The Woman With One Gray Tennis Shoe

Have you ever counted the number of shoes in your possession? As I gingerly sip on some adult libation, I did this very thing tonight. I have shoes for dress, gardening, dress boots, riding boots, mules, sandals, flip flops, sneakers and everything in between. Footwear for every occasion. Know what I wear 99% of the time? You guessed it, the sneakers! I have all these nice dress shoes and all I wear are tennis shoes.

My contribution to high fashion.
My husband frequently teases about all the shoes in our closet. He laughingly calls me the Imelda Marcos of Patterson.

"I need a little more room in the closet again honey!"
Ok, I don’t have THAT many … yet ... there are only 31 pairs that I confess to. Pretty good for a gal who went barefoot most of the time growing up in central Florida.

“But I have an excellent reason for all this footwear“, I retort to my husband with a whine. “I have to match my outfits.“ Outfits?! What outfits!?! I no longer work outside the home. When I put in my time with High Finance I had very nice clothes with matching accessories including purses and hosiery. It was expected. But now I don’t have ’outfits’ unless you count my usual fair of blue jeans, a print t-shirt, and the afore mentioned sneakers with white socks as an ‘outfit‘.

Shoes have been around for thousands of years, you know. Our ancestors first began wearing shoes around 40,000 to 42,000 years ago, about the same time they developed more sophisticated toolkits and began creating elaborate art. I’m told that anthropologists and archeologists can tell all this because the toes of East Asia’s oldest modern human skeletons show that they wore shoes.

"Do you feel a draft too?"
Doesn’t that sound like an unusual job … studying toe bones!?

Ladies, can’t you see yourself at a party with nice people all impeccably dressed, sipping adult beverages (like the one I’m nursing now), and speaking in hushed tones with classical music playing softly in the background. Up saunters a handsome man and he says “Hello” smiling with his straight, white teeth.

What was I saying?
My ‘brian’ slipped away for a moment (that’s for you JBA). Tee hee
“Well,” you smile back sweetly to him and say, “and what is your occupation sir?”

“I study toe bones.”

Blank stare as you think, “Riiiight. Unusual pickup line bud. Move along now before I call the cops on ya … pervert!”

So back to the shoes … how can they tell all that about how long we’ve been wearing shoes from our ancestors toes? Seems that robust leg bones and thick toes denotes being shoeless. It’s because when one walks barefoot, the middle toes curl into the ground to give traction during push off. Gracile (slimmer) toe bones means the individual wore shoes. When wearing a shoe, a person pushes off with the big toe, placing less stress on the middle toes, resulting in less-developed toe bones. This gracility develops during childhood.

… caught ya lookin’ …
Well, that adult beverage has kicked in … but that’s my defense for having so many shoes. It’s my 40,000 year old ancestor's fault!


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Southeast Georgia Snow

Our Front Yard In The Morning Light
Can you see the heavy frost? This is usually as close as we get to snow in Southeast Georgia. It's suppose to get down to 23 degrees tonight, 16 degrees tomorrow (Friday) night! I think we'll stay inside and drink lots of hot tea.


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Gun Free Zone

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On The Lighter Side

On the lighter side, my husband finished remodeling our dog washing area! YAY!

For those of you new to my blog, we have three dogs: two miniature schnauzers (Maxie & Sam Jr.) and one boxer (Lucy). The two schnauzers are small enough to pick up and bathe. Unfortunately due to a persistent neck pain from a ruptured disk, it's become impossible for me to stoop over long enough to care for them and they must be groomed sometimes twice a week (there's nothing worse than schnauzer smell!). The boxer still can be bathed comfortably on the ground but she only needs bathing once a month or so. I know I've said this before but Boxers are super! Not only do they have angelic personalities, they're low maintenance.

Anyway, below is a pic of what my Sweetie and his injured shoulders has done for lil 'ol me:

Our new dog washing area
This spot in our home used to be the laundry area and it's also the entrance from the carport. I grew so weary of having guests walk into our home through the laundry room! So, when Sweetie tired of hand loading, he sold said equipment and it freed up an entire room which is secluded away and to the end of our home. I repainted said room. Then a dear friend moved the washer and dryer there and re-plumbed. It looks really professional now. And my laundry days are nice and quiet too having them out away from the living room. No more weaving guests past our dirty laundry into the living room. Sweeeet.

Next project: the gate electric fence opener and field fence are going to be redone down by the front entrance. This is a dream I've had for quite some time now to have our entrance look friendly and clean. I'm having black 4 rail wood fencing (like the ones on horse farms) and a walk-thru gate down by the road installed. The existing electric gate will be redone also to match. It will be painted black to match the 4 rail, the lighting rewired for the lights on the posts, etc. I'm hiring a local well known fencing company for most of this project. Even though it costs a little more, sometimes it pays to hire a professional.

