Hot or Not?

Every four years the outcome of the November presidential election is said to be quite accurately predicted by tracking October sales of candidate Halloween masks.

A lesser known, annual indicator of what's hot is the post-new year's day clearance calendar section inventory. In other words, what's still sitting on the shelf even at 50% off. Let's check it out, shall we?


Barack (67%) Hot. Michelle Not.



Believing in ourselves Hot. Believing in optical illusions Not.




Insight from a grinning Dalai Lama Hot. Not sweating the small stuff Not.




Trains (except with Scott Walker) Hot. Tractors Not.




Mama Grizzly (WTF?) Hot. Heartthrob Not.




What is Soduku Alex? Hot. Jeopardy Not.




Great Excuses Hot. Doodle-A-Day (Hello! What are page margins for?) Not.




Foodie Fight (If you're a reality show cook) Hot. Joy of Cooking (If you're a real cook you own the book) Not.




Dogs (All gone to good homes) Hot. Cats, cats, cats, Not.








Betty White (after senior citizen acting career second wind - maybe on SNL still Hot, but on our kitchen walls) Not.

Button, Button

We received an early birthday present of a wonderful button shape punch. Thank you, thank you to the crafty sisters with the direct line to all things Fiskars,who knew we would love this. Apparently Martha had a hand in it too.




White cardstock was good for a tryout, but then we remembered that at Les Surprises de Fifi Mandirac Fifi has given readers a gift of printable patterns just right for little buttons.




Adorable, oui?

Invasive Species Alert

Along with the fun of planning this year's garden comes the responsibility of being ready to deal with invasive species that may harm our own gardens and, if unchecked, the balance of the universe itself.

Please take time to view this message from the the Utah State University Extension on this serious threat to our yards and gardens.



If this is our tax dollars at work... we're all for it.

Johnny on the Spot

The first seed catalog has arrived and it is Johnny's Selected Seeds from Winslow, Maine. This fine company has an attractive catalog full of thoughtfully chosen plant varieties and gardening equipment, really good growing information and tips, and reliable service.



We know many real gardeners may have already received loads of catalogs in their mailboxes, but we are happy with just a few to get the garden fever started. As you know we leave seed-starting to the Garden Guru and a few other trusted professionals. Seeds are so little, and they stick to our fingers, and we can't see them without glasses, and they tend to mold or dry up in our care, and we're never sure of how to thin them, and...it's just not our deal.

Our deal is hinting, begging, whining, flattering, pointing out our tendency to unintentionally euthanize helpless little sprouts and others' proficiency at being plant masters - all while serving refreshing beverages of the kind that put one in a good mood - and hoping someone once again takes pity on our sad self, starts some plants for us and doesn't leave them in our care until they are old enough to pretty much fend for themselves.


Pretty please?

Towering Over All

We don't know anything about this series of bird's eye-view photos except, if taken by Dad, as we assume they were, they seem to explain where we got the unusual "eye" for photography that some say we possess.
























We'll run these by dad he comes around and see if we can come up with "the rest of the story".*

Could this be the previously mentioned 1000 footer?

*Dad often came home for lunch and sat in the company car in the driveway eating his sandwich while listening to Paul Harvey. Of course Paul never told "the rest of the story" until after "a word from our sponsors".

Look - Up in the Air

You know those lights at the top of radio towers that are meant to keep aircraft from running into them? Well, just like our reading lamps, refrigerators, and porch lights the bulbs occasionally burn out and somebody has to replace them. That somebody in a large area of Northern Indiana, for quite a few years in the 1950's and 60's was our dear old dad. We often tagged along not because we were so very interested, but because we needed to "get out of our mother's hair" for awhile. Typically we would be told to get in the car and when we asked where we were going the answer was, "you'll see when we get there."




Here is what our aerialist pop had to say about these photos when he sent them to us some years back:

The enclosed pictures were made in the late '40s by a staff photographer at WSJV. The picture with the chap on the ground was made into a slide used when the TV station signed on the mornings. So you can tell your boys their grandfather was a TV star, for at least a while.




