Stop The World I Want to Get Off

Well, coming to another week's end.  This week has been rather sad watching what is occurring half a world away.  I feel bad for all the innocent people who are suffering due to the ridiculous, asinine religious/political viewpoints of a few radical a....holes.

I really feel like the little character up above, pounding and shouting to no avail...no one listens...no one cares.  Religion is supposed to be about peace, love and redemption.  Not murder, mayhem and bloody battles.

The little Lebanese child who is laying in a bed, covered with bandages from head to toe - 80 % burns, the rest of her family dead...for what? 

Two little Israeli boys dead in the street from shelling, in the town where Jesus grew up?  For what?

So that men on each side of the conflict can flex their muscles  to prove their strength?

And again....where are the world's leaders?  Why are they not coming down on both of the perpetrators.  Yes, I know that Israel needs to defend itself....but thousands dead because of two missing soldiers...come on, that's so much overkill as to be insane.

Oh, I know we cannot expect any help from the white house as Bush is probably glad that the Israeli's are on the offensive.   It also relives a bit of pressure on him about the war in Iraq.  Our minds (the general public) evidently are feeble so that we tend to only remember short term items...like whatever the press is feeding us that day.

I just don't get it.  There were so many foreign nationals inside of Beirut that if all the governments involved had protested to the Israeli's don't you think someone would of listened...even to call a short cease fire to get the people out?  Israel still needs the rest of world too, so it should learn to play nice also. Why haven't the other governments applied pressure?

As for the terrorists....I don't believe they have a right to be. They are a blight on any country that they inhabit and should be treated as a cancer.  These men need to learn that the rest of the world willnot tolerate them anymore. All they bring to people is death and despair.

I am not pro anything in this instance....just wishing for a peaceful solution.

Sisters, Sister...Nobody better mess with my Sister

I used to love this song..These Boots Were Made for Walking...

My sister Barb is now fully immersed in the throes of teenage angst.  She's just realizing that her baby is not her baby anymore.   "L" has fallen for the bad boy of the pack.   Lots of shades of grey here that's for sure.

Hmm, actually I do believe that other's in my own (gasp) family have "fallen" for the bad ones, the guys dressed all in black with the deep brooding stare...like they know the whole world will someday bow down to them.  There is a reason I got hooked on Angel. (Ha!)

You know the type, the one that will not "meet the parents" and certainly never come to the front door to pick the girl up - just sit in the street and blow his horn for little missy to come a running.  Great way to start a relationship---NOT!

We had that problem with one guy who dated our daughter...except it didn't last long after my Alpha male collided with her younger one. Guess whose view point won!  The young man was told in no uncertain way that no amount of horn honking, shouting or whistling was going to get our daughter out the door...in fact, just the opposite.   Guess what, she married this guy - he treats her like gold.

Any young man who has the bad manners to show up at a door and not at least say "Hi" to the parents has something wrong with his persona. I really don't give a rats ass (Queens logic taking over) what his beliefs are...his statement that "I don't do parents" makes me believe that not too many parents would be enthused with his dating their daughters.

To put it in today's language...he be "dishing" on her, disrespecting her values to the max.

Any girl (hope you read this L) who lets herself be talked into going along with this crap had best watch what next the control freak wants his way.

Please remember baby, we've come a long way - and remember those boots are made for walking.....Aunt Sandi

Wild & Wacky Tourist Places

Well, I have to admit it....and come clean...about my sordid past.

Yup, I was the Public Relations Director for a wacky Tourist Trap...complete with gator wrestling, swinging monkeys and a tried & true wax museum!

When I turned on AOL this morning I received the shock of my life...to see my old work place listed as a wacky tourist destination.  Boy, did this bring back memories!  Figured I'd share some of the funnier ones with you....I may have to change names to protect the guilty - please bear with me.

Sunken Gardens (which I will refer to as "the Gardens") has been in existence since the early l900's.  It started out as a lake bed formed from a sink hole eons ago.  A man called Turner decided that the land was valuable as a place to grow his veggies and sell them.  He had such a way with plants that soon his little Garden became the hit of the neighborhood.  People claimed that he had created a little piece of Eden right in Saint Petersburg!

Turner worked extremely hard toward fulfilling his dream of reclaiming all the lovely muck at the lake's bottom.  Given that our soil here in sandy Florida is just about all sand - who could blame him?  He, and by this time, his sons worked diligently reclaimed the land, using tile viaducts to portion out the water from the lake.  He also installed sump pumps that kept the water circulating throughout the Gardens.  It was a work of love and survival.

Times were tough during these years, Mr. Turner was no fool...he started charging  five cents admission to walk through his beautiful Eden.  As luck would have it, people came from all over as word of mouth spread about the beauty of his Garden.

As the Garden's popularity grew so did the need to make it more unique, so that people would come back year after year to see what was new.  The original owner really knew how to run a business.  Unfortunately, that business gene does not always continue in other family members.

