Thursday's Thirteen: October's to do list

Since its October first or nearly at this posting, here are thirteen things for October in no particular order.

I would have posted some photos but my internet service is acting funny.



1. Setting out the autumn decorations.



2. Getting out and decorating for Halloween. It’s not the same decorations as the autumn ones.



3. Raking fall leaves. I really hate this chore. We have sycamore trees, they have big leaves. Lots and lots of them.



4. Dusting the house and getting it ready, so I can shut all the windows for the cold season.



5. Picking out a pumpkin. I don’t do this quite so much now that my daughter is older.



6. Pulling out the spent spring flowers and planting fall bulbs or more mums.



7. Cleaning out my planters and planting some fall flowers.



8. Putting away all the shorts and summer clothes. Then digging out of the back of my closet for my long sleeve blouses and long pants. Cool weather clothes, oh how I miss thee.



9. Costume making time. My daughter has taken over this chore. She’s too old for trick-or-treating, but there’s an Ani-jam on Halloween that’s she’ll be attending. She won third place in the last one for her costume she had made.



10. Buying Halloween candy. We don’t get trick-or-treaters, we live too far out of town but I buy them for my small family. We like candy. :)



11. This year it’s on us for my daughter’s senior year school picture. It all has to be done by October 15th.



12. Get sign up for the Nanowritmo (National Novel Writer’s Month). It’s always a crazy month for me, but for the last three years I have finished in time with a 50,000 word novel.



13. Celebrate my hubby’s Birthday. His B-day is on the 29th.

Confucius's birthday

Birthday of Confucius – Eighth Moon, Day 27
(September/October) Click for western date >> One of China's most influential philosophers who lived 2,500 years ago, Confucius still has a strong following in Hong Kong, where his birthday is celebrated with great reverence.Confucius' left a legacy of teachings and ethics that stress self-enlightenment through the Five Virtues of charity, justice, propriety, wisdom and loyalty. Filial devotion and ancestral worship, observed during the Ching Ming and Chung Yeung festivals, continue to be a cornerstone of Confucian practice today, in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.

Confucius's quotes:

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
Confucius
- More quotations on: [Mistakes]
Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.
Confucius
Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.
Confucius
Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
Confucius
- More quotations on: [Kindness]
He who will not economize will have to agonize.
Confucius
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Confucius
Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.
Confucius
- More quotations on: [Ignorance]
It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
Confucius
Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart.
Confucius
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.
Confucius
Respect yourself and others will respect you.
Confucius
- More quotations on: [Respect]
Study the past if you would define the future.
Confucius
The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.
Confucius
- More quotations on: [Security]
To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.
Confucius
To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.
Confucius
To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle.
Confucius
What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.
Confucius
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius
- More quotations on: [Anger]
When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
Confucius
Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
Confucius
They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
Confucius, Analects
By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
Have no friends not equal to yourself.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
- More quotations on: [Friendship]
He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
- More quotations on: [Humility]
He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are successful may be called intelligent indeed.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects
- More quotations on: [Faith]
I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.
Confucius, The Confucian Analects

Thursday's Thirteen: the colors of Fall

Thirteen colors of Fall.

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1. Grass-Green.

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2. Light green of faded sycamore leaves.

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3. Olive green of dry leaves.

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4. Red of maple leaves.
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5. Gold of a fully mature Sunflower just ready to pick.
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6. Burgundy of mock cherry leaves.
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7. Light Brown of baked earth after the harvest.
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8. Dark brown of the earth when the first rains come.
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9. Tan of dried corn husks.
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10. Dried Wheat Yellow.
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11. Pumpkin-Orange.
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12. Deep Orange-red of fall decorations.
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13. With October just around the corner what is fall without Halloween-black?

Fall

It Fall! One of our fall leaves we'll have to rake up.

The good news raking uses up a lot of calories.

Its the official first day of Autumn.

But you can't go by us here in sunny California it was a hundred degrees today. Hot, hot and will be hot again tomorrow.

According to the forecasts we will have more fall like weather next week, with temps in the eightiesAt Lest I still have some color in my garden.

9-11-01 Remembrance

Today for us the US it will be the eighth year anniversary of that terrible day 9-11-01.
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We should never forget the ones who died, or the heroism that was born on that day.
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Some people found courage, and some people patriotism.
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The old red white and blue still carried a lot of weight in this country, and it blossomed and flowed turned our sorrow into our national colors.

Thursday's Thirteen: Animals that I have seen around my home.

Thirteen Animals that we’ve seen around our country home:

1. Mice. The darn things keep getting into the house.

2. Rats. That’s something you don’t want to see in the house, but they’ve been here living in the walls and attic.

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3. Possums. Don't let anyone fool you these guys are ugly they look like big rats, as far as I'm concerned they are marsupial rats. And they've been eating the cats food, bit our chickens on the leg which killed the poor chicken from an infection later. Ugh, I hate possums. Two young ones somehow got into the house too. Scared me half to death.
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4. Coyotes. We hear their eerie cries almost every night. They’ve eaten my chickens, ducks and my cats too believe it or not.

