a day for cats

 For all you cat lovers out there, today is National Hairball Awareness Day.  It's also Arbor Day but, you know, cats are more interesting that trees.  Ok, I know I might get some arguments on that.  Trees are lovely and good for the environment and home for birds but, let's face it, they can't curl up on your lap and purr.  On the other hand, the trees don't hack up hair balls.  Actually Hair Ball Awareness Day has come along at just the right time.  A friend of mine. also a widow, living alone has been thinking about getting a cat and that got me thinking about cats also.  I like cats.  Over the last many years I have lived with five cats, Athena, Olympia, Claire, Frances and Buckeye (not all at the same time).  All females and all wonderful.  But every one of them, at one time or another, hacked up a hair ball.  Being reminded of that has reinforced my conviction that I really don't need any more cats.  Maybe that's why this day is celebrated.  It's a deterrent to over zealous cat ownership.

bad timing

Today I went to the doctor about the pain I've been having in my right knee for the last ten days.  I would have gone sooner but this was the first appointment I could get.  The doctor looked at my knee, bent it, rotated it, generally flexed it every way it would go and said "It's probably arthritis."  Gasp! Arthritis?  Isn't that what old people get?  He looked at me like it was pretty obvious that I qualify, but then he kindly said "But sometimes it's hereditary. Did anyone in your family have arthritis?"  Well, let's see, there was my dad and both of his sisters, but they were all old.  Oh, I think I see a pattern here.  He did order an x-ray for me, just to be sure.  I get that next week.  Also he gave me a shot of cortisone and put a band aid on my knee. I commented that I hadn't had a band aid on my knee for a long, long time.  He chuckled but refused to kiss my booboo.  He said the shot might take two to three days to kick in but it turns out that walking is good for arthritis.  Evidently "motion is the best lotion" for joints.  Then he said the nicest thing.  "Some people need to loose weight to help ease their arthritis but that's not your problem."  What a happy note on which to end the appointment.  After the appointment, when I checked my texts, I saw a note from my west coast brother telling me that today is International Dance Day and also World Jump Day.  Wow, if it wasn't for this knee.  Maybe next year.

Ha, ha, ha!

 Today is Clean Joke Day.  My west coast brother sent me this joke, What do you get when you pour root beer into a square cup?  I like clean jokes.  Here's one of my all time favorites.  It involves water so it must be clean, right?  An old man, a faithful Christian, was told on the news that a big flood was coming.  Rain came, more rain came, a dam broke and the water was rising fast.  The old man stood on his front porch as the water rose.  Suddenly, an old pick-up truck drove up and his neighbor said "Hurry up, get in the truck.  We can still make it to safety."  The old man replied, "You go on, the Lord will take care of me."  Time passed and the water was up on his porch, oozing under the front door.  The old man heard a loud noise and looked out to see a man in a boat.  The man hollered "Hurry up, get in the boat. I'll get you out of here."  The old man still stuck to his belief that God would rescue him and refused the ride.  More time passed, the old house was filling up fast and creaking and groaning.  As the water rose the old man made his way higher and higher.  Finally, he was sitting on the highest point of the roof, clinging to the chimney, while the water lapped around his feet.  As he sat there a helicopter flew over, slowed down, hovered in place, dropped a rope ladder. and through a loud hailer, a voice said "Grab on and we'll take you to safety."  "No thanks, the Lord will save me."  was his faithful reply.  Soon after this encounter, the old house floated off it's foundation, tumbled along in the current and the old man was drowned.  Suddenly he found himself facing the Lord.  "God" he said, "I've trusted in you all my life.  Why didn't you save me from the flood?"  To which God replied "My son, I sent you a truck, a boat and a helicopter.  What more did you want?"

the old fashioned way

 I had to make a quick trip to Office Depot today because I needed printer ink.  My printer had been warning me for a few days that it was low on black ink but, you know, I figured I could always print out one more page, sort of like one more squeeze in the tooth paste tube.  Today, though it just refused to go any further.  So, as I said, I was off to Office Depot where they still carry the kind of ink my rather elderly printer demands.  While I was there I decided to look for some 'white out.'  I wasn't even sure if such a thing even existed any more, but I had a couple of spots on a page that I wanted to cover so I could run some clean copies.  Anyway, I was delighted to see that they do indeed still make 'white out' in several forms even, liquid and tape (which I prefer) and in several brands.  Evidently I'm not the only person old school enough to want to quickly fix an error without the aid of a computer.  Yes, I do know enough not to paint it on the computer screen.  When I got home and was unwrapping the 'white out' I read that the little roll in the dispenser is 39 feet long.  That should last me for a while.

too much static

 Today is National Static Cling Day.  Why, you may ask, would anyone celebrate static cling? Why indeed, unless you are the inventor of dryer sheets.  Now there's a nifty little money maker.  Why, you may ask, would anyone bother to blog about static cling?  Why indeed, unless you are desperate for something to blog about.  I haven't used dryer sheets for years so I'm certainly not celebrating their invention.  Today was laundry day for me and, as usual, I dried my clothes without the aid of dryer sheets, and guess what?  There was a little static, not enough to be bothered about, but a little, so I guess you could say I celebrated the day.  

another new old trick

 As some of you will remember, a few weeks ago I gave up my land line.  I am happy to report that I haven't missed it at all.  The only real reason that I had hesitated for so long to make the change was because I couldn't seem to find the right way to hold my cell phone.  I don't mean I was holding it upside down.  I do know better than that.  But because of the shape of my phone (a flat rectangular slab) I found that if I held it so I could hear clearly often people on the other end would complain that they couldn't hear me.  I have been getting better recently at holding my phone at just the right angle so the person I am talking to can hear me.  However I do still sometimes hear that complaint. The other day though, a wonderful thing happened.  You know those cartoons where the little character has a good idea and a light bulb shows up over his head?  I was talking on the phone with a friend and she said "Just a minute, I'm going to put you on speaker phone."  And just like that I felt the light bulb flash over my head.  If I could figure out how to put my phone on speaker I wouldn't need to worry about how I hold it at all.  I hoped it wouldn't be too complicated.  As soon as we finished our conversation, I checked the screen and Eureka! there is a little symbol labeled 'speaker.'  I have used this wonderful option for every phone conversation since and it works like a charm.  Old dog, new trick. Woof!

another special day?

 Today is National Pigs in a Blanket Day.  It is, also, evidently Eeyore's birthday, but considering Eeyore's personality, that doesn't seem like much to celebrate.  I suspect he thinks of his birthdays pretty much like I do these days - well, there goes another one.  Last year when I turned 75 I kept thinking "three quarters of a century" and that was kind of depressing.  This year at 76 the music to "76 Trombones" keeps running through my mind - definitely more cheerful that last year.  But back to Pigs in a Blanket.  I used to make them for my children because, let's face it, they are easy to make and tasty.  Unless you insist on whipping up your own biscuit dough which would just be silly.  I prefer them made with little breakfast sausage links but hot dogs work too.  Although with hot dogs you might wonder how much pig is actually in that blanket. Happy eating everyone.