smee2

http://www.wimp.com/opendoor/ cut and paste this into the address line of your browser ... I don't know how to just get this over to this site from my email. hope you enjoy

Working for others, don't know why it isn't working for you ... could you try to type it in manually? ... don't know if that is any better ... really have no suggestions ... sorry smee2

Please note the highlighted sentence in the above quoted post. For several decades my husband and I lived this concept, lived it. We were able to manifest so much in our lives, not just the material things, but that, of course. was a part of it. Well, material things are a part of this life, this plane, this existence. Just as the spiritual aspect of life, every person's life, is a part of their existence, what makes them a whole person. For most of my life if someone asked me about my religion, or religious beliefs, I could honestly answer them that I was not religious, but I was very spiritual. There is a difference. And I hoped on hearing a few bits of what the speaker was saying, that this might be a discussion of the spiritual individual power we each have and how we can manifest something in Iraq, for the Iraqi people, and for the financial wellbeing of the country of Iraq, not only regionally, but globally. However, this woman is going on and on is using a lot of buzzwords and making a lot of noise. But I could not understand what it was she was trying to say, the point she was trying to make. I had hoped when I heard a word or two that indicated some understanding of at least some of the concepts I have held paramount in my life, such as manifestation and our own personal spiritual creative power, that the discussion would be just that ... a discussion. About manifestation and self-realization and the power we all have but so few know or use in their lives. It was disappointing to listen to what was essentially a lot of words that meant nothing. I suspect these people, especially the main speaker at that point in the "discussion". are, for the main part, using this medium as a way to get their fifteen minutes of fame, a few minutes at a time. This speaker certainly did not, repeat did not, know enough of what she was trying to talk about to be able to address her audience with anything that made sense. In fact the more I heard, the less sense it made and the more confusing it became. And the less it was about actual realization of the personal, spiritual power about which she was supposedly speaking. The mention of Iraq, was just that ... a mention. It held no real information. I found it to be a disjointed and incomplete thought that sort of disappeared somewhere in the pile from which she was taking random words. An analogy: This was rather like having a tabletop where someone is trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. They may have managed a part of the edges, to define the area and help with putting the pieces in place. There is a mess of pieces scattered on the table, some of them a pile in the middle of the puzzle area. Not knowing where the pieces go, a person will pick up random pieces and try to use them. When one that fits is found, another will be looked for by matching similar colours, and shapes. If, however, the puzzler makes pieces fit by using a pair of scissors and cutting it to fit, or a hammer, to force it into a space, the entire project may have all the pieces, but it will not make any sense. What we have here is a puzzle, made of words that don't fit. smee2.

What is wrong with this picture? There isn't one!! That's what !! I am quite ready to do what I have to do to get used to this new format. But WHERE IS MY KITTEN ???????? I can no longer find the place where we could pick a photo or graphic device and use that for our representation of who we are when we don't have, or don't want to share, a photo of ourselves. I really detest being represented by some ghostly-looking white outline of a sort-of female head and shoulders on a smoky background. What does this say about me? It is horrid! And personally I just don't want to have that on my page or my postings. I loved my kitten. She was so cute. And she represented the things I hold dear, and wanted to share with people who would understand that. What does this plain, boring, un-interesting and frankly ugly, representation going to say about me ... or any of the other people here who find they have been downgraded to this poor excuse for a "photo"? I really hope this rant is not necessary and there is some place we can go to get our kittens, and symbols and moving bugs back. Please, if there is, let us know. : ( smee2

This is just AMAZING! Well, I have always loved the Lynx. One of the cats I have now we rescued because he has ears that are tufted, though not as tufted as the Lyhx. These photos are of a Lynx and her Kitten, which is fairly big by now but that is the only time she would take the kitten out, when it is big enough to run fast, or repel an attack if need be. Anyway SCROLL THROUGH THE PHOTOS UNTIL YOU GET TO THE MOST AMAZING PART !! There is a fence, a wire fence, that is comprised of open spaces between the wire, that would measure maybe four inches by four inches. The mother puts her head through, and then a front paw, and then the next front paw, and the photos show her getting all the way through this wire fence that looks like she would never be able to get through. As it turns out this fence is absolutely no deterrent to her roaming into other areas. But keep scrolling, You will get to a back view of her doing this through the fence trick, and then you see her kitten follow her, doing the very same thing! I find this so amazing I just had to share. Hope you enjoy ! smee2 You will have to copy and paste this destination into the address line of your browser to get there. http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/lynx-in-banff-national-park-1.1164519

