Ladybug Picnic

Funny Friday - Photography Tips

Your night photos often turn out better if you use the Flash

Updating TiVo Season Pass - Deleting Shows

This morning I went through my Season Pass Manager and had to delete SEVEN shows.  Seven shows that I had been recording on a regular weekly basis at one point and now I am deleting them because they've been canceled.  I think that is a lot in just one season.

I deleted the following shows, which were put on the TV chopping block

1) Desperate Housewives - This was the #2 show in my queue because when I got my TiVo all those years ago, I put in my top 3 shows, Medium, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.  After Medium was cancelled, Desperate Housewives moved up to the #2 spot.  Now Grey's is the cheese that stands alone in my original Season Pass queue.  Desperate Housewives had a great run and I don't know that it was cancelled in as much as they decided it was time to end and it was.  I loved the show but it was time.  I'll miss the drama on Wisteria Lane

2) Pan Am - I really liked this show, it was my 2nd favorite of the new shows (behind Revenge), I loved the wardrobe, the step back in time and really, really loved the history that was referenced in the show.  I was really disappointed that it was cancelled.

3) Ringer - I had mixed feelings about this show.  While I liked it, I didn't love it.  The show would move along kind of at a slow steady pace (sometimes too slow) but at the end there was always this HUGE cliffhanger that would make you want to watch again the next week.  If it came back next season I would have watched but  not sure if I would have stuck with it long-term, so I am okay with  the cancellation.

4) Alcatraz - kind of like Ringer.  I mainly tuned in because it was J J Abrams project and had Jorge Garcia.  But again, the show moved along kind of slow and steady and since you knew they had about 200 characters they could possibly feature (one-a-week, which was the prisoners and the guards), you couldn't help but wonder how long you'd watch before you found out what really happened that night on "The Rock".  Like Ringer, they usually left with a really good cliff hanger that made you want to keep watching.  I'm not upset that it was cancelled really, except that I feel bad for Jorge Garcia - I'd like to see him in a regular show.

5) GCB - This show was so funny !!  I was so hoping that once Desperate Housewives was off the air, this would just fill its place.  Not sure why it was cancelled. I know a lot of people that watched and thought it was hilarious too.  So many great characters, loved the stories and the over the top characters.  I was also disappointed to see it cancelled.

6) A Gifted Man - the first couple of episodes, I was kind of like, hmmm, not sure I am going to like this show - mostly because I didn't think I liked the main character, he was cynical and arrogant and if I don't like the main character as a "person", then I don't care to watch the show (which is why I didn't watch House because I thought House was a jerk the few times I saw the show).  But after 2 or 3 shows I really started liking it.  He softened up a bit and I liked the other characters.  It was a good show but not great and while I wish it would be around next season, I can't say I will miss it exactly.

7) Awake - I like the concept of this show, very different but I don't feel like I had enough time to really get to know it - It was a mid-season replacement and since it was cancelled, I didn't get to see a whole lot of episodes but I did like what I saw.  Like a Gifted Man, I wish it would stick around for another season but I won't exactly miss it either.

So to sum it up, I will miss Desperate Housewives but knew it was time for it to go.  I would have liked Ringer, Alcatraz, A Gifted Man and Awake to have more of a shot but I am not upset or all that disappointed that they won't be returning.  I really wish that Pan Am and GCB was coming back - I really liked those shows a lot.

Missing Daddy

I miss talking to my dad - I know I can talk to him but I can't hear his voice talking back to me.
I'm just hurting...I miss him so much.

Funny Friday - Chuck Norris

Everyone knows how tough Chuck Norris is and there are endless jokes facts that tell us so...

• Chuck Norris makes onions cry.
• Chuck Norris can delete the Recycling Bin.
• Ghosts are actually caused by Chuck Norris killing people faster than Death can process them.
• Chuck Norris can build a snowman out of rain.
• Chuck Norris can strangle you with a cordless phone.
• Chuck Norris didn't wet his bed as a child. The bed wet itself out of fear.
• Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because Chuck Norris only recognizes the element of surprise.
• Chuck Norris once pulled out a single hair from his beard and skewered three men through the heart with it.
• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
• Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero. 
• In Pamplona, Spain, the people may be running from the bulls, but the bulls are running from Chuck Norris.
• If you spell Chuck Norris in Scrabble, you win. Forever.

