Issue XXIII December 19th 2003
Editorial.
Compliments of the season to you all! I know you are all busy now getting ready for the festivities. Here's hoping that Santa brings you just what you want. (you all know what I would like Santa to bring me.....what do you think my chances are?)
One advantage to Christmas now that the sprogs are older is that I don't get the three feet long lists of what all they think they should deserve from Santa. Not that life has got any less expensive of course. I was going to get my hall, stairs and landing decorated, I had even bought the wallpaper. Then <sigh> the heating packed in and at the same time the shower packed in. So my decorating money was donated to a local plumber. The heating I can't seem to find a reason to specifically blame the sprogs for but the shower is definitely down to them! You really don't want to know the size of my bill!
I have all the prezzies bought now, just have to do the mammoth grocery shop, with the sprogs off work and school for days, they will plough through it like a plague of locusts. So I intend to grab whatever victi...errr....available sprog there is when I go to the shops. Probably Junior, as he is the only one still smaller than me (just) and so still a tad malleable to my will. Boys have to be useful for something and lugging heavy bags of groceries in and out of the wagon is one of their talents.
In the forum, Ma'am and Teri met up and Teri survived, so all's well in California. (There is a silly rumour going around that Ma'am sung....but it can't be true, Teri can still hear well enough).
We have two unwell people in our thoughts at the moment, Our Joanie is in hospital and not a bit well so we are all thinking of her. Tav's son is ill too and undergoing tests to find the whole problem. We wish them both a speedy recovery. Joanie sent me her article before she became sick, I know you will all enjoy reading it.
So here's wishing you all a very jolly Christmas and a very happy New Year!
Lynda
Any comments. responses, articles, tips etc, please mail to LyndaAtCasual@Compuserve.com
Contents.
Editorial.........................................................................Lynda
See you on the morrow.................................................Joanie
Tigger's Tails................................................................Tigger
Some Christmas Cheer.................................................Lynda
Lil' Bits from Ma'am....................................................Maureen
One week ago we left Northern California for a two-week holiday here in Sun City with our daughter and family.
The day after our arrival found me in bed, and the next day and the next, until this day when I feel some better?? But boy am I skinny now (s).
Observance on the way down consisted of -and beginning with- Sacramento ~ cars,
cars and more cars. Our daughter Kelli, the driver until just over the
Grapevine, is a good driver though did note her knuckles turning white on a few
occasions from her determined grip. Her father's saying "Ain't no hill for a
climber" is bull, and I will take glee in the repetition of same on the way home
when I see him gnawing on his bottom lip. Still, how many children would come
700 miles to pick up their parents for a holiday visit? Not many, I am blessed
(their idea).
Called CS Host Lily on day after arrival - she tried for a visit - but with
holiday time, etc. could not make it. My loss. Another time, my friend! Very
sweet lady, sounds like teenager - lucky her. :0)
As for me - this finds me blessed with two families - of marriage and birth, and
of Compuserve. People have looked at me often when I tried to explain the real
emotions for real people. "There she goes, crazy female." And when meet on rare
occasions ~ the creep that slips in and crawls like a maggot -
they're right. I become a wee bit crazy. Most often, am a simple soul, as now
"time to go, sleep tight, dream sweet and know that I care."
See you on the morrow.
Joanie
A beautiful creature, the Arabian horse is the oldest pure bred horse in
the world. They have 3 primary characteristic colors: bay, chestnut and gray.
Owning great spirit and elegance this great horse has very closely associated
with human beings for centuries. The graceful, floating gait of the Arabian
horse is unique and very distinctive and their spring action movement is of the
utmost ease. The earliest Arab horse brought to the U.S. is said to have been a
stallion named "Ranger", which came in the year 1765. This horse is believed to
have sired the horse that George Washington rode during the American
Revolutionary War.
Feeding Tips:
Most Arabian horses efficiently use their feed, which means that they may
require less feed than other breeds. Also, because Arabians also are smaller
compared to larger breeds, they require less feed to maintain their weight.
