Ponderings

As I was biking I noticed that smaller cars give us more room on the road then large cars.  I wonder if they are more considerate than the big guys or are they just more concerned about damage to their cars?

***

Radio was TV before TV was TV.  We have a "Old Time Radio" show on Saturday nights.  It has shows like Gracie Allen & George Burns, Green Hornet, etc.  You have to use your imagination to "see" what is happening in the show.  When I was young I had a crystal radio which I constructed from a kit and used to listen to it at night when the radio stations increased their power.

I think that we are missing something when we watch TV and everything is there in front of us with very little left to our imagination.

***

I haven't been blogging for a while.  I think of subjects when I'm walking the dog but forget by the time I  get to the computer.  It looks like my kids have blog entries most days, ah, the advantages of youth (&  beer brewing or young kids).

When you ride hard on a mountain bike, sometimes you fall, otherwise you’re not riding hard. -President George Bush

The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.- Ann Strong

“It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”  Marilyn Monroe

“Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless”  Steve Allen

“The more popular a person thinks he is in the blogosphere, the thinner his skin and the thicker his hypocrisy. This should be exactly the opposite: the higher you go the thicker the skin and thinner the hypocrisy.”  Guy Kawasaki

Weddings

I was listening to a radio show that was talking about weddings.  Which got me thinking about weddings that I was associated with.  The average wedding costs $24066 and in the area that we got married it is between $17,463 and $29,105 now.

Our wedding reception was at my in-laws house and our wedding clothes were my high school graduation suit and my LW "good" suit, we drove home from the church in our little Pontiac Tempest. So I don't actually know the cost, but it must have been on the order of $1000 or so.

My daughter's wedding cost us less than $3000.  My daughter is very considerate!

Here is the present breakdown for a IL wedding :

Attire: $2,079 to $3,408
Bride accessories: $264 to $433    - what accessories my LW was beautiful
Groom accessories: $139 to $228
Groom suit/tux: $191 to $313
Hair/makeup service: $139 to $228
Headpiece/veil: $248 to $406
Wedding dress: $1,098 to $1,800

Ceremony: $2,395 to $3,928
Ceremony accessories: $155 to $254
Ceremony decorations: $461 to $756
Ceremony location: $539 to $884
Officiate/pastor/priest: $193 to $317
Rehearsal dinner: $1,047 to $1,717

Entertainment: $2,669 to $4,377
Ceremony/reception band: $1,573 to $2,580   - we talked with our friends
Ceremony/reception DJ: $601 to $985     - the record player might have been on
Ceremony/reception musicians: $495 to $812

Flowers: $1,677 to $2,750
Boutonnieres/corsages: $146 to $240
Bride bouquet: $125 to $205
Bridesmaid bouquets: $200 to $328
Ceremony flowers: $358 to $587
Flower girl flowers: $40 to $66
Reception flowers: $808 to $1,325

Gifts and Favors: $842 to $1,383
Gifts for attendant: $390 to $640     - who was the attendant?
Gifts for each other: $314 to $516
Gifts for parents: $138 to $227

Invitations and Stationery: $794 to $1,304
Bridal shower invitations: $83 to $136
Guestbook: $40 to $66
Invitations & reply cards: $352 to $578
Personal stationery: $111 to $182
Save the date cards: $136 to $223
Thank you cards: $72 to $119

Jewelry: $5,103 to $8,369
Engagement ring: $3,797 to $6,228
Her ring: $766 to $1,256    - I refuse to tell how much!
His ring: $540 to $885       - I don't like rings

Honeymoon/Planning: $4,156 to $6,817
Honeymoon: $3,058 to $5,015          - went to an inn that I had worked one summer got a discount
Bridal consultant/planner: $1,098 to $1,802   - that's what mothers are for!

Photographer/Videographer: $2,896 to $4,749
Photographer: $1,677 to $2,750      - for us my LW brothers
Videographer: $1,219 to $1,999     -no such thing

Reception: $12,898 to $21,153
Reception beverages/bartender: $1,828 to $2,997   -can't help yourself?
Bride/groom hotel: $230 to $377
Cake: $442 to $725
Cake knife set: $35 to $58
Cake topper: $34 to $55
Reception decorations/centerpieces: $883 to $1,448
Favors: $295 to $483    - since when do flavors cost?
Reception food service: $6,222 to $10,205    - potluck sort of thing, very good food
Reception location: $2,023 to $3,319
Reception rentals: $906 to $1,486

Transportation: $799 to $1,310
Car rental: $249 to $409    - only the gas from the church to the house
Limo rental: $550 to $901

Our marriage has lasted so far over 42 years.  My daughter over 15 years.  It really doesn't matter what you spend, just make sure you find the right person (which we and our kids have done).


Maryon Pearson: Behind every great man there is a surprised woman.


Zsa Zsa Gabor: A man in love is incomplete until he is married.  Then he's finished.


