The large house in front of us has been empty for years. In August 2007, I noticed a family had moved in and one of the women was wearing a hijab. I baked chocolate chip cookies and we went over to introduce ourselves. Thus began one of the… Read full post »

We call Sasha "The Weasel" because she's frighteningly fast and disgustingly skinny and is always trying to weasel places where there's hardly enough room for a piece of paper to fit through, not to mention a German Shepherd. Here she demonstrates her Taco Frisbee technique with the… Read full post »

When I think of Mom, I think of warm cookies. I’ve just walked the three blocks home from school, enduring chilling rain, a crisp fall nip, or bitter Indiana winter. Throwing open the front door and patting our enthusiastically wagging dog, I yell, “Mom! I’m… Read full post »

Here’s my bionic man’s first surgical scar. The Studbolt had his hip replaced back in 1996 when he was only 38 due to the severe rheumatoid arthritis he’s been fighting since age 13. Isn’t this a beaut?

Over the 7-year period from 1996 to 2003, Steve had 13 surgeries.… Read full post »

Mary's 1st snug with the baby weasel! It was all over before it even began. Sasha was five and a half weeks old and still living with the litter at the breeders.

The baby weasel's 1st yawn of record. Look at those cute little… Read full post »

When I think of the great American orators of my lifetime, I hear the passionate and mellifluous voices of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Edward Kennedy. As of Tuesday night, I have to add Barack Obama to that list.

Here’s a book report I wrote about… Read full post »

My niece Katie is the one who got me onto Salon by giving me a gift membership years ago.  She is owned by two rescue dogs, Gordon and Maddy.  About a year ago, Katie posted a list of Gordon’s nicknames on her blog.  Being another O/C member of the… Read full post »

Three weeks ago, when I woke up Saturday, I put together a piece about Mom for Steve to post.  I’d spent a week taking care of Mom and listed things I took for granted that my time with her enabled me to appreciate and ways Mom was lucky despite many trials… Read full post »

Or

Dismissed by Mom during my Tender Deathbed Scene

Inspired by Steve Blevins’ delicious concoction of humor and poignancy titled “Mom Feels Great, but I’m Planning Her Funeral Anyway,” I’ve decided it’s time to tell a few stories about the last week I spent with/… Read full post »

Just found out from North Carolina Obama Momma Ruth Anne (my 78-year-old O. and Dem. volunteer mom-in-law) that James Taylor will give five free concerts for Obama this week in the following cities: Charlotte & Asheville on Sunday, Chapel Hill on Monday, Raleigh… Read full post »

 

Let’s face it, folks – humans have been in charge long enough. What do we have to show for it? An increasingly toxic environment, poverty, hatred, war, etc. What’s not to like? Right about now aren't you just… Read full post »

 

           Life in a swing state is exciting.  In the past 48 hours, I’ve received e-mails from liberal organizations (ProgressOhio.org and MomsRising.org) encouraging me to vote early, and phone calls (robo and real…

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    Times are tough.  You may have lost your job.  If employed, you may be scraping by from one paycheck to the next.  Your retirement savings have probably been reduced by half.
    I recently returned from visiting my mother for five days.  In April… Read full post »

Many of you know that my mom died 5 weeks ago, on March 14th.  I spent 18 days in Indianapolis with Dad, being there for support and transacting boatloads of burial, memorial, and financial business.  About 24 hours after I came home to Ohio, my younger son Andrew came down with… Read full post »

 

Following three extra hours of blissful sleep, we awoke Monday to the whirr of chainsaws. After a perfunctory breakfast, Andrew and I did a reccy to assess damage. In addition to the downspout out the sink/… Read full post »

Our Halloween Contest submission is a quartet. Think of it as The Lord of the Rings (or perhaps more aptly the original Star Wars trilogy) with a Special Features fourth DVD. It’s still one work. If the editors are poopy-doopy about the quartet concept, they… Read full post »

Happy Holidays, OS friends!   Bionic Man Steve and I will be on the go to a gathering of my family, back home, then a vacation with James, Andrew & The Weasel, so if we don't comment for a while, it's not that we don't love you, we're just away from our… Read full post »

(Gratuitous puppy photo of the Baby Weasel to give you something to rate, moved to the top at the request of Verbal Remedy)

 

OK, here’s the deal. There's still time to join in and become… Read full post »

Inspired by a comment bbd made about Mary’s organ donor t-shirt in her “ Early Voting in Ohio” post.

In order to appreciate the appropriate lyrics, please drag the song progress bar to about 2:10 (we know how to edit a song that we own to start where we want, but we don't know how to embed it except from imeem; enlightenment is welcome!)

You Spin Me… Read full post »

Received this in an e-mail from my husband Steve's college volleyball coach, who owned an amazing German Shepherd named Shaker while we were in college at Earlham.  David is one of the few people I know who "gets" the way I feel about dogs.  He received this from his daughter, so… Read full post »

Hope that everyone is enjoying the OS Avatar Collage project.  

For those of you that didn’t see this earlier (back in October when it first came to light, the brain child of Skeptic Turtle), the project has now been expanded and is underway.  The goal is to… Read full post »

Here’s our entire family cheering on the Boston Red Sox during Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. CCC (and other OS members of the Nation), we took this photo for you. We know the BoSox are now… Read full post »

Esteven,

I’ll never forget New Student Week at Earlham in September 1976 when I met you. Your all-male hall and my all-female hall were paired for games and activities. The first week, I spent a lot of time with your hallmate Dave, until… Read full post »

Inspired by bbd, here is a Valentine for my beloved Stephen,  The Bionic Man here on OS.

For your Valentine's Day viewing pleasure, I recommend Peter Jackson's film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.  Over this three day weekend, Steve & I are watching the entire… Read full post »