Fitness Hoop

I selected a 5 pound fitness hoop to review from my last Amazon Vine newsletter. I remembered hula hooping as a kid and I thought this would be a fun way to work on my core muscles, which are sadly out of shape.

HA!

A five pound fitness hoop is heavy! It is especially heavy when it whacks you on the shin falling to the ground because you can't keep it spinning around your waist. Seriously. I have a nice black and blue mark just below my right knee.

I was feeling completely inept at my inability to keep this thing spinning. However, one of my coworkers kindly brought me one of her hoops, which is both larger around and much lighter in weight. I had very little trouble getting and keeping it going. So, obviously, it wasn't me, it was the hoop. Yep. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I think I am going to buy myself a "plain" (i.e. unweighted) hoop, though. It is really good exercise. I was huffing and puffing after just a couple of minutes of keeping the hoop spinning around my waist. (Should I be embarrassed to admit that?)

A Muggle in Hogsmeade

This an article I wrote for our company newsletter about my trip to Universal Studios last fall:

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened earlier this year at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park. In November, I joined a few friends for three days of exploring Universal Studios and the Wizarding World, which is modeled on the village of Hogsmeade, the only all-wizarding village in Britain. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was described in a guidebook as “the most visually dense” attraction in the park, and I completely agree with that assessment. Every single nook, cranny, corner, and window has something to see, from a potted screeching Mandrake in the front window of the florist’s shop to the animatronic owls in the rafters of the owlery to the quill pen writing notes in a book at the scribe’s shop.

We did not do and see everything because the crowd size ranged from oppressive to overwhelming. We did have lunch at The Three Broomsticks, complete with mugs of butterbeer. I bought fudge flies and dark chocolate peppermint toads at Honeydukes’ sweet shop, but passed on the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (“various flavors, from Almonds to Vomit”). I did not get my magic wand and witch’s robe, however, because the lines for Olivander’s Wand Shop and Dervish & Bangles were just too long. Maybe next time.

There are three Harry Potter-themed rides in the Wizarding World. Dragon’s Challenge is a big roller coaster. It’s actually two roller coasters in one, as the rides provided by the two dragons (Chinese Fireball and Hungarian Horntail) are completely different. Only two of us were brave enough to ride and we chose the Chinese Fireball. All I will say about it is that it is possible that I may be just a wee bit too old to ride roller coasters any more. The Flight of the Hippogriff is a more kid-friendly roller coaster, with cars that look like big wicker baskets. Three of us were brave enough to ride this one. All I will say about it is that it is possible that I may be just a wee bit too old to ride roller coasters any more.

The shining showpiece of the Wizarding World is the attraction known as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. While waiting in line, you weave your way through the passageways and corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, visiting Dumbledore’s office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Gryffindor common room, the Room of Requirement, and more. The ride itself is difficult to describe. It’s sort of a cross between a roller coaster and a motion simulator and mimics a flying broom ride in and around the grounds of Hogwarts. We all took the tour of Hogwarts, but I was the only one brave enough to actually go on the ride itself. All I will say about it is that it is possible that I may be just a wee bit too old to ride roller coasters or motion simulators any more.

If you have any wizards or witches in your family or even just some muggles who enjoy reading about Harry Potter, you should definitely plan a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It is absolutely fantastic. And when you pass through Seuss Landing on your way to the Wizarding World, look around. You might see me enjoying the Caro-Seuss-el, the Cat in the Hat, or One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish with the under-10 set.

Monday Miscellany

I did my part to make it rain this evening. Even though the storm clouds were building up, I went out and caught the mules. Even though the wind was starting to blow, I groomed the mules. I was just getting ready to put the saddle on Bud when the thunder started, which is when I finally threw in the towel and headed back to the house. And yes, it did rain. Not a lot, but enough to qualify as real rain. You know if I had just stayed inside on the grounds that it looked like it was going to rain, the clouds would have blown over without spilling a drop.

I don't think I mentioned this yet, but on Friday night, I decided to turn my air conditioner on for the first time this year. And it didn't come on. I called the repair guy today and it turned out to be nothing more than a loose wire. How lucky was that?