Thanks, Markinsa, for the information. Yes, you answered what I needed to know. I tried it and it worked just fine. I think part of where I was going wrong was that I didn't realize that you had to highlight the forums that you WANTED to KEEP. I had the idea that you had to highlight the ones your WANTED to BLOCK. On one of the other "new look" type of postings today, someone mentioned something that was changed, and I don't think it was understood. At least I read your answer and it didn't really tell me what I wanted, as I have the same question as that poster. So, let me try to explain ie ... You go to a thread and say you read to about the fifth posted response to what the person who started the thread is posting. Or maybe you only go to the fifth post because the phone rings or the kids get home and you have to go. So you exit the site. Now, it used to be that when you exited the THREAD, whether it was to GO TO ANOTHER THREAD, or EXIIT THE SITE ALL TOGETHER, when you RETURN to THAT THREAD, whether it is while you have been on the site or left the site and come back, you would, upon returning to that thread, be put right at the last post you read. If you read number five last, you would be positioned to read number six next. It was a great feature and I just know I am not the only one missing it. So, now, the difference is that when we return to the thread, we are automatically positioned at the FIRST POST. We have to scroll through all the posts from the beginning to get to where we left off reading. Now this isn't really a problem when you have only read five posts and want to start with the sixth one when you return. But there are an awful lot of times, in fact for me it is most of the time, when I have read as far as the second or third page of posts and it used to be that I would be automatically positioned at the place where I stopped reading, and I could just continue on knowing I had not missed anything. But NOW we have to scroll to wherever we left off, and hope we have remembered which poster to look for or we might have to start reading each post to find what we don't recognize as something we have read, and when we find it we can then start. That is awfully time consuming. Try it ... see for yourself ... If you don't remember the poster of the last post you read, when you return you will have to slowly scan through the thread from the beginning. It is a pain in the ... keyboard. So, if you can address that problem, and bring back our "return to previously read post" feature, we would all appreciate it. And, by the way, you have done a great job and I hope you are thanked by everyone. We are all going to really find this much more to our liking once we get used to the changes. smee2

Good idea ... providing what we don't want to see has been a sufficient "body of work" that it has become it's own forum. Unfortunately, for me, some of what I could live without are subjects that do not have their own forum, but which are such "hot button" issues that even to ask to have them shuffled together into their own forum would bring down a landslide of objections. I know I would not be the only one who would like to have these items gathered up, named as a forum, and then have the ability to not see them, but I do not want to be the one to ask, and therefore become the target for objections. Anyway, we cannot win them all and this in itself is a very good idea. It, like the new look, is going to take some getting used to. Now, for a question about the topic here directly. I wanted to start my reply post, but wanted to go and check something else I had seen before I did so. I was looking about in the list of forums to see what was and what was not available as an optional blocked forum. Then when I wanted to come back to this page to compose my post, I couldn't find it! It was not up top as it was when I logged on today, and I went all the way to page two looking for it. But I knew the main forum could not be so busy in such a short space of time that this topic would be shoved down that far. So, I had to go and find a way to get back here ... and had a time finding out how to access this main forum. I was on the verge of logging off and then on again to see if that would help. Note, I had not signified any forum to be blocked at this point. So, nothing should have been blocked. That was my first problem, or question, whatever. Second thing ... when you get to the list of forums, the one that comes up smaller than the page, and is the result of clicking on something in the what's new list that comes up first ... boy that is confusing. Let me start over, with a different approach ... Click on what's new at top. You get a menu at the left side of the screen that I only remember as having blue in it ... that is an important consideration here. I clicked on that menu, and I don't remember which selection I clicked, it could have been "other" at the bottom, but it brought up another page, a menu page that is not the full size of the screen. I remember that is had red in it, red and black. See that is why the blue in the other place was important, to know which was which. Anyway, it was at that point that I realized I had no idea, if I were to click on one of those forums which I wanted to do, how to make it a blocked forum. There is nothing on that page, the predominantly red and black one, that indicated how to block one of the forums on that list. Back on the mostly black and blue menu, the smaller one, this complete list was not available. And I am not sure how to block a forum from their either, but seem to have done so ... see first problem. So, on the first menu regarding forums, the one that comes up when you click what's new, where does one go from there to actually block and forum, and how does one block it? Sorry to be so long winded about this, but it is almost my "signature" post. I cannot seem to just post a line or two and leave it at that. Of course anyone who reads my posts will know that already. Thanks for any help you can give, and congratulations on the new look and features ... Oh, a question ... taking the time and the effort as you, and Adam have done ... does that mean that you, and Adam, think this whole ride is going to last long enough to make these changes necessary? I read the forum is supposed to go to a "VIP members" site but surely that won't need to have so many separate forums and will be adjusted then. Doing this now sort of makes me wonder if the end is far from near, or decision making persons feel that way. Just wondering ... smee2

Geez ... Adam ... you could have warned us ... *sheesh* This is definitely going to take some getting used to. Being an old fart (can we use that word? is there a list of unusable words on this version?) ... anyway, being an old ... bag of wind ... I do have some trouble adjusting to things I don't "get" right away. And the longer it takes, the less adjustment I do. But we will give it a try. No choice, really ... (do we still have smiley thingies? did one just happen here?) There seems to be a bunch of stuff that just pops up out of nowhere, like this post a message section ... I can see this being a lot of fun if it isn't a lot of frustration. Anyway, ADAM ... I appreciate how much hard work this takes ... it is almost easier to start from scratch and not have anything the same ... easier to design (sometimes) and easier for people to learn to use (sometimes) ... but this looks good and will, I think, catch on and become something we will all like more than what we had. smee2 p.s. Adam, is there an on line manual for this new stuff?

