Sophie's Story

I saw them when C dropped me off at work about a week ago. I got to the pharmacy as quickly as I could, dropped off my things,grabbed a few dollar bills from my lab coat pocket and went outside again. There were a pair of veterans sitting outside selling small,red,silk flowers. I walked over and dropped my money in the can that one of them was holding. Th elderly man presented me with a flower. I took it and walked quickly back to the pharmacy. I knew I was going to be a bit late opening up,but this was something I had to do. Normally I would wear it pinned to my lab coat for the rest of the week. Since I had no pins with me I taped it to the side of my computer. This is something I do every year. Right before Memorial Day the veterans sit outside the store selling the little red flowers. No matter how late I may be running I always make sure that I buy one as soon as I see them. Sometimes I get two. Every time I buy one I think of my father-in law, Mr. Warren. Mr. Warren was a World W...

C and I have a weekend off together. This is pretty rare. Both of us have been talking about doing some things around the house. Since the weather is going to be bad (because I have the time off..), this weekend will be perfect to tackle some of those projects. Yesterday we went shopping. We bought some drapes. The ones we have were the ones that came with the house when we bought it. Essentially it was some cream coloured cloth on some kind of hooks covering the big picture window. It was all right, but the fabric was coming off the hooks and it just flat out looked cheap. We got some nice sage green drapes. Since there is not much green in the living room we got a couple of green pillows. One project we have will be to hang the drapes. I had planted some lily of the valley around the deck. A week or so ago I didn't see anything and thought that the plants had died. Yesterday, I saw not only green shoots coming out but flowers. There were tiny white flowers on some of the plants. ...

It's been raining a lot here. In fact, it's been raining so much that I am wondering if anyone is building an ark. OK... I'm exaggerating, but it sure feels like that. The perennials ( I think those are the plants that come back each year.) are coming up. The lilies are spreading and looking good. There is another plant with silvery green leaves that is up and is spreading. My lavender plant is alive and well and the herbs are back, except for the basil which needs to be replanted each year. This is good news. It means that I won't have to buy a ton of plants for the garden and can buy some plants to put in planters in front of the house and on the deck. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's been too cold to put the rest of the garden in. Usually we do that in the middle of May. It's finally warmed up enough where we should be able to put plants in. I have a long weekend coming up and that would be a good time to do it. The problem is that it's...

I think I can officially say I am getting old. Several things I have seen the last few weeks have me convinced that our society is going to you-know-where in a you-know-what. That is a sure sign that age is setting in. I'm not sure if I should be upset or grateful that for once in my life, I'm normal. (Do we know what normal is? We only know what is customary. I read that someplace.) I'd like to share with you a few of the things that have me thinking this way. C and I were shopping in the frozen food aisle. Sitting next to the vast array of Ore-Ida fries were sweet potato fries. Now I have seen these before and have eaten them. No big deal. Next to them was sweet potato tater tots. NOOOOOOOO!!!!! I barely restrained myself from screeching. Tater tots are a classic. You don't need to mess with them. They are fine the way they are. They do not need to be made from sweet potatoes. It's bad enough that fries are made from them. I'm sure that this comes from the not...

In May 2001 I joined the Small Town Owl Toastmaster group. I had been a member of Toastmasters when I lived in Albert Lea. When I was transferred to another city there was no club there and I had to quit. I felt bad about that, I really like Toastmasters. Toastmasters International for those of you that don't know about it, is a group dedicated to improving communication and leadership skills. There are groups all over the world. The meeting structure is the same though. People give speeches and are evaluated on their presentations. There are Table Topics,where members are given a topic. You have to speak at least 30 seconds and no more than two and a half minutes. Clubs have officers and events like speech contests and a workshop called Speechcraft. Clubs are given goals and are recognised when those goals are met. One of the higher recognitions is President's Distinguished. STO has been a President's Distinguished club for most of the last 10 years. I realised last year t...

I am reading a book called"Women of Character". It is a profile of 100 well known and some not so well know female members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There are all kinds of women in this book. They come from all income levels, all educational levels, married and unmarried. There are writers, doctors,singers, actresses,a judge, a former journalist and a few full time home makers. There is one woman among the 100 profiles that make up the book that I would dearly have loved to meet. Her name is Marjorie Pay Hinckley. I know what many you you are asking. Who is Marjorie Pay Hinckley? Those of you who know who she is are probably wondering why I would want to meet her. I'll answer the first question. Marjorie Hinckley was the wife of Gordon B. Hinckley, who was President of the LDS Church from March 1995 until his death in January of 2008. The reason why I would like to have met her is that, based on what I have read, she sounds like a "hoot...

Hi! This is Scamp. I am the Chief House Cat here. Today I thought I would write about the duties of the CHC (Chief House Cat),what makes a good CHC, a typical day for me, and some of the perks of the job. I use the title Chief House Cat, sometimes if a place had more than two cats, the CHC is called the Alpha Cat. Actually I like the title Alpha Cat better, but Sophie insists that she is the Alpha Cat therefore I cannot use that title. Maybe it's just me, but I think that is silly. Sophie is a human, not a cat. Since she is not a cat she should not get to use the title Alpha Cat. CHC is a position of great responsibility. Someone has to be in charge. Otherwise chaos would happen. A good CHC is smart,able to move from place to place without making a sound, able to sense when humans are distressed and is well groomed and beautiful. Some CHCs live in households with other animals. In that case the CHC must also be able to get along with other animals, even dogs. In some cases the CHC ...