled brought this up first.

Question from unknown person: My husband had to cut down a large tree close to our home last year, but it has left a stump near our front porch and I am at a loss as to what to do about it. We have tried to dry it out, dig it up, grind it; nothing will get rid of this thing. Is there some way to mask it??

Answer from unknown: How high is the stump? You can always grow clematis over it. (Per Google, Clematis is an evergreen plant that spreads and covers whatever it is planted on and has beautiful blooms)

Per dictionary:a stump is the lower end of a tree or plant left after the main part falls or is cut off;I prefer the ones that are not sawn by man, but they can still be beautiful.

This is a cypress stump, Lovely in color and shape

In 1985, the year I married my husband, before he left for the day, he said call a tree trimmer and get them to trim the limbs on the ear tree. That is his name for a Jacaranda tree because they drop ear shaped pods the size of an ear all year long. Tree trimmer came, I pointed out what to trim. I did NOT stand and watch what they were doing. Young man comes to the door for his check and says "I took down the stump by the drive way at no extra charge". As my mind frantically starting forming phrases on what to tell my husband when he came home, I smiled and said thank you while my mind Screamed OH NO, NOT the stump.

You see, my husband LOVED that stump. He made that stump for a reason. Before I entered his life, the palm tree died, he cut it down to 3 feet tall and put a planter with Asparagus fern on it. the planter sat on the stump and the ferns hung down beautifully. I had removed the planter to prevent it from being knocked off by falling limbs.

Do stumps speak to you? If not, What does speak to you?

Bob: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STUMP?

Sandra: "the tree trimmer took out your stump, no I was not watching them, I am sorry I did not pay attention to what they were doing. remember there is no need to cry over spilled milk, in this case there is no need to cry over removed stump".

That is not ALL that was said between us. At least we both share a love of stumps

Did you know they are selling tree stump posters on Allposters.com? So maybe I am not the only stump lover around.

Rock, Stone or Pebble?

What would you call the rocks in the above photo? Rocks? Stones? Pebbles?

over the past 25 years, my husband and I have had many, many arguments. He is from the North and I am from the South (USA). that means we call things bydifferent names. One of the on-going arguments is what is a stone and what is a rock?When I step on a small rock, I yelp, he says, What? I say I stepped on a rock. He says, that is not a rock, it is a stone.

I say there are little rocks and middlesized rocks and big rocks and if it is as big as a car or house, it is a boulder. He says small rocks are stones and sometimes pebbles, and and the bigger ones are rocks, like in a rock quarry.

Per Wikipedia.org

• 
  
  Stone- a naturally occurring aggregate of minerals
  
  
  
• 
  
  Rock-naturally occurring solid aggregte of minerals
  
  
  
• 
  
  Pebble-generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles.
  
  
  

Say What!!!!

Per Dictionary.com

a mineral matter of variable composition, consolidated or unconsolidated, assembled in masses or quantities.

Since none of this made sense to me I resorted to Google.com

• 
  
  a large mass of stone forming a hill or cliff
  
  
  
• 
  
  stone in mass, buildings that stand on stone
  
  
  
• 
  
  a rock is a stone of any size, a small piece of rock is a pebble (UK thoughts)
  
  
  

Comment from a site, just a portion of it:

An engineer once corrected a friend when he said he liked rock houses. He said it is a stone house. While the rock is sitting undisturbed on the ground, it is a rock, once you pick it up, it is a stone

I am waiting for comments from all of you, rock or stone?

this is neither Rock nor Stone nor Pebble, but shell cave. I found it in my rocks and stone folder and since I like it, here it is. let me know what you think a rock or stone of pebble is.

TODAY IS FRIDAY THE 13TH, DON'T MISS BETSY'S  POST ON FRIDAY 13TH

Our Delightful Aggravating Archenemy # 1

This fell out of our tree yesterday!

And this fell out of our tree yesterday

And this fell out of our tree a few weeks ago. All the Avacados are Supposed to look like this one. Out of 30 plus, only five were entirely whole.
                                      Can you guess the culprit?

