Word Foam

Miscellaneous Words Worth

YRDLSH

"You Really Do Learn Stuff Here"

which is the AFCA motto!

as you can see , it's not "You Really Do Live Science Horrifically"

See also this other occurrence or this one

2009.12.24: Season's Greetings! Happy Hula Daze! May you emerge from the depths of Winter ready to spring up and grow anew. And may Spring not come to early, despite the greenhouse gasses.

I recently acquired a new trash receptacle for my kitchen. It's slim, and almost waist high -- and the pop-up lid makes a great bench for a cat. Mr Beans was taking his turn this morning while I was fiddling with other kitchen gear. All of a sudden, I hear a sliding sound and a scrabbling. I turn to look just as Mr Beans, hanging at arms length, finds he can't pull himself back up because the TR is tipping over on him, and on the cat water dish, and OH MY!. I've put a couple of water bottles in the bottom to weight it down better, and I think he's forgiven me for laughing.

Meanwhile, I continue to not quite have the LA County Fair Draft Horse event pictures added. Coming soon, I promise! Right after I jump on Farm Town to get my harvest before it turns brown and wasted ....

2009.08.24: I'm catching up with a few notes about our trip to this year's Ventura County Fair. We like this fair because the Draft Horse people show there, and the weather is usually milder than we find in September at Pomona.

It's a pretty drive once you get onto the 101 (US 101) route leaving Los Angeles, rising up above the (West) Hollywood area and through the hills skirting Moorpark, pouring down the pass into Oxnard and Camarillo and running from orchard to beach as we approach Ventura.

This year we went on Friday (the 7th) but we miscalculated the time on our chores, and so we hit the road in synchronicity with the early homeward-bound office trekkers and got to spend plenty of time with our "neighbors" thanks to the usual number of stalled vehicles and TCs on the Hollywood Freeway (and the Ventura Freeway, as we progressed).

This shortened our time with horses, but we got to see several fine rigs and some nifty driving, especially the tandem class. And we did have plenty of time after the last class to survey the food vendors (staying clear of the chocolate-dipped bacon). The midway people were disappointed that we didn't try the rides or ball tosses, but when you're short on time you have to prioritize. Unfortunately, the blueberry bushes were already locked away for the night when we left the horse arena. Some disappointments are so difficult to handle.

The next day, we went in the opposite direction — over to Chino Hills for the Southern California Minature Horse Club's Hot Summer Daze event. There were some very stylish horses there, too! (But the harness was a little different from what the Clydes wore ....).

Again, the setting was very pleasant — especially in the shade. There was a picnic atmosphere at the show, the hillsides were very tree-y, and there was lots of pretty pastures on the adjacent properties.

2009.07.24: Walking into the stables from the parking lot, I usually go up the main road, and then turn down our aisle, passing the horses of our nearest neighbor. As I make that turn, usually after sunset, I catch sight of a small figure by the gate of one of their horses. As I first spot it, I think, "There's a cat sitting there." But it isn't a cat — it's one of those plastic owls used to scare away smaller but obnoxious birds. I guess that this one is supposed to keep the pigeons away from the horse's fodder.

Tonight, as I worked on cleaning our stalls, I glanced over at the neighbor's other stall and thought, "They moved the owl over." Then the reflective eyes moved — this time, I was looking at a cat, and the cat was watching me.

2009.06.18: This is where the prose hits the page. Exactly what prose, we'll find out as we go. I'm used to spewing in usenet groups (hi there, AFCA!) but the deathless prose that's supposed to live forever takes a bit of getting used to.

You've probably gathered that I like cats and horses, trains and sailboats. Dogs get admitted on an individual basis, and some cars.

Speaking of cars, I grew up with a couple of family traditions: First, when you go through a tunnel, you're supposed to say "Ahhhhhh ..." and to try and get through the whole tunnel on a single breath. Second, you're supposed to keep an eye on the odometer for "mirror mileages" — palindromic readings where the odometer digits are the same from front to back as back to front. Here's an example: odometer-image.

Needless to say, this was one of those things, like license plate bingo, that my parents used to make travelling with kids a little more palatable, and which I've given a life of its own. My own children laugh at me for keeping records of when I see the mirror, and laugh even harder when I get mad at myself for missing one. I have also taken to tracking mileages with translational symmetry, like this one: another-odo-image. And sometimes just the plain-old-cute mileage: odie-cute-img. I still get a kick from spotting 8085 and similar numbers.

My current tunnel practice comes only in a very brief one (underpass/overpass crossing). It doesn't take 10 seconds to get through the tunnel (except between 5 and 6 pm), so the "ahhh" doesn't get interesting unless I stretch it out into daylight as far as I can. Oh well.