In good years, meaning non-drought ones, our hills are richly green. Hopefully, rain will come again before the month is up.

  "Toothbrush." I sat patiently for the Husband to open the package.  "Very hot water." I held up a metal bowl filled with cold water. "You'll have to throw that water out first." I must've looked quite vacant as I sat debating myself where to do that when the Husband offered me two options. I stood up. "Baking soda." The Husband poured the powder. "More, don't be stingy."  "Vinegar."   The task was done. We sounded like play surgeons. Just for the heck of it, I asked the Husband to pour baking soda into the two openings of the u-shaped pipe that was full of vinegar. Sizzzzzzzle. "Like a volcano," said the Husband.  This morning the Husband had to unscrew the pipe from the bathroom sink because the brush part of a paintbrush dropped into the drain while I was washing it. Oops.  It turned out the brush was still stuck in the drain, but with some pushing and pulling, it easily slid out. What became a bigger

Mama and her friend Yuki posed for a photo on our front yard one fine sunny afternoon. They're wearing short sleeves so it may have been late Spring or early summer. From the size of me, I'm either going on three years old, or several months into being three.  Look at those solid legs. I wonder if they already showed signs of crookedness. I love this photo. All you see is my back, my dress isn't completely buttoned, and Mama is watching me be intrigued about something. I don't seem to notice a picture is being taken nor does the photographer seem to mind that I'm in the shot. 

The other day I was thinking about how there are quite a few songs about specific women, such as Michelle, Louise, and Clementine. That got me to wondering what songs do I know that are about particular men. It wasn't easy. I didn't want to Google the answer, so the Husband ( My Guy ) kindly helped me come up with this list. Johnny Angel The Boy from Ipanema Johnny B. Goode Wedding Bell Blues (Remember Bill?)  When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again Go Down Moses  Hit the Road Jack Rocky Raccoon Louie Louie Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Frere Jacques Shaft John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt  There sure are a lot of songs about particular John's. What's that all about? If I look up Shaft, will I find out his real name is John. To check out other bloggers with lists of 13, head to Thursday 13 . P.S. John Shaft, by golly!

 ". . . A million tomorrows shall all pass away, 'ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today. . . ."  That's from John Denver's Today .

I pulled out the camera today. Mama's flowers are still going strong near the front door.

In 1982, February 15 also fell on a Monday. That was the first day of my new job as an assistant editor at  a small special education publishing house, the start of a new era for me. Because it was a paid federal holiday for the company, I didn't start until the next day. Nine years ago, I wrote a post about this first job that started me on my writing career. Please click here if you interested. This being President's Day, I chose to find a quote by President James A Garfield. In doing so, I learned that he was a progressive man for his times, including the Republican Party to which he belonged. It was unfortunate that the 20th U.S. president only served six months in office, of which the last two months, he tried to recover from a bullet in his abdomen. President Garfield was assassinated by a mad man in July 1881. Some experts say that his death could have been avoided if his doctors had sterilized their hands and instruments before treating him. Here's a quote from &qu