Entry for July 29, 2006

Warning....warning:....this blog contains adult content... be advised....



Now I don't consider myself a prude. I am pretty laid back when it comes to people, their choices, their lifestyles. I may not agree with their choices, and it may not be for me, but I figure everyone is entitled to their opinion and lifestyle....as long as it doesn't encroach onto my choices and lifestyle.



Now I know I have you all wondering, where is vic going with this blog?



Well....it's about my next door neighbors. Oh they are a typical married couple. Nothing too out of the ordinary in this rural, bible belt area of the country.



My neighbor is close to retiring, and he is busy doing all those retiring kind of things. RV-ing,gardening,woodworking.... which is fine.. I am all for keeping busy,... having hobbies.



Awhile back, I heard the sounds of a chainsaw next door. The neighbor evidently was cutting down a tree,.... and he had left the large main trunk of the tree standing. Now the tree itself wasn't all that big, and the trunk he left, was roughly about 4 to 5 feet tall and only about 18 inches across. I wondered why he hadn't sawed the tree to the ground,..... the trunk seemed out of place.



It wasn't till the next few days I found out why it was still standing..... He was making garden art.



My neighbor was making a carving out of his tall slender trunk.......a sculpture....



He was making a............. mushroom.



Upon first seeing his garden art... a mushroom is not the first thing that popped into my mind. I know my mouth dropped open and I thought that had to be the most obscene...... "mushroom" ........I had laid my eyes on.



I drove by again and this time there was no shock value......just peels of laughter.



A few days later there was some ...embellishment...stained or painted carved spots all over the cap. He now had dots on his mushroom....or his fungi had fungi.



It took some getting use to...... living next to the biggest wooden....mushroom



But nowadays, I can drive by it.....not even notice it...for the most part....



and some days...



......some days...I get a wicked grin and tell myself it could have been worse....



he could have placed two planters at the base of his garden art...

 

Comments

(4 total)

• possum
• Offline IM

AHAHAHAHA.....Aaaaah VICCLES! Getting home from night shift to find that entry! You priceless thing you! Can you perhaps tell your neighbour that no giant mushroom is complete without a gnome or two at it's base? ROFL! ((HUGS))

Sunday July 30, 2006 - 08:18am (EST)

• Dixie
• Offline

LMBAOPIMP Vickles I was wondering why you spend so much time in the great out doors LOLLOL

Sunday July 30, 2006 - 01:22am (EDT)

• Jimwo…
• Offline IM

LOL! I found it. lol.

Saturday August 19, 2006 - 10:54am (CDT)

• Vic
• Offline

Lol Jim...no carving mushrooms...unless they are the flat toadstool kind,lol

Saturday August 19, 2006 - 12:11pm (CDT)

Entry for July 28, 2006

The sky is falling! The sky is falling.....



Well not really,...but bats are.



According to a news article on the web, bats are suffering from the long heatwave and are dropping...



Bats... it's the last thing in the world I would have thought about writing in my blog today.



I caught a bat once.... years ago with someone else. We found it in an old building. It had flown in thru an open window. It had  just sat there in the corner, hardly moving. We  scooped it up in a jar and then transferred it to  a bigger jar...You know, one of those big 1 gallon glass jars you buy big,fat, juicy dill pickles in.



I was quite proud of my new "pet". I tried to do my best to keep my new pet bat happy. I kept it in the dark during the day in a closet.... I threw bugs in the jar for it to eat...but it was not happy...it just hung there on a stick.... Two whole days of bat ownership was all it lasted. The novely had worn off.



The shortest relationship I have ever had with a pet...or otherwise.



I decided to part ways with my bat... I waited till it was dark....took my big pickle jar (with bat) outside and carefully opened the lid and dipped him out. He just sat there...on the ground, motionless. I began to wonder if the bat was injured and that is why he hadn't moved much. But then he moved. Small quick steps on the ground, like a tiny airplane on a runway taking off. He rose into the air and flew several feet before making a U turn back towards me. Now why he was flying back towards me I am not sure. I don't know if the street lights confused it, it was trying to get it's bearings, of it it was just "buzzing" me for having to spend the last 48 hours of confinement smelling dill pickles.