We are all waiting to see what will happen next in the neverending story of the Iraqi Dinar. When I read things about what certain governments, as well as individuals are doing, or will be doing when certain other things happen, or based on other things that must happen, or are expected to happen ... It makes me wonder ... Has anyone, from the Middle East, from the West, from a financial publication, from a television program, from some national or international group or conclave of some sort ... has anyone, actually asked the Government of Iraq, out and out ... "When will you be revaluing the dinar, and making your currency tradable on the world stage? Has anyone? And if they have ... what was the answer? And if that happened, when and by whom and where will be find it in print somewhere? So many people have so many ideas about what absolutely must happen ,who has the final say, what conditions that must be met and have been, and which conditions have not yet been met, and when they will be ... for both "world" and "Iraq" reasons ... that I have never been able to sort it out, and know, absolutely who has it right and who has misinterpreted, or is just plain dreaming. "It just makes sense." or "Well, they have to because all the other countries do." or even "They can't go on like this forever." ... these are not, it seems to me, to be real reasons, let alone proof of anything. From the very beginning I have felt that the Iraqi government is made up of Iraqi people, who live by various Iraqi codes, which are ruled by slightly different versions of the Koran and regional religious outlooks. This is much of what makes the Iraqi people who they are ... a bunch of unruly, undisciplined, religion-first fanatics who would rather fight than compromise, even for the good of the country. I don't think that two of them could agree on the exact time of day even if they both had watches, very expensive, accurate to the micro-second watches. They would spend time arguing about who is right which makes the other one wrong. And it wouldn't really be which watch is right or wrong, but which person is right or wrong, and if possible, they would quote the Koran to support their belief. So, I am still waiting to see that whole big room full of Iraqi people come up with enough agreement on something as important as the value of the country's currency. It comes down to whether or not the Iraqi's, for the good of their own country, can agree to agree. I do not feel confident that they can. smee2

You have NEVER been "cold nosed"?

Having owned and operated a courier service in Toronto for several years, the thing I found most amazing was the "freight charges" (ice chests) or shipping fees (shoes and clothing). Flat fees according to weight and distance. No charge for number of pieces, just total weight. No extra charge for fuel or timed pick up or delivery. Amazing. And not just prices, but the things they sold then ... nylon stockings ... where would you even find those today except maybe a top end erotica and fetish store, or maybe a costumer supplying the theatre (also TV and movie) trade. Day old chicks ... not just a chicken farmer's item then. A lot of homes, even in the city, had yards large enough for a chicken coop and outside feeding. Today we pay extra for "free range" chickens, or their eggs, when back in those days that was all there was, and it came from the back yard, usually beside the vegetable garden. I remember in the fifties, when I was a very young child, using the old catalogues, which were amazingly like these examples, to make cut outs ... remember cut outs? Kids, mostly girls, would cut out a picture of a woman, or a doll, and then cut out pictures of their clothing with tabs, and then put different clothing on the cutout people and fold the tabs to the back to keep them in place. I guess Barbie has replaced that. Even there, the first Barbies had only a couple of costume versions, and no extra clothing items available at inflated prices at a store. The extra clothing items were knit or sewn by mom, or an aunt, or the little girls themselves who used that as an way to learn how to knit and sew. We have lost a lot. Yes, not only are the prices indicative of a runaway train in the finance world, but today's prices are indicative of what happened in the world of unions where workers just kept demanding more and more, and the costs just kept going up and up just to keep buying power the same. Is our buying power today less or more? Less, definitely. Today it is the "oddity" for a woman to stay home taking care of her children, helping them grow into responsible adults; teaching them the skills they will need just to take care of home and family, and that is boys as well as girls; helping with homework and teaching math and reading from what she grew up figuring and reading. Today mom works, not because she wants to in every case, but in most cases because she has to, and is expected to, and must carry that weight as well as the weight of keeping the house and making those decisions, and caring for children until they are old enough to be left in schools that are expected to take over and raise the kids, not just the three Rs any more. Yes, we have lost a lot. Thanks for the stumble down memory lane. Although I played with the catalogues of the early fifties, I had access to the catalogues of the thirties and forties that we found in my Grandmother's piles of stuff, stored in the basement, before the basement became a living suite for kids who couldn't afford to leave home even when they are working, or grandparents who had to live with their kids when they couldn't afford any other option. In any case, I have fond memories of the catalogues, and these have brought a lot of them back. Thanks! smee2 Oh, reading the two dimes for a gallon of gas reminded me of two things. First ... when I was a child, my mother would give me a dollar and send me to the store. With that dollar I could buy her two packages of cigarettes (In those days it was okay to sell cigarettes to a ten year old kid because kids would never smoke until they were out on their own and have enough money left over to buy something in the way of a candy bar, or those small, foil, Hostess bags of chips, or enough penny candy to bring home for all three of us children. And when I was old enough to drive, and got my own car with the money I had earned starting at the age of ten in the orchards and fields harvesting, I could run that little red Volkswagen Bug down to where i would just coast into the gas station on fumes, and I could fill the tank, to the top and overflowing (no gas shortage in those days), and the whole tank of gas, which someone else pumped while someone else cleaned windows and all the lights, came to a whopping total of $4.10. Just wanted to share. Some of our younger members may not realize just how much things have changed. smee2