Of course this does not mean that Arabians should be kept very thin or that they
will thrive on poor quality feed. They require adequate calories and the same
nutrients as any other horses. Like humans, they need an appropriate mix of
minerals and vitamins to stay in good shape and perform well.
If the horse is of the proper weight, his contours will look rounded, rather
than angular. You should feel the horse's ribs when you brush your hand across
the horse's sides, but the ribs should not be visible. If they are, the horse is
too thin and needs more feed. (If he's getting enough feed, have a
veterinarian examine the underweight horse as there could be an underlying
medical reason for it's low weight)
Overfeeding can also create health problems. Feeding a horse too much rich feed
or allowing a horse to become obese can cause founder (laminitis, a serious
inflammation of the hooves). Feeding too much rich feed also can bring on a
deadly bout of colic. So be careful when feeding high protein feed such as rich
springtime grass.
Feed an Arabian as you would any other breed: give it enough good quality feed
to maintain its proper weight, along with plenty of clean, fresh drinking water.
Horses' feed requirements change depending upon their kind of use and age.
Quality pasture and/or horse hay may be sufficient for a lightly used, mature
Arabian pleasure horse. More calories are needed when horses are more active and
during cold weather. Young, growing horses and breeding or show stock need
additional grains or supplements. Horses that are heavily used also require
grain, supplements, and perhaps electrolytes when especially stressed. All
horses need constant access to a salt block and, if your veterinarian suggests
it, mineral supplements.
Tigger
Four married guys go golfing. During the 4th hole, the
following conversation took place:
First Guy: "You have no idea what I had to do to be able to come out
golfing this weekend. I had to promise my wife that I will paint every room in
the house next weekend."
Second Guy: "That's nothing, I had to promise my wife that I will build
her a new deck for the pool."
Third Guy: "Man, you both have it easy! I had to promise my wife that I
will remodel the kitchen for her."
They continue to play the hole when they realized that the fourth guy has
not said a word. So they asked him, "You haven't said anything about what you
had to do to be able to come golfing this weekend. What's the deal?"
Fourth Guy: I just set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. When it went off, I shut off
my alarm, gave the wife a nudge and said, "Golf course or intercourse?"
And she said, "Wear your sweater."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An exhibitionist named Joe was preparing to board a flight
for Philly. As he approached the open door of the plane at the end of the jetway,
a very attractive flight attendant was collecting tickets.
As she reached toward him for his ticket he opened his raincoat and exposed
himself.
"I'm sorry, sir ," she said politely, "but you have to show your ticket not your
stub."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A woman woke in the middle of the night to find her husband
missing from their bed. In the stillness of the house, she could hear a muffled
sound downstairs. She went downstairs and looked all around, still not finding
her husband.
Listening again, she could definitely hear moaning. She went down to the
basement to find her husband, crouched in the corner facing the wall, crying.
She asked him, "What's wrong with you?"
He replied, "Remember when your father caught us together, when you were 16?
Remember he said I had a choice: I could either marry you, or be sent away to
prison for the next 20 years."
Baffled, she said, "Yes."
The husband bawled, "I would have been released from prison today."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An atheist was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his
boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the beast tossed
him and his boat high into the air. Then it opened its mouth
to swallow both.
As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, "Oh, my God! Help me!"
At once, the ferocious attack scene froze in place, and as the atheist hung in
mid-air, a booming voice came down from the clouds, "I thought you didn't
believe in Me!"
"Come on God, give me a break!!" the man pleaded. "two minutes ago I didn't
believe in the Loch Ness monster either!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sir Richard Attenborough and his brother Sir David were on a
camping trip.After a good meal and a bottle of wine they went to sleep.
Some hours later Richard awoke and nudged his brother, "David, look up at the
sky and tell me what you see." David replied, "I see millions and millions of
stars. "And what does that tell you." David pondered for a moment,
"Astronomically it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially
billions of planets, astrologically I observe that Saturn is in Leo.
Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately, a quarter past three."
"Theologically, I see that God is all powerful and that we are small and
insignificant." "Meteorologically I suspect we will have a beautiful day
tomorrow." "Not bad eh." "So what does it tell you?"
