First the Opry - Next Opryland Hotel!

Nashville, Tenn. - "Tune In" live on Tuesday, September 28th at 9/8c as The Opry returns home to the Grand Ole Opry House for the first time since the devastating floods hit Nashville, TN, nearly five months ago. This sold-out performance will be a night to remember, and the Grand Ole Opry will give a copy of the evening's commemorative program as a memento to 25 randomly selected fans who sign up here.

The Opry will be welcomed home by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels Band, Jimmy Dickens, Martina McBride, Del McCoury, Montgomery Gentry, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, and more. Listeners can "Tune In" for the historic return to the Opry House on Tuesday, September 28th at 9/8c by watching the concert special live on GAC: Great American Country or by tuning in to WSM-AM. No matter how you "Tune In," be sure to sign up here to enter to win a piece of Opry history. The randomly selected winners will receive their complimentary program from the broadcast via mail.

After opening it's doors in 1974, The Grand Ole Opry House has been the home of The Opry, the longest-running radio program in history. During the Opry House's restoration, past homes like The Ryman Auditorium and the TPAC War Memorial Auditorium have hosted the show.

The Opry House's integral wooden circle, taken from its Ryman stage in 1974, sat submerged on the Opry stage before the waters receded. This oak circle, painstakingly refurbished, came back home in August and will set the stage for the "Country Comes Home" event. The return to the Opry House comes just in time to celebrate the Grand Ole Opry's 85th birthday, and the celebration will continue throughout 2011.

Source: The Latest from Jimmy Carter in Nashville (no, not the former president)

Busy

I'm feeling good lately and am doing more. Friday I went to the Democratic Headquarters and entered data in the computer program. Now I know how they have so much information about me when they call from various Democratic organizations.

The DVR is getting a work-out with all the new and returning shows I am recording. Castle had an excellent episode for the first show of the season. I love that show. My other favorite is The Good Wife, and I'm looking forward to it this week. The Big Bang Theory is another show I don't miss.

House was a disappointment. I don't like this new relationship between House and Cuddy. It doesn't work for me at all. It did with Sela Ward but not with these two. Sometimes the writers go astray on this show. That whole season with David Morse is a good example. Hugh Laurie rises above the material.

I like The Whole Truth and find the premise satisfying. Rob Morrow and Maura Tierney play defense and prosecuting attorneys respectively and work well with each other. It shows both sides preparing for trial and then after the verdict at the very end lets us know what really happened.

Outlaw gives Jimmy Smits a different kind of character to play in some ways. I'll watch him in almost anything but couldn't hang in there with Cane. In this he plays a Supreme Court Justice who resigned to go back into private practice.

More to come ....

Global Warming & Population Control?

So much for hot sex. A recent study purports there are fewer births nine months after a heat wave. It found that an increase of about 21.600 Fahrenheit in summer temperatures reduces births the following spring by up to 6 percent. Researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research concluded that high temperatures could reduce people’s sense of well-being, which could result in a reduction in sexual interest. Another study found lower sperm counts and higher rates of miscarriage during hot weather.

New Post from Jackie

Somehow I missed this, but Jackie wrote about her trip to Ghana on our mutual blog HERE. Check it out. Very interesting and informative.

Look Familiar?

At least three people said something to me about my eye makeup in that photo. No, I did not put it on that way. The weather was incredibly hot this summer, remember? I was in Austin, Texas, where it was even hotter and had walked many blocks in that heat, got overheated, and had the picture taken when I got back to the hotel without looking in the mirror. Mistake. Yes, I know. Now let's all laugh about the funny Lolcat and how much our eyes look alike!!

Maddie the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

If Maddie were a cat, this is a dronk text I might get. There were more this last weekend. :-) But wait! Were those from Maddie or the Boy Toy?

Just Because I Like It

Gravity

No high jumper has ever been able to stay off the ground for more than one second.

From Bob

Unwired!

I did it! I'm wireless! It took a while, but I finally got the router installed. The website wouldn't let me register it. Who knows what went on with that. First the CD wouldn't play, so I used the instructions for manual installation. It was one thing after another, but success at last. Since I use Comcast for my internet, the router is free. It should be, shouldn't it?

