wacky wednesday - how the times change

In the course of living life, everyone experiences stress. The car breaks down, the babysitter gets sick, the boss is unreasonable, kids are ... well, kids.

In days of yore (that would be the 1960's), advertisers convinced us a warm, relaxing bath would get rid of all our stress. Remember "Calgon, take me away?" (You can view the commercial here.) For less than two bucks you could purchase enough Calgon bubble bath for a dozen or so de-stressing soaks. I remember people thinking that was a splurge - you don't need bubbles to take a bath.

Fast forward a "few" decades to the present time. During a recent flight, as I was perusing the Skymall Magazine, I read about a device designed as an "escape to a world of serenity and slumber" ... the serenity pod.

The description continues with "(its) elliptical exterior blocks 90% of outside noise while the interior amplifies the sound inside. The wireless sound system gently rocks you to sleep with vibration while the LEDs change colors wirelessly from an app on your smartphone or tablet."

And for only $10,000 it can be yours. Yes, that was TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. And while you are at it, order a smaller one for your dog or cat for a mere $1000. Seriously, just how stressed do you think your pet is? 

I don't know about you but if I spent $10,000 on my bed or $1000 on Fido's bed, I would be anything but serene. 

wacky wednesday - you might be in arizona if...

I am almost a native Arizonan (my family moved here when I was five days old). I have briefly lived other places, never longer than a year, and always return "home" to Arizona. Over the course of many years, I have noticed certain... um, peculiarities... about the great state of Arizona.

You might be in Arizona if ...

1.  Mileage markers on the freeway are in kilometers, not miles. Interstate 19 (I-19), a freeway of just over 63 miles that runs from Mexico to Tucson, is the country's ONLY highway that lists distances in kilometers instead of miles. The Carter Administration orchestrated it to make the interstate more accessible to tourists coming from Mexico and also to introduce the metric system to Americans. As we all know, the metric system never caught on here but businesses don't want the signage changed. However, speed limit signs have always been in mph, not kph.

2.  You find spent cartridge cases ("desert shells") on a roadside picnic table. Arizonans love their guns. I think it goes back to our "Wild West" roots. It is not uncommon to see folks walking around town with a gun holstered on their side. There are at least two gun ranges within ten miles of our house. Finding a deserted area in the desert for some target practice is a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. 

3.  You see rivers with no water. It is not uncommon to drive over bridges with nothing but a dry riverbed beneath them (often with vegetation growing in the bottom!) and a sign identifying the "river." The photo below is the Gila River!

4.  You see saguaro cactus. Arizona is the only place in the United States where saguaro cactus grow. And they grow abundantly! These majestic cacti often look like they are beckoning to us, telling us to "c'mon over!"

5. You see a handicapped parking place with a ramp to the picnic table at a roadside (not a "rest area") picnic area. Arizonans are friendly and welcoming to visitors and "new transplants." Many of our winter visitors are disabled or have difficulty walking, especially on uneven terrain, and roadside stops like this one make it easier for them.

Arizona is well-known for a lot of things - the Grand Canyon, our mild winter weather, our blisteringly hot summers, a sheriff who makes inmates wear pink underwear and copper, to name a few. I have to admit I love both the little and the big things that make Arizona different. There is no other place I would rather live. I hope you feel that way about the place you live - it is a wonderful feeling!

wacky wednesday - truth or fiction?

State legislatures have a lot on their plates right now. Education issues. Health care. State budgets. School vaccination requirements. Prison reform. Illegal immigration. So I was deeply puzzled about Oklahoma's state legislature spending valuable time deciding whether or not they should repeal a law they passed in 2007 declaring the watermelon their state vegetable.

That's right. Oklahoma legislators passed a bill, and the governor signed it, designating the watermelon their state VEGETABLE and now some lawmakers think they should repeal that law because, well, a watermelon is a fruit. I couldn't help but wonder if they just now realized that. Or was there more to the story?

Rush Springs, OK is home to the state's annual watermelon festival and the self-proclaimed watermelon capital of the world. The people of Rush Springs felt the watermelon should be honored with official status. One of their legislators agreed but the strawberry had already been named Oklahoma's official state fruit in 2005. He found a "scientist" who was willing to say that, while technically a fruit, the watermelon is also a vegetable since it is an edible plant. Using that logic, wheat and rice are also vegetables. This flawed logic allowed the legislator to introduce a bill, which passed and became law, naming the watermelon the official state vegetable of Oklahoma.

I agree with the legislator trying to repeal the law. Questionable or out-dated laws make a mockery of our legislative process. They could make the watermelon the official state melon thereby eliminating the "confusion" and making everyone happy.

Unfortunately, the hours and days spent debating frivolous topics in state legislatures is not rare. For example, in 2014, New York legislators passed a bill naming yogurt the state's official snack after hours and hours of debate addressing such important questions as "Should the official status be limited to low-sugar, low-fat yogurt?" and "Since many people can't consume dairy products should they designate a lactose and non-lactose state snack?" And in 2011,  Arizona's legislature passed a bill designating the Colt Single Action Army Revolver, a gun popular in the 1800's as the Wild West was being settled, the  official state gun after spending days debating the pros (it preserves a piece of Arizona's history) and cons (it was a gun that killed many Native Americans in the Wild West) of such an action. And the list goes on and on.

Some legal commentators have suggested that frivolous topics for legislative debate are necessary - that they add a little humor to the workplace and help "destress" the body of legislators before they go on to more hot button topics.

I say if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

In the meantime, roll up your sleeves and tackle the important issues. If there is time left in the session after ALL the essential concerns are taken care of, then go ahead and debate which silverware pattern should be the official state one (Kentucky chose Old Kentucky Blue Grass - The Georgetown Pattern in 1996) or whether "silly haircuts" should be allowed on children (several states have laws prohibiting "silly haircuts").

wacky wednesday - midnight marauders

One Saturday night about midnight, just as I getting up from my chair to go to bed, my sweet hubby announced that a new geocache 1.2 miles from our house had just been posted. We immediately sprang into action.

For a geocacher, one of the most fun things is being able to write "FTF" (First To Find) on the log. Many caches are posted on the website late at night or in the early morning and it amazes me that people are out hunting at 3:00am. And now we were about to join the ranks of the midnight marauders.

We quickly gathered the bare necessities for geocaching (a smartphone, a pen and some gloves) and drove to the area where the cache was. Urban geocaches are sometimes tricky because you need to be aware of muggles (non-geocachers who might take or vandalize the caches). I often take my camera just to provide some "cover" for us walking around and getting into awkward positions as we look for the cache. But at 12:30am I was pretty sure there wouldn't be too many muggles around the industrial park area we were searching.

Boy, oh boy,  was I wrong!

When we arrived, two police cars were parked in a Circle K parking lot at the major intersection about a quarter of a mile away. Soon a third one joined them, all with their lights flashing. We wondered if they could see our flashlight beams dancing around and discussed which of our friends we would call to bail us out of jail.

We watched the same pick-up truck leave one of the businesses carrying some firewood in its bed and return empty four or five times. I wonder if they were as curious about what we were doing as we were about what they were doing. Who gets firewood delivered in the middle of the night?

A little after 1:00am a sedan came careening into the parking lot where we were and made a fast turn in the opposite direction going around the building. Hmm... that was kind of curious. We never saw them leave.

Around 1:30am a couple of cars drove down the street into the industrial park areas and a little while later returned to exit onto the main road.

Throughout all this activity we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and still search for a "micro"  cache in the dark. After we had searched the same area at least a dozen times, I finally found it's hiding spot.

Oh what fun to be midnight marauders AND put FTF on the log!!