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Sunday, May. 11, 2025

12:28am EDT

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PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJean Mayflowers

Rated: 13+ · Book · Biographical · #2198921

Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana

Well, hey there!
Welcome to Roundup, Montana! If it's a nice day, we'll sit a spell on my porch and talk awhile.

A poem captured my attention the other day.

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget 
Falls drop by drop upon the heart, 
Until, in our own despair,
 Against our will,
 Comes wisdom 
Through the awful grace of God.

Aeschylus

What's on your mind today?

Signature for use by anyone nominated for a Quill Award in 2020

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Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

QueenNormaJean Mayflowers

May 8, 2025 at 7:52pm
In response to "Dump it"

We could actually do the mulch thing and we talked about it. But we'd have to buy a chipper. Have to hire another person. Then have to bag and sell the product. Not happening.
We pay $50k a month for garbage disposal. We don't have a landfill. It's a transfer station. so all trash has to be hauled away.
NJ

1 Like

SandraLynn

May 8, 2025 at 10:54am
In response to "Dump it"

It sounds like the ol' rumour mill is not in danger of closing down any time soon. Too bad those particular wild fires could not burn all the debris refusing to cooperate.

Cubby

May 8, 2025 at 5:46am
In response to "Dump it"

People seem to have a lot more anger these days. I've noticed it the past few years. And perhaps it's just that they show it more in public more than they used to.

1 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 7, 2025 at 11:01pm
In response to "Dump it"

Maybe you should start writing screenplays and sell 'em to TV. This definitely sounds better than most of the stuff on the tube.

Here's an idea: get a giant mulcher for the dump and then give away (or sell) the mulch to residents to use on the gardens and the town & county to have for parks and stuff. They do that here so they can say they are green and not polluting or increasing the carbon in the air.

2 Like

Jeff

May 7, 2025 at 10:59pm
In response to "Dump it"

The Information Age has definitely accelerated people's ability to get outraged and air their grievances, that's for sure! I definitely miss the days where people would give one another the benefit of the doubt, and discuss their concerns rationally before getting offended and gossipy.

1 Like

THANKFUL SONALI 18 WDC Years!

May 5, 2025 at 2:27am
In response to "Big News"

Wow about the breakfast.
My friend hosted a big lunch yesterday, so it's a coincidence of sorts to read of another such event here in your blog!

Sigh about criminals who do horrible stuff. What must be happening in their heads, to make them be that way? Glad this one is off the streets.

Cubby

Apr 27, 2025 at 7:39am
In response to "Fire Day"

I should back-in more. I have--a few times--and loved getting into my car the next time and just pulling out.

I have a high respect for those volunteer firemen.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Apr 26, 2025 at 7:57pm
In response to "Fire Day"

Backing-in is common in Thailand. Don't know why folks here don't do it more... except... it takes a minute and everyone is rushed.

One clap of thunder and some rain here today.

1 Like

AmyJo-Spring's finally here!

Apr 26, 2025 at 7:01pm
In response to "Fire Day"

Must have been an interesting day. Sorry the jeep's reverse was acting up. Growing up in rural Michigan, my dad was a volunteer fireman, and there were times that our weekends were disrupted due to an alarm going off. Back then, we had a scanner and also CB's. (did I just "date" myself...LOL).

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for the blog news.

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

Apr 13, 2025 at 1:18pm
In response to "The News"

No one likes the truth when it's about something they should have done. I bet the mayor would be even more furious if the actual quote was published. By the way, are there minutes of council meetings that get published/posted for people to read?

Suggest whatever you ate last night that you don't again. At least it wasn't about cars being towed into your yard.

August 26, 2023 at 10:37pm

#1054693

The Idea of Kung Fu

I have nothing new to report on the neighbor across the alley. Stasis is good. I like that.

But now I am watching something on Netflix,. The series about Marco Polo. I don't know how authentic the history is. But I found this little tidbit: Kung Fu - supreme skill from hard work. That was the definition given to Marco Polo by the man training him in the art of Kung Fu back in the 1200's. So he states anyone can learn Kung Fu by repetition of anything, such as sweeping steps, being a masterful servant, a calligrapher, a poet, a painter, a cook. Practice, endless repetition to achieve Kung Fu. I guess in my Western mind the equivalent is 'practice makes perfect'. You don't play a concerto the first time you sit at the piano. You don't paint like Renoir the first time you pick up a paintbrush.

So we write, and write and rewrite. To someday achieve in the Eastern way of thinking 'Kung Fu'.