Rita Rudner: I love being married.  It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. 


Beverly Nichols: Marriage--a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose.



Marriage requires a person to prepare 4 types of "Rings": Engagement Ring Wedding Ring, Suffering, Enduring


You have to kiss a lot of toads before you find a handsome prince.


Marriage is like a hot bath. Once you get used to it, it's not so hot.


He early on let her know who is the boss. He looked her right in the eye and clearly said, "You're the boss."


Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy.


The woman cries before the wedding; the man afterward.


MARRIAGE, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two. DD

Snowmageddon

We are into the Snowmageddon.  As you know it never snows in the midwest, so when it snows we must go into panic mode.  But actually, this one time there is a lot of snow!  Above my Lovely Wife is snowshoeing to create paths for our dog.  The shallowest spots are over his head.  Normally we get much less snow then forecast, but not this time!

Here is a picture (sorry for the quality but it was still snowing) of my LW next to a huge snow drift at our house.

Free snow. Shovel all you want! (Put on a miniature snow shovel or a yard sign.)

Free Snowmen. Some assembly required.

Life is like a blanket of snow. Be careful how you step on it. Every step will show! 

Winter is the time of promise because there is so little to do – or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so. - Stanley Crawford

Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together. - Verna M. Kelly

The problem with winter sports is that – follow me closely here – they generally take place in winter. - Dave Barry

To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring.  - W.J. Vogel

“Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery.”   Bill Watterson

Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.”  Earl Wilson

snow(n)  1 atmospheric water vapor frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer   2 something that resembles snow in color or texture, in particular

• a mass of flickering white spots on a television or radar screen, caused by interference or a poor signal.

• a dessert or other dish resembling snow : vanilla snow.

• [with adj. ] a frozen gas resembling snow

ORIGIN Old English snāw, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch sneeuw and German Schnee, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin nix, niv- and Greek nipha.

Bread Making

My daughter had a blog entry on making bread.  We recently bought a Breadmaker and I have made about about 5 or 6 loaves of bread.

Today, we made Applesauce Oatmeal bread using some of my daughter's applesauce that she gave us the last time we visited her.  I have made Cheese & Onion Bread, Cherry-Raisin bread (except I didn't add the raisins due to operator error (me)), Oat-Sunflower Bread and Banana-Nut Bread.

Since I am not as ambitious as my daughter, I cheat with the Breadmaker.  It is really easy, gather the ingredients (3-4 minutes), heat the water (our house is cool (in the winter) 1 minute), add ingredients  to the baking pan, insert it into the Breadmaker, choose a setting (10 cycles like basic, sweet bread, gluten free, etc.) and push size (1 1/2 or 2 lbs. loafs), crust color (light,med,dark) and press Start.  Then 3 or so hours later we have fresh bread!

The bread has been very good and cheap considering the cost of the ingredients.  Only problem is that we tend to eat it up quickly (which gives me a chance to make more, I think Garlic Bread is next).


I don't even butter my bread; I consider that cooking. Katherine Cebrian


“Religion is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions”



“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” Mother Teresa


Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?


What was the best thing before sliced bread?



A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.  Thomas Jefferson



Anytime a person goes into a delicatessen and orders a pastrami on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies. 
Milton Berle



Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf. Gilbert K. Chesterton



Deliberation, n.: The act of examining one's bread to determine which side it is buttered on. Ambrose Bierce



bread (n( food made of flour, water, and yeast or another leavening agent, mixed together and baked • informal the money or food that one needs in order to live 
ORIGIN Old English brēad, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch brood and German Brot.

Adventuress

I am sort of a stodgy person very conservative rarely taking risks or putting myself "out there." However, my LW is much more adventuresome than I am.

She is taking a Belly Dancing class at the Y and some of them performed at the Mango Restaurant  in Niles.  Every first Saturday of the month, the Mango has a Belly Dancing show where various dancers or groups perform.  My LW's teacher performs every 1st Saturday and got about 12 or so members of her class to perform including my LW.

Instructor in front.

My Lovely Belly Dancer!

My LW is also a member of the Waukegan Swedish Women's Chorus and performed a solo at the JulMidDag.

Sorry about the quality of the video, I was far away without a tripod!

An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.-- G. K. Chesterton

Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance.--Milton R. Saperstein

"One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure" William Feather

"The test of an adventure is that when you're in the middle of it, you say to yourself, "Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home." Thornton Wilder

"We love because it's the only true adventure." William E. Gladstone

adventure (n) an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity  • daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French aventure (noun), aventurer (verb), based on Latin adventurus ‘about to happen,’ from advenire ‘arrive.’

The R won!

In our congressional district, we had a D Melissa Bean as our congresswoman.  She beat a very good campaign from well financed candidate in 2008.