Meet the Culprit, the destroyer of all fruit large and small. The Dastardly Devil that sits on the fence and chatters at my husband in this photo.

Same squirrel, Same Fence, Same Husband TALKING to him/her. Same wife saying don't talk to him, maybe he/she will go away! HA not in this life.

The only thing they do beside EAT everything in sight and torment the dogs by chattering at them is MULTIPLY.

Whisky, frisky,

Hippity hop;

Up he goes

To the tree top!

Whirly, twirly,

Round and round,

Down he scampers

To the ground.

Furly, curly

What a tail!

Tall as a feather

Broad as a sail!

Anonymous

OH NO! he has NO tail.

I did not do it, I swear. He is hiding his food for later, a nut, not an avacado.

Aggravating Archenemy? Yes!
Nibbles holes in the avacado? Yes!
Eat holes in our Ruby Red Grapefruit? Yes!
 Do we wish they would go away? Yes!
Will we ever harm them? NEVER!
Will I continue to take pictures of them? Yes!
Do we think their antics are adorable and delightful? Yes!

                     "if you can't beat them join them"  Such is life!

Pray For Peace! Veterans Day, 2009

The Rehab home at which I volunteer, asked me to give the history of Veterans day. I found I knew not very much about it. This is what I found using Google.

Poster from early 1900's

Did you know that most Americans confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day? Both holidays celebrate our veterans' service, but with one significant difference.

Veterans Day Honors the Living Veterans and Remembers all persons who served in the armed services.
Memorial Day we remember the ones who died in the line of duty for their country or died from injuries in battle.

Veterans Day was originally known as Armistice Day and was meant to honor the end of World War I, called The Great War, because it was to end all wars and no one could imagine a greater one. The war ceased on November 11, 1918 temporarily while they formed the Treaty of Versailles.

Armistice defined means: temporary ceasing of hostilities. President Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day on November 11, 1919. the country was to stop all work at 11 AM for 3 minutes and be filled with pride in the ones who died in the war and show them gratitude for our victory in the war.

Poster from 2007

Over the years, the day became a holiday and was changed many times, in 1954 the 83rd Congress, at the urging of veterans service organizations, amended the act of 1938 by changing the word from Armistice to Veterans Day.
This change was due to the fact the Great War did NOT end all wars, we had been through World War II and Korean and they wanted the day to honor ALL veterans in ALL wars.

Poster from Lucky Forwards Films presents:        This is War, Memories of Iraq.
 
Let's honor today the Veterans From All the Wars, Living and Dead and Especailly our soldiers at War today.
 
There is a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:8
                                          pray for peace
 
 click here for YouTube video for our Heros

Can You Relate???

My niece, Patti, made the comment about my pancake post, you remind me of Erma Bombeck. With Patti's comment in my head, I listened when my husband commented today  as he witnessed my daily battle with our toaster over,
"why don't you do a blog on the toaster and the coffee pot?"

Meet our toaster oven. Our beloved undercounter Black and Decker died and I searched high and low for one just like it. Seems they no longer make them to hang under the counter.

I suffer from NEAT disease. Dirt does not bother me, clutter does. This pretty little (note little is clue here) toaster oven at first glance fit my criteria. I thought If I can't hang it under the counter, this one is small and will not take up much counter space AND it is pretty and The Right Color (as if that really matters, says my husband).

1. 
   
   It sometimes throws the toast out on the counter, others it clutches it in a grasp that forces me to dig it out in pieces.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   One day it burns the edges, leaves the middle raw. Next day it burns the whole slice OR does it the way it should be. The darn thing has a mind of its own. The little oven when requested to make cheese toast, leaves the bottom un-toasted, burns the top, the cheese drips off into the drip pan, the drip pan is to small, so it goes UNDER the drip pan and that pab needs a surgeon to remove it from the toaster.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   The designer also chose to make a  door that catches crumbs in the door hinge and nothing short of a vacuum will get it out (so now I need a mini vac, dare I look for one?).
   