It was about lunch time when the AC guy left and I was feeling sorry for Buckley because it was so hot outside, so I let him stay inside. I shut the bedroom doors, locked all the boots in the dog crate, picked everything up off the floor except his toys and bed, and said, "Heck, how much trouble can he get into in one afternoon?" HA! He managed to get at most everything that was on the kitchen table. The only serious damage was to the two books he chewed up, one of which was a brand new hardback that I wasn't finished reading yet. AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

I watched another episode of Hawaii Five-O while I was eating my dinner. They were making mimeographs! Oh, did that bring back some memories. When I was a teacher, that's how I made handouts and tests. We were high-tech, though. Our mimeo machine wasn't a hand-crank, it was electric, so you just had to set it up and push the button.

Lazy Sunday

I spent way too much time today watching Hawaii Five-O episodes. I'm still enjoying them. It's kind of like opening a time capsule. Another thing that I've noticed is that the women almost all wear dresses almost all the time. Not just the characters in the episodes, but in the crowd and street scenes almost all of the women are wearing skirts and dresses.

I did manage to get the mules groomed. I took a quick ride on Jack - bareback, so I didn't have to change out of my shorts and into long pants. I also took Bud for a short walk, just one turn around the edge of the pasture. Then, I let them into the yard to eat grass. The more they eat, the less I have to mow.

I still have one big project to tackle tonight - ironing. I have two baskets full of ironing. I've been putting it off but I'm pretty much out of clothes to wear. Well, that's not quite correct. I'm out of clothes I like to wear and down to the ones that I can't remember why I bought because I don't really care much for them. So, I'll be ironing tonight.

Hawaii Five-O - The Real One

Last night, I finally cracked open my Hawaii Five-O Season One DVDs and I am enjoying the heck out of them. But, boy, have times changed since Season One was filmed in 1968!

The smoking! People smoked all the time. Cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. In offices, in restaurants, in cars, while walking down the street, on the beach, everywhere.

The Sansabelt slacks and white shoes!

The hippies, man!

The handguns were small and the cars were huge, unlike today's cop shows where the police carry huge handguns but drive small cars.

Actors came in all ages, shapes, sizes, and degrees of attractiveness, including a surprising number of people with really bad teeth and bad dental work. It seems to me that the people on TV shows today, even the minor characters and extras, are much more homogeneous and a lot closer to perfect.

One thing hasn't changed, though. Danno is still absolutely adorable.

I just finished watching an episode called "Samurai," which had one of the most bizarre casting choices I've ever seen. Ricardo Montalban played a Japanese gangster, complete with makeup to give him Asian eyes. But wait, you say, Ricardo Montalban has a Spanish accent. Yes. Yes indeed, he does, and it was in full evidence. Bizarre. It was just bizarre.

Honestly, the show holds up much better than I had feared. Yes, it's dated. I laugh every time McGarrett gives his secretary a peck on the cheek, asks for a cup of coffee, and calls her "Love." But, the stories are still entertaining and unlike some other older TV shows I've watched on DVD (I'm looking at you, Moonlighting), I am not constantly distracted by the anachronisms (like the reel-to-reel tape players) or dated production values.

Free Stuff

As I mentioned in previous posts, last month I was invited to join the Amazon Vine Program, which I did. At first, I thought it was just books, but discovered, with the first newsletter of available items, that they offer all kinds of other stuff as well. But, until I discovered the Amazon Vine discussion forums, I had no idea just how much and what a wide variety of stuff is offered. There are people who have gotten TVs, computers, treadmills, power tools, vacuum cleaners, cameras, clothes, and almost anything you can think of.

On my most recent "targeted" newsletter, I was offered several books, two kinds of cookies, face wash, a bluetooth something-or-other, a carpet steamer/cleaner thingie, two kinds of laundry detergent, and a souped up weighted exercise hula hoop. I selected a book (a mystery/thriller by Joseph Finder) and the hula hoop (you can only pick two things). I'm a little dubious about the hula hoop, but I will give it a fair trial. I figured that getting it for free and knowing that I have to write a review of it will guilt me into using it regularly for at least several weeks. And who knows, I might love it and become a world champion hula hooper.