Here is something I found the other day that I personally found quite amusing ....

Frank Inn

Elias Franklin Freeman was born May 8, 1916. The story is that he was raised by a very strict, religious father (a Quaker preacher) and he ran away from home a few weeks before graduating from high school.  He headed to California and changed his name to Frank Inn to make him harder to locate.

When he was about 20, he was ran over by a car and was actually pronounced dead but just before mortician students were about to begin the learning the embalming process on him, one of them saw Frank move - thank goodness!!

A friend then took him in while he re-cooperated.  During this time, he got a dog, he fell from his wheelchair and the dog barked and he soon discovered that by moving his hands in certain ways, he could train the dog, who was named Jeep, to do tricks.

He often hung) around the MGM lot, looking for work and one day a trainer was having problems getting a dog to do a difficult trick, (climb up the stairs, jump on a bed, go under the covers and then stick its head out from the foot of the covers) but Frank said he had a dog that could do that and so... his career began.  He then started working on the Blondie series of movies.  (I love those movies !!)

This eventually led to working with the Weatherwax brothers, famous animal trainers, which led to Frank working with training Lassie.

Frank Inn, worked with many famous, well-known, well-loved animals, such as Arnold the Pig (from Green Acres) Cat from Breakfast at Tiffany's (which led him to winning his first of more than 40 PATSY awards), Tramp from My Three Sons, Elly Mae's "critters" from The Beverly Hillbillies, and the chimpanzees who starred in Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, just to name a few.

One of his best known animals, was Higgins.  Higgins, a cute little well.. mutt, is know to most people as Benji.  But actually he was on Petticoat Junction playing the role of "Dog" for 6 seasons.  He appeared in 163 episodes.  He came out of retirement at the age of 14 to play Benji.  (He was only in the first Benji movie, later movies starred his daughter, Benjean).

Frank Inn found Higgins at a Burbank Animal Shelter in 1960, when Higgins was approx 3 years old.  Frank taught him a new trick each week while he was on Petticoat Junction - that is quite amazing !  He said Higgins was the smartest dog he had ever seen and I am inclined to agree.  Higgins could show so much expression with a look. When Frank passed away in 2002, at the age of 82, Higgins' ashes were supposedly buried with him (although I do not know for sure if that is true or just a legend).

Frank Inn was an incredible trainer though and he loved animals. His daughter said that he would sometimes take an animal aside and talk to him and tell him what he had to do in the scene and the animal would do it - he was obviously a very special man with a very special gift.

He also was a religious man and  a writer of poetry.  He wrote these poems for Higgins.  Thank you Mr. Frank Inn for sharing your amazing talent and gift and bringing such happiness to Hollywood and into our homes.

My Little Brown Dog by Frank Inn

 I have a little brown dog that all my friends dearly love. It is Benji, "God's Gift", to my family from heaven above.   A dog is one of God's created creatures that is faithful to men. Because he is so faithful, he is called, "man's best friend."   He is a companion to people, he is a shepherd to sheep He guides the blind and he guards your home when you sleep.   Sometime you may betray your dog, but as long as he should live He will follow his master faithfully and he will always forgive.   I wonder if Christ had a little brown dog that trusted and followed like mine With two silky ears and a nose round and wet and two eyes round and tender that shine.   I am sure that if Christ had a little brown dog, it would feel like His master was God. And would need no other proof that Christ was divine, and would worship the ground that He trod.   Now I don't believe that our Lord had a dog, because in the Bible I read How He prayed in the garden alone, while His friends and disciples had fled.   I am sure that if Christ had a little brown dog, with a heart so tender and warm, That dog would never have left Him to suffer alone, but he would have snuggled close under His arm.   Licking the fingers on His hands in agony clasped, Still trying to comfort his boss.   And when they took Jesus away, he would have trotted behind. He would have followed Him all the way to the cross.   Young children should learn to be faithful at home Like my little brown dog I described in this poem.   Take them to Church and don't let them get bored, So they can learn to be faithful and follow the Lord.   They should hear about Jesus, how he was born here on earth, Remembering what He did for them when we celebrate His birth.  

