Drain contest extended one day; Samurai Ty; Painting the Moon; Suzanne’s Waiting List and Travel; Word for the Day; Really Big Dogs

At least two contestants in the “Name that Drain Device” contest have been unable to post their comments on the blog, so I am officially extending the contest by one day. Please send your entry to me at ftgiesemann@aol.com if you are unable to post it in the comments section at the end of this blog entry. I will look at all entries on Thursday morning for an unbiased, arbitrary, subjective decision and will announce the winner Thursday evening/Friday morning. As My Lovely Bride is on travel until Sunday night, the award banquet (okay, the ice cream social) will be held after her return.

Back on Sunday August 19^th, for those who keep track of such trivia, we were in Fort Collins, Colorado. Some readers may recall my mentioning that while serving as the Commanding Officer of the US naval base in Sasebo, Japan, I wore an actual samurai warrior’s outfit in a parade there. Well, Suzanne was looking through some old photo albums, you know, with pictures that were printed from negatives, like you see in the museum... and here is the 8^th Samurai! What was really funny is that my two teenage daughters didn't even recognize me when I walked up to them and spoke a few words of Japanese to them... but were they shocked when I asked whether they had done their homework!

I had fooled Suzanne one night by pointing to a distant water tower while she had her head down, and saying, “Hey, Sweetheart, look at that moonrise!” Well, here is a painter putting the first coat on the new water tower moon on Buena Vista Blvd. near Brownwood in The Villages. The paint is actually sent up under pressure through a hose from a truck below.  I hope he doesn’t have acrophobia! 

Suzanne has been hard at work giving readings and whittling down her waiting list. She wants everyone on the list to know that she is trying her best to get to everyone waiting, and then reopen the list for new signups at some date in the future. She is off to Wilmington, Delaware, and Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to give several talks on her latest book, The Real Alzheimer’s, and to present her S.O.A.R! Workshop at the Wyndham Hotel in Cherry Hill on Saturday, October 27. If you would like to attend, see her website at www.loveatthecenter.com. 

Our Word for the Day from my random dictionary selection is one that gemologists and rock hounds will recognize: sardonyx, n., a variety of onyx with alternating bands of light orange-brown sard and white chalcedony, once widely used in making cameos [14^thC. Via Latin from Greek sardonux, from sardios (see SARD and onux (see ONYX).]  Note that sardonyx is not a couple of sardonic guys!

While walking on the town square the other day, our little scrapper Gretchen (also known by her ring name, “Ten Pounds of Fighting Fury”) was stopped in her tracks by this pair of Irish Wolfhounds. The larger of the two weighed 180 lbs, larger than his owner, while the smaller was a svelte 140. Our little dachshunds were so stunned by the size of these gentle beasts that they hardly barked at all.