5. Ring tailed cat. I saw one on the porch eating the cat’s food. It tore off when I turned the light on and looked out. They’re ingenious to California and it’s rare to see one. And here I had one eating on my front porch.

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6. Raccoon. I saw one dead by the side of the road. Sad.

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7. Skunk. They too like the taste of our cat’s food. I hate when one gets into the habit of visiting our house, they smell up the house something awful. Frabreeze can only do so much.

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8. Peacock. A few years ago I heard a weird call and went outside, and there it was a male peacock with beautiful plumage. It took one look at me and ran back into the vineyard that used to be here.

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9. Boar. It was a white male pig. Big sucker but lean like it wasn’t being fed much. It was running around slurping up the grapes that my landlord was paying to have laid out to turn into raisins back when there were raisin grapes here. My landlord even asked me if the damn thing was mine. Nope. I’m not sure what happened to it, but it disappeared.

10. Goat. I was coming home after I had dropped off my daughter at school and thought I saw a dog with a gummy sack on it head. I stopped the car and got out, but it turned out to be a male goat that had pulled out his chain. It took one look at me and ran hell bent for home. Gee, I sure scare the animals don’t I?

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11. Pheasant. There use to be a lot that ran around here making an odd coughing sound, but I don’t see them very much anymore.

12. Horned and Barn Owl. The barn owl nests on our pine tree out front and I've seen the horned owl roosting on a telephone pole dawn or dusk. I hear them screech or who. One was trying to catch a rat and kept flying into my daughter’s bedroom window. She said, she didn’t get much sleep that night because of the crazy owl and the rat.

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13. Hawk. There are a lot of birds of prey both small and large that hunt around here. One time when I was taking a bike ride I heard a hawk scream and I look up in time to see it dive on it prey. Last year while I was taking my daughter home from school we saw one flying with a snake gripped in its talon.

Bone Dry Monday

The worst thing about living out in the country is being on a well, especially in a dry arid place like Madera California. We're been in a drought for the last three years and with all the newbies and of course the farmers have to pump the water out of the ground their crops our water table has dropped.

Saturday I noticed our water didn't have much pressure. Hubby went and checked the well, the pump was working fine but there was no pressure. He asked me to turn off my drip lines to my garden which I did. We all manage to get one quick shower before the water stopped.

Yesterday we all made a trip to my mom's house to have a bath. Today hubby took a shower at work and my daughter is already at my mom's I'll be leaving shortly to have another shower at her house.

I hate this, and it would have to happen over a holiday weekend. My landlord when called got right on it, but the repair men said they couldn't do anything until at least Tuesday. And I suppose that means they will have to dig the well deeper.

On the bright side that is tomorrow, if they can make it out anyway.

Thursday's Thirteen: Funny Movie Quotes

Thirteen famous movie quotes, the funny ones of course.
And in no particular order:

1. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
If I'm not back in five minutes... wait longer!

2. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Lois: How would you like me to make your life a living hell?
Ace Ventura: Well, I'm not really ready for a relationship, Lois, but thank you for asking. Hey, maybe I'll give you a call sometime. Your number's still 911? All righty then.

3. The Addams Family:
Pugsley: We're not shy!
Wednesday: We're contagious.

4. Addams Family Values:
(Gomez refers to the girl popping out of the cake at a bachelor party)
Was she in there before you baked it?

5. Addams Family Values:
Gomez: Children, why do you hate the baby?
Pugsley: We don't hate him. We just wanna play with him.
Wednesday: Especially his head.

6. Addams Family Values:
Little Girl: ...and then Mommy kissed Daddy, and the angel told the stork, and the stork flew down from heaven, and put the diamond in the cabbage patch, and the diamond turned into a baby!
Pugsley: Our parents are having a baby too.
Wednesday: They had sex.

7. Airplane:
There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?

8. Animal Crackers:
Spaulding: (to two ladies) Let's get married!
Mrs. Rittenhouse: The three of us? Why, that's bigamy!
Spaulding: Yes! And it's big of me, too!

9. Arthur:
I'm so rich, I wish I had a dime for every dime I have.

10. Gun:

“Your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash”, Captain Tom “Stinger” Jordan (James Tolkan)

11. The Empire Strikes Back:

“I’d rather kiss a wookie”, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher)

12. Crocodile Dundee :

“You call that a knife? That’s not a knife. This is a knife”, Michael “Crocodile” Dundee (Paul Hogan)

13. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:

“You can’t respect someone who kisses your ass. I just doesn’t work”, Ferris Bueller (Mathew Broderick)

September first

The first of September.

This month we have Labor day (US) to look forward too, so that's a three day weekend for my daughter and maybe my hubby. If they let him off.

Then there is Fall back.

Yeah, I really look forward to daylight saving time. I just checked it not until November 1, so my clocks can wait. Woot!

The first day of Fall is this month, while I enjoy the cooler weather what I don't like is having to rake leaves.
And my sycamore trees are already dropping their leaves. Dang them!