Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.
The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.
The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He next announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.
Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would buy on his behalf.
In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has already collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.'
The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys.
They never saw the man or his assistant again, only lots and lots of monkeys!
Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Mini Vacation
Thursday morning we were on the 9 am ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo, on the first leg of our journey to Albany Oregon. On Friday morning MrC and I were entered in a "supposedly" Steel Challenge match at a range in Albany. Suffice to say "it only takes one bad apple in the barrel, to spoil it for all the others, which is what happened to MrC. and of course I was angry at the person causing all the distress. Even though I shot rather well for my "first steel challenge??" match, the shine was taken off by the distress I was feeling by the way my honey was being unfairly treated, his day was totally ruined.
However, on Thursday evening, after we had parked our RV at the range, MrC was wandering around checking out the facility, when he came across some club members setting up for a bowling pin match that evening. We had a wonderful evening shooting with these fun folks.
Friday, after the steel match, we secured everything in the RV, and drove west to the coast and Lincoln City. I am always so excited to visit the ocean. Yes, we do live on an island, but it is in Puget sound so we do not get the rolling surf of the ocean.
I grew up in New Zealand and spent much of my childhood at Foxton beach, where my folks had a batch (beach house). In fact we lived in the batch when our new home was being built in Palmerston North, just about a half hours drive away. Then when I married, and had a family of my own, we used to take the children to the beach so they could enjoy playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. So you can understand when I say, that I almost have "withdrawl" if I don't get to walk on the sand and listen to the roar of the surf once in a while.
As soon as MrC found somewhere he could pull the RV off the road, and came to a stop, I had my camera in hand and scrambled down the bank onto the sand. I stood there drinking in the sights and sounds while breathing in the fresh salty air. There are no words to explain, all I was feeling.
In the opposite direction from the photo above, you could just make out the silhouette of the lighthouse through the salty mist.
After a short drive along the coast we arrived at Devil's Lake State park and pulled into site C9 for two nights stay. The first night, Friday, we were too tired to bother lighting the fire, but on Saturday night, after we had spent most of the day exploring the area, including an outlet mall, we lit the fire and had a delicious dinner cooked over hot coals. We do love to cook over an open fire.
This morning, I made a thermos of nice Strong coffee, some hot ham and egg sandwiches (much better than McD's) finished packing the RV and left the campground to enjoy our breakfast in a parking lot overlooking the beach. The river you see in the foreground, flowing into the ocean, is the smallest river in the world The "D" River is just 120 feet long.
After breakfast we drove north along the coast highway, drinking in all the sights. I should say, I was looking at all the sights, as my honey was keeping his eyes mostly on the road (one of the drawbacks on being the driver is, you miss so much of the scenery) Anyway, we drove north until we connected with I5 and continued towards home on the freeway.
As we came down the hill towards the ferry dock at Mukilteo, a large freighter was crossing between the dock and Whidbey Island. We paid our ferry fare and pulled forward into lane 4 to wait until the next ferry left.
As we waited, an officer from Washington State Patrol asked us if he could put a training bag, or whatever you call it, on our vehicle so his dog could find it. He placed a small cloth bag, about he size of a bean bag inside the grill on the front of our RV then went off to get his "dog in training" He walked up and down the rows of vehicles, making the sign for his dog, to check this vehicle and that, came up to ours and made the sign again, and that smart little dog went straight to the place the bag had been hidden in. Talk about an excited dog and trainer. You could see how pleased the officer was, and the sweet female dog was just so happy she had pleased her partner.
After making the ferry crossing, we decided to end our mini vacation on a high note, by stopping at Dairy queen for our favorite banana cream pie blizzard. Even better, the banana cream pie blizzard was the blizzard flavor of the month so it was reduced in price.
We have had our four days away from home, now we get back to everyday living until our trip to reno next month.
However, on Thursday evening, after we had parked our RV at the range, MrC was wandering around checking out the facility, when he came across some club members setting up for a bowling pin match that evening. We had a wonderful evening shooting with these fun folks.
Friday, after the steel match, we secured everything in the RV, and drove west to the coast and Lincoln City. I am always so excited to visit the ocean. Yes, we do live on an island, but it is in Puget sound so we do not get the rolling surf of the ocean.
