The Reason for Memorial Day

We all know that Memorial Day marks the official start of summer and that it is a time for trip to the beach, family cookouts, major shopping with every sale under sun to find whatever you're looking for and, for many, a day off from work with pay.


Also, since 1911, Memorial day weekend is when the Indianapolis 500 is held.


The holiday actually was originally called Decoration Day, held to commemorate Union Soldiers who died during the Civil War. After World War 1, it became a day to honor all Americans who have died in all wars.


So, while you are cooking out, shopping, playing in the water, etc., please take a moment to remember why we have the holiday. Remember that many soldiers have fought and died over many years, in many wars, to protect and keep us free.

Remembering T.J. 

Friday Funnies - Aliens in My Bedroom - A True Story!

Recently, my granddaughter came to wake me up during the night and told me there was an alien in her room! (I immediately thought about the time, when her mommy was a little girl, and sleeping in that very same bedroom, woke me up to tell me she had a purple monster with white polk-a-dots in her closet.)


I asked her where the alien was and she said she couldn't see him, so I asked how she knew he was in her room. She said "because he talked to me". I asked her what he said to her and she said he called her by name and told her to take off her panties. OMG! Can you just imagine what went through my mind! I totally panicked. Since nobody but me and my husband were in the house, I had no choice but to probe her little mind.

She said that was all he said to her and that his voice was outside her window, but he was far away. Okay, well, still. I just couldn't get past that underwear thing, even if it was just a dream. Something has to have happened to put that in her mind. Needless to say, she slept in our bed the rest of that night.


The next day, I told her Mom (my daughter) what had happened. We both knew that she would tell her kindergarten teacher about it and she would probably react the same way we did. So, my daughter decided the best thing to do would be to go ask the teacher if they had recently had a class conversation about aliens.


The teacher said that she most certainly was concerned about what my granddaughter had told her. Then she remembered that they had indeed talked about aliens, but it had been weeks ago! Not only had they talked about Aliens but they had read a book in class!

Can you even begin to imagine how relieved we were? Who comes up with this stuff to read to kindergarteners? Well, their names are Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. The name of the Book is, "Aliens Love Underwear". If you'd like to give your children or grandchildren nightmares, you can buy the book from Amazon.com.

Sweet dreams........

Wordless Wednesday

Dodge City in the Front Yard

There are fans of old television series and then there are fans.

This western town is actually built in someone's yard; simply for his own enjoyment. Built little by little and by his own hands. Is this cool or what?

I love Gunsmoke too! One of my favorite episodes is May Blossom. Even in the face of such evil done to her, she has such a pleasant attitude. (This is just one of 5 parts)


Oh, and at the beginning of Part 4, check out Burt in this episode as the Blacksmith, Quint Asper. Mr. Reynolds was quite the heart throb back then.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Yikes, Zombies!

I can't believe this is my third post on Zombies! It's really starting to get creepy when the CDC issues a Zombie Warning!

Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse


The following was originally posted on CDC Public Health Matters Blog on May 16th, 2011 by Ali S. Khan.

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this.
Read the CDC Zombie Warning

To see a video on What To Do in A Zombie Attack and How To Survive a Zombie Holocaust CLICK HERE

Papers on zombies

• Selmer Bringsjord (1995), "In defense of impenetrable zombies"
• A commentary on Moody 1995 (one can't really distinguish zombies and humans).
  
• Selmer Bringsjord (1996), "The zombie attack on the computational conception of mind"
• Using the possibility of zombies to draw out inconsistencies in Dennett's argument against Searle.
  
• David Chalmers (1993), "Self-ascription without qualia: A case-study"
• A commentary on a paper by Goldman, with a case-study of "Zombie Dave".
  
• David Chalmers (1995), "Absent qualia, fading qualia, dancing qualia"
• Thought-experiments about functional isomorphs, arguing that in the actual world such isomorphs will be conscious.
  
• David Chalmers (1996), "The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory"
• My book on consciousness, with all the zombie discussions you could ever ask for. Unfortunately most of the zombie stuff isn't available on the web.
  