Now I know they say if you love something to set it free and it will come back to you. Only problem with that thinking is that I didn't want it flying back to me....I didn't want my rabid,vampire, blood-thirsty bat flying back AT me...



He flew on past me and that was the last I ever saw of the little bat.



Now it was a hot day today in Nebraska, and as I peered out the door this morning, I scanned the skies for anything flying,....anything falling...



How was I suppose to mow and trim the yard if there were going to be dropping bats? Would I have to do yardwork under the protection of an umbrella?....and what would the neighbors think........again? I could see me trying to  explain to them the perils of dropping bats,... and they should keep an eye to the sky and be prepared to take cover.



I bit the bullet....I sucked it up....and I did yardwork today... minus an umbrella.



There were no bats dropping from the skies today...... but a grasshopper did come close to winging me.







 

Comments

(3 total)

• Zim
• Offline

HAHAHAHAHA! I sat here giggling and my other half eyed me with suspicion (sp?)...that was hilarious vic...I can just see you being "winged" by a grasshopper....HAHAHAHA!!!

Friday July 28, 2006 - 09:58pm (EDT)

• possum
• Offline IM

Ms viccles, my guess is that the bat you jarred then de-jarred was intoxicated by the briney pickled smells it endured...what bat WOULDN'T be? Possums, now that's another matter....apricot nectar...ooooooh yes! (ps...I hate to think what yard work would have done to those pink boots, bats or no bats!) (hugs)

Saturday July 29, 2006 - 05:04pm (EST)

• Dixie
• Offline

This blog will just have to be let go with out a batty comment from me Vic....I am just giggling too hard!

Sunday July 30, 2006 - 01:27am (EDT)

Entry for July 26, 2006

I love the Far Side....

Simply love the humor of  Gary Larson.

It is droll, it's sarcastic at times, it's off kilter....it's out there...



But I get it..... I just get it.



Looking back at my last blog entry. I got to thinking how many people had read that blog and were scratching their heads. After all, what person in their right mind would be typing in a blog after midnight about french fries? Someone with wayyyyyyy too much time on their hands, or someone just a little out there.



I can imagine a few puzzled looks...the arching of the eyebrow...the pursing of lips....the "uhoh" mindset of what was she thinking.....(or smoking?)



I got to thinking of humor and how different things tickle our funnybones. That  humor can be obvious or obscure.



I love humor...and I love humor in people, and people with humor, and humor in life. I think if you look hard enough you can find humor in most things, irony in others. Some may even accuse me of not being serious enough, and they just don't get me....that's okay.



So tonight....my blog won't be about french fries....the lotto (and no I haven't checked my numbers yet Dixie,lol)....or about cabbages, or aliens, or anything too off the wall.



It's just about humor....where you find it......and that you find it in yourself.



Yep, I love  the Far Side....I just get it....



And I encourage you to take a stroll to your  "far side"



......and get it too

 

Comments

(2 total)

• lara310
• Offline IM

Hey Vic,

That is sooo true! You do have a great sense of humour. Love your blogs. Have a great day!

Hugsss,
Alicia

Wednesday July 26, 2006 - 11:14pm (PDT)

• Dixie
• Offline

Me Pink Haired Princess, you are the fun lovingest kid I know....get on that bike and peddle...yeah....peddle to the Far Side where I live...the Far Side of the Moon:):) PS I'll take my money in small bills.... oh heck large ones are just fine too!!! pssssst I've always been crazy...keeps me from going insane hehehe

Entry for July 24, 2006

McDonalds is going to make me a millionaire...



I will start off by saying I didn't ever see the movie "Super Size Me". I have no desire to see it either. I am of the mindset that when there is a real "documentary" on anything I will give it a view. But in our media filled world, a documentary is as one sided as the the producer making it. Everyone has an opinion and those opinions can not help but be introduced in that media form.



Take the newspaper....any of them....doesn't really matter which. Have you noticed how the articles that are written are no longer a story of facts and information? Each writer it seems, has taken to turning each news item into an editorial. There is no unbias reporting. You know immediately which way the writer's views are slanted....I don't know if they call that good journalism...but for me...I just want to know the facts, all the facts....and not ones that just make for a good story....but I digress....





