My Children Freak Me Out

Posted on by Dana
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I wrote my parents the other day to tell them that Dylan is now able to stand up in the middle of the floor without pulling up on anything. He isn’t walking yet, but I’m convinced it’s only because he doesn’t know he can. I closed my e-mail with the thought that soon he would figure out he can indeed walk. My dad replied that then I’ll have two of them to chase after. My reaction to that was, that’s different from now how?

Dylan is already a first rate climber. The moment my back is turned, he’s mounting an expedition to the upper reaches of the couch or the computer table. He’s exploring the depths of the toilet. He’s testing every potential choking hazard to see if it’s edible. I am a tired woman right now.

Maggie, on the other hand, scares me with her quick mind. Those of you with digital cable or satellite may be familiar with those handy (or not so handy, depending on your company) guides that you can use to see what’s on the other channels. I was using the guide to see how long the King Arthur show I was watching on TLC would last. One of the channels on the same section of the guide was Toon Disney. There was no Toon Disney logo. It said something like “TDISE.” Maggie immediately says, “I want to watch Toon Disney, Mama; I want to watch Toon Disney.” How on earth did she know that’s what it was? Surely she can’t read? Earlier that night, after we went through Wendy’s drive-thru, she asked me for her “Garbeel.” I said I didn’t have one and didn’t know what it was. She said, “Yes, you do.” Later, I pulled a Garfield toy out of her kid’s meal. How did she know what the toy was going to be? Is she possessed of the Sight? Or just some really unnatural awareness of small details that eludes me? (Don’t answer that, Steve.)

My children freak me out.

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What Do Amelia Earhart and President James Garfield Have in Common?

Posted on by Dana
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On this date in 1937, Amelia Earhart was reported missing near Howland Island over the Pacific. We have never definitively discovered what happened to her, though there are theories.

One theory is that she simply crashed in the ocean. In March-April 2002, Nauticos, a Hanover, Maryland, company that performs deep-ocean searches and other ocean research services, attempted to find Earhart’s plane using a deep-sea sonar system to search 630 square miles of ocean surrounding Howland Island. They planned to return this year to continue searching. Maybe they’re working on it right now. You know, I never thought they’d find the Titantic, and I remember seeing it on the news when it happened. I think they have a shot at finding that plane if it’s on the ocean floor.

A second theory is that she landed somewhere else and lived the rest of her days as a castaway. An organization called The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) believes that once Earhart knew she was low on fuel, she headed in the direction of the Phoenix Islands, 350 miles away. The group believes she may have landed on Nikumaroro, formerly known as Gardner Island. TIGHAR found reports of a plane crash there before 1939 and of two castaways, a man and a woman, who fit the descriptions of Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan. The group has also found one piece of equipment known as a dado, used to separated crew from passengers in an airplane, that might be part of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra, but this cannot be proven, as no Electras have survived with their dados intact. If there were reports of her being a castaway, however, why was she never rescued? Seems like if there were actual reports, they would argue against that theory.

A third theory is that Earhart was taken hostage by the Japanese after heading not for Howland, but for the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands. Proponents of this theory disagree as to Earhart’s ultimate fate. Some believe she was killed in Saipan. Others believe she returned to the U.S. under an assumed name. In fact, some believe she became a woman named Ilene Craigmile, married Guy Bolam, and died in New Jersey in 1982.

Rollin C. Reineck, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, has written a book, Amelia Earhart Survived (curiously unavailable at Amazon). Reineck insists that if Earhart was unable to find Howland, “Plan B was to cut off communications and head for the Marshall Islands and ditch her airplane there.” In the event that Earhart had to resort to Plan B, the U.S. military was supposed to rescue Earhart while at the same time perform reconnaissance on Japanese pre-war intelligence efforts. The plan went badly, Earhart was captured, and later forced to assume a different name. Why? According to Reineck, because if the American public had known Earhart was on this special mission, they would have been so incensed with FDR for putting her in harm’s way that he’d have faced impeachment.