My Gift To Jesus
by Frank Inn 

If someone had given baby JESUS a dog that was as loyal as mine, To sleep by His side and follow Him and feel like He was Divine.    As He grew into manhood He'd have a dog following Him every day, As He preached to crowds, or if He went into the Garden to pray.   It's so sad that CHRIST went away to face death alone and apart, With no dog close beside Him to help comfort His MASTER's heart.   When JESUS arose that Easter morn, how happy He would have been, If a little dog licked the hand of the Man who died for all men.   Our LORD has one now as He just called for my popular dog Benji, Later, God called for my Wife and now they are both in Eternity.

Wordless Wednesday - Coton de Tulear

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mom and the other mother's who may be reading this.  I'm never had any children myself (well at least not human children but I did have a child of the canine nature - at least he was a child to me).  Although I am not a mom, I always thought I would be a good mom - for some reason though, the Lord chose not to bless me with children - He blesses me in other ways though - every single day !

He blessed me with a wonderful mother.  I hear and read stories about people with bad moms or moms that are not well...motherly.  People that don't talk to their moms or fight constantly with them...thank the Lord that has never been the case with my mom.  She may not have always agreed with my choices (especially when it came to some of the fellas I chose to date) but she always supported and loved me.  My sister is visiting with my mom this week.  I was recently there and will be visiting again later in the month.  I miss her though and wish I was with her today.  I'm glad she is within driving distance but wish she was within walking distance :-)

Happy Mother's Day 2012 !!!

Funny Friday - Green Eggs & Ham

Wordless Wednesday - Jim Morrison

Funny Friday - Book Parody

The Squirrel with the Wagon Tattoo

Take Time to Pray

The Difference

I got up early one morning

And rushed right into the day;

I had so much to accomplish

I didn't take time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me

And heavier grew each task;

Why doesn't God help me, I wondered.

He answered, "You didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty,

But the day toiled on, gray and bleak;

I wondered why God didn't show me --

He said, "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence;

I used all my keys at the lock;

God gently and lovingly chided,

"My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning

And paused before entering the day

I had so much to accomplish

That I had to take time to pray.

Wordless Wednesday - Baby Girl

2012 Movies

Listing of movies I've seen in 2012 (does not include movies I've re-watched)

April 2012

Eat, Pray, Love - better than I thought it would be.
Horrible Bosses - was okay, didn't hate it, didn't love it - but did not like Jennifer Aniston's character at all
Chimpanzee - so sweet, so amazing, incredible photography - wow !
Water for Elephants - the book was a bit slow to me, so was the movie - good acting though.
Pirates - Band of Misfits (3D) - funny, cute story - I love 3D
Larry Crowne - Tom Hanks/Julie Roberts.  I heard a lot of bad reviews for this when it first came out but I decided to watch it and I liked it.
Miss Potter - older movie (2006) that I stumbled upon on Netflix.  I love Renée Zellweger, I love Ewan McGregor, I love the Tales of Peter Rabbit, so of course I love this movie.


March 2012
The Way - staring Martin Sheen, about a man taking over a pilgrimage for his son, pretty good
Legally Blond 2 - I love Reese Witherspoon but ... the first Legally Blond was great, the didn't need #2
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - very funny movie - romance but also drama - I loved it.❤
Cedar Rapids - watched on HBO, was just okay
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son - also on HBO - also just okay
Bridemaids - not as crude as I thought it was going to be (really only a couple of crude scenes), it was a pretty good story but not sure what the big hoopla was about it.  Also don't know why Melissa McCarthy was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, she did a fine job but she wasn't any more special then the other girls in it.   

February 2012
Extremely Loud and Incredible Close - good acting, had a lot of narration, a little upsetting
Warhorse - Epic storytelling in classic Steven Spielberg fashion - I loved it
Moneyball - true story - good but kind of slow for me
Ides of March - very good, incredible to know stuff like that (or worse) goes on in real life. 
Tree of Life - very artsy movie that was HORRIBLE
Midnight in Paris - sweet, charming and romantic.

January 2012

Something Borrowed - good story but moved a little slow I thought

Mean Girls - really liked it

Hall Pass - just okay - was crude and predictable

Twilight - Breaking Dawn Part I - good, a little cheesy when the werewolves talked to each other though

Insidious - not as scary as I thought it would be but was creepy and spooky without gore

The Artist - I LOVED this movie - LOVED it !!    ❤ ❤ ❤
The Karate Kid (the newer one with Jaden Smith) - never saw it before, they should have named it The Kung-Fu Kid, I wonder why they didn't?
The Descendants - good movie, good acting, beautiful location