(climbs off of the soapbox...I don't know how I wandered up there...usually I am afraid of heights)





Back to McDonald's....and me.... one day being a millionaire.



We have all been there....we have all eaten there....(you know who you are....you there....crouching behind the wheel of your car in your sun glasses...claiming to get just a drink..... I see the ketchup packets...I saw the cold fry stuck in between the seats.......yes you.......weak vessel... you)



Do you notice when you are looking over the menu...the prices...for just a sandwhich and a drink, versus a value meal? It is almost the same price...maybe even more...for just the sandwhich...the drink......and no fries.



And then it hits you... You are being cheated...cheated out of those hot,golden,crispy,salty things ... the price is the same...with or without them....so you cave in and buy your fries.



And afterwards...when the roof of your mouth feels like it is covered in something indescribable, and you are licking it much like a dog does with peanutbutter stuck to the roof of it's mouth...you start to think that maybe you shouldn't have had those fries....those wonderful salty,greasy fries....but hey...in a way...........



they were free...



Which comes to my grandious plan of being a millionaire..... (just between you and me)... I don't order the fries... I don't order the value meal.



Oh sure...it may be the same price... but I refrain...refrain from the fries.....and....(looks around secretively)....that is when...I tell myself... I have saved a dollar.



Okay maybe not technically...but I tell myself that... every time I go there..



I keep my dollar.....and sometimes..... sometimes I get wild and crazy and spend it on a lotto ticket.



Yes...I have traded one vice for another...but this one...will make me a millionaire...curtesy of McDonalds....





no ketchup needed.

 

 

Comments

(1 total)

• Dixie
• Offline

hehe peeking out from my dark shades... color me of the weak persuasion Vic..darn! saving a dollar as opposed to gobbling down clown food is a hard thing to do.hummmm now where is that ketchup??? Hey if you do win a million remember ya got a FRIEND here in SC LOLLOL

Entry for July 23, 2006

Paved with good intentions.....



We all know that feeling... that feeling that we think we are doing something right, something helpful, something that we think we deserve a pat on the back for, but it ends up biting us on our hind quarters.



I have a christmas pointsettia... still alive... after all this time, despite my interventions.



I got it at the beginning of December of last year. It was in a drawing and I won it...I wanted it..I lusted for it... It was so big, so full, and it was a very unusual cream and red streaked pointsettia. I don't know why I wanted it so bad, I never have a good track record with indoor plants.



I brought it home on a warm winter's day and looked carefully where to place it to it's full advantage. I swore I would keep it alive till Christmas. Most pointsettias then loose their leaves and die shortly after, but I was going to keep my beautiful plant alive, so I could enjoy it every day. I finally settled on putting it on my dining room table where the light from a patio door would shine on it and yet be far from the draftiness of the door. Faithfully I poked my finger in the soil to check it's dryness every day. I would have my beautiful pointsettia for all to see over the holidays....if only the pointsettia would cooperate.



It started with one small leaf falling on the table....soon more followed...it wasn't quite so lush...so full...so pretty....I panicked. The soil was fine...the light was fine... the room temperature was fine, but my pointsettia wasn't.



Just when I thought for sure my plant would not make the holiday season,.... I realized that every time I had been opening up the freezer, a blast of artic air was hitting my poor plant. I moved my sad pointsettia to in front of the patio door on the floor. I thought if it was going to croak, I would not let anyone see, but myself....and I would give it a fond farewell.



Despite my best intentions....it decided to live,.... and live it did!..... It lived to see Christmas.... It lived to see January,.... February,.... March,..... and April. My giddines knew no bounds that I had kept a pointsettia not only for the holidays, but beyond. I soon realized it could live on it's own. I didn't need to poke it daily for moisture content. It liked the floor, ...it liked the door,.... so I let it stay..... I wouldn't argue with it any more,....and it was content.



