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Thursday, Apr. 25, 2024

12:10pm EDT

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PORCH PONDERINGS

by QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham

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.

"All the resources we need are in the mind.” Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President of the United States of America.

Another quote I find interesting: "Creativity is intelligence having fun." Albert Einstein

What's on your mind today?

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

Signature for nominees of the 2019 Quill Awards

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Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

QPdoll

about 6 hours ago
In response to "Oscar and Tony and Grammy winner !!!"

QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham

and Kåre Enga in Udon Thani

I hope you both can find transportation on Monday! Good luck to you!

Norma, it's good you have your surgery scheduled. I think you'll feel so much better with pain relief. My husband had carpal tunnel surgery and he is happy that his fingers don't go numb anymore.

Safe travels to you both!

Kåre Enga in Udon Thani

about 9 hours ago
In response to "Oscar and Tony and Grammy winner !!!"

I don't have to explain my trip back to Montana as you get the picture.

I've been stressed for so long...

I can relax at the hostel and in Seoul airport.

Need to arrange a ride home though...

I assume you'll not be available.

QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham

about 10 hours ago
In response to "Drama"

Elycia Lee ☮

Try cutting back your plants. Then try dusting them gently. They breathe through the surface of the leaves.
I found this on Google about rubber plants:
Water when the soil is almost completely dry. ...
Spray with a mister every few days, they like to keep their leaves moist.
Place in a bright room, but keep away from super sunny windows to avoid sunburn Between 15°C to 25°C is their optimum temperature.

Kåre Enga in Udon Thani

Apr 20, 2024 at 11:50am
In response to "Drama"

I should be in Missoula May 1st. Chance of 20° or 70° ... sun, rain, snow, tornadoes, earthquake, Yellowstone blowing up?

Elycia Lee ☮

Apr 20, 2024 at 11:02am
In response to "Drama"

I never overwater them, but I think I'm underwatering them. The leaves are curling. When I put them out, their leaves burn. When I wipe them, lines appear on them... I really wanna start over, but I don't know how to... My rubber plants bottom stem leaves have dropped. Only the top is growing. For one of them, their baby leaf hasn't been growing for over 6 months now... Sounds like you've got quite the green finger there.

QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham

Apr 20, 2024 at 11:00am
In response to "Drama"

QPdoll

It was good to be out and work in the garden. We were both tired after, but that's okay. Digging in dirt always helps. There is always dirt in our lives. We have to dig up through it to get to the shining world on the other side.

1 Like

QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham

Apr 20, 2024 at 10:57am
In response to "Drama"

Elycia Lee ☮

Well, if your rubber plants aren't doing well, try dusting them. Prune them. Don't overwater. I always am cutting back things. Makes people nuts. But sometimes you have to cut back the dead to to get to the living. A metaphor for lots of things in our lives.

1 Like

QPdoll

Apr 20, 2024 at 10:47am
In response to "Drama"

Drama, indeed! Glad you were able to take some stress relief time.

Elycia Lee ☮

Apr 20, 2024 at 10:44am
In response to "Drama"

I'm actually jealous that your fallback plan to stress-relief is gardening.

Can you infect some to me? Currently, all I have is an iron plant and two rubber plants. My rubber plants are not doing well. Your job does sound interesting.

1 Like

Elycia Lee ☮

Apr 11, 2024 at 5:36am
In response to "Test Results"

EMG sounds horrible. Get well soon. Hope this phase in life would pass and that you would have that quiet period that you yearn for.

1 Like

March 23, 2023 at 10:42pm

#1046903

Winter Storm - I want Spring!

Is it warm where you are? Ha! We're under another winter storm warning here. Yep, that's right. Snow predicted again. Good grief. I so want to have some warm Spring weather.