• Allin Cottrell (1996), " Sniffing the camembert: On the conceivability of zombies
• A thoughtful paper arguing that zombies as I describe them in my book may not really be conceivable.
  
• Daniel Dennett (1995), "The unimagined preposterousness of zombies"
• Zombies aren't really imaginable
  
• Daniel Dennett (1999), "The zombic hunch: Extinction of an intuition?"
• On why we shouldn't trust our intuitions about zombies
  
• Owen Flanagan & Tom Polger (1995), "Zombies and the function of consciousness"
• Using zombies to question whether consciousness has a function.

Papers information found at http://consc.net/zombies.html

Watch a couple of creepy old zombie movies http://littlewebtreasures.blogspot.com/2010/04/zombies.html
You can also watch "Night of The Living Dead" right here!

Bedtime Baby

I found some great lullabies on this YouTube Channel. This one is bedtime baby - Toddler Lullaby by Fisher Price.


It's wonderful to be able to actually view the DVD's before buying them. You can also download them and burn them to DVD yourself. You just don't get the same high quality.


Visit Bedtime Baby Lullabies


Hey, lullabies aren't just for babies. Toddlers and preschoolers benefit from them and I do too!


This one is the 4th one of 6 parts.

Youtubesday - Amazing Rope Jumpers

Just as you think surely they must be getting tired, they just keep getting better and better. The very end is the best.

Friday the 13th

 -  Were you born on Friday the 13th? Your entire life will be marked by bad luck.
    -Never cut your hair on Friday the 13th. It will cause a death in the family.
  -  Don't change your bed sheets on Friday the 13th, you'll have nightmares all night.
   - If you pass a funeral procession on Friday the 13th, you'll die the next day.
  -  If you leave the calendar open to Friday the 13th, the next day, you'll be killed by a witch.
  -  It's also bad luck to cut your nails on Friday the 13th.

Upon investigating the history of Friday the 13th, we find that the number 13 is believed to be the unluckiest number, and Friday, believed to be the unluckiest day. The number 13 has always been considered unlucky mostly because it is associated with certain incidences of the past. Some associate it with mythology, when the god of joy and gladness, Baltere, was killed, deceitfully by Loki, the god of mischief and discord. He, coincidentally was the 13th guest. Many believe that  the 13th guest was Judas, at the Last Supper, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.


Bad luck associated with Friday, can be traced back to the fact that Jesus was crucified on this unfaithful day, many believing that it may have indeed been on the 13th. Some historians suggest that Cain also killed Able on this very date and day of the week.


So grab your lucky rabbit's foot and knock on wood, cross your fingers, find a penny and pick it up.  Watch so as not to let a black cat cross your path. Be careful with that mirror! Don't open the umbrella inside the house and whatever else you do, DON'T WALK UNDER THAT LADDER!

The thirteenth guest is a great old, dark house movie. 





More Friday the 13th.

A Lucky Rabbit's Foot?

This superstition is an old voodoo legend and, actually, only the left hind foot of a rabbit that was shot or captured in a graveyard during a particular phase of the moon is considered to be lucky.

You know what that means? It means mine and yours is probably NOT very lucky!

I think I like the white one better. There's just something creepy about the brown one (as if there's nothing creepy about cutting off an animal part to carry around for good luck.)

Youtubesday - Chonda Pierce Comedy

Keeping with the Mother's Day spirit, I thought a little Christian comedy might be appreciated.

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday Funnies

Blackberry Winter

I woke up this morning to Blackberry Winter! It was 43 degrees and it will be in the 30's tomorrow morning.


The weather has to turn cool for one last cold snap to set the buds on the blackberry vines. When the blackberries are in full bloom then we usually have blackberry winter for a couple of days.


I always think it's strange to have such cool temperatures during the first of May and by the end of May (Memorial Day), summer is in full swing.

I love living in the south. We'll soon be picking blackberries! They grow wild here in the strangest places, but beware when picking. The snakes like them too!

Fairytale Weddings