A Little Lenten Humor

Thanks to The Point for, well, pointing this out.Check out Lenten Fare, a humorous look at explaining Lent. It'll make you smile! (You should also know that you too can generate church signs; check out this website.)

Go, Dog, Go

Hi, I'm Carolyn, and I'd like to welcome you to Book Reviews by Carolyn. I liked Go, Dog, Go from the start because it is easy to hold and has a smooth texture. The pages are easy to open and the book is full of dog pictures (but the dogs don't move and they are not furry.) I finished the book quickly, a real page-turner, that one. However, it did make me a little sleepy, so it might serve best as a bedtime story.

Always winter. . . .

I snapped these pictures during the snow yesterday. Though the storm did not live up to all the hype in the warnings, I did see the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the flakes were absolutely enormous! They did not float gently down like autumn leaves. It looked like an entire army was at work in the clouds, flinging them down to the earth as fast as possible, like little snowballs.

What My Degree Didn't Teach

Zoe is one of the writers at The Point, and I enjoyed this article she has written. Made me think of my own soon-to-be-graduating daughter, and her entrance into the big wide world as it were.

The first day of the rest of my life began on July 5, 2005. And for some reason, I felt much older that week than I had ever felt before—or have ever felt since. I climbed the marble steps of the lobby, my pumps clicking as I followed my new boss to the second floor. When we got to the third floor, I heard that ever-incessant clicking of keyboards and the almost jolly jingle of telephones, but all I saw was an unending labyrinth of cube space—almost as if I’d stepped into a horizontal knickknack shelf, each fuzzy gray wall connecting to the next in a seemingly infinite corridor.

Zoe is a good writer, and you really should read the whole article, but the gist of it is

And I even began to learn a few things—things that my college degree never taught me.

I learned that a few days of monotony will always grace my cubicle door.

But I also learned that good friends aren’t simply found in college dorms (they may be in the cube next door).

I learned that my calling comes from filling my small space with excellence—by writing each letter, answering each phone call, and completing each assignment as if it were my last. . .

. . .And, I am learning that the lessons I will be taught here in my 6’x10’ classroom will not be the appendix to the textbook of my life. As it turns out, I’m only in Chapter 2.

Whatever chapter we are in, may we view it as a calling to fill that small space with excellence!

Call me crazy. . .

but I enjoyed watching the baby chicks hatch on Wednesday. I was off for the day, so I would check the egg cam periodically as I puttered around the house. Here is the last picture I saw of the chicks before they were whisked away to farms in advance of an approaching winter storm. (Makes you wonder where they keep this incubator and why a storm would threaten it.) And here are some of my favorite shots of baby chicks emerging. I always did like baby animals!
I know my tribe is small, but if you missed the baby chicks, they are going to put quail eggs in the incubator in a couple weeks and you can watch them on the Egg Cam.

Reminiscent of the 80's

This reminds me of hairstyles in the 80's.

Call the Robot!

Well, your doctor cannot exactly come, but his robot is here. . .

What will they think of next?

Robots are used to transport supplies at many hospitals, but at Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, Kan, robots are used as an adjunct to patient care. This article says that patients, physicians, and nurses like the robots! Sounds a little impersonal to me, but I've not seen these in action.

The four 5-foot-4 robots, named REMi, Rolbot, Romeo, and Gort, sport a computer screen for a head that displays a live video image of the physician's face. They scoot around on wheels and allow physicians to talk to patients, listen to patients, and give orders to staff. Doctors communicate with patients from remote locations via a wireless network that allows them to see and hear the patient on a video screen and control the robot's movement with a joystick.

(Do you think I should be worried about my job?)

Baby chicks hatch!

Just when you were afraid there would be nothing to do, now you can watch baby chicks hatch on the Egg Cam!!!

Chicago Weekend

We had a great weekend together! Here is Carolyn all ready for church Sunday morning.
(Granny sure would love her wardrobe!) Auntie Amber likes babies too!
(what's not to like, right?)

smile

It's that time of year again. . .

Back in the 60's, I sold these little tidbits for 50 cents a box. As I recall, I went door to door taking orders, none of this standing in front of the grocery store! Did you know that

• Thin Mints is the most popular Girl Scout Cookie, accounting for over 25 percent of the more than 210 million boxes of Girl Scout Cookies sold each year.
• Thin Mints are produced at a rate of almost 2 million cookies a day in an oven that is as long as a football field.
• Research indicates that the top reason people purchase Girl Scout Cookies is. . . to support Girl Scouting. When given the opportunity, the average household purchases approximately five boxes.

Snow

We did get some very nice snow. A snowblower is a marvelous invention! There was a lot of wind, so there were interesting drift formations. Dad said it was the first time he had to snowblow the porch; there was a foot of snow in spots!

The Icicle

We have a long pointy icicle like this, but there is no dog house under it. However, if there was, I am sure that Lucy would be just like Snoopy here!

My new cell phone works everywhere!

Cool Runnings

The Armful - by Robert Frost

For every parcel I stoop down to seize
I lose some other off my arms and knees,
And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns,
Extremes too hard to comprehend at once
Yet nothing I should care to leave behind.
With all I have to hold with—hand and mind
And heart, if need be, I will do my best.
To keep their building balanced at my breast.
I crouch down to prevent them as they fall;
Then sit down in the middle of them all.
I had to drop the armful in the road
And try to stack them in a better load.

Don't you feel like this sometimes?

Baby, it's cold outside!

It's 5 degrees now, and supposed to get to 16 or 18 today. Woo hoo! Heat wave! It seems like we've been hovering in single digits for ever so long! Fortunately, our house is toasty warm (well, if you avoid certain rooms!) Ethel & Lucy have been sleeping in the kitchen, since their laundry room gets pretty cold. Sure am glad my driver lets me off right at the door when I go to work.

Blogging

Super Bowl Coaches

Reminiscent of the days of Tom Landry!!!

Dungy and Smith haven't sold their souls in pursuit of the game's Holy Grail, and yet here they are, reminding us that good men can do great things, that nice guys can and do finish first. ...

Dungy and Smith are family men. And they still win.

You won't hear either utter a word of profanity. And they still win. They care about and foster relationships with their players. And they still win. They serve their communities. And still, somehow, they find time to do what it takes to prepare their teams. ...

Dungy and Smith are Christian men who serve the Lord first and spend nearly as much time serving their communities. ...

After they won their conference championships, you heard Smith talk about his "being blessed" and Dungy giving thanks to God. That isn't just lip service with these guys. As Christians they believe it is their responsibility to let their light shine whenever they're in the spotlight.

From The Point

Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm, and well you should not. . .

Check out the rest of the photo shoot at her own blog.

The Sheboyganite Lives!

Winter Sunset on the Beach
(Lake Michigan - where else?)

Who'd have thought. . .

. . . that Michelle would be the first among us to cross country ski? After all, it's been on my list for a long time! For more details, check out Amber's blog.