I've been cleaning out my clothes lately. It seems I have 5 winter coats. 1 heavy down coat for -30° to 0°, 1 for 0° to 30°, 1 for 30° to 40°, 1 for 40° and a small down coat for 30° to 50°. I have 3 pairs of lined heavy winter pants. I have wool socks that I wear summer and winter. I have at least 7 wool sweaters. Long underwear shirts and pants and pants for church. I have at least 4 down vests. So many hats and mittens and gloves. I have boots for -30° and deep snow. I have boots for light snow and 0° weather and above. Egads.

Then I have clothes for two months. Summer. Literally two months. Then it's back into the shoulder seasons. Almost fall for a week, fall for a few weeks, then almost winter. Winter for 5 months, then almost spring, then almost summer.

I think I need a break.

So a little friend came over this afternoon. She used to live across the street, and often came to visit. She loves to play dress-up, make believe. Today she had a 'tea shop' in my upstairs. Reagan has a very vivid imagination. We had a fun hour pretending. It's refreshing to see someone in 5th grade still able to be a child, not a mini-adult.

My dinosaur project is coming along. The other partner in the project got to see it today and gave his thumbs up, so I guess I'm headed in the right direction. A representative from the Montana Dinosaur Trail is coming to meet us in Roundup on Saturday. Unless it snows a foot.
Dinosaur fun

Yep, like I said. Winter storm watch.

4 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

March 16, 2023 at 8:04pm

#1046471

Book Goal Reached

I joined the Book Brothel group in March and have exceeded my goal of 1,000 pages by finishing my book today.

'Praying for Sleep' by Jeffrey Deaver is the latest book I read. Good grief. I don't think I'd recommend this to anyone. This author does have numerous awards for mystery writing, and has written gobs of books. I have to say I had to finish this but it was an ugly story. When the blurb on the front cover by Stephen King states it is 'scary', well, beware.

Not much new here. I've been gathering books in my home to sell. Clearing the deck, so to speak. So many books just lying about. And we did get some much-needed cleaning done today. Dining room windows were cleaned, curtains washed and rehung. Finally after a year. The remodeling project is still not done, but I'm trudging on with cleaning now. I mean, come on. A year?

It's still snowing here, and cold. We pray Spring will come soon. Perhaps in May. I ordered some garden seeds. Maybe June.

1 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

March 12, 2023 at 8:23pm

#1046292

Tsundoku

I learned a new term today. At a book club meeting, we talked about all the books we all have. Unread piles of books. Evidently there is a term for this:

Tsundoku is the Japanese word for the stack of books you've purchased but haven't yet read.

Who knew?

I had a busy day, the book club was the last of three meetings today. Goodness. First a church board meeting that went WAY too long. Then a museum board meeting. That was fine. Then the book club. I have to say I am a bit worn out.

Perhaps it's time for a video, or better yet, start on that pile of books.

1 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

March 7, 2023 at 2:26pm

#1046054

Happy Natal Day!

Today I'm the birthday girl. Nothing major happening, but thanks for the kind wishes. The big deal is I'm getting braces for my birthday. I go Thursday to get measured. Yep, who knew that at my age I'd get them. Kind of funny, actually. But I have very crowded teeth that are now interfering with eating and keeping my teeth in good shape. Yippee. Invisalign. 18 months. Fun times ahead.

It's been snowing here, not like what's been happening in California but enough to be annoying. Winter is still hanging on.

I didn't win the Quills this year, but just being a finalist is a huge honor. There is always the Quills 2023 to look forward to. And speaking of the Quills. I want to point out something. You need to be careful the genre(s) you choose for your work(s). I never use 'other'. I never use 'contest entry'. Your wonderful little story that might win the Quills in its category cannot be judged with one of those genre. So I found this list a while back.
These are the generic genres Quills does not use:
Activity*
Contest*
Contest Entry
Other
Personal
Reviewing*
Writing
Writing.com

Happy writing everyone!

4 Like • Comment

February 27, 2023 at 8:23pm

#1045646

Quills Finalist!

.

I just found out today that I am a Quills Finalist! Yay me! Congrats also to the others listed in the Quills announcement. Some friendly names listed there.