Another Urban Legend Bites the Dust

If you've ever driven to Florida on I-75, you've seen the billboards advertising Silver Springs, "Nature's Theme Park." Maybe you've even stopped there, although I think not so many people do anymore. I've been there a number of times, although not since the boys were much younger.

Anyway, there are several bands of wild monkeys living in the forests around Silver Springs. The story is that they escaped during the filming there of one of the old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies and made a new home at the springs. Well, I've been reading a book called Glass Bottom Boats & Mermaid Tails, which tells the history of the various old tourist springs in Florida. It turns out that the monkeys were brought in during the 1930s when they added a Jungle Cruise attraction to the park. The fellow who was going to run the Jungle Cruise bought some rhesus monkeys and set them loose on an island in the middle of the river to add a little jungle atmosphere to the cruise. He didn't know that monkeys can swim, and it wasn't long before the monkeys escaped the island and moved into the forest around the springs.

The book, written by Tim Hollis, is pretty interesting, with lots of old photos. Quite a few of the old tourist springs are now state parks and the book has inspired me to try and visit some of these parks.

Random Ramblings

Buckley has a stuffed octopus that he loves. Tonight, he carried it out in the pasture where he left it lay when he got distracted by something else. Bud noticed it, walked over, and started sniffing it. Buckley noticed Bud sniffing his octopus and went tearing back, barking at Bud. You could almost hear him shouting, "That's mine! Leave it alone!" Fortunately for Buck, Bud wasn't interested in fighting him for possession.

There is a show called Stargate Universe on the SciFi network - or I guess it's the Syfy Network, now. How stupid is that, changing the spelling from SciFi to Syfy so it won't seem so science fiction-ey? But I digress. Anyway, Stargate Universe stinks. It's an awful show. It's already been cancelled, only 3 episodes left. Yet, I keep watching it. I just finished watching this week's episode. Every week I watch and every week, I say, "That was stupid." But I just can't stop. Why? I don't know why. It's crazy. I'm hooked.

I finished the last of my March Amazon Vine Program books the other day. It was "2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America" by Albert Brooks. Yes, that Albert Brooks. Whenever I hear his name, I think, "flop sweat," from Broadcast News, although some of you might know him better as Marlin the Clownfish in Finding Nemo. Wait. I'm digressing again. Back to the book. The book is set in the year 2030, in an America that has never managed to get its budget under control. The country is broke, in hock to China so deep it will never get out, and young people are on the verge of declaring war on senior citizens, who insist on living longer and longer, sucking up the government's resources, and impoverishing the rest of the country. It's entirely plausible and kind of scary. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars in my review at Amazon.com.

Sweet Magnolias

My magnolia trees are starting to bloom. I love the beautiful blossoms, but other than that, I hate the trees. They are so messy. Not only do the leaves fall, they also produce big seed pods that have to be raked up. It's funny, I'll ride the lawn mower, drag the pasture, scoop mule manure, and dig and spray pasture weeds all day without complaining, but I absolutely hate raking leaves.

When I went to take some pictures of the magnolia trees, Buckley, the bad digging dog, also posed for a nice picture, so here he is. He doesn't look like such a troublemaker, does he? Really, he isn't a bad dog, he's just still a puppy. He's going to be a very nice dog once he grows up and stops chewing my shoes.

Semi-Successful Saturday

When I came inside for the night, I was grumbling because I didn't get anything done today. But, the truth is, I got lots of stuff done today. Errands in the morning, yard work in the afternoon, cleaning weeds out of a section of the fence line in the evening, and I even groomed the mules before I had to give it up and come inside. I didn't manage to get any riding in and I still have an overwhelming To Do List, but still, I did get some things done.

I had to expand my cement block barrier around the propane tank this afternoon. Buckley started digging there again. If that doesn't do the trick, I swear I'm going to get out the electric fence.

I still haven't had dinner. I'm thinking about having chocolate ice cream with peanut butter topping. Hey, ice cream is made from milk and milk is good for you, so I can eat ice cream for dinner, right?

Window Warnings and Digging Dogs

I was cleaning windows yesterday and I noticed that all my windows have a little warning label at the bottom that says, "Warning: Open Windows Can Be Hazardous." I immediately got a mental picture of someone sticking his head out an open window, which then slammed down, guillotine-like, on his neck. But then, I read the fine print, which said that children can fall out open windows even if the screen is in place. OK, I guess that makes sense, but still, they need a warning label for that?

