Cloud Appreciation Day

A most delightful book arrived with today's mail.

It's like a story book about... clouds.

The author is the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.

Haven't heard of them, eh? Well, check it out at
www.CloudAppreciationSociety.org
- before you get left in the dust. Or, fog.

I've read about a third already, and skimmed most of the rest. It's a lot of fun. The author gives the expected factual information about cloud types, cloud formation, cloud history, cloud names, cloud relationships, cloud shapes, ... you get the idea. But, along with all the interesting facts, he intersperses whimsical cloud culture, poetry and anecdotes. The Air Force pilot who flamed out and ejected over the middle of a thunderstorm - and survived. Or the Aborigine lady who performed the Glory Cloud Dance so some fanatic glider pilots could enjoy soaring along this most rare type of cloud. It's fun to read.

The Manifesto of the Cloud Appreciaton Society

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned
and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her displays, since
everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the
atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of
a person’s countenance.

Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.
They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save
on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who’ll listen:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

Exactly what I needed!! Thanks, Jessica & Mark!

Hold the Wire!

Another thing we did along with mud tacks was 'hold the wire'. This was much more daring, since the main characters were in plain view.

Two of us would stand on opposite sides of the street. Just as a car approached, the two would pantomime tugging on an invisible rope between them, while the rest of us would chant "Hold the wire! Hold the wire!". If everything worked just right, the car would screech to a stop to avoid yanking the arms off two dumb kids and dragging them under the car.

Of course, everyone would run off into the dark, scoot around houses and fences and rendezvous in Uncle Bud's back yard to exchange the 50's version of 'high fives' (which hadn't been invented yet.)

Usually, though, the car would only slow down a little, until it was clear there was no "wire".

Now and then, the car would actually speed up as it approached!!

Mud Tacks

Every month or so my family would drive across town to visit my Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Bud Love and our three cousins Tommy, Larry and David. Tommy was about my older sister's age, and I was between Larry and David.

One of the things we would do for entertainment after dark was "make mud tacks". This was a highly exciting and (we thought) risky endeavor.

We started by going out in the back yard and loosening up some dirt in a little hole - Uncle Bud's back yard had lots of interesting things, but no grass. We'd add water, and mix up a batch of stiff mud. A lot of the artistry was in getting the mud to just the right consistency - kind of like modeling clay.

Next, we would scoop up the mud and proceed to the street in front of the house. Essex Street was an ordinary neighborhood street, with normal neighborhood traffic. There were no street lights near Uncle Bud's house. We would wait until there were no cars in sight, then dash out and place the mud tacks. These were little globs of mud stuck on the asphalt and then shaped up into a sort of point, hopefully resembling large tacks sitting point up in the street.

We would continue making tacks until headlights were spotted, at which point someone would shout "car!!" (sort of stating the obvious, I see now.) Everyone would madly dash for hiding places around the front of the house - hidden, but able to see the mine field of mud tacks. We would wait with anticipation to see what the driver would do.

If the car slowed down, we had succeeded! If the car drove right by without slowing, we had failed. But failing had no emotional impact - it was still exciting, and we attributed the lack of slowing to a dull driver who didn't notice our dangerous looking obstacles.

The penultimate victory was the very few times the driver actually stopped and got out to see what these things in the road were. Then we would all run wildly around to the back of the house to avoid the possible wrath of an adult driver - filled with giggling and self-congratulations at our triumph.

Hide n' Seek

When I was about 10 or 12 years old we often played Hide n' Seek in the evenings. Here's how it worked.

There would be a gathering of cousins, when our parents would get together, usually at Uncle Bud & Aunt Dorothy's house in south San Antonio, or at our house on the northwest side. Or it could be a group of neighborhood kids. A normal crowd would be 5 or 6 kids.

An "it" would be chosen, by counting one-potato, two-potato, or by argument. Also, Home Base was designated - usually a tree somewhere in the yard. Whoever was It would then hide their eyes and count to an agreed-on number (50 or 100 typically; if It was a fast counter, he would be required to count to a higher number). While It was counting, everyone else would run off and find a place to hide.

When It reached the appointed number, he/she would shout "One two three, here I come", and commence to Seek (search) for the Hiders. Upon spotting a Hider, It would shout "One two three on Jimmy" (or whatever the Hider's name was). At that point Jimmy (or whoever) was "out", and then became an ally of It, and became an additional Seeker. If a Hider could sneak up and touch Home Base without being called out, he/she was then Safe. At some point, It would decide enough was enough, and would shout "All-ee all-ee in free", at which point the remaining Hiders would reassemble at Home Base to begin another round. (I don't remember the basis for deciding the round was over.) The next It was then designated - I think by being the first to be found.

I learned that the best strategy for hiding was to find a shaded spot (for example, under a bush or the corner of a porch step) and to be very still. Our eyes are good at detecting movement, even in low light, but not so good at seeing shapes hidden in random backgrounds. Of course, this plan worked better after dark.

I was never very good at sneaking in to Home Base - I always seemed to get spotted as I made the final desperate dash to the tree.

Sometimes I hid so well that the game ended without my realizing it, and everyone would go home or start playing some other game. It was exciting to be hunkered down in a shadowy spot and have a Seeker walk by not more than 3 feet away without being detected.

But it was kind of disappointing to find I'd been overlooked in the final count.

Dumb phone system!!

Here in Texas (maybe elsewhere - I don't know) the phone system requires you to enter local numbers as 10 digits - area code + 7. But IntraLATA and Long Distance calls must be entered as 11 digits - 1 + area code + 7.

What chaps me is that if you get it wrong, you get a smirky female voice that says either "you must enter a 1 before dialing this number" OR "this number cannot be reached, please check your number and try again" (if you put a 1 in when you shouldn't.)

Point is: If they can tell that you entered it wrong, why the heck don't they just go ahead and put the 1 in or take it out, and connect your call???!!!

I don't like monopolies. Especially phone companies.

Clouds

Around noon today, this cloud pattern formed.



I thought it was rather striking, in the regular shape and spacing of the blobs (though not their sizes.) They were very high altitude clouds - altosomethingorother.

I like clouds. If I were an inanimate object, I think I'd like to be a cloud.

DVD-R deal

Whooee... Office Depot has their store-brand DVD-R/DVD+R's on sale for $10 for 50. That's 20 cents each!

I bought one of each.

Some days are really great.

Setting a fraud alert

I've just started looking into this. I think I will at least set a fraud alert, if not a credit freeze.

Only problem is, I will have to remember to renew it every 90 days. I barely can remember to renew my medications...

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/flag.html

Does England have credit bureaus like the 3 we have in the US?

We've finished decorating for Christmas

Naomi night

Thanksgiving