Sadly, the uploader of this video does not allow it to be shown in my country ... that would be Canada. So, Canadians will just have to imagine that something happened that made Carey (sp?) laugh. smee2

Another smee2 tale ... Now, this is not a joke. I found it funny, but it is not a circulating joke. It is, I am sorry, a long read, and if you don't care for my previous long reads, you can skip this now. Just trying to give fair warning. This didn't come from a friend, forwarded by one of their friends, in fact, I know for sure it has never been on the internet in any way before, because it happened to me ... smee2 ... yeah, THAT me ... So, here goes ... a Valentines Day Snippet Years ago, one of the current, flash-in-the-pan best known authors in Europe and North America was Xaviera Hollander. In case you don't recognize the name, she is "The Happy Hooker" ... the name of her book. I think she was arrested in the US and had to leave the country when she was let go and that is how she ended up living in Canada. We Canadians are forgiving, non-combative, and take in all sorts of people and this was a time when we had just gone through taking in a lot of "draft dodgers" I think they were called, who did not have the ease of conscience to be part of the Viet Nam war. Xaviera sort of snuck in there when we were not looking. Her book was held up, literally, in a session of parliament, and even given out to members of our parliament by a politician who was supporting her move to Canada, on a permanent basis. He was a Torontonian when he was not in Ottawa (the seat of our federal government) and we handled his home and office phone lines. That may be how she came to us, a referral from him. So, she was living in Toronto, as was I at that time. That time, ah ... that time. It was the early seventies (about 1973 or 4 as I recall) and the time span in which I met and fell for my now departed husband, Neil. (It is somewhat important to the gist of this story that you understand not only the what, but the WHEN. Also it was a time before the recognition of AIDs and the almost manditory use of condoms ) Anyway ... on with the snippet ... I was living the life ... in Toronto, a big city, and me a country girl, Toronto being somewhere I never thought to be ... But there I was. Working a job and a half to support my own little business that I had started up the second week of living there. I was, if nothing else, fairly ambitious. One of my part time jobs, the one where I met Neil by the way, who was a client I talked to every weekend evening for a few hours when he just called in to put in a request for a wake-up in the morning. You remember those times? We didn't all have telephones that went directly to voice mail, but had "answering services" ... places where your phone line was diverted so that a switchboard operator could take your calls when you were out and you would call when you got in to pick up the messages? Very popular with doctors who needed appointments taken or lunch time relief for their staff, and with people who just needed the service. For those of you who don't remember answering services ... I really feel sad for you. Anyway, I operated cord boards ... yup, like Lilly Tomlin in her "This is the phone company, we don't have to care:" comedy skit that helped to make her famous. You don't remember that either? Google her and you might find some of her stuff on YouTube. I hope it is somewhere, preserved for those who didn't get the joy and laughter of seeing it when it was happening. Geez ... I knew I was long winded sometimes, but this is getting ridiculous. Working evenings, weekends, and being on call for times when someone couldn't come in for their shift, I had to know a lot about all the boards in our establishment. The company I worked for had five or six offices in Toronto. I worked at them all, and knew most of the lines and customers associated with them without even looking. (Average in each office 500 to 700 lines) I was very good at some things and that was one of them. On our downtown office we had Ian Tyson, of Ian and Sylvia fame ... really? Google and maybe YouTube ... you get the idea. In that office we also had the home line for the mayor or Toronto, and some of the other locally and provincially well known and "famous" people who used our company for their answering service. We had one office where the operator, that would be me sometimes, dispatched tow trucks after office hours as well as taking phone lines and putting out pager signals ... pager signals? ... I am definitely getting too old if you don't remember those ... or maybe you are just too young! I know, I know ... but maybe Google ... you get it. It was on the most recent office opened that we had the home phone line for the agent (or promoter of some kind?) for Anne Murray ... singer ... television, radio, hootenanny stuff (hootenanny? Google), sort of the beginning of soft country ... Canadian, first hit "Snowbird", first woman, as well as first Canadian, to win the Album of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards, 1984, for "A Little Good News" ... and before long in her career, and for many years, a Las Vegas, mega hotel/casino (super star, sort of the Ceine Dionne of the day} showroom entertainer. Anyway, we would chat with her when she was in between shows, or after the shows were over, late at night, when she was in Vegas. She knew that if she called her agent and he wasn't home, she would end up talking to one of the switchboard answering service girls. Often she called after a show, to wind down, knowing she would get one of us,and just needing someone to chat with. One year we all got signed Christmas Cards from her. Sidetracked? Me? No, never ... hahaha At one of the offices, as I started out to say, we had the line for Xaviera Hollander (pronounced Zaviera) on our boards. And this is where the Valentine part comes in. I get there ... it sometimes takes