My take on Alice in wonderland.

I am reading Alice in wonderland. I can not remember reading it as a child.  I have seen the Disney movie, of course, and have read the condensed books.  I think that I should have read this book when I was younger.  It is so bizarre that I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it.   It tells the story of Alice, a young girl who follows the White Rabbit down a rabbit hole. At the bottom, she finds herself in a room with a tiny door and a bottle labeled "drink me." She grows and shrinks depending on what she eats and drinks, and as a small version of herself, finds herself swimming in a pool of tears (her own tears). Swimming to shore, Alice and some other creatures decide that "the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race". Alice continues to chase the White Rabbit and the White Rabbit sends her into his house for his fan and gloves. Once in the house, Alice gets into more trouble with an unlabeled bottle, quickly growing too big to move. The White Rabbit and Bill the Lizard try to get her out, and Alice only escapes by eating some small cakes. She runs into the woods and meets a hookah-smoking Caterpillar, who gives her some advice on ways to grow bigger and smaller. Next, she stops at the house of the Duchess with a pig for a baby; the pig escapes, and Alice asks the Cheshire Cat for help. Directed on to the March Hare's house, Alice takes part in the Mad Tea Party.  This is the most famous scene in the book. Alice moves on to the Queen's croquet ground, where she encounters the Queen of Hearts and tries to play croquet with a flamingo and a hedgehog. Next, Alice encounters a Mock Turtle and a Gryphon, who tell her the story of the lobster quadrille. The book closes with a trial on the case of the stolen tarts, as the Queen accuses the Knave of Hearts. Alice is accused also, and she scatters the attacking cards, only to find herself awake on the river bank where the book began.

The best part is Alice herself.  She is a fearless and inquisitive child, observant and forthright, scared at times but more often levelheaded in the face of a world which has, along with all the adults in it, been turned upside down. She remains polite while inundated with the greatest pile of nonsense ever conceived, and she wins through in the end by keeping her head. Not just in the sense of the Queen of Hearts' threat -- off with her head. To my mind, she's one of the strongest heroines in literature, a character fully deserving of her fame.  Thank goodness it has a strong character as the book has no plot.

I think you have to keep reminding yourself not to read anything into the situations that Alice gets into.  The situations were written just to entertain three little girls and feed their imaginations.
Maybe Lewis Carroll did used drugs to produce the story.   So be it.  It is fantasy.

Zamboni

I have always been a motor head.  If it has a motor and a seat I want to ride it.  I have always said that when I retire I wanted a job driving the zamboni at hockey games.   Last night on Jeopardy a contestant had the same idea only she took lessons and actually got cross it off her bucket list. Was I ever surprised to hear that.  She was a women after my own heart.   Last week I found out that there is a possibility to get a chance to ride on the zamboni that does the Sanford Center ice.  I am going to pursue this.
 
I am also going to test drive a cam am spider with my nephew Rik next summer.  I am really interested in seeing that machine with me on it.  I got a chance to sit on one in the parking lot of Luekins store this summer.

So if you read in the news about a runaway spider or zamboni you will know I got my wish.

Heart beat

For quite awhile now I have been hearing and feeling my heart beat in the back of my head.  I have given the medical community a chance to solve this problem. They have checked my carotid artery, they had me take a MRA (MRI for only the head) and checked my blood pressure.  If you are a faithful reader of my blog you would know that I passed these test with flying colors.  We yesterday they called and told me that for a year I have been taking two medications that are not compatible.  So I switched my blood pressure med to one that is compatible.  But in the mean time I have also been googling this problem and have found out some very interesting remedies.  So along with my med change. I also started several of the other remedies.  First of all, one lady got relief by rubbing just behind the ears.  Wow, what I found was there was a lot of pain in my left inner ear.  But I got instant relief from the heart beats.  Another lady took antihistamines which seemed to relieve her problems.  Since I am highly allergic to things I thought that couldn't hurt.  Again improvement.  Sleepiness occurred but also improvement.  The another man had wax build up in his ears so it suggested a mild solution of salt water to rinse away that build up.  Again, more improvement.    Here is where it gets weird and interesting at the same time.  There was a lot of references to a Native American remedy for this problem.  It was to make an oil based concoction that you put in your ear.  The recipe was mustard oil and two cloves of garlic.  Well as you might have guess that you can't buy mustard oil in Bemidji, so I had to make it.  Mustard powder steeped in olive oil.  Then you stain it.  Other then smelling like a pastrami on rye it seems to be working with the other remedies.  I have just had several mild bouts since I have started this process.  Hopefully I will be able to say soon that I have cracked the case and I am back to normal.  That is kinda scary in itself.