Also on this date in 1881, President James Garfield was shot at the Baltimore & Potomac train station by Charles Guiteau, a “mentally disturbed” man who had been stalking the president for some time. Guiteau wrote a speech (described as “deranged”) while Garfield was running for office and gave it to Garfield. Garfield never read the speech, but Guiteau later claimed it was “instrumental” in getting Garfield elected and demanded to be made Ambassador to France. He began to hang around the White House, even meeting Garfield once, harassing the secretary of state daily about the Ambassadorship. When he was rejected, he decided to shoot Garfield. He checked out the prisons in the Washington, D.C. area and found them suitable “accommodations.” Though clearly insane, he was tried for murder (I’m not sure about the insanity defense myself, but that’s another story). He acted as his own attorney, screaming constantly and at times even dancing around the courtroom. In his closing argument, he declared God had told him to kill Garfield. When the jury convicted him, he told they were “all low, consummate jackasses!” He was hanged on June 30, 1882. While on the gallows, Guiteau said, “I am going to the Lordy, I am so glad.”

Was there a saying about the truth and fiction?

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Loretta Lynn

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I was watching the Travel Channel’s ghost-fest the other night, and I learned that Loretta Lynn’s Hurricane Mills plantation is haunted.

That woman can’t catch a break, can she?

For those of you not in the know, she grew up poor in the backwoods of Kentucky (just listen to “Coal Miner’s Daughter”), married at the inconceivably young age of 13 and immediately started having children (4 by the time she was 17). If you’ve ever watched the story of her life, then you also know her husband was a jerk for a lot of their marriage, and I learned on the show I watched that her son died in the creek by her house. No, she might have lots of money now, but I’d never say she had an easy life.

And now her house is haunted. Well, presumably it’s been haunted for some time.

You know, I’ve watched Coal Miner’s Daughter I don’t know how many times. My grandmother was a fan, so I grew up listening to Loretta Lynn. She’s not a bad songwriter. I think what I like about her is that she keeps going, no matter what life throws at her. She’s a very strong woman.

I was watching the Grammys one time when I was a little girl. I suppose it could have been the Academy Awards. I was young — it’s hard to remember for certain. It must have been after Coal Miner’s Daughter came out, but not too much after. I don’t know why Loretta (and don’t you just feel like you can call her that when you don’t even know her?) was there. As a kid, I thought she was getting a special award, but I see no record of it in her biography or at the Grammy website. Perhaps she was just presenting. But I do remember the reaction of the audience, which was almost completely one of admiration. I think there was a standing ovation. Why do I say almost? The camera panned to Madonna, who was looking supremely bored and unimpressed with Loretta’s presence on the stage. I didn’t like Madonna before, but I have always pretty much despised her after that. The look on her face told me a lot about Madonna, and none of it was good.

So I chose a few of my favorite Loretta Lynn tunes for my radio blog:

  1. “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” (a duet with Conway Twitty) is a song I grew up hearing. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know this song.
  2. “You’re Looking At Country”
  3. “You Ain’t Woman Enough” always makes me think of the scene in the movie after she wrote it, and Doo asks where she got the idea for the song. She gives him a withering look and says, “Where you think?” Classic.
  4. “Story of My Life” is on her newest album, Van Lear Rose, which has received a lot of critical acclaim. I like the pedal steel guitar.
  5. “One’s On the Way” is pretty much also the story of her life. Did you know that Shel Silverstein wrote it?
  6. “Miss Being Mrs.” is another cut from Van Lear Rose.
  7. “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)”
  8. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” — What set list with Loretta Lynn tunes would be complete without it?

You know who you’ll never see on my radio blog? Madonna.

Visit LorettaLynn.com.

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The Death Penalty

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On this day in 1972, the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that the death penalty, as it was used at that time, was a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which means they felt that the death penalty could be called “cruel and unusual punishment.” What I thought was interesting is why. In their ruling, the majority said that they felt the death penalty was unconstitutional mainly because it was used in “arbitrary and capricious ways.” The implication then was that the death penalty is imposed more often upon racial minorities than on whites. This is still true today. In 1976, the death penalty was reinstated. The majority of the public at the time — 66% — supported the death penalty.

The percentage of the public who supports the death penalty today is also right about 66%. I will be honest and say I don’t know how I feel about it. On the one hand, if someone committed a heinous crime against someone I loved, then I would probably want to kill them myself. Several years back, when a woman shot and killed the man who molested her son in court, many people said they would have done the same, and many people expressed dismay that she went to jail. Don’t know if she’s still there or not. Public opinion in support of the woman was very strong. On the other hand, it has happened, especially in this age of DNA evidence, that people sitting on death row have been found innocent of the crimes that put them there. That means that people may have died innocent of the crimes for which they were executed. I’m not convinced that it works as a deterrence. It punishes that one person for their crime, but I don’t think most people who make the decision to commit a crime think about the death penalty or even prison when they do it. If they did, they might not commit the crime. I would be willing to bet most people commit crimes either with the sincere belief that they won’t be caught or that the crime so desperately needs to committed that getting caught doesn’t matter, if they are rational at all. So if you are going to argue that it will prevent crime, I have to say I disagree. I does, however, still mete out the ultimate punishment to those who commit crime.