Comment • View 1 comment

August 25, 2023 at 11:26am

#1054576

Another Update!

Update!
Well folks, the mess behind us is growing yet again. Sort of like a volcano and some slow moving lava,. Added to the other accumulated 'stuff' are multiple branches from trees and whatnot, a baby walker, and more boxes.

Gracious...as long as they don't start parking in front of our garage door, I guess I'll just shake my head, complain again. Telling the city is of no effect. There is a 'compliance officer' but he does virtually nothing. Quite disheartening actually.

Then we have dogs. Dogs, dogs, dogs, barking, barking, barking. The ones next to us, they have three, barked for at least an hour, maybe longer, last night. Their house is just a few yards from ours. Their windows are open, I am on my front porch. A Weimaraner, a little shaggy dog and a not-quite adult shaggy dog. All barking out the open windows. Oh my. Now I am a dog lover, but after an hour of full-on loud barking I was having some not-so-nice thoughts about that trio.

So I gathered my laptop, my books, my papers and stomped upstairs. There I can turn on a box fan full blast and tune them out.

I am off to the Library Book Sale. This once-a-year event has hundreds of used books to peruse. I need more books. As if...

Comment

August 19, 2023 at 9:57pm

#1054329

A Picture is Worth...

So that is the mess I've been ranting about. Now, I don't have a cell phone. So this picture was taken from my garden with an old Nikon point and shoot.

But, I think you get the picture...or at the least the idea...

Comment • View 9 comments

August 19, 2023 at 7:41pm

#1054327

A Real Mess - Continued

Okay for those of you that caught the drama yesterday, the saga continues.

And the mess behind me grows. Somehow, I am thinking the woman who claims she moved into this house may actually be living in the driveway.

Let's see, she has a stove, refrigerator, a table and chairs, a couch. a dining room table. a shelf unit. There is now also a microwave cart with dishes on it, wood pallets, tires, items in boxes. Earlier a truck pulled up with sheets of plywood in the back.

How do I know all this? I can see this from my garden, which I go to daily now to pick tomatoes. And while I am checking for tomatoes and doctoring my kale for little tiny flea beetles and picking potato bugs off my remaining potato plants, I can see the flea market pile growing beyond the alley behind this house.

But there is a deadline I can see coming. Rain. Rain from that Hilary storm that is threatening all of the SW of the United States. We actually had a wind storm yesterday into last night. Wind gusts up to 70 MPH were reported in the area. So if there is anything worse than junk in a yard, it's wet junk in your yard.

Perhaps some of you don't believe this. Perhaps I'll get photo evidence, Stay tuned,

Comment • View 3 comments

August 17, 2023 at 11:14pm

#1054249

A Real Mess

So, the house behind us, just beyond the alley, is becoming a bit of a mess. At first I saw one dog. Then I heard screeching like nails on a blackboard one day. Did I mention this before? That was a wee puppy in the heat several days ago. Two dogs. Then the other day I saw another wee pup. Just a few days after that, another dog appeared. So now four dogs. In a postage-stamp sized yard. All day alone. In the 100° heat. Barking. Crying.

And then there is the junk. I think it is breeding. At first there were boxes. Then a shelf appeared the next day. Then we saw a table and chairs. Then a stove and refrigerator and a band-saw. And now there are pallets and about 4 tires. Oh, and a couch. The driveway is becoming crowded. I'm not sure if this is going to become a flea market. When the garage door was open the other day, there was so much junk in there you could not park a car in it.

I forgot to mention the 15 plants outside the garage door that are now wilted and probably dead.

Am I living in some sort of alternate reality or are they? We try to keep our place as neat as we can. You know, trash picked up, yard mowed. House looking nice. We never let our dog bark for hours when she was alive. Egads.

Perhaps they are aliens come to steal what is left of my sanity. They aren't aware of the rules here on Earth. Or at least the rules about pet ownership. If it gets too much worse, I will complain to the city. But they won't believe the alien claim, so I'll have to come up with a real valid problem.

Comment • View 11 comments

August 12, 2023 at 11:49pm

#1054027

To Pass the Time

.Again this year I have a piece nominated for a Quills award. I feel so honored.

STATIC

Overnight Snack

(E)
Quills Nominee and Finalist 2023 The Writer's Cramp 7/19/23 W/C 833
#2300064 by QueenNormaJean Mayflowers

was nominated in the Flash Fiction category. Thanks to whoever thought it was good enough to merit a nomination. I had fun thinking of the characters, the dialogue, and the plot for that little tale.

