Pure Fun

So, because we're all tired of Ma's whining--whether it be about Blogger or loud machines that run through 3:00 am--(notice how I got another whine in, there?) we now turn to something REALLY funny :-)

I saw this yesterday and vowed to link to it. Here's the set-up:

The female evening anchor for KWWL, Tara Thomas, had her second baby earlier this year. They named the boy, "Thomas," but I say we shouldn't hold that against them...ANYWAY, she has a blog, that has chronicled some of the ups and downs of second-time motherhood and working and stuff. And like a good little Ma, I've been reading it.

But YESTERDAY I saw the greatest post! It is a little story sent to Tara by the mother of one of the weather dudes, Mark Schnackenberg. (oh hey, he posted my pics of the sun dogs and the funnel cloud! We love the Schnack!)

Anyway, the story comes from Mark's mom, and really, you must read the short but entertaining piece...

Hee hee :-D

Made my day.
 

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Ma Joke # 6

What's big and green (and yellow); travels up and down the road for hours, including most of the night; shines big lights into your bedroom window; works in the field across the road and is literally full of manure?



THE MANURE SPREADER FROM THE HOG LOTS!

Ha, ha Hoyts...looks like you got tricked.

Happy Halloween, silly-family-in-the-country-with-the-nutty-mother-and-two-kids-with-heart-conditions.
 

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Life in the Yard

Before I spend an hour or two studying for the upcoming entomology lab, it seemed only fitting to set forth a few relevant pictures, two being from the Lepidoptera order.

In addition, these pictures are brought to you solely through the help of photobucket, and not Blogger, which remains ever the unreliable picture-posting format option.

Question Mark -- Polygonia interrogationis
It's been a couple of weeks and two or three hard freezes since this picture was taken. Naturally, I discovered after the fact that you see the 'question mark' for which it is named, on the underside of the wings.

Not technically of the same nomenclature order as above,
this specimen of the H. s. sapiens was glimpsed earlier this afternoon, repairing torn shingles from the last wind event.

Seen here existing in a micro-climate (of which I learned in M. G. class),
we have a Black-Eyed Susan, an annual version of Rudbeckia, for which the Internet refused to give up an accurate Latin name within my 15-minute time limit. It's so hard to get good help, these days.

Painted Lady -- Vanessa cardui
the lepidopteric version which is welcome most anywhere, as opposed to the homo sapien version, of which many dire warnings do abound.

Forty minutes used up in this happy venture. Bugs await, so Ma must bid a fond, "adieu"....
 

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How to feel dumb...

...in five easy questions.

It's always nice to start out the day discovering yet new ways in which you're a loser.

That's why Ma jumped on the chance to take a math quiz from BBC.

It isn't the promised math quiz from "How Smart Are You?" but I got tired looking for that one and never finding it, so when this popped up I foolishly jumped on it.

Got the first two right and from there it went downhill. Had the right idea on the last, just the wrong....oops, don't wanna give it away!

So take the quiz. Surely most of you can do better than Ma. C'mon...here's a free chance to feel superior in only five questions!

My cup o' tea is more like this, excerpts from a book where only one vowel is utilized in each chapter. I like "O."

But getting back to the math quiz, go ahead and try it. Lose yourself in loserdom.

And if you don't like the results, just do what I do and eat more chocolate.
 

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Great News, Everyone! (updated!!)

Melinda and Ma are no longer Master Gardener Apprentices....we are now,

Interns!!!

I believe that qualifies us to operate without an anesthetic. My first scheduled procedure: the smiling resident that took out Derek's wisdom teeth and said everything went normally. I'll be taking out most of his chompers but I'll leave an incisor and one or two bicuspids. I'm just nice, that way.

The second operation will be on a certain doctor who misdiagnosed my daughter with asthma. I plan to completely incapacitate him from saying the phrase, "My friend," utterly destroy his condescending attitude, and negate his fake soft-talking manner that makes the patient lean in and seem to hang on every word.

After that, there was a certain nurse up at Mayo that made me cry...

Oh alright. I'm KIDDING.

Saturday will be our big shebang, going down to Iowa State University and spending the day in classes and labs. I hear that the entomology lab passes around a "bug" that's about a foot long and we have to make an identification. (Oh yeah, I run into LOTS of those...) I'll try to take pictures.

There's a free lunch and get this....we even wear NAME TAGS! I mean really, what more could a Ma ask for?

Last night was our last evening class, and then we had our picture taken and were presented with an official certificate.