   
   
4. 
   
   It dominates our breakfast conversation! We both make the same comments over and over, like it will change the thing overnight. We both growl and grump each time we use it. we have discussed daily for a few months now the fact it had to be an idiot that designed it. If I bought another one, would we have any thing to talk about at breakfast? Would it be any better?
   
   
   

Enter the New Mr Coffee! In our 25 years we have owned THREE Mr. Coffees. the first two we loved, they were UnderCounter models, easy to use and obedient.

 The reasons I hate it. (note I say I because my husband never touches it)

1. I need  a college degree to set the timer each time the power goes out. the timer being The Reason I bought it (plus it was The Right Color and Small)

2. Look at the pretty glass pot. Guess what? when tilted to POUR it leaks down the front of the pot, every single time. It leaks so bad, I use the old coffee pot to pour water in it when I sat it up at night.

3. The darn thing does not come on UNLESS I remember to push the timer button.

Don't you think someone could invent one that KNOWS to come on whether the Senior Moments Queen forgets to push the button?

So far, I have not pushed the delay button, pushed the button but forgot to add the water, pushed the button, added the water and forgot to put the filter and coffee in it.

I close with this comment from Erman Bombeck

"If you can't make it better, you can always laugh at it"

Post on Pancakes??? huh???

Yesterday was pancake day and as I poured the syrup and watched it drip over the sides of my stack, my alter ego, Madsnapper grabbed for the camera and here we are, a post on Pancakes. Hopefully a few laughs for you.

Click on the photo to see the DRIP
Sunday mornings, about every three weeks, my husband makes pancakes for breakfast. While he cooks, I answer email down the hall and in the bedroom.
A few weeks ago this is the conversation between us, in a loud voice since we were yelling down the hall

Bob: Where is the syrup?

Sandra: In the honey bottle.
Bob: Which honey bottle? there are 3.
Sandra: Not the honey BEAR, the bottle with the dark colored syrup, the light one is honey.
Bob: OK, I got it, am I supposed to be able to put the bottle down?
Sandra: What?
Bob: Am I supposed to be able to put the bottle down? it's stuck to my hand.




I leave the computer, walk down the hall, take the bottle, wipe if off and sit it on the counter. The Rest of The Conversation goes like this.
 
Bob: Why is the syrup in the honey bottle?



Sandra: Because last time I bought the syrup, the only size they had in Log Cabin was 64 ounces. I told you all this when I bought it and that it was to big for the cabinet and also hurts my hand because it is to heavy. You never listen.


Bob: Why do we have 3 honey bottles?


Sandra: I told you that to. I like the Honey Bear, but it drips when I pour, so I bought the honey no drip bottle and it really works. I liked it so much and the bear was empty, and I wanted to put syrup in the no drip bottle, so I bought a new no drip bottle and poured the honey in the empty bear to store it until the honey bottle is empty then I will pour it from the bear into the no drip, then I put the syrup in the no drip honey bottle.


(his eyes are glazed and he is not LISTENING again)

G.O.D…D.O.G…B.L.O.G…

Some of you may have noticed I posted no blog yesterday. My Bloggin Noggin was Cloggin and I had no inspiration. Not bloggin today either, but THEN  I received and email that many of you have seen before...........today's blog was born.

I look up and I see God

I look down and see my dog

Simple spelling G.O.D. Same words backwards D.O.G.

They would stay with me all day, I'm the one who walks away

But both of them just wait for me, and dance at my return with glee.

Both love me no matter what, Divine God and canine mutt.

I take it hard each time I fail, but god forgives, Dog wags his tail.

God thought up and made the dog, dog reflects a part of God.

I've seen love from both sides now, It's everywhere, Amen, Bow Wow.

                               I look up and I see God, I look down and see my dog.             

                                                

And in my human frailty I can’t match their love for me

Wendy Francisco

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN MY PET BLOG CLICK HERE FOURPAWSETC