Blue Blazes

Has it been hot where you live? It's been swelteringly hot here. My grandmother would have said that it's "hot as blue blazes." We stand a good chance today of breaking a temperature record for the fourth day in a row. I wilt in the heat. My discomfort says I was made to follow the climate, but my wallet says "no."

I was invited to go to the beach this past weekend, and that was a treat. Sheldon likes to go to Virginia Beach on summer Saturdays, and he asked me to go along. His son, Ricky, met us at the beach, and we spent most of the day enjoying the sun, water, and ocean breezes. The water was cold and refreshing. Sheldon looked at his brand of eye-candy, and I enjoyed my own. No harm in looking, right? There was this one fellow in particular... but I digress.

On the way back home, we rode by my childhood home. Boy, I wish I owned a digital camera. Everything looked so pretty. They've had a mild spring in Tidewater, too, with plenty of rain, so everything was lush & green. Many of the trees are now fifty years old. My boyhood house looked neat as a pin. Our brick barbeque chimney and my dad's beloved shed were still in the backyard. It all looked almost exactly as it did when my parents lived there. You could tell that the folks who live there love their home, which makes it nice for me. I assume that the same people who bought it back in the 80's still own it. I also saw my mother's old car sitting in our backyard neighbor's driveway. I sold Mom's car to Ruby after my mother died, and Ruby still drives it. I hadn't been in my old neighborhood in a long while, and it reminded me of how lucky I was to grow up the way I did.

For your hot weather diversion, I've included a quiz from Blogthings. I like their quizzes, because they are so scientific. You can really base your life on whatever the quiz results reveal about you. Before you move on to the Beach Test and the Fridge Quiz, let's take a moment for an important announcement.

Tomorrow, June 11, will mark seventeen years of sobriety for Pam! Pam has a Great Dane named Theo, so as far as Theo is concerned it's really one-hundred & nineteen years. Either way, it's a long time, and it shows that a twelve-step program of recovery can work. That's why these anniversary dates are so important; they give hope to those who still suffer. Pam is an inspiration and a friend, and I love dropping by her site each day. Sometimes her posts are funny, sometimes they're touching; they are always honest and real. Pam's a friendly Texas gal, so click here if you'd like to say "howdy" and wish her well.

What the Beach Test Says About You

You tend to be a very social person. You live for your friends and family. You can get social burnout occasionally though. You aren't a total extrovert. You have cold feet when it comes to love. You have a lot of uncertainty until you convince yourself to dive right in. You are deeply passionate about several things in your life. You're not passionate about much... and the few passions you have are truly obsessions. Your sense of humor is intellectual and obscure. Only really well educated people get your jokes.

The Beach Test

Next, let's take a look at the refrigerator...

What Your Fridge Says About You

You like to be surrounded by things you love. You aren't exactly greedy, but you can be materialistic at times. You tend to be a fairly thrifty person. You splurge occasionally, but you're mostly a saver. You are a very adventurous person. You love to try new things, and you get bored very easily. You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it. You are likely married, possibly with kids.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

Kids? Married? Uh-oh! That must have happened during a blackout.

Feeling Testy

I have a T-shirt from a trip to St. Pete's beach in Florida emblazoned with Crabby Bill on the back. Although the shirt seemed to be made with me in mind, it was a souvenir shirt from a beachfront restaurant near our hotel. My friend and travel companion Brenda and I agreed, though, that it suited me just fine.


I've been crabby the past few days because I hurt my foot, and I've been having trouble getting around. I'd like to say that the injury resulted from rock climbing, saving a child from a mad dog, or even jogging, but I'd be lying. It was an unprovoked attack from my vacuum cleaner. I'm not sure if it lunged, or I made a misstep. Either way, I slammed my foot into it and - boy - does it hurt. I tried ignoring it the first day, but when I took my sneaker off that night my foot "swole up." as Pam would say. The pain has made sleep difficult, and I turn into Crabby Bill when I don't get rest. All this because of a stupid Electrolux. That'll learn me to stay away from housework.


Sitting at the computer makes my foot throb. Watching movies in bed with my foot propped up seems to be helping, so I hope to be back on both feet soon. In the meanwhile, I've included some tests and a game below to help pass some of your time. The first one concerns your health, is from the CDC, and is a must for anyone considering long-range travel.

adult immunization quiz

Do you think you know yourself? I found out that I've changed. Below is one of the best personality tests around.

Jung/Myers-Briggs

You can take a variety of morality tests through the next link. Ooh, scary!

morals

This one is just silly, but it may take you awhile to get the hang of this game.

cat-with-bow golf

I'll be mending my foot and working on a new post in the meantime. Have fun, and please check back soon!

p.s. I forgot to say Happy Easter! Here's a seasonal quiz for you. Hop to it...

What Your Easter Egg Says About You

You are truly optimistic, open, and hopeful. And your optimism gives you the courage to live life adventurously. You love new experiences, ideas, and challenges. You see life as a fluid, growing process.

The Easter Egg Personality Test

84% Dixie

Growing up in a "Navy Town" meant that, although there were people whose families had lived in the area for generations, a large part of the population was transient, coming from all over the country. Even though I grew up in a Southern state, I developed a much fainter Southern accent than my cousins who lived at the other end of Virginia.


When I first moved to Richmond, I was surprised at the difference that a ninety minute car ride made in the way people talked. For example, let's use the words mouse and house. I pronounce the 'ou' in these words like the 'ow' in cow. When born-and-bred Richmonders I met said they had "a mouse in the house" these words rhymed with dose. I had a Mom and a Dad; they had a Mumma and a Deddy (said together it turned into mummindeddy). I might go buy groceries at the end of my day, but I worked with a couple of women who would "make groceries" on their way home. My boss, Chuck, didn't invite me over for a beer; it was a bee-uh. A bear was a buy-uh. The James Riv-uh bisects Richmond. There were new expressions to learn, also, that I had never heard in Virginia Beach. An assurance of sincerity was "I'm serious as a heart (haht) attack," and a joke-teller might be "as funny as a crutch."


My grandmother, who lived in Iowa all her life, gave directions based on the magnetic compass. You didn't turn right at the end of a road, you went west. This applied to everything, and everyone in Iowa seemed in on it. My dad would get confused when he would ask where he could find a spoon in her kitchen, and be told it was in the north drawer. I always stayed in the east bedroom when we visited her. My parents slept in the west room. This method of pinpointing locations made a lot of sense once I got used to it. No matter where you start from, east is east and west is west, but right and left depend entirely on your point of origination. This is also easy in Iowa, where most roads are laid out on a grid pattern. In Virginia, where roads must twist around mountainsides and waterways, you can go in all four directions within ten minutes.


If I think I don't carry my own accent and regionalisms around with me, all I have to do is visit my relatives in Iowa. They don't mind pointing out my Southern drawl. In fact, I learned today that my speech is 84% Dixie. A friend told me about an interesting quiz that was quite fun. Click on this link to see how you score, and be sure to drop by afterwards to share your results in a comment. Y'all come back now, ya hear?