a while, but I do usually get there. There were a lot of calls the evening before, and the day of, Valentines Day, for Xaviera ... a hot chick in anyone's book and she had made a lot of friends in Toronto. One of them was a fellow she had been ... dating ... another old fashioned term which may or may not be something you can Google ... anyway, she had been dating a gentleman who also had his phone lines on our boards. So, on Valentine's Eve, Xaviera, who had been out that evening with this gentleman, called his home when she got home brfore he got back to his home,and we got his line because he had not gone straight home but out for a drink, he said. She called to leave him a Happy Valentine's Day message. Being European and not speaking English as a first language, she surely did not realize what she had said when she said " Take a message and say this ... "Happy VD" ... which she meant to convey the message, Happy Valentine's Day. We all knew better, but we were trained to take a message as it was given, word for word if the caller wanted it that way. And since we were dealing with both ends of the conversation, her line and his, we made sure it was taken as given.( Xaviera Hollander was a world renowned prostitute and madam, with "houses of ill repute" in most European countries. Her book "The Happy Hooker", was scooped up like candy by women who wanted tips on how to "entertain" a man, and by men who wanted to hear the juiciest of her adventures.) The evening passes, as does the night, and voila, we are at Valentine's Day ... and of course everyone wants to have that evening off to go out with their husbands or boyfriends (boyfriend, archaic term ... Google it) ... Well the message, taken as given, sat in his message box all day and the gentleman did not pick it up until early evening. So it was me, smee2 me, who had taken the message to begin with, who had to give it him when he called. So I read it out saying, "Miss Hollander left a message, saying, "Happy VD" ". There was this audible intake of breath, a pregnant pause if ever I heard one, and then he exhaled an explosion as if he had been holding his breath ... "What did she say, exactly?" I explained to him that when we are given something to say in the caller's own words, we write it down, and relay it just that way. She said "Happy VD". He hung up the phone without even saying Thank You as he usually did, being a very polite gentleman. Immediately Xaviera's line rings. She is taking a bubble bath, we don't know if she is alone but she had alerted us she was going to be in the bath of bubbles and we should take her messages until she called back. It was the gentleman calling of course. I had just been speaking to him, and he may have thought the voice was familiar, because he questioned who he was speaking to, very confused ... for more reasons than one I suspect. He wanted to know where she was, what she was doing, with whom, when would she be back, could he reach her before that? We could not give out any of that information and I asked him if he wished to leave a message. His message ... "What!" He called back several times while she was in the "bath of bubbles" and kept leaving messages like "What did you mean?" Where the h@ll are you?" "Why are you not calling me back?" "What did you mean by your message?" "Call me ASAP" {ASAP, another pre-cel , pre-PC, and pre-text era term) She got the messages, all of them, when she was out of the bath, and ready to take messages. As I gave them to her she kept asking what did he say exactly, and why would he say that, and he sounds upset ... no kidding. He was upset. And to him, fit was or a very obvious reason. (Now don't try to tell me you are so young you don't remember the term VD !) She left him a message ... "It does not sound like you are having a Happy VD at all. When will you be here? I am almost ready for our date to go to the club." When he finally got the message she left, he was, it seemed, well on his way to a next day, liquor induced hangover. Now, we operated on the old fashioned cord board ... and although it was possible, it was against all company rules, to cross the cords and let one party speak with another if they are both on the same service. The back and forth messages started getting very heated so I offered to "hook them up" literally. It is rude, bad manners, sometimes funny, and most likely illegal, to listen in on these conversations except to just touch the contact to see if the line is still open, meaning the conversation is not finished. But I was, at that time, rude, unmannerly, uncaring of the legality, and looking for a chuckle. After all, I was the one working Valentine's. So, yes, I admit it ... I listened in. He was angry and hollering. She was confused and questioning. They were both trying to get information from the other and neither one of them was taking the time to find out what was at the base of this conflict. I took my life, well maybe just my job, in my hands and broke into the conversation, with "Excuse me. Excuse me!" Well, they stopped talking and shouting over each other, and surprised, listened to me. I explained my position and that I had been privy to both sides of this "conversation" that wasn't really a conversation at that point. And I solved the misunderstanding, and put their relationship back on track, with each of them apologizing to the other, and both of them forgetting all about me. And what makes this funny, at least to me? I had to explain to the wealthiest, best known, published, hot point of very strong opinions, and undeniably the most famous prostitute of the time, that in English, VD means venereal disease. And the memory of that, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes me chuckle every Valentine's Day. To answer a question that some of you will be asking ... NO ... since breaking my back I DON'T have anything better that I CAN do with my time. But I do enjoy story telling.