My youngest brother and his wife bought a dog after they were first married. Their  dog, was a beautiful,fluffy white terrier mix. She was pampered, she was bathed, she was clipped,and groomed, and treated like royalty....Well as life goes, and kids come....royalty gets dethroned. Oh it wasn't sudden. It was gradually. ..and despite their best intentions to have and keep their beautiful white fluffy dog the same as the day they brought it home., the dog liked dirt. The dog liked running thru brush and weeds and burrs. The dog, wasn't ever quite as white, and fluffy as she use to be. When she passed, she was a rolypoly, matted mess, blind in one eye. 



A succession of pets has followed since then. Numerous cats, and dogs, and birds, and creatures galore. The kids just love their animals,... love them to death. Their newest dog, is another white dog....bigger this time, and three-legged.....No, it came with four legs in the beginning...but...um....things happen......



They had a bird....named Elvis.... that should have been their first clue not to name a bird after someone dead.



They had a hermit crab...two in fact. Being in a big glass aquarium it should be safe. But it didn't like it's big glass box and roamed....it was found three days later when grandpa saw a huge 'spider" come out from the refrigerator and he stomped on it to kill it......."oops"..... he only had the best of intentions....



My grandmother is a small bird like woman. Tiny and tough as nails. She lived thru the depression and learned the hard way the value of a dollar.



She loves to cook, she loves family....she loves to feed family. She deep fat fries meat, creams her vegetables in real cream. Makes enough desserts to fill a table. And she eats little but encourages all to partake....eat.....eat more......she has good intentions....



She had a dog....wasn't hers to begin with...someone dropped it off. The dog was in heaven....she fed him....leftovers...he got so he wouldn't eat regular dogfood... he got meat...potatoes whipped with real cream....cake...whatever she had that was going to waste...he lived well.... he died a couple weeks ago. It was during that hot, humid, heatwave....she thought it was from maybe old age... he looked old. He could have been. She had fed him well. Lots and lots of cheese she had going to waste... LOTS of cheese.



I looked at my aunt, my own mother and whispered..."cheese can be constipating....do you think?"... we won't ever know.....the poor thing.



Yesterday I happened to glance at my pointsettia.....I gasped... I guess even in an air conditioned house, being placed in front of a west facing window with 100 degree days with hot sun will eventually make you start to shrivel. I ran for the water, and today it looks better....it's still alive...



I am beginning to think...even with our best of intentions......I and my family shouldn't have plants we can't keep...........pets.....................and maybe cheese

Comments

(2 total)

• Zim
• Offline

What a thoroughly entertaining blog...well done Vic! Thanks for sharing a little part of your world.

Monday July 24, 2006 - 12:51am (EDT)

• Dixie
• Offline

Vic, you are such a joy GF! Thanks for all the smiles and giggles! I can always count on you to cheer me up!

Hugs,
Dixie

Monday July 24, 2006 - 05:15pm (EDT)

 

Entry for July 21, 2006

Happy Friday!....



Woke up to the lovely soft pattering of rain falling from the eaves. Those wonderful overcast,cloudy days that makes you want to cozy up to a good book, a good movie, a special someone, or in today's case, my computer monitor,lol.



Now don't laugh,..... you know yourself...... the day is not complete if you haven't logged on at least once,to check in with your own cyber world...







Today I am leaving a link, for my fellow bluegrass lovers.....





http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/greencards2



selection #5 ...."Time"....is my favorite of the album.... enjoy







and if you can't hear the music, try www.bn.com (barnes and noble) to hear a preview of the album...



 

Comments

(1 total)

• possum
• Offline IM

I'm off to work ms viccles (and yep, admitting to logging on to my little bit of the cyber world beforehand LOL). I'll be checking that bluegrass site when I get home, for sure! Did I ever tell you about being with mopsy & mtn at Sim's BBQ in the NC hills? Live bluegrass band up on the modest timber stage, LOTS of cloggers, well, clogging, the aromas from the bbq grill wafting over all, and dear M & M keeping me company. I often daydream about being back there. It was magical! Kind of like your image (above) in my mind...almost, but not quite tangible, now that I'm back home, waaay across the ocean. ((hugs))

Entry for July 20, 2006

Making brownies today ....chocolate fudge brownies.....



very, rich....and sinfully good









just how I like my men....(wink)







Okay joking aside, including a couple recipes for brownies encase anyone else has a hankering for rich things today. And for my Aussie and Scottish friends who don't know what a brownie is or has never had one., think of chocolate cake...that has fallen. It has about that much volume...and density.