Hopefully, the coordinator will send the photo out to us soon, so I can incorporate it on this year's Christmas card :-D

{update alert}

OOOOoooo, looky what just arrived by cybermail!
{you are now free to resume your regularly scheduled programming}

I think it would only be proper to share with y'all the official email I received, lo this very morning:

Master Gardener Interns:

(that's Melinda and MOI :-)

Again, congratulations on completing the Master Gardener program last evening and becoming Master Gardener Interns. After completing 40 hours of volunteer service on public good projects, please send me your volunteer log. You will become full-fledged Master Gardeners and receive your badge, permanent certificate and pin. To maintain active Master Gardener status, complete 6 hours of volunteer service and 6 hours of continuing education each year. At the beginning of each year, I will send an email requesting your hours of volunteer service and continuing education for the past year. You can send those to me via email reply. Master Gardeners operate on the honor system. We assume everyone is honest unless we discover differently.

It was our pleasure to offer the program this fall. Thank you for participating. Always feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Best wishes and happy gardening!

Melinda and I have a lead on starting our public service. One of the guys in class is the plant director of the local care center (Presbyterian Village) and he's got yard work and mulching projects already agoin'. I'll bet we can get a start on the 40 hours next month!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Imagine, not getting paid to do something I enjoy. It was a natural extension of the whole unpaid motherhood scheme thing. (seriously though...I am looking forward to this)
_____________

In other news, Loren took Kendra and Paige (girl from Grace who lives less than an hour away) back to Winona Lake, IN, as their original ride out had to go back on Sunday. It was a good fit for Loren, since he has wheelings and dealings via Ebay, and the more we can spread college kids out over the United States, the vaster his purchasing opportunities.

SO ANYWAY, he's heading back today, and as far as I'm concerned, it'll be just in time. I was FREEZING in bed, last night. Of course, some of that has to do with the electric blanket conking out. And then there's the little matter of the heat pump that fizzled at the end of last winter.

Currently, we are waiting on a classy new heat pump set-up that a certain company has only been working on since, um....JULY. I figure we should have it by January. February at the latest. 'Til then, I wear extra slippers and jackets.

Alright now....get your gardening questions ready for Ma! I still may not know much, but at least I have the academic credentials to prove it.
 

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Teeth of Wisdom, Part the Fini

El Conclusiono Grando: The procedure-of-slow-breathingness having ended, we now come to the final chapter in our series, Teeth of Wisdom: The Never Ending Saga.

Ma took her newly discharged charge and wheeled him down to the pharmacy in his nifty chair-of-mobility. Upon reaching the desk, the pharmacist informed Ma, "We have a decision to make. This did not go through.....oh wait....that was another patient! Your's is fine."

Ha HA! We love medicinal humor! It veritably brightens our day, especially since we left while it was still dark.

That med-induced cardiac event averted, Ma proceeded to the parking lot, where she had skillfully maneuvered the archaic Lincoln backwards into its parking space, in hopes that it would start. Naturally, it did not. And though in a previous excursion Ma had been aided by her formerly wisdom-toothed son, this time, she--was--on--her--own.

While Derek watched, mouth full of gauze and vaguely awake, Ma proceeded to pop the hood; unhook the carburetor cover; pop the trunk; remove the starter fluid; insert key in ignition; spray starter fluid close to tube/pipey thing and then run like crazy back and crank the key.

JUST as Ma was about to give up and go for more spray, THE ENGINE TURNED OVER!!

Ma's joy knew no bounds, other than a slight disappointment there had been no witnesses to her heroic feat. And without further ado, she pulled the Lincoln-of-Frustration over to her patient and got him safely situated into the front seat-of-reclinational-properties.

At last! Time to head for home. Ma expertly traversed the tangled web of streets, leaving the hospital behind her. Once more on the open road, she speed-dialed the cell phone for home, and received....a busy signal. Though it was her wish, nay her solemn duty to report the tooth extraction that required bagging and set off heart monitors normality, her efforts were stymied by the continual signal-of-business. It was at this point that Ma was supremely glad she had not relied on a call to el hubbo to pick up the drugs at the home pharmacy.

Much peaceful driving ensued, due in no small part to Derek's incapacitation which allowed Ma to play classical music. However, numerous calls home were attempted, all ending in the infamous busy signal. Ma was beginning to suspect foul play, or at least, lackadaisical phone hanging-up techniques.

The clouds temporarily parted north of Cedar Rapids, to reveal a McDonald's, promising meaty boon to Ma and milkshake repast to Derek. But alas, due to continued ooziness of mouth, the poor lad was re-in-gauzed. Mooish succor must wait.

Repeated calling attempts brought repeated busy signals, causing Ma to think up appropriate recompenses to be ladled out at a later date. Still, with the unswerving tenacity of someone who has no other choice--and who has been infused with new Diet Coke energy--Ma continued her northern trek.