MY DADDY SLEEPS NAKED "Late again!" the third-grade teacher sternly said to little Ranger. "It ain't my fault this time, Miss Russell. You can blame this 'un on my Daddy. The reason I'm three hours late is my Daddy sleeps naked!" Now, Miss Russell had taught grammar school for thirty-some-odd years. Despite her mounting fears, she asked little Ranger what he meant by that. Full of grins and mischief, and in the flower of his youth, little Ranger and trouble were old friends,...... but he always told her the truth . "You see, Miss Russell, out at the farm we got this here low down fox. The last few nights, he done ate six hens. Last night, when Daddy heard a noise out in the chicken pen, he grabbed his double barreled shot gun and said to my Ma, "That fox is back again... I'm a gonna git him!'' "Stay back," Daddy whispered to all us kids ! "My Daddy was naked as a jaybird -- no boots, no pants, no shirt! To the hen house he crawled, just like an Injun on the snoop. Then, he stuck that double-barreled 12-gauge shot gun through the window of the coop. As he stared into the darkness, with a fox on his mind, our old hound dog, Rip, had done gone and woke up and comes sneaking up behind Daddy. Then, as we all looked on, plumb helpless, old Rip done went and stuck his cold nose in my Daddy's crack!" "Miss Russell, we all been cleanin' chickens since three o'clock this mornin!"

Now THAT was funny! Thanks for sharing! smee2

YeeHaaw Possum ! It is so great to have you back among us. Hope Mamma is well and we hear from her too. Take care ... and don't be a stranger (well, okay, you couldn't be stranger ) Y'all come back now ... hear? smee2

I agree with what someone said or intimated, that it is not usual to find this kind of article in BusinessWeek ... IF and ladies and gentlemen, that is a rather big IF ... If they are using the dinar as the focal point of their reporting. However, this article has nothing to do with the dinar, and, for that matter, it has nothing at all to do with Iraq. It is all about oil! Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM), Total SA, DNO International ASA and Genel Energy Plc are among companies caught in the conflict between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government over oil-revenue sharing, production contracts and land. Tensions have deepened in recent months, with armed clashes in the disputed Kirkuk area in November and a halt in oil exports from Kurdistan by pipeline in December. Iraq holds the world’s fifth-biggest crude reserves, according to BP Plc statistics that include Canada’s oil sands.[/color] Now, it is usual to find articles about oil in BusinessWeek. In fact it is usual to find articles about oil in almost any publication, in almost every media, that is generally addressing finances, from Global all the way down to personal investment through the local fund manager. So, if any of you are getting your panties in a twist over this "dinar/Iraq" article appearing in BusinessWeek, and assuming it has anything at all to do with our investment, it doesn't. Unless of course you consider our investment hinged in large part on oil, oil in Iraq, the sale of oil in Iraq, or the political ramifications and subsequent payments ... or non-payments (hold that thought!) ... of revenues from the sale of oil in Iraq, I would advise you to take another look at what it is really reporting. And what it is really reporting is ... TaaDaaa! (told you to hold that thought) ... the political ramifications, as well perception of the global investment market, using Iraqi oil as a major player. As much as the above mentioned point behind the reporting and publication of this article may touch on the Iraqi dinar, the financial footprint of the Iraqi dinar in and out of the country, and any movement toward revaluation of the Iraqi dinar, it is a very light touch only. This is simply the usual reportage of the kind focused on almost any middle eastern country regarding the experience of almost any irregularity, or glitch, in the process of selling, shipping, getting paid for, and parceling out profits to the ... in the case of Iraq ... fractured political party recipients of such profits. Also, in the case of Iraq, part of the point here, and the only part really touching lightly on the present, or perhaps future, value of the dinar, is the allotment of those profits according to percentages to each partner group. So, good article, especially if you are in any way invested in middle eastern oil, perhaps as part of one of your "energy" mutual funds. Not a great news article, but an article it is good to see. It means in part that the world of finance is still eager for news on middle eastern oil. smee2