Tuesday

Tuesday is my favorite day of the week.  Along with Saturday I stay home all day.   I don't allow any outside forces to influence me on those two days.  It is totally relaxing.  I will quilt, read or knit.  Sometimes depending on the season I will jog, walk, ski or my new interest snowshoeing.  That is what I plan to do today.  Staying in my home for 24 hours straight grounds me.  I am able to better face the craziness of the world after I have spent a quiet day.  But that is not the only reason that I love Tuesday so much.  My favorite show The Biggest Loser is on.  Well, the new series starts today.  I can't wait to meet the contestants.  This year it is even more special as I have changed my gym location too.  Wednesday I start at Peak Performance.  I have spent 18 weeks at Anytime Fitness. I am sure that I have improved my physical fitness, but I did not get the results that I was hoping for.  I spent a lot of money for that membership and so far the only thing that was lighter was my wallet.  Not me that's for sure.  Well, now I have silver sneakers.  They are not the color or brand of my tennis shoes.  It is a program that my health insurance pays for.  Everything is totally free to me.  That bears repeating.  Free. I have a physical therapist that is hired to run the fitness center.  She assures me that we can get after my belly fat, balance and all over fitness,  I have a 8.5 by 11 card to record all my activity.  She teaches a class of aerobics on Monday and Thursday.  Again free.  I am committed to this gym.  Now not only am I a gym rat maybe I will get some results this time.  I am not going to make this a new year resolution.  That is something that goes in one year and comes out the other.  I have always broken my resolutions.  Even now if you listen really closely and you are really quiet you can hear them breaking all over the world.

Well people, wish me luck.  Both with staying grounded and with my physical fitness.      

My job

As you know I drive my brother M,W, and F to dialysis.  It has taken on a new dimension.  Snow.  I have plowed three times since the end of December and have shoveled 6 or more times,  I have ordered an electric snow thrower.  As I have learned a blower is gas and thrower is electric.  That is going to help with the shoveling areas.  I was told it throws snows up to 20 feet and it throws ten pounds of snow every second.  Ten pounds that I won't have to lift.   It only weighs 35 pounds. It can go through 10 inches of snow.  I hope it is just the ticket.  Just get here.  My aching back.  Any way I will be able to plow the rest of it away.  But the interesting part is that now I have to drive my truck.  My friend Don suggested that I have a trial run when it was nice out.  I wish I had done that very thing.  As I am writing this I am wondering if I can get the old boy in the truck.  I guess I will see in an hour.  Well, I got him in the truck for the morning run, but it took three of us to get him the truck going back.  I will put a step stool in the truck for Wednesday.  Or better yet ask Dave if I can drive his vehicle.  I have an empty stall in the garage.

5 things that you can't get back

(1) The Stone...........after it's thrown
(2) The Word.............after it's said,
(3) The Occasion......after it's missed
(4) The Time.............after it's gone, and
(5) A person..............after they die.


I used to treat things like there is no tomorrow.  But now I have realized that somethings are just gone never to return.  This makes a difference in how I make decisions.  Think about it.

SNOW PLOWING

I think we got 4 inches of snow yesterday. Maybe more it really dumped on us.   I went out to shovel and plow at two and didn't get back in until 4:20.  I shoveled my two decks and then the sidewalk in front of my house.  I was then ready to plow.  Well, I got my 4 wheeler going and made two passes and I fowled my spark plug.  It was sure that was what was wrong when the 4 wheeler refused to start again.  I think it was the two loud back fires just before it quit that cued me in.  It took me 20 minutes to pull it back into the steel building with my truck.  A gal just has to have a well lighted spot and a chair to work on the project of changing the plug.  Who wants to work outside.  After getting the 4 wheeler ready for the new plug, I went in search of the book and the new plug.  Well the book was an easy find.  It was filed under 4 wheeler. Well I was sure I had a plug, but came up empty in that file.  I sat down to think.  Where would I put that.  Nothing came to mind.  Then just for a joke I looked for a file labeled spark plug for the Polaris.  Wa la, there it was.  I can't believe it.  I also checked to see when I changed it last. January 1, 2009.  I guess it was due. Plowing done, Prime rib done, news on and then Hockey.  Happy New Year Everyone.