Oh.. I Will be Writing About Something Else...

Honest...




Soon....

Just When You Think They're Not Doing Anything...

This is a long period in the development of the 'elders', and I expected nothing to change after they stopped moving..

However....


If you look closely, they have fuzzy little cocoons...

Aren't they special?

shhh...They're sleeping....

Two more pictures of this very addictive Widget...

The first shows the little worm stage.. you saw a picture of them after they hatched.. they got bigger! They just 'worm walked' around the tiny enclosure for quite a while... not looking at anything, just moving quietly...

and them...

they just stopped!


They're in the cocoon stage now.. and sleeping for quite a while, but still wearing their hats...






I love the little hats....

and big eyes...

It Pays to Advertise...

I've been watching "John From Cincinnati" and finding it very intriguing...

If he needs a set of wheels, I think I've found it...

It's all sparkly !!

uh oh....

I'm in for it now..

I've discovered Widgets. Little apps that fit on my dashboard. At first I just chose those of a useful nature, but now I've gone bonkers.

I started with Flappie.. that's the little green thingy on the left. I've had him longer than 23 days, but he's only aged that much... I don't know why, but I do remember my trials with tamagotchi on one of my long trips. I kept that sucker alive forEVER, feeding it and walking it and whatever it needed until I finally threw it in the bottom of my purse in a campground in Oregon..

I can still hear the little cries..

So, although I've been really good to this flappie thing, maybe they were friends or something...

Then I got the Tiger.. he's really simple, but he purrs when you give him love, and I kind of need that now.

Then, while researching the stoopid Flappie, I ran across a blog by a very clever girl from the Netherlands. There I learned about the Chrysalis thing. That's the 'chamber' in the middle. it's an evolution 'game' and will give me 'elders' if I have the time and patience. It took me 2 days to get the six eggs. It's done by temperature control... cool water at the top and heat underneath. It's pretty precise, but interesting. The upper picture shows the eggs.. The lower picture was taken after they 'hatched'. It's hard to see the little worm like things because they aren't moving yet. I have to lower the temp a great deal for them to evolve..

So I'm being patient...

Not one of my strong suits...

OH yeah..

I also got a lava lamp! It's pretty and has no other purpose than that...





OMG! I almost forgot the Chi Pet! It's growing green hair!

No Business like Snow Business...

The pier is behind the snow mound... not bad for a phone picture!


I took Mom to lunch today at our favorite place. It's Scotty's, the one on the beach front in Hermosa Beach. Mom likes to watch the VERY diverse people pass by, and smiles at every passing dog (and baby). Everyone there is so sweet to her, and many of the regulars recognize and greet her... it can cheer up a bad day.

Today there was so much traffic it seemed a bit silly, even for this time of year. Then someone told me the reason. A local radio station had a SNOW mound put at the head of the pier, and people were sledding down in shorts and bikinis...

Only in the southwest...

So we went to see it. I'm not certain what Mom knew, but she didn't pinch me, so it must have been OK...

Observation...

I have breakfast in a little town next to mine.. it's called El Segundo, which means the second. It's not a great location, between the airport and the oil refinery.. and located east of the sewage treatment plant...

Ok.. that came out wrong. It's a sweet little town that reminds me of how Manhattan Beach was many years ago. It's quiet and pretty and quaint. Maybe it's the location that keeps it from becoming an overbuilt zoo like my town.

AnywayS, as I was leaving the other day I noticed a flurry of activity down the street and stopped to see. It was a TEENY tiny house and there were many people milling about doing good things. The town had come together to help a neighbor. They were scraping and painting and having a great time...

I took both pictures with my cell phone so they are not that clear, but you can see the difference a little bit of caring can make..

Ed, Edd, n Eddy...

Guess who?? Read on...

For the old folks, Ed, Edd, n Eddy is a cartoon show. The first time I saw the title, I had to laugh, cuz that's another story in my family...

My grandfather was Edwin Thomas Schenck

My Father was Edwin Thomas Schenck, Jr.

My brother is Edwin Thomas Schenck, III,

My nephew is Edwin Thomas Schenck, IV...

Now, for those of you who think this is a nifty tradition...

it ain't all it's cracked up to be

It goes like this...

(best you take notes)

My grandfather was called Ed, and sometimes Eddie by his friends. My grandmother called him Eddie when they were younger, and no one was confused at all.

Then...

My father was born.

As my father grew older, he became Eddie and my Grandfather became Ed (until we were born and started calling him Poggy, but that's an ENTIRELY different story). This was only slightly confusing because, of course, my Grandfather was still Eddie to his friends and occasionally things got.. well... mixed up.

My father was called Eddie by his friends; Ed by his business associates and my grandfather was still Ed and Eddie occasionally and things got... more complicated. They were in business together. At that time, asking for Senior or Junior could help untangle the situation... at that time.

Then my brother was born. As he grew up, HE was Eddie and my father was Ed and, thank goodness, my grandfather got a nickname, which helped us little ones not make some nasty mistakes...

But it wasn't that simple.

My grandfather was still called Ed and Eddie and my father was still called Ed and Eddie (Eddie a great deal, cuz he was an Eddie kind of guy) and my brother was called Eddie and things began to fall apart... slowly... surely.. inexorably.. For a long time the Eddies could be categorized by age. Then by height (i.e. .. young Eddie, old Eddie.. big Ed... ). My brother had the lack of grace to become taller than my father, but not as tall as my grandfather, which didn't help one damned bit.

Imagine the phone calls when my brother was a teenager... It's a wonder we didn't all go a bit bonkers...

oh wait...

I did, didn't I..

dang...

For a number of years it was difficult. I didn't answer the phone for a long time. My sister's head continued to enlarge, but no one noticed because of the confusion. None of us dated often. My mother's hair turned white, but just on the top, where all the distinguishing features of the Eds and Eddies were stored.

no..

really...

Add to this delight the fact that, after my grandfather left the business and things settled there, my brother came to work with my father and you get just a small idea of the chaos that was their life...

My grandfather died in 1963 , and for a while things calmed a bit. We still had confusion in casual conversations when talking about any ONE of them, much less the three...

Then my nephew was born, and it started ALL OVER AGAIN!

My nephew, bless his heart, named his son Calvin...

We were all extremely grateful...

Christo lite...

Enough whining...

Yesterday, after leaving Mom, I noticed some 'flags' on the 'right of way' in Hermosa Beach. The right of way used to be the railroad line that ran through these beach communities. When I moved here, there were still trains that ran infrequently, keeping their rights to the land.

After much hemming and hawing and years of negotiations, the land became the property of Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. This pleases me, as my house overlooks said right of way, and no homes will ever be built in front of me. Well, not RIGHT in front of me.

So.. to the flags... I noticed that they were not random, but ran along the trail all through Hermosa Beach... and then Manhattan Beach. Careful research gave me the information I so desperately needed..

It's an art project... a congregation, if you will, of school children from all the schools in the area. It's our own little Christo...

It runs for six miles through both cities, and is comprised of thousands of these little orange 'flags'.

I think it's wonderful...



Phone picture...

Hermosa Beach...

a picture... taken with my phone..

(shakes head in amazement)