I grew up in New Zealand and spent much of my childhood at Foxton beach, where my folks had a batch (beach house). In fact we lived in the batch when our new home was being built in Palmerston North, just about a half hours drive away. Then when I married, and had a family of my own, we used to take the children to the beach so they could enjoy playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. So you can understand when I say, that I almost have "withdrawl" if I don't get to walk on the sand and listen to the roar of the surf once in a while.
As soon as MrC found somewhere he could pull the RV off the road, and came to a stop, I had my camera in hand and scrambled down the bank onto the sand. I stood there drinking in the sights and sounds while breathing in the fresh salty air. There are no words to explain, all I was feeling.
In the opposite direction from the photo above, you could just make out the silhouette of the lighthouse through the salty mist.
After a short drive along the coast we arrived at Devil's Lake State park and pulled into site C9 for two nights stay. The first night, Friday, we were too tired to bother lighting the fire, but on Saturday night, after we had spent most of the day exploring the area, including an outlet mall, we lit the fire and had a delicious dinner cooked over hot coals. We do love to cook over an open fire.
This morning, I made a thermos of nice Strong coffee, some hot ham and egg sandwiches (much better than McD's) finished packing the RV and left the campground to enjoy our breakfast in a parking lot overlooking the beach. The river you see in the foreground, flowing into the ocean, is the smallest river in the world The "D" River is just 120 feet long.
After breakfast we drove north along the coast highway, drinking in all the sights. I should say, I was looking at all the sights, as my honey was keeping his eyes mostly on the road (one of the drawbacks on being the driver is, you miss so much of the scenery) Anyway, we drove north until we connected with I5 and continued towards home on the freeway.
As we came down the hill towards the ferry dock at Mukilteo, a large freighter was crossing between the dock and Whidbey Island. We paid our ferry fare and pulled forward into lane 4 to wait until the next ferry left.
As we waited, an officer from Washington State Patrol asked us if he could put a training bag, or whatever you call it, on our vehicle so his dog could find it. He placed a small cloth bag, about he size of a bean bag inside the grill on the front of our RV then went off to get his "dog in training" He walked up and down the rows of vehicles, making the sign for his dog, to check this vehicle and that, came up to ours and made the sign again, and that smart little dog went straight to the place the bag had been hidden in. Talk about an excited dog and trainer. You could see how pleased the officer was, and the sweet female dog was just so happy she had pleased her partner.
After making the ferry crossing, we decided to end our mini vacation on a high note, by stopping at Dairy queen for our favorite banana cream pie blizzard. Even better, the banana cream pie blizzard was the blizzard flavor of the month so it was reduced in price.
We have had our four days away from home, now we get back to everyday living until our trip to reno next month.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Camoflage
It struck me as odd, the way this little bee was sitting so still on the pumpkin blossom. When I bent down for a closer look, I could see that the bee had been captured by a little spider, the same shade of yellow as the blossom. It occurred to me that I have seen this same species of spider in shades of green, brown, and even an almost purple/blue shade depending on the color of the plant they were resting on. An interesting little creature indeed.You will have to click on the picture if you want to see the little yellow spider.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Are you growing old or up?
Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered.
I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!
GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered.
I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!
GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Thursday chuckle
Two 90-year-old women, Rose and Barb, had been friends all of their lives.
When it was clear that Rose was dying, Barb visited her every day.
One day Barb said, 'Rose, we both loved playing women's softball all our lives, and we played all through High School. Please do me one favour: when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's women's soft-ball there.'
Rose looked up at Barb from her death bed and said, 'Barb, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favour for you.'
Shortly after that, Rose passed on.
At midnight the following Friday, Barb was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to her, 'Barb, Barb.'
'Who is it?' asked Barb, sitting up suddenly. 'Who is it?'
'Barb -- it's me, Rose.'
'You're not Rose. Rose just died.'
'I'm telling you, it's me, Rose,' insisted the voice.
'Rose! Where are you?'
'In Heaven,' replied Rose. 'I have some really good news and a little bad news.'
'Tell me the good news first,' said Barb.
The good news,' Rose said, 'is that there's Softball in Heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again.
Better still, it's always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play softball all we want, and we never get tired.'
'That's fantastic,' said Barb. 'It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news'
'You're pitching Tuesday.'
Life is short...
So Remember to Live Well & Laugh Often!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A wonderful relaxing weekend
On Friday the ferry from Keystone to Port Townsend, was about 20 minutes late leaving, so we did not arrive at the Scenic Beach campground until around 2pm. We pulled nose in to site number 28 ( according to directions it was a back-in site) but our rig is small enough to do it the other way, and proceeded to set up camp.