Today the Gardens are 100 years old and still exist, due in part to the determination of a group of unlikely compatriots who sought to save the Gardens from developers.  I'm happy to say that I'm one of them.   Another was my friend Betty who spent most of her life - living for the Gardens - protecting them like a Mother lioness.  Because of her collecting thousands of signatures requesting the city to buy the Gardens....the city actually listened and saved a beautiful site.

Today, there are no more Gator wrestlers, although the amphitheatre still stands. The monkeys left long ago, sadly missed but not by Peta.  Any bird shows are limited, most of the animals are gone. There are a few birds left, among them the beautiful  pink Flamingos. The aviary is closed, breeding programs are over.  Yet, the three hundred year old tree in the Oasis remains, as does the magnificent bougenvilleia in every glorious shade imaginable cascading over its walls.  There are places within the Gardens that are so peaceful as to be far removed from our harried world.

The path through the Gardens is exactly one mile long. During my eight years there I walked that path many times, sometimes in a rush to find someone.  At other times, leading a special group through, or leisurely letting reporters get their fill of whatever new thing was going on in the Gardens.

One day we had a small break out...some younger gators from the gator pool had managed to get into the aqueduct, which meant they could wind up in any of the many pools throughout the Gardens.  Well, what to do? Can't close down - now can we?

Also didn't want to risk a tourist getting eaten. So our whole crew was out there catching gators.  Only problem was I had a wedding rehearsal that afternoon that could not be postponed. I prayed for rain like no one has ever prayed!  My inner most fear was for the little ones in the wedding party.  So the time came for the rehearsal, I had someone positioned by the surrounding pools just in case.

As I am leading the bridal party to start to proceed over the dam Wedding Bridge...I glance over to my left and see a four foot gator sunning itself on the edge of the pool!  Not wanting to alarm any of the wedding party I let them proceed down to the lawn area for the rehearsal.  As soon as I could I radioed the Gator people, within minutes one of the guys cornered the little beastie, but not before it leaped into the shallow pool.  Poor guys jumped in after it....he did subdue it rather quickly.

Would you believe no one in the wedding party was aware of any of it! Whew!

I also had to watch out for the Black Swans right on the side of the bridge at certain times they became very territorial and would try to attack anyone coming over the bridge.  I could rename it and call it "the bridge from hell"!

Seriously though, I arranged over 350 weddings at the Gardens and enjoyed every single one of them....I have wonderful memories and I loved my job.

After all, who wouldn't? Never knew who was coming, what was happening, things changed on a dime....could never get bored that's for sure.

I have more stories but that will be at some other time.......

 

 

 

Fourth Of July

Hope that everyone has a terrific fourth of July.  Eat, drink and be merry.  Just take a few minutes out to silently thank the boys overseas for their devotion to duty.

Without the sacrifice of those who have gone on before us, we would not be celebrating anything.  That we should enjoy the fruits of their labor is a given, but let's not forget them either.  What we do now, in this day and age, will mean much to our grandchildren and their children's children....please always think of the future. 

Sandi

 

I'm Being just a bit mean

Wednesday, June 28, 2006   Ye Gads Hubby's Onto the Net - it May never recover Category: Life  Watch out world here comes hubby.  Somehow with his hunt & peck method he has raced headlong into opening a MySpace for himself!  I just had to warn him that not everybody is a real "friend" no matter what Tom says! I'm kinda giggling here watching him learn the ins and outs of the keyboard, the programs and yes, the net.  Every so often I yell over to him..."hey, hey watch that you don't push the wrong button,...it could blow up!" then I laugh out loud because I am really bitchy and mean.  Who knew "togetherness" could be so much fun? More on the adventures of a novice in lala land..to be continued....

One Hundred Years

THE YEAR 1906

 

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!?

The year is 1906.?

One hundred years ago.?

What a difference a century makes!?

Here are some of the U.S. Statistics for the Year 1906 ( The good old days??):

************************************

 

The average life expectancy in the U.S. Was 47 years.

 

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

 

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

 

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City

cost eleven dollars.

 

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles

of paved roads.

 

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

 

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more

heavily populated than California.

 

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st

most populous state in the Union.

 

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

 

 

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.

 

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

 

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,?

a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

 

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME .

 

 

Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!

Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which

were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."

 

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

 

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

 

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

 

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used

borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

 

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from

entering into their country for any reason.

 

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

2. Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart disease

5. Stroke

 

The American flag had 45 stars.

Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and

Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

 

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!

 

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea

hadn't been invented yet.

 

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

 

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

 

 

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

 

 

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least

one full-time servant or domestic help.

 

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A. !

 

Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing

it myself, and sent it to you and others all over the United States,

possibly the world, in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years

 

 

 

A friend sent this to me...my Grandma Sophie was born in 1889 and lived to be 103 years old.  Just think of all that she did see come to light during her years here.   It is rather amazing the progress that humanity has made in only one hundred years.  Would that it all be for peace, love and the common welfare of all men.