LOL

I am watching (thank you TiVo!) BYU Devotional (or maybe Forum- is there a difference?) and the speaker is Lynn Truss, author of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" (which I must acquire and read someday, along with her other book "Talk to the Hand"). The book is about the importance of punctuation. About halfway into her speech, the subject of that popular, but comma deficient, road sign "slow children crossing" came up. Someone at a book reading once asked her if slow children crossing grew up to be slow men at work. Too, too funny (to me anyway)!

Calibrate This!

Most of Somebody's Children will remember Somebody's Parent telling them that it was important to learn to apply mathematics to their everyday lives. After all, "Nobody at work has ever asked me to work a page of math problems."

Well, yesterday somebody gave me a page of math problems to work. (News flash- just in case you forgot- I am not in school any more!) I just had to smile and think of a certain Parental Unit and think about how WRONG he was. To his credit though, it was "word problems" which is sort of everyday life. Here are some sample problems:

1. Calculate the approximate speed of a self-propelled sprayer that has an average completion time of 31.5 seconds over a course of 140 feet.

2. Calculate the nozzle delivery rate, in gallons per minute, for a sprayer that will travel at 1.5 mph, apply 2 gallons per 1000 square feet with a nozzle spacing of 20 inches.

3. A spray nozzle originally delivers 2.75 gallons per minute when operated at 25 pound per square inch. Calculate the psi required to deliver 2.5 gallons per minute.

Fortunately, I never have to actually use this information. I just have to know it. And by the way, I got the questions right! Not bad for a math-phobic little grandma.

All the pretty little ponies

So I was walking through a market last week, minding my own business when something in the beverage cooler caught my eye and I had to stop. Sure enough, it wasn't my imagination. Maltas. And not just any Maltas, but Pony Maltas. The real deal. Being a good Mother-in-law (OK-well maybe just TRYING to be a good one) I stopped and picked up a few. Then as I turned away from the cooler, what did I see behind me? More Pony Maltas; stacks of cases of Pony Maltas. In two different sizes. (I'm not sure, but I think the heavenly choir might have sung a chord or two.)

If you haven't ever had a Pony Malta, join the club. I have never had one and don't intend to have one because I am not into malted non-alcoholic beverages. But I know a certain Colombiano who LOVES them. So I put the cold ones back and got a few small ones to bring home.

Sadly (for someone), I have decided to keep them here for future use. Just in case they get scarce again before someone comes to visit. Besides- I don't think Tita has any room left in her suitcase.



Want one? Come and get it!

What's the deal with that, anyway?

So the strangest thing happened this week. Twice. Early in the week, someone pulled over when they saw me out doing yard work, dug around in their car and pulled out two styrofoam cups, each with a big, (dead) spider in it. They had a friend who had found them and wanted to know what they were so they brought them to me. Hmm. I'm not spiderwoman. I'm not even the Spider Whisperer. I told her they looked like some kind of Wolf spider, but that I would see what I could find out. Later I set up my camera scope and computer, took some pictures of them and emailed the shots to a genuine spider whisperer that I know. (and I was right, they were wolf spiders, just really huge ones that were probably 3 1/2 to 4 inches across when they were alive instead of all curled up and shriveled in a cup).


Then Sunday night I got a phone call from someone in our stake. Their kids were freaking out about an insect they had found in the house. I had the dad describe it and then gave him a couple of names to image google. And yes, I was right about that one, too. It was a Jerusalem Cricket.


I don't know what's going on, but if it's a trend, we've got a problem.