Then there’s the issue of which methods of execution are okay to use. Georgia had an electric chair, but now uses lethal injection. Georgia has executed 34 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Texas, to no one’s surprise, leads the nation with executions performed: 322 since 1976, 9 already this year, 24 last year. At this time, 458 people are on death row in Texas. It also has the highest number of juvenile offenders currently on death row at 28. The first person executed after the death penalty was reinstated was a man named Gary Gilmore, a career criminal convicted of murdering an elderly couple who would not lend him their car. He faced a firing squad in Utah with the last words, “Let’s do it.” Utah still has a firing squad. I think, though I may be mistaken, that the option of facing a firing squad or a lethal injection is available to the prisoner.

The Bible is not clear on the subject, advising to take an eye for eye in the Old Testament, while advising he who is without sin to cast the first stone in the New Testament. Are people who carry out executions guilty of murder? I honestly don’t know.

I suppose the executions of those who have been kidnapped in the Middle East is much on my mind. I asked myself, in their minds, are they exacting a death penalty on people they believe have committed a crime? Actually, I don’t think so. They have to know those people have committed no crime except being from a country they hate. They are using terrorism to excellent effect. I admit to being completely afraid of what they are capable of doing when they will film themselves cutting off a man’s head. I haven’t talked about it here. When I read the newspaper account of Nick Berg’s murder, I cried. I cried for many reasons. I have a son, and it occurred to me that Nick Berg has parents who are devastated over losing their son at all, much less in such a horrible way. I also cried out of fear. I cried out of anger.

So I don’t have any conclusions today. Mostly because I don’t know how I feel.

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Blatant Sexism

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I’m scratching my head over an encounter my sister Smackey had with her friend’s husband. I guess this guy is one of Riceman’s (my brother-in-law) underlings. Riceman just made Master Sergeant, by the way, so he deserves some props, yo.

From what I gather, the husband (not Smackey’s) was grousing “about a woman that he thought was talking down to him (that’s another story),” according to Smackey, and then he actually said, “I am sick of these Texas women that think they are smarter than me when I’m a man.”

Inside her head, Smackey thought, “AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!! I want to kill!!”

What she said was, “What do you mean by that?” She said he changed the subject. Smackey is driving herself nuts because she’s so pissed at the guy, but I think partly she’s wondering what she should have said. Since Riceman is this turd’s boss, she doesn’t want to cause problems for their working relationship, and the woman married to the turd is a friend, too. So what to do?

My reaction upon reading it was to check the year on my calendar, then scratch my head in wonder that there are still people with this attitude in 2004. I got into a huge fight with one of my ex-husband’s best friends when we were all in high school, because he was a sexist pig.

Smackey’s right. She went on the explain that she thought to herself that most women she knows are probably smarter than this jackass. I think the reason it’s bothering her is that it always bothers us when we’re confronted with the ignorance of bigotry in any form, even more so when it is directed at a group we belong to. How dare this dumbass think for one moment that he’s smarter than someone else because of his sex organs, miniscule though they undoubtedly are. (And no mike@nospam.com, if that is your real address, that comment wasn’t directed at you, so no need to get your panties in a twist.)

I think Smackey’s response was the correct one. She called him on it, made him aware he’d said a dumb thing, and he changed the subject. However, she wasn’t confrontational, either.

How do you react when you hear a bigoted comment? What would you have done?

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Our House

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That’s our house. Actually, if you look a little NE of the red tack, our house is the lighter colored one. You can see the deck on the left side of the house. It’s a nice deck. We inherited a bird feeder that hangs from a hook on the deck. It’s not something I’d ever have thought of buying myself, but once I saw we had it, I bought birdseed for it. I keep checking to see if any birds have found it. If you look to the right of the house, you can make out the blackish-looking parking slab. This photo must have been taken before they cemented over it, because it doesn’t look black now. It’s a bitch to park on, because it’s not very even, there’s a precarious drop-off, and there’s a rather pretty tree with purply-white flowers that grows right where the driver’s side door opens. It drove me nuts that I didn’t know what kind of tree it was, so I hunted it down on the Internet, and it appears to be a white hibiscus. The flowers and leaves look just like this photo:

The houses next to us and across the street from us have been made into duplexes. The room that juts out in the front is the kids’ room. As you can tell, it’s pretty big. We figured they needed the space, though.

