Image of Pluto

What can I say?

It has been crazy for a couple of weeks. Either there is too much to do or I just can't keep up any more.

I need to click "refresh" in my brain. Maybe it will reboot and settle down.

In the meantime enjoy this silliness.

That was the week that was

I sometimes pull my head out of the sand after a week like this one past. The illustrious and fairly (very) conservative Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has handed down some middle of the road decisions. Essentially,  they have allowed millions of people to keep their health insurance (and not have to use the ER for their doctor) and they have also allowed for any two people who love each other and want to get married to actually do so.

As right wing heads explode over this "judicial tyranny" I smile for common decency and a little common sense. I still don't believe, however, that corporations have the same rights as individual humans when it comes to campaign contributions which is one of many of their decisions I disagree with. But, I (we) have to live with those decisions for now. I'm just funny that way.

The murder of nine people in a church in South Carolina has gotten people to consider the treasonous, seditious, racist confederate flag might be offensive to a lot of folks and maybe should not be revered by certain state governments. Maybe there some folks that don't take offense at people actually owning other people because "that is who we are"and "it is part of our heritage". Even though that way of life supposedly ended 150 years ago there are still some that are proud of it and have tried their best to carry it on. I hope they all die out soon.

So much for a little rant.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, the women folk are healing up after their assorted ailments and life is slowly returning to  what passes for normal.

Things are looking summery  around here. In the greenhouse there was a frog on the pitcher handle. Just a little one.

All kinds of flowery things are blooming with new ones every week.

Then there are the "three amigos,"  (left to right) The Colonel, Draugen, and Mirage doing what they do best.

The local deer get in on the action by helping keep the grass trimmed. The Colonel assumes the same position in his pasture.

Scenes of summer from the harbor as the Hjørdis heads for the open lake.

I have two cousins in Denmark that go by the same name as the schooner. Both of them use the more common nickname of Disa. Both charming and delightful women. The older Disa (pictured with my brother) is one of the youngest of my father's generation and the other is my age. I wish they didn't live so far away.

I hope you all had a good week.

Like

Like is a many splendored thing.
It is better to have liked and lost than never to have liked at all.
Who, being liked, is poor? 
 A baby is born with a need to be liked — and never outgrows it.
 Like is, above all, the gift of oneself.
All is fair in like and war.
She likes you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've lost that likin' feeling.
I just called to say I like you.

And so it goes. With "like" being one of the most often used word in the modern American English I thought I would see just what it means. It's like, and I'm like, and he's like, all over this like thing. As a form of hesitation instead of "um", "uh", "er", "ah" you can now use the word 'like", because it's like, you know, like, cool. 
How does that happen in an evolving language?

Maybe it has something to do with FACEBOOK. You can like all kinds of things there. You can't love them or okay them, but you can unlike something. Only if you previously liked it, however. Millions of people like millions of other people or things every day there. It is a likefest of enormous proportion going on 24/7. But is there only like in this world?

What's wrong with "you know"?

“Well, you know, that’s something, obviously, that, you know, in principle and in the campaign, you know, I think that, um, the tax cuts, you know, were expiring and needed to be repealed.” - Caroline Kennedy referring to the Bush tax cuts. 

I guess it is a thing for older folks.

Instead of he said or she said , now it's he's like and she's like. The origins are said to come from "Valley speak" from the late 70's and into the '80's (like, totally).

There is a help page at wikihow to help you to STOP saying like (If you like, even wanted to). Seriously!
The first lesson is:
 

Know how the word "like" is supposed to be used. In English, there are only two correct, proper usages for the word "like." These are:

• Similarity - "This tastes like chicken."
• Enjoyment - "I like this movie."

Who am I to argue?

While being "liked" is often what happens when you are "friend-zoned". This is the ultimate expression of like to most young men. It's never going to be love just because you want it to be. I know this happens to heterosexuals and can only assume it happens to homosexuals, as well, but either way it is a pathetic place to be.

But, I digress.
My favorite Likes are substitutes for love in song titles. They give me the giggles. So if you see a 64 year old man walkng down the street chuckling to himself he may be thinking of things like this:
The Greatest like of all
The Power of like
Dreamliker
I want to know what Like is
What's like Got to do With it
Like will keep us Together
She likes You
To Sir with Like
Crazy Little thing called Like
I Will Always Like You
How Deep is your Like
Endless Like

And this list is nearly, like, endless.

or he might just be a bit crazy.

Here's likin' at you, kid!
 

It's June!

It has been an eclectic week here at the old homestead and points beyond.

We haven't had any snow for nearly two whole weeks and the old apple tree has blossoms!

The Cooker needed some foot surgery to relieve some nagging pain so I took her to the teeming metropolis of Duluth for said surgery. It's a few hours away so we went after work on Monday and stayed in a tall (by Duluth standards) hotel. Opening the curtains the next morning gave me the thrill of construction, ships in the harbor, and that iconic landmark, the lift bridge.

Then there is Stitch whose broken arm is healing nicely, but still in a cast from her tomato planting incident. If anyone saw all of us together in town yesterday they might think I am some kind of monster with two injured women and that I have a lot of nerve showing them in public. It's not like I tell people, "She ran into a door" or something. I certainly feel special having four functional limbs.

                                                                       Stitch's arm.
                                           

                                                            The Cooker's "Frankenboot."

So as long as we were in town I decided to go check out the annual Hot Rod and Classic Car Show again. Most of the vehicles come down here from the Thunder Bay, Ontario vicinity. I recognized some from previous years, but they are colorful and often nicely detailed. The best thing for them was that it didn't rain this year seeing as how there are some convertibles and open cars.

I really appreciate some of the details like this old Cadillac with the fuel filler cap under the tail light.

 My favorite detail was this valve stem cap and the effect it had. Note the photographer's reflection in the hubcap.

And before we had to do some more errands and get back to the farm I got to take in one of our local bands, The Splintertones, for a few songs. I have played with a couple of them in the past. They sounded very good even though they had chilly fingers. It was about 50F (or 10C), but the sun was warm and so was the crowd that was gathering.

It was even a pretty good week at work because no one spit on their money before handing it to me!

Click on the pics to embiggen.