Living In the World, Not on It

On 1 December I posted the Old Farmer's Almanac information and other fun tidbits for this month. If you read it, you may recall that I described the Ember Days that come up four times a year, predicated on specific Roman Catholic holy days. Today is the first Ember Day in December, and by folklore, determines the overall weather in January. Here is a reminder of the Ember Days and how they work: Ember Days: The four periods formerly observed by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches for prayer, fasting, and the ordination of clergy are called Ember Days. Specifically, these are the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays the follow in succession following (1) the First Sunday in Lent; (2) Whitsunday - Pentecost; (3) the Feast of the Holy Cross, September 14; and (4) the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13. The word ember is perhaps a corruption of the Latin quatuor tempora , "four times." Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells th...

The Blue Memory Meme, Part Two Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim's post. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme's best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let's go!!! Today we ripped off a blogger and...

And what can that mean, you ask? On Saturday, 29 October, the Snow Fairy stopped in early to give us a visit. And she didn't stop by, ring the bell and find us not home, and head out on her way. She dropped off a bombshell. It was rain in the early morning. Then around 1030 it became a mix of rain and snow. By 1100 it was huge, wet, heavy flakes that began coating the branches almost immediately. The ground was much too warm to hold the snow until later on but the trees, heavy with leaves in their array of lovely autumn colours, were building up snow too quickly. It was not long before it was eerily quiet as fewer and fewer people were out and about. And then we could hear it: creaking, bumping noises and finally pops and reports (that last was the horrific sounds of branches breaking). When I looked out the windows around 1430, there were a lot of really big branches on the ground, littering the backyard with leaves and debris. But those leaves weigh a lot more than m...

Welcome to Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: Mrs. Potter's Lullaby 1. Adam Duritz (writer and lead singer of Counting Crows) mentions previous girlfriends in songs. In Mrs. Potter's Lullaby he sings “There a little piece of Maria in every song I sing”. Is there a piece of an ex that will always be a part of you? Oh, look at this - I missed this question. How sad is that? OK, I would say that all people who have had an impact on my life - good, bad or indifferent - has left a little piece with me. That is a lot of people. Certainly I woul...

1) If you were a villain in a movie, what would your catch phrase be? Where do you come up with these questions? I haven't the faintest idea... Um, how about "In these shoes? I doubt you'd survive." 2) Marc and Angel Hack Life recently posted a list of "10 Things To Stop Caring About Today." What is something you care too much about that you wish you didn't? My not working any longer. 3) On Tuesday, NBC announced that it was canceling its new show "Playboy Club," making it the first cancellation of the TV season. What show do you hope is next for cancellation? H8R, New Girl, The Jersey Shore, and so many more. The Jersey Shore should be the first to go, of a certainty. Goodness me, who wants anyone to think that these morons are indicative of real New Jersey or New York people. Quite frankly they are all totally fake. Totally stupid. No one would miss them, any of them. 4) Many media outlets have been asking this question a lot t...

Welcome to Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: Sleeping to Dream 1. Do you ever go to sleep to simply dream? I have, usually when waking up from a dream that was so good, I never wanted it to stop! 2. When you’re having trouble staying awake, what are some things you do to make sure you don’t drift off to sleep? I try reading, watching the telly, playing music, getting up and working around the house. I'm not usually able to sleep without sleeping medication, though, so this is not a huge problem... 3. What’s most likely to cause ...

1) Today (Sept. 28) is National Ask A Stupid Question Day. What is the stupidest question you've been asked lately? (Feel free to include one of my meme questions if you so choose. I can handle it.) The stupidest question I've been asked... The Short term disability poeple asked me if I am disabled. No. I'm just seeing if you would take a request and pay me if I'm not disabled... Here's your sign! (I'm quoting Bill Engvall on that last comment, "Here's your sign!") 2) When someone says "We need to talk" to you, what is usually the first thing that runs through your mind? That the topic is not a positive one. Isn't that what runs through everyone's mind? 3) If someone rearranged your living room, what is the first thing you would look for? The remotes: the TiVO, the Samsung surround sound/DVD/Aux and HDMI 2 players, the Mac Mini, and the fireplace remote. This is a sad statement, but it is true. Then I would look for the k...