We’re settling in, but still unpacking. I have a really nice kitchen with lots of light. Sadly, there is no dishwasher or disposal. But I’ve been managing! I’m cooking a pot roast in my crock pot right now, and it smells great. Let me say here and now, I’m not a real homecooking kind of girl. I am a pretty good cook, but rather unenthusiastic about it, especially when I’m working. Seems like one more chore. But fixing that roast today, checking on it as it simmers, and smelling it throughout the house — it makes me feel proud for some reason. I know that’s silly.

This whole house is much “lighter” than our former home. Everything was so dark, from the cabinetry, to the flooring. There weren’t a lot of windows, and those that existed were darkened by tall trees in our yard. We have plenty of tall trees here, too, but they don’t obsure the light coming into the house. I really like all this light. I think the dimness can impact how you feel, sort of like Seasonal Affective Disorder. It kind of reminds me of my parents’ house. Their house is beautiful and full of light. The home they lived in when I was in high school, by contrast, was much like our old one — very dark.

We have a nice-sized backyard with encroaching kudzu. I was thinking the other day that a small swing set might be nice. We MUST get patio furniture so we can enjoy that nice deck properly. Maybe even a porch swing. I’ve always wanted a porch swing. My dream home is probably one of those old Victorians with a wraparound porch. I used to think I wanted hardwood floors until I had them at my old house. I prefer carpeting! Hardwood was impossible to keep clean. There was always some sort of dirt on the floor. I couldn’t keep it swept up no matter how I tried. Vacuum cleaners pick up all that stuff.

Well, I need to get back to work.

Want to see if you can find your house?

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The Pensieve

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Okay, so even though the content isn’t really finished, I am announcing that I have a new blog called The Pensieve, where I will confine my Harry Potter obsession.

I while back, I asked the folks at Mugglenet if I could do a regular column about the many allusions and references, both literary and historical, in the Harry Potter books. They agreed. I wrote my first column about Sybill Trelawney. We got stuck trying to come up with a name for the column (The Pensieve is perfect, but already taken over there). So I was eventually forgotten, and my column never appeared. I decided I still wanted to do it, though, so I decided I would create a forum for it. I know that not everyone who reads this blog would necessarily be interested, so I decided to keep my Harry Potter-iana in another place.

I’m fairly happy with the look of it. I made a collage for the title masthead in Photoshop. I scoped out my favorite links to share. I created several pages of content, but the columns, or whatever else I choose to share, will be in blog format on the main index page.

Now that I have taken a little break, I need to get back to unpacking and laundry.

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Icons

Posted on by Dana
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From Dana’s diary comes a nifty little icon creator.

This is me:

A pretty fair likeness, actually.

This is Steve:

Sort of okay likeness. He isn’t shaven-headed right now, but they didn’t have his hair. When he is shaven-headed this is a much more accurate likeness. I wasn’t completely happy with how the features came out. But it was fun to play with.

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It’s Good to Be the King

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First of all, we finally finished moving after two twelve-hour days. Steve has to be exhausted. I don’t think we can do this again on our own. Steve’s strong, but he’s one man, and one man with MS at that. Next time we have to move, whatever the cost, we’ll have to hire movers. But we are in our new domicile, and life is good. All of my muscles ache and I have a giant migraine, but life is good.

Cranky Dragon is having codeine-induced dreams about Elvis. Inspired by the nocturnal ramblings of the Cranky One, I have an all-Elvis set list for my radio blog. Please check out this really cool Elvis site, where you can listen to 30 number-one hits, learn about their recordings, read Elvis quotes, and learn all about Elvis. Maybe you can even find out if he ever owned a green mustang.

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Harry Potter-iana

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Oh my Lord, this was too hilarious! Thank you, Vickie, for sharing the link.

And check out Icy Azalea’s Harry Potter Livejournal Icons. They’re spiffy:

Since I haven’t plugged her in a while, check out my favorite Harry Potter fan artist, Laura Freeman. A sample:

Addendum (7:02 P.M.): As soon as I have time (read after we move), I am thinking I’ll put up my Harry Potter links page again. I really need something original for that page. My old one had my whole family sorted into various houses and predictions for Books 6 and 7. I just can’t think of anything to add. It seems like there is so much out there, and more well done than I could do. Any suggestions are welcome.

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