After pressing him for more information we got this:

You have to remember this was a posed photo. Also you can't ascend or descend with a strap in place. Years later OSHA did come along with a ruling requiring a cable on the leg you climbed. You had to wear another belt with a clamp on it so if you lost your footing you were held in place. (We never used the darn things though!) I did have to fill in as platter spinner. I think they were called control board operators at that time. They did have control of things at that time like taking care of the audio and microphones in the studio for the announcers and any live studio programs there might be. Sundays there were usually a lot of churches that used the station, both in the studio and others that were piped in via telephone line. Your Aunt Violet was one of the control board operators. So now you know how I met your mother...

As for the tower, that particular one was 465 feet. There was an FM antenna on top of it. From time to time I made minor repairs on lights, antenna, etc. The highest I have ever climbed was about 1000 feet, to replace a light. Hope that answers all your questions.

Love, Dad

Well,thanks for trying Dad, but we have many other questions starting with - Did Mom know that was what you were doing while you watched us? Was she that desperate for some peace and quiet? Did you carry enough life insurance to pay for the years of therapy we would need after seeing you plunge from the sky and land at our feet had you slipped?

By the way, we had at least one tower in our own backyard at all times for the ham radio operation. We were one of those "interesting" families in the neighborhood.

Disaster is His Middle Name

Photos of our family's milestone events, routine annual celebrations, and day-to-day life are very rare, but our albums are overflowing with scenes of mayhem and disaster. Our dad was an amateur radio operator (ham), which leads us to believe that that is why he seemed to, before almost anyone else, get wind of any catastrophic thing that happened in the tri-state area and rush to the scene, camera swinging around his neck. People laugh when we tell them this, but here is the evidence.

A Christmastime fire made for some great photography.

Our reporter was there for this possible copycat crime.

A typical Indiana ice storm may have led to...

this series of photogenic overturned trucks carrying...




milk cans,




piggy banks(?),




broccoli,




and to an airplane crash caused by the pilot gawking at the big-rig carnage below.




All in a day's work ma'am.

Jolly Thanks

Certainly we have all already properly thanked our friends and loved ones for Christmas gifts received, so this message is a bit late or perhaps, very early. Jolly Allsorts has cute Christmassy, elf thank you cards for downloading and printing here.



Maybe next year we will not be so tardy in expressing our great gratitude for all the thoughtful gestures extended toward us during the holiday season if we print a few now and tuck them in with the ornaments, wreaths and other glittery Christmas miscellanea before it all goes back to the attic. We may also print off more of these matching elf tags so we will be ready to wrap in 2011. It is, after all, better to give than to receive. That's what they say anyway.

There's Gnome Place Like Home, There's Gnome Place Like at Home...

As the season draws to a close...

And we enjoy the last few of the 12 days of Christmas...

We return to familiar routines...

And try to remember where we left off before all the hullabaloo began...

We reacquaint with those who will share our cabin fever...

We dream of daring change in the year ahead...

Then we snap out of it, remember we really are still in Kansas, and shift our thinking back to a reality we might actually achieve.

More salad in 2012 and a brain for you too Scarecrow!


Photos by: Photofunia and NDL

Awkward Us

A hit Christmas gift at our house was a copy of the book based on the website Awkward Family Photos.

Everyone who took a few minutes to look at it went through a range of emotions from shock, disbelief, amusement, horror, sympathy, and then straight to self awareness. Yes, in the end we realize we have all been there.




If you only have a little time for browsing, or a low tolerance for pain, cut right to the AFP Hall of Fame.

We Can Do It!

Geraldine Doyle was her name. Her photo was taken at the factory where she briefly worked during the war, but she did not learn until many years had passed that her image was featured in this bold graphic with its empowering message.




Here is the story of the woman in the polka dot bandana.

1/1/11

Or as they say in France...




Extremely charming images from The Graphics Fairy.