Our old existing mailbox has become rotten, so, it will be dismantled and Sweetie will build a new one with flower planters on each side. It's quite involved.

Part of what the area looks like now

So stay tuned Sports Fans.
I think all the 'fun' starts next week ...

I think the 'lighter side' of this is our wallets are lighter. :o)
Just doing our part to keep the economy going!


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And Now You Know

As the 13th generation since the pilgrims takes control of the mightiest country alive today, America the Super Power is quietly fading away. Japan has also quietly been making itself a financial lean, mean, fighting machine. They have not experienced any of the serious Wall Street shakeups that American companies have. While our nation woos and courts the known failure of communism and the upcoming administration of unproven leadership, Japan is traveling in another direction and is experiencing strong economic turnarounds. They do not have the personal freedoms that we have in most of our States but apparently they are financially very stable.

Kenichi Watanabe
One case of their financial stability is that of Chief Executive Kenichi Watanabe, head of Japan’s biggest brokerage Nomura Holdings. He has bought the ailing Lehman Brothers for a reported $200 million. Also, happily, 8,000 of the former Lehman workers are being integrated into the Nomura workforce. An article I read in my last issue of Forbes magazine (January 12th, pages 94 & 96, “Is Wall Street Going To Teach Nomura A Lesson?”) said Mr. Watanabe is giving himself three years to stabilize things.

Stockholders, of course, want a quicker return. My fingers are crossed that it can happen at a much faster pace.

There’s also the case of Eizo Kobayashi, President and CEO of ITOCHU Corporation (page S-16 “On The Record“). ITOCHU Corporation is celebrating its 150th anniversary. They are Japan’s sogo shosha (general trading company), diverse conglomerates of business around the globe. I agree with what Mr. Kobayashi is quoted as saying in the article, “[Our] job is to develop the very best people - regardless of age, gender, race or nationality.” American companies could learn a lot from this gentleman. It’s the work that needs to be done and your work ethic that matters, not anything else. That’s the way it should be.

Part of the problem with trying to run a successful business in modern America is there is way too much government interference. If the government would just get out of the way, our economy would be more stable. The US government (both parties) by definition is anti-business, especially concerning small business. But that's another post.

And there are other financially healthy Japanese corporations profiled in this weeks magazine.

Well, if anyone can survive the next economically volatile years, it will be the Japanese. As one who watches the Stock Market daily, I find this as very encouraging news.

Maybe we should all be learning to speak Japanese?

Knowledge is power and now you know.


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Funny Friday - Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin And Hobbes

One of my favorite newspaper cartoons that I read almost daily is Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. It's been in syndication since 1985.

The strip follows the richly imaginative adventures of a little boy named Calvin and his trusty tiger, Hobbes. The tiger is actually a stuffed toy belonging to Calvin. Whether a poignant look at serious family issues or a round of time-travel (with the aid of a well-labeled cardboard box) the two have many adventures together. I know it always brightens my day to remember how much fun it was to be a kid. C&H is a real delight to read.


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It Has Been One Of Those Days

Do you ever have one of those days when nothing seems to get done? When you feel like your wheels are hanging up in the air and you can't move? I'm having one of those days. I'm usually a very productive person. True, we finally had a deep tub type sink from Lowe's installed in our old laundry room but I had to pay someone to install it. This is so frustrating. We both know how to plumb, do electricals, work with wood, install phone lines, performed shade tree mechanics, etc. but because of our collective physical limitations, we must rely on others to achieve such results. [sigh] Aw well, no point in looking back. I still feel very blessed and am oh so thankful for everything.

But like I said, I wasn't getting anything done today. I've worn quite a fanny groove in my recliner nursing this &*(^% ailing neck.

Then my usually very unfunny father-in-law sent us a good e-mail.

It went thusly:

ENLIGHTENED!

I became confused when I heard these terms with reference to the word 'service'.
Internal Revenue 'Service'
U.S. Postal 'Service'
Telephone 'Service'
Cable 'Service'
Civil 'Service'
Customer 'Service'
State, City & County Public 'Service'

This is not what I thought 'service' meant. But today, I overheard two farmers talking, and one of them said he had hired a bull to 'service' a few cows. BAM!!! It all came into focus. Now I understand what all those 'service' agencies are doing to us.


Now I get it!! And I hope you are as enlightened as I am! [lol]



Now that THAT is cleared up ... you'll never think of 'service' in the same manner.

Well, maybe tomorrow will be more productive.

Perhaps the surgeon will call me about my upcoming neck surgery. Then I can go see him and make final arrangements for pain relief.

And I'm scheduled to meet with a fence guy. We're having some of the field fence that encircles our 7 acres redone, at least down by the dirt road. A post about that to follow. The new fence is gonna be so cool!

And now that you're totally bored with my doin's I'll let you go. Hey, a country girl has to have something to look forward too other than watching the caulk dry around my new sink. [grin]

'Bye now!


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