My best friend was the person who got me into this, by giving me some. When I started buying my own, I returned her dinar, thanking her so much, and she used it to give to someone else ... don't know what happened there but if that person even just keeps it until the RV, and she will alert them when that happens, they profit by the dinar. I had only one other friend I knew well enough to tell, and want to share the windfall with. She was very skeptical. So, I sent her and her partner a million dinar. It was about six months later that she wrote and told me that I was behaving in ways that she did not like. specifically that I was wasting my money ... and she felt she could no longer be a friend, and invited me to delete her email address from my computer. Excuse me, you don't like how I spend money? Oh, as in buying a million dinar and sending them to you out of the goodness of my heart? And did she ever return them? Nope. Never mentioned them and I never heard from her again. He partner, actually she lives with her brother, has kept in touch, but cannot find out just what it was that spurred her to spurn me. Anyway, when the RV hits they will know about it and profit. Now, as to family ... I have siblings who have not spoken to me in years. My brother ignores me and all my attempts to reach him. My sister I happened to stumble over on Facebook. I dropped her a line. She wrote back and invited me to go to H@ll and F**k right off, in those precise words but spelled out clearly so I would not misunderstand her message or her intent. I did tell you, they won't speak to me. They hate me. I am not sure why. If it is something from the far past when we were actually in contact, that has to be over twenty-five years. How can someone hold a grudge for that long? ... for their sister? ... without telling her what the gripe is and trying to work it out? ... even if it just meant getting an apology? Well, as it happens another person, a relative, found me on Facebook and we have been corresponding for some time now. He is a cousin. I told him about the dinar by sending him five-hundred thousand and giving him some information, and sites to check out. He wrote back asking questions, and eventually took some of his own money to increase his dinar holdings to about a million. He knows it is a waiting game now, and seems prepared to wait. He still writes me so he cannot be upset that what I told him was going to be a short term investment has taken a lot longer than we both thought at the time. Other than that I have not told anyone, except my insurance/investment counsellor. He was skeptical. I gave him one of the "one of every denomination" starter packs. He said it was nothing more than pretty paper. Then I hear by the grapevine a few weeks later that he was at a party and was telling everyone about this wonderful currency revaluation investment, that would take a while, but was well worth the wait. I think he must have bought more or his own also. So, that's it. Not a great result. Skeptical people who didn't mind having dinar given to them. And siblings who got not, and were not told of it. But when the RV hits I intend to take a large amount of money and have it given to each of them, anonymously, with no way for them to find out where it came from. If they should actually contact me and ask if I got money too, of course I will say yes, and that I have no idea where it came from. It will drive them crazy!! hahahaha smee2

Very well said! smee2

Hear! Hear! You said it before I could and a whole heck of a lot better than I could. Bravo! ... or Brava! if that be the case smee2

I don't think the Revaluation of a Currency is the kind of thing you can call percentages on. It is a little like saying it may turn out your wife or girlfriend is not going to play out 100% pregnant. smee2

And the good news is ... having those pins used to put the pieces back together does not, at least in my experience, hurt. Well, once it is all healed. It hurts a little after surgery but after a day or two of pain pills I was just taking Tylenol. It took about ten years before they started causing me what my doctor refers to as "weather elbow" which is when the joint starts reacting to cold and/or wet weather rather like arthritis. Oh, yes, it was my arm that had to be put back together, not my ankle and leg. I had a fall in the hospital of all places, the day before I was to be discharged. Well, the night actually. And when I went down and smacked the floor I watched as my arm, with all the breaks and unhinged elbow, went into spasm and was jumping up and down and in my confusion I thought it was the floor that was moving up and down. Thought earthquake and started yelling. There are about five nursed who will never forget the night I fell on their watch. Don't know how many patients woke up to hear a raving lunatic hollering the hospital walls down, but once they got to me I was quiet. Anyway, I hope the surgery goes well, and that your orthopedic surgeon can give you good news about when you can go home. In your case I imagine he will have to make sure you get physiotherapy you can handle at home after the hospital. But you can handle it ... after all you have the faith to ask for prayer. Faith, and those prayers, works miracles. I'll be praying for one of those for you, and your husband. Take care, and don't try ice skating any more ... it just isn't your sport! smee2

