Oh give me a home...

....where the buffalo roam. Or maybe not.  There have been quite a few buffalo (buffaloes??) roaming around northern Indiana for the last few days.  Evidently they are almost all home now.  Perhaps they discovered that roaming free isn't so much fun if you're not getting fed regularly.  I am a little confused about one detail.  A few days ago it was reported that 50 bisons had escaped.  Today the reporter said that 52 had returned home and a few were still roaming free.  Where did they pick up the extras?  There can't be that many wild buffaloes roaming around norhtern Indiana.  At least I don't think so.  I think I have figured out though why they were being called 'bisons' instead of 'buffalo'. Bison is easier to spell (no pesky worry about if there is an e on the end) and the plural is bisons, very straightforward.  As far as I can tell buffalo is either singular or plural - see the song lyrics above - but buffaloes is also a correct spelling and plural use. At least we're not in Florida where a six-foot lizard is roaming around one neighborhood.  Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam and I'll show you a messy house.

I like to watch the show "Shark Tank" but I always come away feeling like I should be more inventive.  It's all part of the 'Why didn't I think of that?' syndrome.  It's not that I can't create anything.  I can weave creative pieces (but there doesn't seem to be a huge market for scarves and placemats) and last weekend I designed a really impressive newspaper hat while helping with a booth at the "Taste of the Arts" festival. Admittedly, I looked silly wearing it but it was for a good cause.  Sadly though, nothing I 'invent' is anything anyone wants to buy, especially for big bucks.  Of course, the other aspect of this situation is that I'm retired and I really don't want to work that hard.  Ah well, I guess I'll add the 'if I invent something fabulous' dream to the 'if I win the lottery' and if I win the 'Publisher's Clearing House prize' dreams.  Happily, dreams are free.

owning a Pope-mobile

Do I really want to own this car once owned by a famous person?  The car, a blue 1976 Ford Escort, was once owned by Pope John Paul II.  I owned a Ford Escort at one time and it was a very satisfactory car.  However, I did not pay $300,000.00 for it. That's the estimate of what the Pope John Paul car will sell for at the ACD auction this weekend.  Currently I own a Fiat 500L which, coincidentally, is the same kind of car Pope Francis rode around in when he was in the US last year.  I think that's as close as I'm going to come to owning a Pope-mobile. Maybe someday, when I'm fabulously famous, someone will want to pay big bucks to own my little Fiat?? I'm pretty sure that falls into the "don't hold your breath" catagory.

the great banana caper

Today is "Banana Lovers Day" and that reminds me of a situation I walked into some years ago.  It was at a period in our lives when my daughter had moved back home with her two kids and two cats after a sad divorce.  My recently retired husband was being 'Daddy Daycare' during this time while my daughter and I each went off to work. This was a new experience for him.  I had been the stay-at-home mom when our own children were young. He was a good and dutiful caregiver for the two grandchildren, ages 2 and 3 at that time, but he hadn't yet discovered that when young children are in another room and being very quiet, that's not a good thing.  I came home from work that afternoon and started to fix supper.  I reached for a bunch of bananas which I had bought the day before, to make some fruit salad.  But, the bananas weren't there.  I turned to my grandson (the 3-year-old ring leader) who had just come into the kitchen and asked him if he knew where the bananas were?  He lead me into his sister's bedroom and there, on the floor behind the bed, I found nine banana peels.  They had eaten the whole bunch.  Interestingly, they were never too fond of bananas after that. 

bytes and more bytes

I ran across this fun fact earlier today.  In a 1981 press release, announcing their personal computer, IBM offered 64,000 bytes (64 kilobytes) of memory available in the "typical system for home and school."  The system was for sale for a mere $3,005.00.  I'm happy to know that the price of PCs has gone down.  In a 'Target' ad that came in this morning's paper I found a laptop computer available for $299.99.  It has 1 TB of storage.  If my quick math is accurate, you can check me on this, 1 TB is equal to 1,073,741,824 kilobytes.  Isn't that amazing?  My little tablet used 267 MBs last week while my phone used 12.37 MBs in the same week.  I Googled this and one MB equals 1024 KBs. When my husband taught Statistics at St. Francis in the early 70's the computer his class used took up most of a room.  Does anyone but me remember punch cards used in programing?  I came across a box of those in my basement when I downsized three years ago.  I also dealt with 8 PCs that had somehow made their way to his "man cave" over the years.  Then there were the three 'antique' laptops.  Now that I think about it, the laptop I'm typing this blog on is getting rather elderly in computer years. But I'm not ready to start my own collection so I think I'll keep it for a while longer.

creativity lives

It was a dark and gloomy morning.  Happily, most of the storm clouds had moved on by noon and we were able to host our booth at "Festival of the Arts." All of the booths around the fountain plaza in Frieman Square offered information about various organizations in Fort Wayne and each offered a craft project for the children.  We handed out lots of brochures promoting the arts at First Pres but the fun of the day was watching the children (many, many children) create newspaper crowns.  This project, invented by the grandson of one of our voluteers, used only newspaper and scotch tape to create amazing wearable creations. Every one was unique and it was fascinating watching the kids get involved in building their crowns (or helmets, or hats, or sometimes swords). It was also interesting to watch the parents and grandparents.  Some had the "let the kids do it" mentatlity while others wanted to offer suggestions and get their fingers on the tape and paper.  Either way worked well.  I really loved watching the kids work (shades of my years as an art teacher). I'm not sure what the fascination with Scotchtape is, but every child I've ever known has loved to use that tape.  I used to put rolls of tape in my grandkids' Christmas stockings. Always a hit when they were little.

welcome to the family

My brother and I just returned from a road trip to visit his grandson in Gulfport, (Mississippi not Louisiana) and to meet his fiance.  We had a very enjoyable visit and I am happy to report that my great-nephew's fiance will be an excellent addition to our family.  It's good that she's a career woman (she's an aquarist - she works with stingrays and other fishy types).  It's also good that she's tall; it's a trait that runs in our family.  And it's very good that she likes animals. At this count they have five rescue pets - two bunnies, two cats and one dog. She has a great laugh and a good sense of humor.  It helps to have a sense of humor if you're going to be involved with our family for any length of time.  But most important of all, she likes to play games.  While we were there we played an exciting game of Mexican Train (one of my brother's and my favorites). The game stretched over two evenings and was good for lots of laughs. I knew when she just happened to have a box of dominoes that she was our kind of woman.  The wedding is scheduled for March 16 which will call for another trip to Mississippi, but I guess it would be a bit much to expect them to postpone their honeymoon for a rematch.