Also yesterday, I was walking past the propane tank next to the house and noticed that there was a GIANT hole under the tank. Yes, in addition to a chewing problem, Buckley has a digging problem. The hole was so big that I had to go get a wheelbarrow of dirt from one of the mules' sand pits (uh, yeah, the mules also have a digging problem) in order to fill it in. Then, I put some big rocks around the tank and put up a wire fence around the whole thing. Today, Buck started digging a hole under the wire fence, so I put some cement blocks around the base of the fence. It's starting to look like the Clampetts live here. The Clampetts before they moved to Beverly Hills.

Tobago? Where's That?

I wrote this article for the company newsletter about my trip to Tobago last fall. I thought I would post it here, as well, along with a few pictures.

Tobago? Where is that?

Who plans a Caribbean vacation during hurricane season? I do. It’s not as crazy an idea as it may seem, though. The two islands making up the country of Trinidad and Tobago are the southernmost in the Caribbean, lying just seven miles off Venezuela's north eastern coast. Although hurricanes have been known to hit Trinidad & Tobago, the islands lie to the south of the hurricane belt and thus are rarely impacted by tropical storms or hurricanes. Tobago is known as an eco-tourism destination and is home to the Main Ridge Forest Preserve, which was established in 1776 and is the oldest protected rainforest in the western hemisphere. Tobago’s Rockley Bay is the place where Robinson Crusoe washed ashore in Defoe’s book.

Visually, Tobago is picture postcard perfect. The island is mountainous with deep valleys that run down to the coast, meeting the ocean in picturesque bays, often with beautiful curved sandy beaches. Just under 50% of the island is covered with forests and Tobago is world famous for its birding. However, we spent most of our time in the water. The snorkeling was excellent. The coral is only OK, but the variety of sea life is spectacular. Everywhere I looked, I saw types of fish and other creatures that I have never seen outside an aquarium. I also had my first-ever face-to-face encounter with an eel. Who knew I could swim backward so quickly?

The biggest adventure we had in Tobago was driving. First, picture roads that are 1 ½ lanes wide at best, with rock walls on one side of the road and sheer drop-offs on the other. Add cars approaching at Mach 1 from the opposite direction and taking their half of the road out of the middle. Toss in a liberal sprinkling of potholes and randomly scatter dogs, cats, goats, cattle, and people strolling leisurely across the blacktop. Then, drive on the left side of the road.

But, taking our lives into our own hands by climbing behind the wheel was well worth it. The drive along the coast and over the center of the island is just one scenic overlook after another. We also had some great meals. Jemma’s Seafood Kitchen is built around and in the branches of a large tree and the cassava pie and sweet and sour fish were out of this world. At Joanne’s Finger Lickin’, Joanne herself dished us up a taste of every single Tobagonian dish she offered and explained what each one was and how it was prepared. A chance encounter with Eddie, King of the Fruit, led us to Jackie, Captain of the glass bottom boat No Fear, and an impromptu ride out to the coral gardens off the coast at Speyside, where they claim to have the world’s largest brain coral.

My only regret is that we weren’t there at the right time of year to go to the Goat Races. Well, that and the fact that sheer terror kept me from enjoying all the scenic views as we hurtled around yet another hairpin turn on the coast road. Note to self: next time, take more money and hire a driver.

Hitting the Beach

On Saturday, we went to Coquina Beach, on Anna Maria Island. I like this beach because, in addition to nice water and sand, they have shade trees, picnic tables, bathrooms and a snack shack. Plus, they have a big parking area so you can always find a place to park. Unfortunately, we did not know until we got there that they are in the middle of a "beach nourishment" project. Now, the engineering/tech geek in me was fascinated. They've got a dredge anchored way off shore sucking sand off the bottom of the Gulf and big pipes carry a sand slurry to shore where it sprays out onto the beach. Then, a crew of bulldozers spreads it around. Very cool to watch.