Fudge Topped Brownies



1 cup butter (or margarine) melted

2 cups sugar

1 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts



Fudge Topping

12oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

extra walunts (optional)



Preheat over to 350 degrees . Combine brownie ingredients. Spread in 9 x 13 inch pan, sprayed with cooking spray (pam). Bake 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from pan.Just before brownies are done, melt chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Immediately spread over HOT brownies. Cool... chill...cut into bars.



Okay personally I omit the fudge topping all together, the brownies have already  got enough sugar to send me spinning. You can just dust with powdered sugar or use a thin powdered sugar glaze.



Okay for those non-chocolate loving people ........(I gasp at the thought)...





Blonde Brownies



1 stick butter (melted)

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp.vanilla



Mix brownie ingredients and spread in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees till lightly brown on top, about 20-30 minutes. Cool and frost with powdered sugar icing.



Options:

1. Add 3/4 cup flaked coconut to the batter before baking and sprinkle additional coconut on top of frosting.

2. Add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup butterscotch chips to the batter. Bake, cool, and omit frosting.

3. Add 1 cup chopped pecans to the batter. Frost with powdered sugar icing that has been flavored with oranje juice concentrate.



Bon appetite!





(don't call me if you have to visit your dentist)....

 

Comments

(6 total)

• Dixie
• Offline

hehe we do like the same kind of men errrrr brownies don't we vickles??....geesh Ol Sugar Lips is gonna love coming home to night from work when I set a plate of these babies down in front of him LOLLOL I am starving after reading this post so it's off to the kitchen I go:):):) Whuppin' up a double batch I am!!
Hugs,
Dixie

Thursday July 20, 2006 - 05:42pm (EDT)

• possum
• Offline IM

Ms Viccles, the thought of rich, sinfully good ANYTHINGS makes me drool! Kind of like walking into the craft shop that's just a block away - absolutely nothing from the outside - white painted glass and just one little hoarding 0n the kerb, but laden with goodies unimaginable inside! :)) I'm thinking I'll join Dixie and try the recipe(s). :D

Friday July 21, 2006 - 12:01pm (EST)

• Vic
• Offline

They are even better the next day.... more dense and fudgy.

Thursday July 20, 2006 - 10:55pm (CDT)

• Jimwo…
• Offline IM

the photo looks like your makin shakes to me...lol : )...umm..you got a run

Friday July 21, 2006 - 04:04pm (CDT)

• Vic
• Offline

lol, that is suppose to be "shaking the calories off"....

Friday July 21, 2006 - 07:52pm (CDT)

• Milli…
• Offline

Hey hon, think I just gained 10 pounds reading your blog. Trying to catch up on the blogs I missed, and "I'm in Heaven" now that I am back on line. Regards, Millie

Monday October 22, 2007 - 08:42pm (EDT)

Entry for July 19, 2006

......."cabbages are beautiful"....



                         Edna Ferber

         (excerpt from her novel  So Big)







....I know what she meant..

COMMENTS:

• Dixie
• Offline

Mistress Vicky,not contrary
How does your garden grow?
With cabbage heads in lettuce beds
And pretty 'maters all in a row:):)

Hehe am I a poet or what????
Hey don't answer that !!!
Scarecrow, Dixie:):):)

Wednesday July 19, 2006 - 03:28pm (EDT)

• Vic
• Offline

Psssttt Dixie...I think the heat is getting to you... or you are hanging around me too much,lol.

Thursday July 20, 2006 - 09:39am (CDT)

• lara310
• Offline IM

Hmm..Vic! :) You are a Hoot Girl! I love your blog entries.I have trouble with mone sometimes,Lost for words,or shall I say writers block,Lol!Have a wondeful evening!

Take Care,
Hugsss,
Alicia