Such an honor to have my little story listed. It was one of those moments when everything came together. The story just basically wrote itself. I love when that happens.

Good luck to us all!

3 Like • Comment

February 20, 2023 at 12:14pm

#1045140

It's still winter! The Groundhog was right!

Just as predicted, another snowstorm. But whatever, it's February. It's Montana. It's still winter here.

About 2 inches fell overnight. Beautiful. I don't have to travel anywhere, so no worries.

I took on a project of reading a manuscript for a lady in town. Mercy. So far twenty pages of 'she did this then that. He did this then that. And then this other person did this then that'. A textbook example of 'telling' when I want to read 'showing'.

This person wants to send it off for publication. I am thinking it needs an entire rewrite. Cut and paste and redo the entire work. I have a few months to figure out the best way to resurrect her story. Wish me luck.

Another project I am working on is a power point presentation for the local museum. We want to be included in the Montana Dino Trail. It's a network of museums that have dinosaur fossils. We now have dino fossils and want to be included in that network. The meeting is in April, so I have some time. I have been designated the spokesperson. Mainly because no one else wanted to do it, and the technical guy, the dino expert, isn't a board member. So wish me luck with this also.

Busy times!

4 Like • Comment

February 14, 2023 at 11:22pm

#1044853

Quite the day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Did you have fun? Well, what a fun day we had! Yippe! We started off over icy roads for an hour's drive to Billings where I started the day by getting a filling replaced at the dentist. And evidently not only was the filling over 50 years old, good job old dentist!, but I had a cracked tooth and decay because of that to boot. I hate fillings and drills and that big syringe coming at me with novocaine. Now they have some kind of doo-hickey gadget that goes in your mouth to dry out your mouth and constantly suck out the drilling and water that is simultaneously happening. Hmm. Well, my mouth wouldn't open wide enough to accommodate this torture device so she had to rig up one using a pediatric-size insert. So you pop this in, you it hold in your mouth the entire time the dentist is drilling. The only benefit is I didn't hear the drill as much as I could have. But it was soon over, and off we sped to another chore.

When you live an hour from big shopping, you cram everything into one trip. So, shoe repair, haircut, grocery store, another shoe store for a question about a 'squeaky' shoe. Yep, that's right. Evidently hubby's shoes squeak too much and drive him nuts. Whatever. Then to another place for him to question about the knee brace he now wears post-op knee surgery. Then to Costco for big box shopping. For us and a friend.

By now, we are starving. So we decide 'It's Valentine's Day', let's do Outback Steak House. 4 PM is a great time to go. No one there. We had a wonderful meal, attentive waiter. NO ONE ELSE TO WAIT ON! But that's fine. So we head to the gas station, head on home, again over icy roads, this time in the dark. Half way home, I have this feeling I am missing my little purse. It has my ID, credit cards, CostCo card, blank checks, pretty much my entire financial life. When we get home, sure enough. It's gone. Where did I last use it?

So we call and cancel the credit cards, and think back. The last place was CostCo. Then we went to the restaurant. So I call Outback. Sure enough, they have the little purse. We're open til 9 PM. You can come on in and get it.

Well, the answer is NO, we're not driving down an icy road an hour one way, and back again another hour tonight. Can we come tomorrow?

So my knight in shining armor, my hubby, is going back tomorrow to get my purse.

I think that is a wonderful Valentine's Day gift!

4 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

February 10, 2023 at 7:06pm

#1044573

Busy!

I went with a friend over to Terry, MT for a SE Montana Tourism meeting on Wednesday this week. Such fun and such fellowship with that group. I love those meetings.

We met at the Evelyn Cameron museum. She was a wonderful photographer in the Terry, MT area. Truly remarkable.

Terry, MT museum

On the drive back to Roundup, only 3 1/2 hours one way, yep, Montana is that big! We talked and talked. Just like we did on Tuesday when we went to Terry for the overnight.