This past week I've been in a self-exile of sorts. I injured my knee, and so have been sticking close to home, my bed and couch, ice and painkillers. Bugger. But I have read some, and watched some interesting computer videos.

One thing I did watch was a British cooking series. It is on Netflix, and this is from 2018. So far I've watched season 2 only, so I need to find season 1. 'The Big Family Cooking Showdown'. It's actually quite amusing. No big prize that I can tell, just the pat on the back as the best family team.

The teams were three people from the same family. Mother or father or child or aunt or uncle or cousin. You get the picture. There were 16 families to start. So you watched 4 families cook at one time, then they were winnowed down to the final four.

I did make a few notes of some funny lines. And the interactions of the groups as they cooked, well, they were amusing and sometimes hard to watch as well.

“Treat night - and nothing says treat night like half a lobster’s head on your plate.”

“So you season. If it calls for one teaspoon chili - and you put in 4 tablespoons - you’ve created …LAVA!!!”

“Got a watch on?”
“Yep, it’s 10 to shut up..”

“We try to buy most things British”
“It's hard to buy British bananas.”

“We don’t have anything to worry about, cake baking isn’t an exact science.”
“Where did you read that? Jack and Jill make cakes?”

So entertainment til I get the old knee examined on Monday.

Comment • View 4 comments

August 8, 2023 at 4:35pm

#1053829

A Big Complaint

I'm just going to put this out here. If one more thing that disrupts my life happens, well, you'll hear the primal scream from your armchair.

Now it's the knee. And like three others in my church, my left knee. What the heck...

Yesterday we took my son-in-law to the airport. He spent several days with us after a conference in Big Sky, MT. Okay, nice time had by all. At 4:30 AM, we start to load up the borrowed truck. We still don't have our new vehicle. Sigh. Anyhoo, I think, okay, he is getting out first, he has a big cup of coffee, I'll get into the small seats behind the two main seats in the truck cab. Right.

I step up to get in, and feel a 'pop'. I think, that's not right. And sure enough. Something is not right. I couldn't put weight on my leg, couldn't move that leg. Pain. So we drop off the passenger and go back to our motel room to rest a bit before we do shopping. And, nope, no rest. I am hurting, bad.

So I tell hubby, we're going to the ER - which is right around the corner. Hubby pulls up the truck while I wait. He is blocking the traffic line as I get to slowly moving toward him. A real jerk starts screaming profanities and honking his horn. So hubby pulls up the truck this guy screeches out of the parking lot. Good gravy. That on top of a painful knee set me off. So I am now so upset as we get to the ER.

Long story short, I either have a severe strain/sprain or an ACL rupture. I now have another Ortho appointment on Monday to find out more. I was sent home with narcotics for pain. And also a spray in case of overdose. ??? Since when is that a requirement??

Oh, and I also had to see the eye doctor for an eye infection yesterday. Mercy sakes.

I am spending today in bed, leg elevated. Icing off and on. Eye drops. Pain pills. Eye wash.

Tomorrow has got to be better.

Comment • View 5 comments

August 1, 2023 at 4:58pm

#1053447

Ugh - bugs.

We're heading down to the finish line in the garden and I think the bugs know it.

I for the first time have potato bugs. These little guys showed up a few days ago with a whole army. So hubby and I have been picking them off, putting them into a 5-gallon bucket with a thin layer of Lysol. (My friend used to pick them off when she was little and get paid a penny a bug.) That is as far as we go with pesticides. We don't spray for bugs in our yard or garden. I want bugs, the good kind, and bees and birds. Insecticides and pesticides are bad for all those. I did see some ladybugs in the garden. Good. I also saw a praying mantis type thing today. Good. Also lots of bees. Good.

In my garden, I have lots of potatoes, kale, beets, carrots, tomatoes. I also have some butternut squash coming on. I didn't plant that. I guess it's just a 'volunteer'. I also planted some cantaloupe, but it may not be ready before the weather turns cold. We also have a raspberry plant, but it never produces berries. So it just happily sits in a corner.

Grasshoppers are also trying to wreak havoc this year. But we read somewhere that baking soda hampers their ability to eat. So we've been spreading that about. They seem to be a little affected. Not eliminated, but lessened a bit.

So we're dealing with some hot temps for another day or so, then back to manageable 70's and 80's. But it's summer. I like hot. I don't have a problem with hot.

Comment • View 3 comments

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