A is for Animals...

So, to start the old A to Z thing, I will be writing about animals.  I have been around animals most of my life.  Large or small, fuzzy, smooth, gentle or obnoxious, I like animals. (Okay, the obnoxious, maybe, I prefer from a distance, but still...) 

Please note, "animal" might include insects.  A couple of my posts are still in the "hmmm" stage, so I might have a blog or two that covers a larger portion of the spectrum.

Oh, and I also will probably have my standard blog under the A to Z portion, so if you just want that part, read the top.  If you want the whole 9 yards, so to speak, read past the *** where I start the "normal" blog.

If much of anything I do could be considered "normal".

So, welcome to the A to Zers, to my wonderful blog friends, and even the random folk that might just have shown up here accidentally.  Enjoy!

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A is for...

Area.

Do you ever go somewhere, and it just feels right?  You know that it is the place you are supposed to be.  I am lucky enough to live in that area.  Helps that both my husband and I grew up here, but still, I have lived other places.  They were perfectly nice, I really enjoyed where I lived in college, even tried to convince my then husband to be to live with me there.

He already had a place.  We moved there after I finished college.  I thought it was a nice place, the neighbors were kind of hit and miss, but it was... Okay.

We then tried being on a boat for a bit.  It was nice, for a while, but it was just a bit too much on the pocketbook, and finding that we were going to have to make a decision on how to get to family if emergencies occurred.  Just didn't work out.

We stayed at my in-laws, in what was our 'old' house, in a new area (a manufactured house that they'd bought from us, then sold later, when they decided they wanted to move way south...), and that was not really all that fun.  Husband had a short jaunt to work, but I was uncomfortable there.  We didn't stay long, as we were helping them sell the house.

We looked for a place for a while, and I, as I am wont to do, fell in love with several places, which we were outbid on each and every time (well before the fall of the housing market...).  I started getting, er, less than happy about the search.  Husband, he just kept looking.

Then, by a strange fluke, we found a house for sale, on what was one of the most miserable, rainy, windy, stormy days in a long time.  The Realtor even had asked if we really wanted to see the house in that weather.

Yes...

We signed on it that day.  The next day dawned bright and lovely, and people wanted to see it.  Too late.

We have lived here, near family (at this point, both his and mine), with numerous chickens, cats, dogs, llamas... We have good neighbors, (even the crazy one that I think rode his bike without a helmet a few too many times), and we try to be good neighbors in turn.

Sometimes things just work.

A is for Age.

How old are you?  That question is so innocuous, but so loaded.  I am always amused at the idea that as you are a certain age, you need to be/do/like/say certain things. 

I am interested in things that would belie my age. 

I know about Babbit bearings and zirc fittings on old Chevy trucks, and have helped repair a Studebaker.  I know some about donkey engines in logging.  I also know some about making stone and bone arrowheads.  Does that make me a certain age?  I also like (some) rap and hip-hop, think skateboarding and motorcycles are sweet, and I knit.  Does that change the opinion of how old you think I am? 

I have found that people think you are as old as you let them think you are.  A friend of mine had been in Viet Nam, and a news article had come up about Jane Fonda.  He was, to put it mildly, outraged...  I was puzzled.  She had never been on my radar, and so I asked why he was upset.  After hearing probably more than I will ever remember about 'Hanoi Jane', he then snorted, "You should know this, you were around then!" 

I looked him squarely in the eye, and said, "Just how old do you think I am?"  He responded that I was his age.  I asked him what he was doing during the Moon Landing in '69.  He told me he was in the Marines.  I told him I was a toddler, sitting on my grandparents table, watching the landing.  Also, according to my parents, I was much more interested in my Oreo cookie dismemberment.  He looked stunned.  "But you act so much OLDER!"

So.  Act your age?  Meh.  Act how old you WANT to be.  That keeps 'em guessing!

A. Book for All Saints Day.

I was going to have A be Autumn, with a lovely photo of a tree just going into its golden glory.

Then it rained, and blew, and the tree looks like it was beaten severely with an ugly stick.  Sort of reminds me of my chickens in the middle of a molt...

SO.

I panicked, decided to go with a plan B.  I have been reading a total fluffy mind candy book, "Saint Vidicon to the Rescue" by Christopher Stasheff.  The story line is more or less, a computer tech meets up with Saint Vidicon of Cathode, who protects people from problems relating more or less to computers, via Murphy's law.  The tech is also trying to woo a girl, with some help and suggestions from the good saint.  I haven't finished it yet, but it is a light, fun read.  I must say, some of the problems the tech comes up with read like logic puzzles, which I guess, for someone that works with computers all the time, seems appropriate.

About the biggest problem I had was realizing the Saint's name was Vidicon, NOT Vicodin.  Somehow, I don't think that they name saints after pain relievers.  Although, if they send help, I suppose, in a very loose way, there is a similarity.  Hmmm.

Nah.

Anyway, here's a blurb on Amazon if you would like to read more about it.
http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Vidicon-Rescue-Christopher-Stasheff/dp/044101271X

I will have to let you know later if I liked the ending...

A is for A to Z challenge. Among other things.

So, I found this challenge on Marie Anne's Missives.  I hope that I will be able to commit to do this, it's going to be a busy month, so I will probably have to do some "drive by blogs".  But, since short, or even a picture blog counts, I think it will be possible.

So, April 1 would be "A".  A... A...

A is for apple.

And because of what today is, here is a neat video on apple picking.

Happy April Fool's Day!