One thing people like about Montana, and find amazing, are the wide open spaces. Oh, and the cows. So many cows! Well, the ride from Forsyth, MT to Roundup is through some wide open space. Along this road you will be surprised to see a car or a truck. I think we saw maybe one or two in that two hour drive. But the most remarkable sight was the sky. We saw the huge big sky with cloud formations highlighted by the setting sun. Clouds that morphed into alien space ships and lizards and pirate ships. Watercolors of pink and gold. Terrific. It also helps that we both have very active imaginations...

My friend Morgan and his partner Joey own a motel in town. They also own a restaurant. That restaurant just got nominated for a James Beard award for the best new restaurant in the country!!!! Truly spectacular. It's like the Oscars for the food world. And in little ole Roundup, no less.

Then I found out I will be representing our museum in Chinook, MT in April to the Dino Trail committee. Okay... I have to get a presentation to this group to add our little town's museum to a group of museums that display dinosaur fossils. This is a project we recently undertook. I have to take along the dino-digger, a man that arrived in town a few years ago. He's been doing some digs around town. He's hard to corral, a non-stop talker, and very energetic. This should be interesting.

Another project given to me - a lady in town wrote a novel and wants me to read it and give her my honest opinion. 400 pages. I'll see if I can fit that in on Tuesday!!!

You know what they say - if you want something done, ask a busy person.

2 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

February 4, 2023 at 8:54pm

#1044264

More Blogging Fun

Come on over to

BOOK

Chapter 3 = Norma's Homemade Banana Blog

(ASR)
The Ongoing Saga of Andre and his Banana Blog
#2289787 by QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham

for more Blogging fun during February! I will be posting there until February 14th.

Like • Comment

January 28, 2023 at 11:54am

#1043798

Andre - Week 4

All Entries are rated "E"

CATEGORY 1 PROMPTS

What is more important to teach children and teenagers and why: life skills such as healthy lifestyle and finance, or history/civics/politics and sciences/maths? Who should determine what they get taught (teachers, school system, government, parents. etc.)

We need children and teens to be more skilled in all aspects of life. It seems that some parents these days are not teaching them anything of value.

Don’t get the government involved, that never turns out well. Caring adults would be the best ones to lead this charge. If parents cannot be the ones to do it, then others need to step in. Community members, church, youth clubs, all of those resources of old.

W/C 75

CATEGORY 2 PROMPTS

What do you think of using blog prompts to get entries for creating a psychological profile of the blogger?

Psychological profiles? What in the world? Of what use would that be? Are we storing up information for the FBI or NSA or MI6?

Bloggers would stop writing if that threat is out there, in my opinion. Or they would figure out a way to go on the dark web and secretly post.

W/C 53

CATEGORY 3 PROMPTS

Is there truly a way to keep separate church and state (i.e. religion and government) especially in law/rule making for society? Explain and how would you recommend that be done or not done?

We definitely do NOT want the government telling us what we should believe and when we should go to church. Government should make laws to keep us safe and make our environment better, i.e. roads and such, not tell us who and when and how to worship.

One only needs to go back to the Old Testament in the Bible to observe how church and state got all muddled together. And in the Dark Ages, take a look at the Crusades. But as I refreshed my memory on the timetable for that, now they call things the 'Medieval Age' or the 'Middle Ages' and move the time for the 'Dark Ages' up. Whatever - it happened.

If anyone wants more information on governments and when, and how, they made people worship a certain way, contact me. It would involve more than I wish to explain here.

W/C 146

CATEGORY 4 PROMPTS

What is the most important social problem in society today and how would you recommend to improve or completely fix it?

In my opinion, it is the lack of caring for one another. We don’t care about our fellow man. We turn a blind eye if someone is in trouble. Compassion is no longer a part of our culture. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments?

No one knows their neighbors, no one cares for each other. I think that is the most important problem now. There is no fixing this unless one is willing to go out on a limb, as one would say. And after all this Covid craziness, few are willing to venture past their little private bubbles.

W/C 102

2 Like • Comment

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