Our tireless duo did make further stopage in Waterloo, for purposes of milk and yeast procurement. And as Ma loaded her purchases in the the car-of-doom, a kind and helpful man adjacent made the comment, "You've got a tire going flat..." just before he drove off into the proverbial sunset. Ma did look and she did perceive that indeed, the back left tire seemed less than alert. After another FRUITLESS call to the homestead, she partook of herself and the car to a gas station, which did prove to be supplied with broken air hose.

Knowing full well that the entire weight of the world did rest upon her shoulders, Ma came to an executive decision and proceeded to an additional station-of-gas. And lo, said haven hadeth hoseage which made noisage, leading Ma to believe it had put some air into the tirage.

Against all odds, Ma continued her trip home, pausing to make one---more---call, which, miracle of miracles, WENT THROUGH!!! It was by this time, though, harried and well-nigh exhausted, that Ma abandoned her dramatic retelling of events and merely murmured, "Everything's sorta OK. We're coming home."

Pills having been taken, and melted milkshake having been drunken, our courageous mother and son arrived safely at The Big House, where it was admitted that "someone" had not hung up the phone properly. (we shall not go into names, but his initials are Loren D. Hoyt)

Immediate plans for bloggoreal revenge were initiated.

Thus...FINALLY...ends the serial telling of Teeth of Wisdom. Autographed copies will be available in time for the Christmas holidays, professionally packaged in Saran Wrap, with a guaranteed minimum of six chocolate smudges per page.

Only $19.95...one copy per household...
 

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The Good, the Bad and the Crudly

The day started out so well.

Kendra, Derek and I had business in Iowa Falls. Before leaving, I exercised; polished off an article and sent it by email; sat down and did a little school with Trevor; sat down and did a little school with Nolan and gave him his assignment of 5 subjects to complete while I was gone; showered and adjured everyone to be good.

Derek had his one-week check-up post the wisdom teeth business, and he looks good. So glad Iowa City allowed us to do this in Iowa Falls, and that I could schedule the last morning our dentist would be in the office for over a week.

Then is was on to Goodwill, where Ma picked up a new, $49.00 suggested retail priced sweater, for a cool $3.50.

At Wal-Mart, Kendra and I found they had finally gotten sensible and put out Christmas lights that varied from multi-colored to white.

Ma got blue, to go with her French Country Kitchen :-)

Then we went to McDonald's, where despite the usual disappointment over their fries (since they changed the oil), we had a swell time, noshing and sloshing together.

After that, things went downhill.

I lost MY FAVORITE PEN! It was blue...a gel pen...and I really don't want to talk about it anymore, other than to say I'd just put a new refill in it and I even went back to see if I'd dropped it at Goodwill....

I hope whoever finds it will treat it kindly.

*sniff*

Besides that horrific event, I did manage to embarrass Kendra in the grocery store by advising the produce guy how to stack bananas so they don't get bruised, and mentioning to Marty the Meat Guy that he probably didn't have much to do besides chop up meat...so that part of the trip wasn't a total loss.

Oh yes, I also showed Todd-the-nice-guy-with-the-blue-eyes how my nifty remote could open up the trunk. It only took 3 tries! He was pretty impressed and mentioned that I could probably fit three bodies in there, in case any of the kids caused problems.

Then I further brightened his day by showing him how you close the trunk, but it doesn't snap shut...you get to watch the VERY cool process of it slowly going into place, all by itself.

I've dazzled more grocery workers, that way.

(it was at this point that I was going to show you a picture of Ackley's gas prices...

$2.19, baby. Read 'em and weep!

but silly Blogger wouldn't post my picture, so I'm the one weeping, instead)

After that we got safely home--which with Derek driving, is always a plus--and one of the first things to greet me was this remark,

"Have you heard about Trevor?"

"Nooooo...."

"He threw up."

("super, super, SUPER!")

And just 2 days after the Fall Fest. What an amazing coincidence.

*suppresses urge to scream*

How well I know this will fall on deaf ears, but really....DO NOT COME TO ANY FUNCTIONS UNTIL 48 HOURS HAVE PASSED FROM YOUR LAST INTESTINAL SYMPTOM.

I can hardly wait 'til tonight.

And the next night.

And the next...

One more thing: we got home at 3:30 and Nolan was still working on his first school subject.

Nobody knows the screaming I haven't done.
 

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Your prayers at work

Hey everyone....Ma has exciting news!

Remember praying for Marlys Weikert? She was the young expectant lady at church, who had that bleeding problem in her lungs. She was hospitalized two different times.

WELL...

Allow me to introduce you to Ty Jackson Caleb Weikert :-D



Born yesterday morning, around 1:45am, weighing in at 7 lb 15 oz.

Mother and baby doing well, should come home from the hospital tomorrow.

Here's the happy family, Caleb, Marlys and baby Ty.

These pictures are hot off the press, as I took pictures of them this morning, off of Linda's pictures :-)

With a name like that (TJC Weikert) he should really work for a man at our church, who owns OMJC Signal Co. ("Hi, I'm TJC, from OMJC...")