Wow - Just Wow

O'Donnell: Condoms Are An "Anti-Human" "Insult" That Reduce People "To The Level Of A Dog"

40 minutes ago — Media Matters Action Network

Since her surprising victory in the Delaware GOP primary, Christine O'Donnell has been getting a lot of attention for her extreme views. But unlike other Tea Party candidates, such as Sharron Angle (R-NV) and Joe Miller (R-AK), O'Donnell's most jaw-dropping past statements have to do with sex. Over the course of her career as an abstinence-only activist, O'Donnell has denounced efforts to promote condoms and safe sex as "anti-human" and an "insult" that reduces teenagers "to the level of a dog that can't control its hormones." Here are a few of the lowlights (quotes via Nexis):

"And to me, it's a very anti-human way to go about this. And what I mean about anti-human is even if the population is increasing, so what? So what? People aren't bad. When did humans become a bad thing? Why is it that we have to, you know, stop people from getting pregnant?" [The O'Reilly Factor, 1/6/06]

"[C]ondoms will not protect you from AIDS. So to just throw a bunch of condoms over to Africa and say, here, we're helping you with AIDS, is just going to further the spread of AIDS over there." [Donahue, 4/27/02]

"We're doing a great disservice to our young people because the only protection is abstinence, as condoms have been proven fallible....The federal government should not be telling young people to use condoms....It's also an insult to teenagers, reducing them to the level of a dog that can't control its hormones." [Washington Times, 12/1/95]

Source

OMG, NO!!!

TP candidate Christine O'Donnell has won the nomination for the GOP Senate race in Delaware! If the Democrats can't win against her, then life as we know it is doomed.

Why didn't Beau Biden run? Who is the Dem candidate?

People are voting like madmen against incumbents or "establishment" candidates in Republican races and for the Teabaggers. This could work to our advantage, but it's hard to tell. Lots of work to do!

And Paladino as the Rep nominee for NY governor? WTF?

Not that I have much faith in voters. I know what's out there. See what happens when there is so much emphasis on standardized tests at the cost of teaching critical thinking skills? I won't get on that soapbox again right now, but this makes me crazy!

Who Knew?

Natural blonds have more hairs on their heads than redheads or any shade of brunette. A blond has about 120,000 strands of hair, while a redhead has about 30 percent fewer strands, about 80,000. Brunettes are somewhere in between the two.

Bleck

I haven't felt so good for the last several days. I need to, so I can enjoy this beautiful weather we're having. And I will. How are all of you?

Update on the car - AAA came out and jumped the battery. Then he removed those bulbs from the lights on the door. I will just leave it like it is without those interior lights since the car is 11 years old. I can do without them and don't need to spend the money on having a mechanic find that short. This was Sam's idea and a good one. Tugboat has now named my car Matilda, which is funny because I don't name my cars or call them anything but "it" instead of he or she. I call it a name when I refer to my car as a Mercury Mistake instead of Mystique, which they don't make any more. It's been good and hasn't cost me extra money, so it probably just wanted to show me that I was wrong. I can live with that.

Margaret and Helen Blog

For those of you who didn't see this and read the excerpt a few posts down, Margaret and Helen is a must-read! Check it out HERE! Read the excerpt and see what I mean by scrolling down a bit.

Upon Further Reflection, Dumbass

Tugboat told me on the phone last night about disconnecting the lights, but that didn't process. We got off onto the subject of my buying a new car which I would like to do but have to wait since I'm now in the prescription drug "donut hole" or gap, which means I have to pay full price for all my prescriptions for the rest of the year. At the beginning of next year it all starts over again. I have three that do not have generics and are very expensive. Even a couple I thought were not expensive are when paying full price. I don't know yet how much this will add up to but estimate that it could be over $300/month. So no car payment yet. The health care reform is supposed to eliminate the gap next year which will help so many of us. I'm more fortunate than some who have to choose between their medication or food when this happens. It was created by the Republicans, of course. But as usual I digress.


This morning that light bulb did at last go off above my head, and I remembered that I had the same problem with this car when it was new in 1999. Someone showed me where the fuses are, and I disconnected it until they replaced some switch that was faulty. Now I need to reconnect the battery cables (yuck on the dirty hands again), get the car jumped off, take out that fuse, and then drive around enough to make sure the battery is charged. Well, maybe get that checked. A battery place is close by. Then I can get whatever is wrong with it fixed. I'll drive my car for another year and then get a new one. I'm a slow learner.

Energy Loss

The electric department worked on the lines and replaced some wires, they said. I thought maybe that would help and that the electricity wouldn't go off as often, but I think it's doing it more often. Suicidal squirrels are the cause of many outages and weather does others.

