Friends

Miss Sandy, whose blog is listed over there----> and here I Beati , listed the "Friends/Southern Friends" list in the comments of my previous post. Then, she also listed them on her blog. I thought them worth repeating here for any readers who don't read comments and didn't catch them on her blog. Thank you Sandy!

I find that the list of qualities is only slightly different here beneath the Carolina moon, but not significant enough to quibble over. Hah! There's you and odd word Miss Sandy, that you don't hear out of the current generation. I like it. Quibble. Something friends don't do, especially Southern friends. Well they my quibble, but not seriously, just mostly for fun. Here's the list with a few of my "comments":

FRIENDS: Never ask for food.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Always bring the food, so southern friends never have to ask for food.

FRIENDS: Will say 'hello'
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will give you a big hug and a kiss. Whether you want it or not!

FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. and Mrs.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Call your parents Mama and Daddy; usually accompanying their first or last name, like Daddy James, or Mama Jones.

FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Cry with you. And pray with you, and sometimes you cry over them, as well as pray.

FRIENDS: Will eat at your dinner table and leave.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will spend hours there, talking, laughing, and just being together. But, will also insist on helping to clear the dishes and wash up.

FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you, and usually have a cousin who cashed in on it and did (with your permission of course)

FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds' back-ends that left you, and never leave you.

FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, 'I'm home!' I beg your pardon, they call out first, then come in.

FRIENDS: Will visit you in jail
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will spend the night in jail with you, if they can't raise your bond, which they probably will.

FRIENDS: Will visit you in the hospital when you're sick
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Will cut your grass and clean your house then come spend the night with you in the hospital and cook for you when you come home. All without thought to repayment at all.

FRIENDS: Have you on speed dial
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Have your number memorized. That's in case we have to call for someone to get us out of jail, or take us home from the hospital.

FRIENDS: Are for a while.
SOUTHERN FRIENDS: Are for life. Yep. Even when you're arguing or disagreeing.

Posted by Dread who enjoys many pleasant acquaintances, but only a few true friendships.

Death, Political Traffic Cones, and Sanity

Over at the Sudden Curve, Bob Wallace, also of Uncle Bob’s Tree House, and a great American, has posted the untimely death of Norman, his pug. Drop by and leave your condolences, whatever those may be. http://tonova.typepad.com/thesuddencurve/

What are we here for if not for each other? I’ve had my fill of atheist liberals and chicken hawk conservatives. I’ve decided that there’s a political position, and should be party, called “somewhat sane”. The "somewhat sane" will pool some of their surplus resources for those who suffer misfortune. The "somewhat sane" will not feel pangs of sorrow for those who refuse to help themselves due to a sense of entitlement. The "somewhat sane" will realize that we each make choices, and choices have consequences that we each live with. The "somewhat sane" will not fight wars except in immediate self defense, and will not meddle in the affairs of others who choose to live lives of mediocrity, or simplicity, or even stupidity.

The "somewhat sane" realize that none of us have all the answers, but that a few of us have some of the answers, and will refuse to be disappointed in those who call some bad shots, and will not over glorify those who made a few correct calls. The "somewhat sane" realize that collectively we are no smarter than the dumbest idea we are willing to accept.

Since the dummocrats have a first term senator running for president by campaigning to foreign audiences, I suppose to give him foreign policy experience? And the repugnantcans have a candidate that says he would like to speak to foreign audiences once he is president, I suppose that’s what presidents do, speak to foreign audiences? Since all this has me somewhat weirded out, I will vote for the “somewhat sane” party candidate, just as soon as we have one. Are there any volunteers?

Please! Do not recommend that green party nuisance nor a libertarian. I am looking for a "somewhat sane" candidate for president. Lacking that, I’ll vote for John McCain. At least he means well. Sometimes meaning well is as sane as it gets, here beneath the Carolina moon.

Posted by Dread who often wonders what, or sometimes if, the average American thinks.

Crepe Myrtles and Blackberries

There are just too many summer distractions for me to stay close to the web and do regular updates to a blog. Maybe once a week should be my goal. In the midst of dog days, the crepe myrtles have been blooming in their array from deep red, to purple, to lavender, to light pink and back down the spectrum to a moderate pink and an almost red hot pink. Then there are the white ones. They tend to have a different trunk structure and form a lower bush like shape. At any rate, this year, they've been a fabulous summer addition to the local landscape. I snapped a picture out the car window, in case some readers don't have crepe myrtles where they are. Some readers may not have blackberries either. My heart goes out to you.

Here, blackberries have been ripening in their usual wave of abundance. Of course there are several wild varieties of these sweet, slightly tart, morsels that grow locally where ever a strip of land is left unattended for very long. You see them along field edges, roadsides, and railroad tracks. It's hard to ride though this county for far and not spot a small or large patch of blackberries. I've yet to pick any this year, but I've been yearning for an old fashioned, deep-dish, blackberry cobbler.

