Uff da!

Uff da! (pronounced OOF da) is an old Norwegian expression of my youth that I use quite often when blogging.  Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

Uff da is often used in the Upper Midwest as a term for sensory overload. 
It can be used as an expression of surprise, astonishment, exhaustion, relief, and sometimes dismay. 
For many, Uff da is an all-purpose expression with a variety of nuances and covering a variety of situations.
The expression has lost its original connotation, and it is increasingly difficult to specify what it means now in America. 
Within Midwestern culture, Uff da frequently translates into: I am overwhelmed. 
It has become a mark of Scandinavian roots, particularly for people from North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.^[2] [3]

I have no Scandinavian roots minus those that snuck in during my ancestors' time in Ireland.  This post seems somehow appropriate, since yesterday, my friend Sherwood announced on FaceBook that it was International Bog Day.  Even bogs have their day!  Uff da!!

Half a century!!

Here's the birthday girl some years ago.  She's cracked the half-century mark today!  Congratulations, Peggy!  Happy birthday to a great gal!!  You were such a little mite way back then, and I knew nothing about taking care of a baby.  But you've not only survived, you've flourished!  Go for another 50!!

My GF went on a trip, and all she sent was....

...this glorious photo of blackberries outside the motel (hotel?)....If you look very closely, you can see where she's picked some, which she ate.  

Absolutely Mindy and MayMo!!

I loooove this one.  And it is part of Recess Monkey's offerings.....

Ever hear the Recess Monkeys???

and then there's MUSIC if you're really, truly lost for something to do.....thanks to Linda for this great tip!!

Best Gadgets!

Slow day in Snoozeville.  Woke up late for my first walking appointment with my neighbor across the drive, and I'm still kinda behind the 8 ball in general.  After various cleaning chores, I decided this blog needed a new post & picture.

This little keychain-level is just about my favorite thing.  I use it all the time when hanging pictures or straightening those already hung if they get jarred by occasional life events:  the passage of a freight train or the MARC or the Metro down beyond the parking lot or someone plopping down on my wee couch and jarring the painting on the wall behind.  I've always had an excellent eye for proportions, but I enjoy the reassurance of this little level once in a while.  It bugs me that I can't move the bubble to the center in this photo by just straightening the photo.

Anyway, the other gadget I love is the online site in the background here:  iGoogle.  I've got my iGoogle home page set up to show the weather in different places in the US (and one in Canada).  I love this.  It situates me and various persons in my orbit right here, right now.  Wouldn't you know it, they're cancelling iGoogle next year.  Gah.

Buck's Mill, Pelican River, Becker County, Minnesota

Bucks Mill was an old flour mill just south of Lake Melissa.  Dad occasionally used to take me and Michael over there to fish.  The best spot was over by the far wall in this picture, but downstream a bit.  I caught my first and only dogfish there.  It was big and looked absolutely weird to me.

Minnesota dogfish or bowfin

I was so scared when I saw it, another fisherman nearby cut my line and released the fish.  Michael laughed, but I was just glad to see it gone!

Over by the mill house (and I may have been standing here when I took the photo of the water rushing over the dam) was the foundation of two extra rooms attached to the main mill building.  The upper structures had long ago rotted and fallen into the river.  There was water in this foundation, and there was a HUGE bullhead swimming in there.  Apparently it couldn't get back into the main flow of the river--too fat? or maybe too lazy.  You couldn't get it to strike at any kind of bait even if you dangled it right in front of its nose.

Spearing suckers in the Pelican River, 1949

Spearing suckers in the Pelican River, Shoreham MN, 1949 or so??

A while back, I posted a Google Map of Shoreham, MN, where we had our lake cottage from about 1946 until  after my dad died in 1968.  This shows my friend Michael spearing suckers on the channel (part of the Pelican River) between Lake Sallie and Lake Melissa.  The building in the background is the Shoreham Hotel.  It's possibly mid-June or so, and the trees are just beginning to leaf out.  The ice didn't melt on the lake until the end of May, and we never went down to stay until then. It couldn't have been too cold, because Mike is wearing just a flannel shirt, no jacket.

Mike would put any suckers he speared into the empty bucket behind him.  His grandmother would smoke the fish, and their whole family loved them.  I had never eaten smoked anything, so the idea of eating a sucker (a big bottom-feeder) was totally repulsive.  I still feel that way about crab, another bottom-feeder, although I've gotten over a similar prejudice against catfish (we called them bullheads, and my dad never kept them if we caught one.)

Mom and Dad gave me the little camera for either Confirmation or 8th Grade Graduation.  I still have most of the photos I took.

I get forwards.....

This is an especially good one!  Thanks to Linda!

Gayer? Cuter? RICHER!!

Ever wonder just why your local Penney's or Target stores coming out as gay-friendly is becoming less of a big freakin' deal? Ever wonder WHY retailers might be doing this? Are they becoming open, tolerant, and concerned for the underdog? Are they convinced it's simply the right thing to do in this multicultural age? I found a clue..... Yesterday's WSJ Marketplace section had an article, "More Retailers Are Courting Gay Customers" by Karen Talley. The article said, in part:

....From J.C. Penney Co.'s high-profile hiring of openly gay Ellen DeGeneres as its spokeswoman, to Target Corp. selling same-sex greeting cards, retailers are trying ways to cozy up to a community that by one estimate is as much as 16 million strong and has almost double the disposable income of the average American--some $49,000 per capita compared with the $26,000 average.

As somebody probably said to Anderson Cooper the other day, "Don't worry your pretty little head about it......of COURSE, they'll accept you." Maybe some day the churches will see the light....ha.

Not to BRAG or Anything....

In case I was wondering whether giving up booze was going to be good or bad, I checked my blood pressure today, and it was 117/71!!  My best numbers in 20 years!  And I stopped taking that horrible b.p. medicine three years ago!

Lights Out!

Last Friday night (6/29), a storm called a derecho roared into Snoozeville somewhere around 9:30-10 p.m. A derecho is a fast-moving storm that covers a wide swath of ground with sheets of rain, nearly incessant lightning, and high winds.

The storm began about 11 a.m. just west of Chicago; 10 or so hours later, it hit the DC area.  As the above screen capture from the WashPost says, it left more than 1,000,000 residents without power.

Snoozeville lost its power about 11:30 p.m. Friday night, and it's STILL OUT.  I'm staying at Cathy's in downtown DC--where all the power lines are under ground, and there are virtually no big old trees to snap off in the wind.

Friends stuck in apartments with small children are suffering greatly--no refrigerators, not just no air conditioning and lights.  Cathy visited friends in NW DC on Saturday night, and she said it was like the 1800s (or must have been--as old as we think we are, we didn't live back then)--no street lights, lanterns inside the apartment.

You can't imagine what conditions the clean-up crews are facing:  massive destruction, downed poles (not just wires), and punishing high heat & humidity.

Holding everyone in the light.....