On the other hand, it meant that on one side of the snack shack area, there was a huge pipe running across the beach and you had to go to one of the built-up sand ramps to get over the pipe and down to the water, and on the other side of the snack shack area, you had 3 bulldozers pushing sand around. Plus, the water was all murky close to shore from all the sand that was being stirred up by the dumping and bulldozing. Needless to say, we did not have a peaceful day at the beach.

We did, however, get baked and broiled, have a nice picnic, drink a few beers, and spend some quality time with family, so I count it a success.

The beach nourishment project is supposed to be finished by next month, before turtle nesting season starts. I hope they can get it done in time. Hmmmm. Now that I think about it, maybe that explains why they were working on a Saturday - although someone told us that once they have the dredge going, they can't shut it off for fear of the sand settling in and clogging the pipes. I have no idea if that's true or not, though.

Write your Congressman

Can you still say "Congressman" or is it now "Congressperson"? Well, my Representative and both Senators are men, so I guess for me "Congressman" still works. Anyway, I just finished sending e-mails to all three of my Congressmen telling them my opinion on the current budget battle and urging them to vote the way I want them to. I write my Congressmen fairly often. Not so often that they see my e-mails and think, "Oh, no, not that crazy Vickie again," but at least several times a year. I wish more people would do the same thing.

Have you seen those iMeet "World's Greatest Meeting" commercials on TV? If you haven't, you can see them at iMeet's youtube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/iMeet. I love those commercials. I especially love the Founding Fathers commercial - "That is what she hath said." Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father and Dirty Old Man.

I had a good ride on Bud last night. He's finally grasping the idea that a clucking sound and squeeze with the legs means walk forward. The last few times, last night, I didn't have to follow up with a tap on his hindquarters with the end of the reins. He started moving off as soon as I clucked. I think we're ready to graduate from the tiny pen into the small ring.

Add electrician to my list of skills

I am updating my blog on my old iBook. The one whose cord the dog chewed up. Tonight, I spliced the cord ends back together and it works! No sparks, no flames, no intermittent loss of power. The cord is as good as new, aside from the black electrical tape wrapped around the splice. Yea me!

Tonight, I'm baking a cherry pie. No, not from scratch. Are you kidding? Me bake a pie from scratch? Not likely. It's a frozen pie from Publix. I'm kind of disappointed, though. The pie is almost done and I still don't smell cherry pie baking. There are faint undertones of baked chicken wafting through the house, but no scent of cherry pie. Uhhh, maybe I shouldn't have admitted that...

I've got a big day planned at work tomorrow. My office is starting to look a bit too much like an episode of Hoarders, so I'm starting on my Spring Cleaning tomorrow morning.

What was that?

I've been a faithful follower of the TV show Gray's Anatomy. I even stuck with it when Izzy started having sex with Denny's ghost. Shonda Rhimes (creator/writer/producer of Gray's Anatomy), you owe me. But last night, I finally had time to watch last week's episode and all I can say is, "What the h*ll was that?" Seriously. I'm speechless. Oh, wait, I'm speechless except for one thing: Sara Ramirez, you rock. Even if what you had to do made absolutely no sense, you nailed it. Fantastic.

Also, a message for Eric Dane, who plays Dr. Mark Sloane. Honey, you need to eat something. If you get any thinner, they're going to start calling you McSkinny instead of McSteamy.

On a happier subject, I had dinner last night at Outback Steakhouse with Daniel and Keiko in order to celebrate Keiko's birthday. Outback is now doing wood-grilled steaks, so I had a wood-grilled ribeye that was excellent. It was an excellent evening, with good company and good food.

Repost: A glass disaster

 One of my hobbies is making fused glass. I once started a blog about my glass work, but only ever made one post. So, I'm transferring that post to this blog as part of my plan to consolidate everything in one place. The original title of this post was "When Life Gives You Lemons..."

I produce a lot of glass disasters.  Sometimes it's a failure of vision - the final product just doesn't look the way I thought it would.  More often it's operator error. Mostly it's because I get busy reading a book or watching TV and forget I've got something in the kiln.

I've got a Hot Box kiln, a small table-top kiln that has a simple dial control for temperature.  Bigger kilns usually have a controller that allows you to set up a program to control the heating and cooling cycle of the kiln.  With the Hot Box, it's up to you to turn it on, adjust the temperature, and turn it off.   It's the turn-it-off part where I get into trouble.