A layer of pie crust, a layer of berries, a layer of sugar, a layer of butter, another layer of pie crust, another layer of berries, another layer of sugar, another layer of butter, yet another layer of pie crust, yet another layer of berries, yet another layer of sugar, yet another layer of butter, and on and on, until you top out the deep dish with a layer of pie crust painted with melted butter. Bake all that until it has bubbled a while. Good cooks will know when it is done and the top crust will brown.

Serve up a deep, hot, scoop of this now blackberry dumpling like pie, with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream on top. A sprig of crepe myrtle blooms in a vase, as a center piece on the table, will remind everyone partaking of the cobbler and ice cream that they aren't in heaven, just close, beneath the Carolina Moon.

Posted by Dread who's gone searching for a few late ripening berries.

Dog Days

My noticeable absence from blogging and the blogospere in general, has been due to: (a) having a summer cold, (b) being preoccupied with home repair, building, and gardening outdoors, (c) I couldn’t find a reason to spend summer hours, that I didn’t have to, in front of a computer. While I was away, I noticed, from my catch-up reading, that Sandy K’s home nearly burned down, thanks, to a Florida electric company that seems as antiquated as the third world company we have in this part of the Carolinas. We’ll keep Ms. Sandy in our prayers and lift an extra one for her and her pet menagerie. I’m glad she and the critters are safe.

I also noted that David over at Dark Planet was distraught with disappointment over Barak Hussein Obama’s vote in the U.S. Senate for obliterating U.S. citizen privacy and rights. There’s one thing I’ll never have to worry about. There is no way that Obamesiah will ever disappoint me. I expect nothing from him, but the worst.

This morning when I walked out on the porch to check the weather, the temperature was 77F and the humidity was 76%. This is the south. More specifically, it’s the south beneath the Carolina moon, and it’s the beginning of dog days. The heat and humidity will only get worse from here until mid to late August. Summer though is my favorite season, no matter what.

I love it hot. I love the green of the forest, the lawns, the gardens and the blossoms of the tens of thousands of plants that bloom here in our subtropical climate. It’s just that dog days are kind of rough on some people. Personally I think dog days are a signal, to slow down and savor the delights of the season.

The drought has finally broken, which is another reason I’ve neglected both blogging and the net in general. Plants are finally growing and the earth has softened enough to dig in. I’ve worked on the rock wall out front, to wall off the neighbor, and got carried away preparing a flower and plant bed. So, I have perspired sufficiently in the last two weeks to suffice for a year. I suspect that by the time I finish, I will have perspired a small pond’s worth of water; especially, if I continue to work outdoors, gardening, for the remainder of dog days. So, I’ve thrown a small pond into my landscape plan for the rear garden.

We’ve had a hard rain with a bit of thunder and a stiff breeze today, which gave me just the excuse I wanted to take a day’s break from gardening and home repair. Tomorrow, the regular grind of work resumes. Today, I’ll rest. It’s a good way to spend a dog day Sunday.

Posted by Dread, who on this dog day afternoon, is enjoying the rain, the breeze, and very soon, the nap.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

"Good Fences Make Good Neighbors", Robert Frost the poet quoted his neighbor in Mending Wall as saying, and mused even his neighbor's father before him. And so it seems is time for me to perhaps place a rock wall myself between my neighbor and me. If she can't mind her own fickle business, then I shall wall her out of mine. I've been collecting rocks and now, I've just about enough to get a fair height wall between my flower bed and her property out the front of the property.

It seems the neighbors to my right are a congenial and friendly sort. To the left there is trouble. So I'm going to attempt the ancient solution of putting a wall between us. I doubt it will work permanently. Walls never do. But, if it will work for a while, that shall suffice, and perhaps forestall an all out war between us.

If the wall doesn't work, then perhaps I shall try the David Letterman neighborhood relations method, of parking the trashiest, worst, grunge, junky pickup truck I can find, and make even worse, in front of my house. As long as it passes safety standards, and is insured and operable, there's not a thing anyone can do about it being in my driveway, except gripe and get their bowels in an uproar. Unsightly vehicles are not a violation of law nor the restrictive covenants of my neighborhood. Maybe the left neighbors will move if their right neighbor riles them so badly.

I'm open to suggestions. How do you rid yourself of a disagreeable neighbor? Meanwhile, I'm sharpening my chisels and masonry hammer edges, and have oiled the wheelbarrow wheel. This holiday weekend, I'll tackle the stones. I'm hoping that good fences will make good neighbors, here beneath the Carolina moon. I'd find it painful to trash out a perfectly good fishing truck.

Posted by Dread who despises ruckus and loves peace and quiet.