The lights inside my car won't go off. I slammed all the doors and jiggled with the switch in the doors, but nothing made them go off. So I removed the cover of the dome light which wasn't easy and took out the bulb in there which I ruined since it was halogen. Since I'd messed up that one, I decided not to take out the bulbs from the lights at the bottom of the doors and have absolutely no idea how to disconnect those lights. I guess I could have looked it up. Oh well. I doubt that was in the manual.

The car gave me a false sense of security by starting every time I drove it, so I had the delusional idea that I was charging the battery and would have time to get someone to fix the problem. That would have worked if I hadn't forgotten about the whole thing today. When I went out to go somewhere, the thought flitted through my mind that I hoped the car would start. No. It didn't. The lights had made the battery run down. Unfortunately, the mechanic I usually go to, didn't check his answering machine and won't be back in there until Monday.

I unhooked the battery cables so it might not drain the last bit of power from the battery since it will sit there until Monday. You don't have to say it; I've already berated myself about this for quite a while now. I also got my hands really dirty just opening the hood of the car and then even dirtier when I had to touch the terminals.

I stay too tired most of the time, and it's affecting my mind. Yeah, that's it.

New Blog Discovery

Some of you might know about the blog Margaret and Helen, but I just learned about it. It's added to my blog list, and you can read it HERE. Check it out. This is her post about the Glenn Beck rally. See what I mean? Helen is 82 and says exactly what I think as well as many others of you.

100 Grand Bore

Margaret please tell Howard that 100,000 people will show up to a tractor pull if the entry fee is cheap enough. Big deal. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to ignore them and have some pie.

As I see it dear, if more than a hundred thousand dead civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan can be dismissed, so can slightly less than a hundred thousand peckerwoods at a Beck rally.

If the civil rights of millions of gay and lesbian Americans are not important, then neither are the pathetic rants of almost a hundred thousand Palin addicts.

If millions of children without healthcare are inconsequential then why should I give a rat’s ass about a hundred thousand shitheads who actually think Beck and Palin have something worthwhile to say?

As long as millions of American Muslims don’t have religious freedom, a hundred thousand Tea Party yahoos shouldn’t be allowed to have cable television. It only seems fair…

I just can’t believe 87,000 people are dumb enough to buy that crap. If Beck and Palin want a government so focused on one God and one religion, they should visit the Middle East and see how that concept is working out. It’s gotten to the point where you can’t distinguish Fox News from the Christian Broadcasting Network. It’s nauseating.

Palin and Beck don’t care about you, me or anyone except themselves. They are getting filthy rich pandering to angry white mobs so transparent in their racist feelings toward the President that a sheet of Saran Wrap would cast a darker shadow.

The greatest threat against America is not terrorism. It’s not a mosque in Manhattan. It’s not gay marriage. It’s not healthcare reform. And, believe it or not, it’s not even Beck or Palin. The greatest threat against America are the tens of millions of Americans who won’t turn out to vote this November effectively giving power to 87,000 angry assholes.

Sarah Palin is an idiot. Glenn Beck is a moron. And I am sick of Fox News. I mean it. Really.

Ooooo! Cats!

Tests conducted by the University of Michigan concluded that while a dog’s memory lasts no more than 5 minutes, a cat’s can last as long as 16 hours, exceeding even that of monkeys and orangutans. No wonder your cat is still mad at you for kicking her off the bed last night.

Weekend

Had a great weekend with Brendan. We had lots of fun and made it to school early yesterday morning. The principal of Warner Elementary is so good! I really like her. The principal sets the tone of the school, and that one is calm control. The kids seem relaxed, well-behaved, and loved there. I do know how much Brendan has improved since going to Warner and appreciate them so much.

Monday night we were both concerned about getting up and on the road for the trip to his school. Brendan asked if the alarm clock would be too loud and hurt his ears. I told him I'd set the clock radio so that talking would wake us up. I have it on NPR. That made him feel better.

You know how hard it is to sleep when you know you have to get up early and have a deadline. Well, that's how I was. I think I woke up every hour and then was wide awake at 4:00 AM. I got up at 5:00 and made sure everything was ready and then got him up about 5:20 to have breakfast and get dressed. Traffic cooperated, and we got to school before 7:30. They open the doors at 7:30 and expect students to be in their classrooms at 5:45 but not later than 5:50. We went to the cafeteria which has a corner with seats and books for early students and breakfast for those who want it. Unfortunately, they have typical school cafeteria food. I can get on a soapbox about this. Learning would be facilitated and childhood obesity lessened if they had healthier choices in schools.