In the "announcement" thread, a lurker of four years has decided to jump in and start posting. That person put up an announcement saying "hi" and started getting responses. The new poster signed off as "Chris", and as that is a somewhat ambiguous name, a responder asked if that was a boy Chris or a girl Chris. A part of that response is as below ... I started a reply to the questioner "steveh12" and a greeting to Chris ... which I forgot to do so ... so ... Welcome Chris! It doesn't really matter if you are male or female, but it certainly helps if you are a little crazy! Oh no! ... Here she goes again ... sheeeee's offffff !!! 'steveh12' Your post brought back a lot of memories! Many years ago I was a credit manager for a major department store in Toronto, which was part of a well known chain of Canadian department stores. As part of my job, I had to go over all the applications for employment, with a view to checking credit and making sure we were not taking on someone who had displayed any proclivity for sticky fingers, either cash or merchandise, in other employment, as well as doing a follow up interview with applicants who had passed the first one, with the assistant store manager (the manager was the one who made the final decision) ... anyway ... ... (after reading this paragraph over, I have to be proud ... it may be the longest run on sentence, that still makes some sense, that I have ever written! ) All we reallly wanted was "Male" or "Female" ... usually M or F would do. I think we should have eliminated the problem by asking not "sex" but gender. In those days we still had application forms that still had that section to fill in ... "sex. These days we are not supposed to ask. The advent of Equal opportunity in terms of race, religion, colour and gender ... in Canada none of these were questions of differentiation that we could ask after 1975. And more recently we have been, by law, kept from asking country of origin, marital status, sexual orientation ... and considering the "service" (or more accurately the lack of) seen at most retail businesses, even "experience" or "ability to do the job" are not things we can ask about, or require as part of our criteria for hiring. Yes, I am off again ... sorry ... anyway ... I had a few good laughs over the answers put in the "sex" box ... with Yes, but not often Yes, but not on the job, really Yes, but please don't tell my parents Only once, but it was an accident Only when my husband remembers he's married Not often. My wife is going through the "change" Only on the weekends, it won't affect my work In bed Only nights when the Leaf's don't play Frequently, I have three girlfriends at the moment so far Do you mean with my wife? Will the pay be higher if I say no? or yes? Only if it is a requirement of the job. No, I am a virgin, but I -- well, I don't think I can spell it No, I am only twenty-three I don't think so Not very good at it, so no Can I answer no if I have done my penance, each time? No right now, but yes after Saturday night After the baby comes, only if my wife says so, I hope Now, it is up to you members ... share 'em if you got 'em! smee2

Life's Demerit System All married men will attest to some real wisdom in this ... ...In the world of romance, one single rule applies: MAKE THE WOMAN HAPPY! Do something she likes, and you get points. Do something she dislikes, and points are subtracted. You don't get any points for doing something she expects. Sorry, that's the way the game is played. Here is a non-exhaustive guide to the point system: SIMPLE DUTIES You make the bed. (+1) You make the bed, but forget the decorative pillows. (-10) You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets. (-3) You go out to buy her what she wants (+5) in the rain (+8) But return with Beer. (-5) PROTECTIVE DUTIES You check out a suspicious noise at night. (+1) You check out a suspicious noise, and it is nothing. (0) You check out a suspicious noise, and it is something. (+5) You pummel it with an iron rod. (+10) It's her pet Schnauzer. (-20) SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS You stay by her side for the entire party. (+1) You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with an old school friend. (-2) Named Tina (-10) Tina is a dancer. (-10) Tina has breast implants. (-40) HER BIRTHDAY You take her out to dinner. (+2) You take her out to dinner, and it's not a sports bar. (+3) Okay, it's a sports bar. (-2) And its all-you-can-eat night. (-3) It's a sports bar, it's all-you-can-eat night, and your face is painted the colors of your favorite team. (-10) A NIGHT OUT You take her to a movie. (+1) You take her to a movie she likes. (+5) You take her to a movie you hate. (+6) You take her to a movie you like. (-2) It's called 'Death Cop.' (-3) You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans. (-15) YOUR PHYSIQUE You develop a noticeable potbelly. (-15) You develop a noticeable potbelly and exercise to get rid of it. (+10) You develop a noticeable potbelly and resort to baggy jeans and baggy Hawaiian shirts. (-30) You say, "It doesn't matter, you have one too." (-80) THE BIG QUESTION She asks, "Do I look fat?" (-5) (Yes, you lose points no matter what) You hesitate in responding. (-10) You reply, "Where?" (-35) You give any other response. (-20) COMMUNICATION When she wants to talk about a problem, you listen, displaying what looks like a concerned expression. (+2) You listen, for over 30 minutes (+50) You listen for more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV. (+500) She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep. (-4000) Send this on to all of the gentlemen you know to refresh them on the point system. (and to the ladies you know with a good sense of humor!)

BamaGirl ... and forum visitors ... I apologize for the messy Birthday Greeting for BamaGirl above. I tried to change things and make the corrections necessary to produce a nicer looking effort. However, this system seems to be really messing up ... it will not, now, let me edit my work. I cannot even delete it. So, just imagine that all those command thingies are gone and imagine it is a work of art, which it certainly is not now. We say that it isn't the gift but the thought that counts. In this case, please remember that the thought was creative and error free ... hahahaha smee2