As we meandered through the campground looking for our site, we noticed that practically every site had a reserved card on the site number post, leading us to think it would probably be a very busy/noisy weekend. Later that evening, my honey and I wandered around the campground and noticed, there were still many of the reserved sites unoccupied, which we could not understand, as the weather was unusually warm for this time of the year. Saturday morning, as we left the campground, to drive to the Fun Steel Match were were going to shoot in, they were still unoccupied. We thought,with any luck, when we return later that afternoon, it would still be nice and quiet. It was, so we enjoyed the peace and quiet for two whole days.
This young rabbit has some kind of neurological disease, as he is very unsteady on his feet, and keeps falling over. I have been hand feeding him peas from my vegetable garden. Yesterday he had propped himself up against the gate into the garden waiting for me to come outside and give him his treats. Poor wee guy, I feel so sorry for him as his appetite is healthy it is just his body which is failing, and I know he will not be able to outrun any predator. One day I know he will be gone, never to return for his handful of sweet juicy peas.
As we meandered through the campground looking for our site, we noticed that practically every site had a reserved card on the site number post, leading us to think it would probably be a very busy/noisy weekend. Later that evening, my honey and I wandered around the campground and noticed, there were still many of the reserved sites unoccupied, which we could not understand, as the weather was unusually warm for this time of the year. Saturday morning, as we left the campground, to drive to the Fun Steel Match were were going to shoot in, they were still unoccupied. We thought,with any luck, when we return later that afternoon, it would still be nice and quiet. It was, so we enjoyed the peace and quiet for two whole days.
This young rabbit has some kind of neurological disease, as he is very unsteady on his feet, and keeps falling over. I have been hand feeding him peas from my vegetable garden. Yesterday he had propped himself up against the gate into the garden waiting for me to come outside and give him his treats. Poor wee guy, I feel so sorry for him as his appetite is healthy it is just his body which is failing, and I know he will not be able to outrun any predator. One day I know he will be gone, never to return for his handful of sweet juicy peas.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
We are taking a much needed break
In my profession as a caregiver, it is common to experience 'burnout'so a little R&R is needed once in a while. This weekend away from it all, should be just what I need to recharge my batteries.
Tomorrow at noon, my honey and I will be on a ferry taking us to Port Townsend. From there we are driving for about an hour to Scenic Beach State Park, pulling into space 28 and not moving from there until Saturday morning, when we drive to Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club to do a little shooting at their Fun Steel match.
( hitting a few, well I hope all, the steel targets should take care of any angst I am feeling.)
Saturday evening, back at the camp ground, we will enjoy the company of some friends while sitting around the fire roasting a few hot dogs, grilling a hamburger or two, then toasting some marshmallows, and of course eating and drinking, all the other goodies which make for a great evening BBQ meal. (A few glasses of wine with my dinner, should take care of any stress)
I should be in great shape, mentally that is, to get back to work on Monday.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Bounty from Keewee's Garden
I am going to miss being able to harvest and enjoy all the vegetables from my garden, come winter.
For tonight's dinner I fixed a salad with red leaf lettuce, fresh shelled peas, tomatoes and multi-colored carrots. The colors of the carrots were, a golden color, purple outside and orange inside, and the regular orange colored variety. All tasted just like sweet regular colored carrots.There is something so satisfying and enjoyable about food which is so brightly colored.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Bubba, ya just don't get it
Each Friday night after work, Bubba would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a venison steak. But all of Bubba's neighbors were Catholic, and since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating meat on Friday.
The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest. The Priest came to visit Bubba and suggested that he become a Catholic.
After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass. As the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, "You were born a Baptist, and raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic."
Bubba's neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of grilled venison again filled the neighborhood. The Priest was called by the neighbors and as he rushed into Bubba's yard clutching a rosary preparing to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.
There stood Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanting: "You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but now you is a catfish."
The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest. The Priest came to visit Bubba and suggested that he become a Catholic.
After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass. As the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, "You were born a Baptist, and raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic."
Bubba's neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of grilled venison again filled the neighborhood. The Priest was called by the neighbors and as he rushed into Bubba's yard clutching a rosary preparing to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.
There stood Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanting: "You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but now you is a catfish."
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