Richard was silent for a moment then said, "David, it tells me that someone has
stolen our tent."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The symphony orchestra was performing Beethoven's Ninth. In
the piece, there's a long passage, about 20 minutes, during which the bass
violinists have nothing to do.
Rather than sit around that whole time looking stupid, some bassists decided to
sneak offstage and go to the tavern next door for a quick one.
After slamming several beers in quick succession, one of them looked at his
watch and said, "Hey! We need to get back!"
"No need to panic," said a fellow bassist. "I thought we might need some extra
time, so I tied the last few pages of the conductor's score together with
string. It'll take him a few minutes to get it untangled."
A few moments later they staggered back to the concert hall and took their
places in the orchestra. About this time, a member of the audience noticed the
conductor seemed a bit edgy and said as much to her companion.
"Well, of course," said her companion. "Don't you see? It's the bottom of the
Ninth, the score is tied, and the bassists are loaded."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once upon a time, long ago and far away, Santa was getting
ready for his annual trip...but there were problems everywhere. Four
of his elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast
as the regular ones, and Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being
behind schedule.
Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mom was coming to visit. This
stressed Santa even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them
were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven
knows where. More Stress.
Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked and
the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys.
So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of coffee and a
shot of whiskey. When he went to the cupboard, he found the elves had
hidden the liquor and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he
dropped the coffee pot and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all
over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had
eaten the straw it was made from.
Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cussed on his way to the door.
He opened the door and there was a cute little angel with a great big
Christmas tree. The angel said: "Where would you like me to put this tree
Santa?"
And that, my friend, is how the little angel came to be on top of
the Christmas tree....
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The holidays sure have caught up with us fast this year.
Where the heck did the time go? I think I am done with shopping; ummm I am still
looking for all the stuff I bought early and "hid" somewhere. Does anyone else
do that, buy for Christmas and put in a safe place then find it after Christmas?
Tech and I have been busy; we have a new property that has been a nightmare so
far. Just trying to get a phone connected is taking an act of congress. There is
much to be done, roads to build and more lawn to plant, Tech must have the green
lawn. It is too wet to haul the equipment <big stuff like bulldozers> so a lot
of the projects will have to wait until Spring.
I had the opportunity to meet Teri, a fairly new member to our Casual Chat
family, and what a pleasure. This is Teri's first online experience and so glad
she found our little forum. We had some great laughs and "parenting hints" I
personally still like the Velcro concept. Glad you joined us Teri and hope you
continue to have fun with all of us.
With the holidays approaching, we will have some games and events cancelled due
to real life family commitments, so please everyone check the Forum Home Page
and or Newsflash for any changes. Rena has been unable to get online for a while
and until her connection is stable we are canceling Rena's games.
I am off to Disneyland later today, and will not be taking the laptop!!! First
time in years but there just is not any room in the van with six people and all
the luggage. You would think we were going to be gone a month <geeez> and I was
so good, getting everything in one suitcase. Two teenage girls, so I guess that
is to be expected!!! <rolling eyes>
At this time, I would like to wish all our members and staff a wonderful and
happy holiday season. May all your wishes come true and Santa is good to you
all. To the staff here in Casual, thank you for all the volunteer time you put
into this forum, without all of you, Casual Chat would not be the fantastic
forum that we are. To all our members, thank you for being here and for your
patience when we have issues to take care of. We consider this a family and a
community and so glad that you are all a part of our success.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL AND MAY THE YEAR 2004 CONTINUE TO BRING US LAUGHTER,
FUN AND FRIENDSHIP THAT WE HAVE NOW.
Hugggs to you all,
Ma'am~
That's it for another month Folks! I hope you enjoyed this bumper issue! Be safe and keep well, until next month!
Come on Everyone! Get those pens busy for next month. Lets have another bumper edition! Mail all your contributions to me at LyndaAtCasual@Compuserve.com
We want all your contributions, don't be shy! This is a paper by the members for the members......that means YOU!
Please remember, this is a fun/interesting/informative addition to the many features on offer at Casual Chat, critique is welcome but nothing that attacks members, personalities or other fora will be.
Lynda [Editor]