I met his CBIP teacher since they need to know he's there. Then we went to his classroom where I met his teacher and talked to her a minute. She asked Brendan if he had a good weekend with his grandmother, and he had a big smile and hugged me while he said, "YES!" I hugged him good-bye and left him in good hands.

The area around his school has some pretty historic homes, so I drove around to look at some of them that have been restored. Then I dropped off his clothes at his house and went to Publix for some grocery shopping. They have some bread there that I really like, and we don't have a Publix in Dickson.

After getting no sleep, I was out of it quite a bit yesterday and groggy. I slept well last night though and am ready to get things done again! Hope all of you are well. Sounds as if some of you had lots of activity, fun, and rest during the weekend.

PS: Friends invited us over for dinner Monday evening. Brendan sat in the living room with Carl, who was watching football. Since he's an Auburn graduate and fan, he taught Brendan to cheer for the War Eagles. Take that, Mike in Bama! LOL

Music Biz Trivia

Record label after record label signed the Sex Pistols then paid them to leave the label. In four months’ time the recording industry paid the band #350,000 to go away.

Little Visitor & Labor Day

This is our last full day of Brendan's visit. We're having a good time. We've been singing "The Banana Boat Song" this morning and watching Sesame Street and Clifford.

I got texts from Maddie, Dan, and George during the weekend. Of course included in all that was some dronk texting from Maddie. Too funny! Also saw posts on FB along with some photos from Dan and George, too. Looks like they're having a grand old time! Then there are our other ways we all keep in touch with blog comments, FB, Twitter, email, online chat, and the phone. The phone? Gasp!! Who does that any more? LOL I hear from Charlie, David, Froggy, and Sam some of those ways!

Hope all of you are having a good day off! Really hope the economy improves enough for everyone to have jobs soon.

G & B Time

When Brendan was very young, somewhere over a year old I guess, I made up this song we'd sing when he came to visit sung to the tune of "Howdy Doody Time" which most of you are too young to have any memory of. OK, here it is. Keep in mind this was the early 50's when TV was in its youth. I watched Buffalo Bill, Clarabell the Clown (played by Bob Keeshan who later became Captain Kangaroo), Howdy Doody (a marionette), and various other puppets and marionettes including Flub-a-Dub, Dilly Dally, Mr. Bluster, Chief Thunderthud, Princess SummerfallWinterspring, and Inspector.



So the lyrics to our song are:
"It's Brendan and Grammy time!
It's Brendan and Grammy time!
We'll laugh and play and sing
And also eat some things!"

Today I picked him up from school LATE for the first time EVER!! The traffic was really heavy, and I couldn't get in the lane I needed to and drove all over the place until I finally homed my way to his school. I live about 40 miles west of Nashville, and his school is in East Nashville across the river. It takes at least an hour to get there, and although I gave myself enough time, it didn't work today. I was in a panic. He wasn't at all worried about it and came out the side door where I was supposed to pick him up with his teacher just happy as could be. I apologized and discovered that a fourth grade teacher knows him when she asked if I were Brendan's grandmother. She smiled and said, "Oh yes, I know Brendan." I said that he managed to be known. She laughed and said, "Yes, he does!"

When he got in the car we had this conversation:

Brendan: I want to live with you.
Me: Why do you want to live with me?
B: Because I love it!
Me: I'm so glad! I love you, too!
B: I'll live with you forever.
Me: Will Mommy and Daddy cry if you don't live with them at home?
B: Mommy will cry. Daddy will sleep.

This was taken at my Mother's house in the spring. See the dogwood blossoms?

He played outside (beautiful weather today), ate dinner, had his bath, sat with me for us to read, got to bed at 8:30, sang several songs to me, and fell asleep around 9:00. Yes! We have plans for tomorrow that should be fun.

FYI Trivia

The gooseflesh you get when you’re cold is the body’s attempt to erect the coat of hair our ancestors lost 100,000 years ago. When an animal’s fur stands on end, the expanded air layer between the skin and the fur surface insulates the body.

From The Onion

In The Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students Who Don't Give A Shit?

www.theonion.com

This is hilarious!

Checking In

So far, so good! I'm running behind with some of the things I need to do but am working on them today. I'm also getting more and more behind reading your blogs but will catch up when I can which will probably be next week. Hope everyone is doing fine and that Earl doesn't mess up any plans, David and others on the east coast!! How are all of you doing? I miss you!