The three fastest-growing diseases in America today are diabetes, Lyme disease, and sports jerseys. Wearing a jersey used to be for kids. You be Tom Brady and I'll be Darrelle Revis. Now people with actual jobs are wearing them. At 6, it's adorable. At 36, deplorable. You can't swing your arms at an NFL game without hitting somebody in one. (A very good idea, by the way.) You say it's your way of expressing devotion to your team? I say try a hat. It doesn't make you look like an adult Trick-or-Treater.  What's your jersey dream? Someone shrieking, "Oh, my God! There's Brian Urlacher! Oh, wait. No, no. It's just Justin from purchasing."? Women in jerseys? Fine. But dude, you're really going out with another man's name on your back? Do you have no male pride? But like gluten-free beer, the jersey flood seems un-damn-able. But can we at least have some rules? Jersey Rule No. 1 : You may not wear a jersey past ...

When is the last time you got to spend $170,000 - of some one else's money? I used to do it every week - when I ran the payroll. And don't kid yourself, that was the best money ever spent. Any company is only as strong as its employees. Money like that is money well spent. I'm doing it again. And like the previous five years, it is the best money I will ever spend and it will save lives. Just as paying employees saves lives. I can't say this is just my effort, but I'm a big part of it and I love every minute of it. I know more about the inner and outer workings of the rigs more than I would ever imagine. There is so much to know - the payload, the electrical load, the safety for the patient, the crew and the town. The continuity for the EMTs, so that we know where everything is. The fuel consumption curve for long standbys. Meeting Triple K requirements. Having duel Whelen sirens and now (and this is the coolest thing!) the Rumbler, a low-sonic add-on...

"Autumn is finally here, but before I try to find a few fall colors to photograph, I wanted to post this week’s edition of the Saturday Six ! I hope you enjoy, and thanks for playing! Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and keep the conversation going! Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog… But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy!" 1. Do you consider yourself more of a giver or a taker? I used to be much more of a taker when I was younger, a trait my mother passed on to me. It  was not a good trait, so over the years I have modified it a lot so that...

"Here in Charleston, the weather has gone from about 96° to about 72° — or even less — in a matter of days. The weathermen say we shouldn’t get used to this too quickly: more hot weather is on the way. But in the meantime, we’ve been able to enjoy much cooler, fall-like weather. Which got me thinking about this week’s topic. Be sure to check back this week and click on the links of bloggers who play along in the comments below! It’s a great way to find blogs you may not have visited and to keep the conversation going! Here is this week’s “ Sunday Seven ” question. Either answer in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your blog (with a link here), and then comment here with a link back to your blog so that everyone else can visit! Permission is not granted to copy the questions to message boards for the purpose of having members answer and play along there. Enjoy!" THIS WEEK’S QUESTION : Name your seven things you’re looking forwar...

1) Last week women on Facebook started another one of those supposed "raise breast cancer awareness" status chains which end up just confusing men. This one had me saying "I'm 14 weeks and craving Skittles." Instantly people started asking me if I was pregnant. This has angered some people ( including a blogger who posted a rant about it because she says that "pretending you're pregnant isn't cute" ). What do you think of status chains like this? Ah-ha! I saw this and couldn't believe my soon-to-be-divorced friend was pregnant; the status said nothing about raising breast cancer awareness. Now, suddenly, it all makes sense! It seems kind of stupid to me if you don't specify comments like that one. 2) Do you think people should be able to buy music and share it with everyone he or she wants or should everyone have to purchase the songs themselves? I've spent enough on CDs that I have no problem getting music for free now. O...