Lucky for me, it turns out that I end up liking many of my disasters and my first few blog posts will feature some of my flops turned favorites.  In fact, the subject of today's blog was a disaster of Keystone Cop proportions, yet is currently one of my favorite pieces.

My kiln sits on top of my stove when I'm using it.  One day, I was making some pendants by stacking two rectangular pieces of glass and placing small glass hearts on top.  I was also baking cookies.  Apparently, I closed the oven door at the point where the glass had just started to soften, and the top layer on a couple of the stacks slid off to the side and into the adjoining stack.  When I opened the kiln at the end, 3 of the stacks were fused together.  My initial thought was "Oh, crap."   But then I decided that it actually looked kind of cool.

I decided to take my heart pendant jumble, fuse it to a another square of glass, and put the final product in a picture frame.  I got as far as fusing the jumble to the square of glass, when one of the cats knocked it off the table, breaking it into two pieces, eliciting another "Oh, crap."

So then I thought, "Hey, I'll take a bigger square of glass, put the broken pieces together on it, and fuse it again."  I figured that the broken pieces would melt together, it would look good as new, and all I would need to do was get a bigger picture frame. Wrong.  This time, "Oh, crap" really was the appropriate sentiment.

But by this time, I had a lot of glass invested in this project. I didn't want to just throw it away.   So I took a hammer, smashed my glass monstrosity up into little pieces, piled the pieces up in the kiln, and turned the heat on.  I took the result, glued it to red mat board, put it into a picture frame, and named it the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre."

I'm thinking that maybe I can claim it's a carefully crafted work of art, symbolic of the heartbreak and despair of failed relationships.  Yeah. That's the ticket.

What's wrong with this picture?

 Buckley, my dog, has a little...no, I'll be honest, he has a big chewing problem. He especially loves shoes.Since he hates his crate, I have pretty much stopped putting him in it. What I have been putting in it, though, is my shoes, so the dog can't chew them up at night. It started with just my barn boots because they were too dirty to put in my bedroom closet. Then, laziness took over and it was just easier to toss my shoes in the dog crate than walk back to the bedroom and put them away. This afternoon, I noticed that there were two pairs of boots and two pairs of shoes locked in the dog crate. That's just a bit much, don't you think? I mean, how lazy am I?

I finished reading "Here Lies Bridget," my first Amazon.com Vine Program book. I liked it. I gave it 4 stars in my Amazon.com review. I guess it was a bit cliched - the Mean Girl got her comeuppance, repented of her hateful ways, and reformed. But it was still a satisfying and enjoyable read. After I finished reading it, I passed it along to a friend who has teenage daughters.

It's Friday already?

I'm not complaining. I would never complain about Friday. However, I had a lot of work to do this week and I really could have used some extra time. Maybe we could have tossed in an extra day this week. Call it Pre-Friday or something. As it was, I had to skip lunch today in order to have time for my riding lesson tonight and then go back to the office after my lesson to finish up.

What? No. What are you talking about? My priorities are in perfect order. 

Have you ever heard that comedy routine where the guy (Bill Engvall?) talks about stupid warning labels, like "Don't try to change the chain on your chain saw while it's running," and wonders if the reason they put the warning label on was because someone actually tried to do that?

Well, I was reading the new issue of Horse & Rider and someone wrote in with a question about feeding melon rinds to her horses. As part of the answer, the nutrition expert mentioned that you shouldn't feed your horse hamburgers, steak scraps, and chicken skin because "horses are not designed to metabolize animal products."  Which leads me to wonder why an equine nutritionist would feel compelled to mention that. I mean, do you think she has actually seen someone try to feed their horse meat? Who would do that? "Sorry, Beauty, I'm all out of oats, but I've got a nice pork roast in the oven and I think you'll find it to your liking."

Although, now that I've finished typing all that, I do recall someone once telling me that they were at the State Fair one year and his donkey reached over and stole a bratwurst right out of some guy's hand - and ate it. But heck, the donkey probably couldn't even taste the meat with all that bun and mustard and sauerkraut.