This year, we had a R named Joe Walsh who did almost no campaigning that I saw.  Bean had some TV ads in which she tried to paint Walsh as a extremist who was super Pro-Life and super pro-2nd amendment (guns for the constitutionally challenged).

Walsh won by about 350 votes out of 200,000+ votes.  Bean voted for Obamacare (twice once the house version and the rammed through senate version), for the "Stimulus" bill, and for the Cap(Tax) & Trade bill.  She claimed to be independent but I could not find an important (to the dems)  Pelosi bill for which she did not vote.

The arrogance of some politicians caught up with her.  I was extremely surprised that Joe won but am very happy that he did!


The President has kept all of the promises he intended to keep. George Stephanopoulos



To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you too may one day be president of the United States. George W. Bush



If Thomas Edison invented electric light today, Dan Rather would report it on CBS News as "candle making industry threatened".Newt Gingrich



Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm. Frank Dane



I've upped my standards. Now, up yours.
If elected, I will win.
If Iowa is the 'heart' land, what part of the human body is Los Angeles?
- Pat Paulsen


A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw


Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. Oscar Wilde


Barack Obama said today that politics has become too gummed up by money and influence... and then he had to leave to attend a fundraiser. Jay Leno


Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.
 Bill Clinton


POLITICIAN, n. An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared. When we wriggles he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared with the statesman, he suffers the disadvantage of being alive. (DD)

LW at Rockford

5 Things

My LW told me about a conversation she had with relatives when driving in the car at the Women of Faith gathering.  They were talking about 5 Things that They Love about their Husbands.

I hope my LW was able to think of 5.  I was thinking about the Top 5 Things that I love about my LW.

1) She is a great mother to our children - when I was in the military she was able to raise them with me away for months at at time.  They turned out very well.  Both are married to great spouses and have 2 or 3 boys (our grandsons).  The kids did very well in school and have great personalities.

2) She laughs at my humor - I like to make fun of various situations involving both of us or activities with which we are involved.

3) She has a sense of adventure - she joined a Women's Swedish singing group and sings in Swedish and English.  She then studied Swedish so she could do better.

4) She sings about everything - in a Bible Study (I think) we were talking about a musical and how everyday people do not burst out in song about everyday occurrences, well she is the one person who actually does it!  Fortunately she has a lovely singing voice.

5) She is sexy!!!!


An archeologist is the best husband any woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.-- Agatha Christie


You know it's love when you want to keep holding hands even after you're sweaty.


No man is truly married until he understands every word his wife is NOT saying.



A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him.-- Brendan Francis



The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing -- and then marry him.-- Cher



To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.-- Helen Rowland



If love is the answer, could you rephrase the question.-- Lily Tomlin



LOVE, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder. This disease, like caries and many other ailments, is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditions; barbarous nations breathing pure air and eating simple food enjoy immunity from its ravages. It is sometimes fatal, but more frequently to the physician than to the patient.  (DD)

Malware

Some idiot put a Malware redirection on the Church website that I keep up.

The pastor reported it to me and then Google restricted access to the site. I don't understand why anyone would do that to websites.  Are they immature little people that get their kicks out of hurting other people?

My son reported that someone screwed with his blog updates.  It required that he change the way he worked.

I had the ISP that hosts my website clean it and asked Google to reinspect the site.  It is back to normal now.

Failure is not an option -- it comes bundled with Windows.


Computers make very fast, very accurate mistakes.



Q: How does Bill Gates screw in a lightbulb?
A: He doesn't. He declares darkness the industry standard.


Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner's informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.

Anniversary

The other day (8/10) my Lovely Wife and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary.  We were mmphkah years old when we married (it is interesting that my LW is still only 20 something).

We spent a quiet day at home with me roasting some beef with baked potatoes and salad plus ice cream for dessert.  Most of our anniversaries are spent quietly at home. On one of our anniversaries we went to a riding stable and rode 2 horrible horses named Orville and Peanut; her horse sort of did what my LW wanted but mine felt that he has worked enough for the year.

On our 25th anniversary, we went to a dude ranch in MI, where the horses were much nicer.  On our 40th anniversary we went to a dude ranch (Peaceful Valley) in CO.  We rode horses at least once a day and had a lot of fun plus there were s'mores and great meals 3 times a day (my LW feels any meal she doesn't have to make is great).

I am very lucky to have such a wonderful LW!


By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.  Socrates 


Marriage: a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose.  Beverly Nichols 


If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?



Then there was a man who said, 'I never knew what real happiness was until I got married; by then it was too late.'


My wife and I were happy for 20 years - then we met.  Rodney Dangerfield 


The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.  Henry Youngman 


A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.  Milton Berle



Marrying for love may be a bit risky, but it is so honest that God can't help but smile on it.  Josh Billings




When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: either the car is new or the wife is.



Do not marry a man to reform him. That is what reform schools are for." Mae West



MARRIAGE, n.  The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two. (DD)