Thanks very muchos for praying for this family over the past months whenever Ma put out the plea.

God is good.
 

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Teeth of Wisdom

Part the Third: When last we left the oral surgery waiting room, that solitary and solemnic interrogative had been uttered...."Derek?" The nurse-of-woe waited patiently while the victim-to-be took inordinate amounts of time returning reading materials to his backpack (not unlike the inordinate amount of time it takes to flesh out, "they pulled four teeth").

Ma was also allowed back to prep, ostensibly to provide support for the surgeree, but in reality to obtain the papers-of-prescription-for-addictive-drugs. All preparatory work being completed, our heroic mother-of-ten proceeded to the dental pharmacy without error, which, contrary to directions, was NOT located 'after the coffee shop,' being as there was no actual dispensing-station-of-caffeine.

After the encouraging comments from the pharmacist, "We'll try to run this through and see what happens..." Ma proceeded back to the waiting room, where much to her surprise, no one had absconded with her Master Gardening study materials. It was at this point, however, that our matronic personage found she had new distractions, the disquieting dialogue of an "All My Children-ish" nature. (and while we do hope the brave folks at Pine Valley have recovered from their horrendous tornado experience, they will not be entering into our recounting of Teeth of Wisdom, beyond this one, very belabored point)

Time passing, and the search for tornadic-victims-of-Pine-Valleyness continuing (OK, I lied), Ma did begin to glance occasionally at her watch, wondering what was taking so long. This anxiety became heightened as the 50-minute mark passed, helped in no way by the nurse's comment, "We might even be done by the time you return from the pharmacy."

HOWEVER, the young doctor-of-4th-year-residency did issue forth, bringing his extreme tallness into the vicinity of Ma's height-impaired self. Balm-like tidings were spoken by his beatific visage, and Ma could almost glimpse the mouth which spake through the wispy clouds surrounding the alpine-like mountain head. "Normal," and "came out easily" were the words-of-soothingness, delivered with a broad smile and repeated. It is important, here, to note that the word "normal" was reiterated several times, and may this humble author state, that when you hear the word "normal" that many times, you can be sure it wasn't, quite.

After several more minutes of waiting, Ma was ushered back to recovery, with those immortal words, "I'd feel more comfortable if you were sitting with him, since his heart rate keeps going low and setting off the alarms." And there in the chair of reclination sat The Derek, dozing and waking, dozing and waking, dozing and waking and vehemently denying he had walked to that room from surgery.

As the nurse returned from time to time, adjuring the patient to "think fast thoughts" when his heart dipped below 36, she casually asked if Ma had spoken with the doctor. The ever cheerful Ma replied that indeed she had, and listed the numerous times "normal" had been mentioned. It was then that the nurse let forth, "we had to bag him," and, "I thought you should know." At which point, The Ma, who has oft been the receiver of disconcerting-medical-news-after-the-fact, laughed bitterly to herself, and thought, "It figures."

Thus ends, Teeth of Wisdom: Part the Third (it is hoped the fourth and final part will be shortly forthcoming, as we have become quite tired of thinking about it, but are determined to see it through to the end, that no words may be left unwhined)
 

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Waiting for Kendra

Kendra is on her way to Iowa! Traveling home for Fall Break, she is. Ma will meet up with her ride around Dike...that small town in the middle of cornfields, unsurrounded by water.

(reminds me of 'Ackley,' named for a man who never even lived here)

What other news? Boy...I wish I could let you in on the Hoyt family emails. Twenty or so contiguous ones in the past few days, concerning elections stuffs. Most interesting.

But alas, you'll have to marry into the family or somethin'. There are still several eligible guys and gals, so just let me know and Ma will see what she can work out...

In other news, Melinda's and my LAST evening class is coming up next Tuesday. After that it'll be one long Saturday at Ames and then Woo HOO, Master Gardener, here we come! Well, after a mere 40 hours of volunteer service, the first year.

The class has been quite interesting, but I'll be glad to have that part concluded. I don't always feel comfortable leaving my family at home. First of all, I have to act as though I hate it so they won't feel like I'm having too much fun.

What this world really needs is a good method of temporary suspended animation. There are SO MANY situations where it would come in handy:

Don't know what to fix for supper? No prob, just put the gang into suspended animation. (you can go out to McDonald's while you plan a meal)

Want to go out with the hubby but there's no baby-sitter available? Bingo...suspended animation. (put HIM into S. A while you drive, and then you can listen to whatever radio station you want :-)

And my personal favorite--politicians doing annoying things? Presto, chango...SUSPENDED ANIMATION! (nothing would get done, but then again, that's not so very different from reality)

Which reminds me...I really must get back to work...
 

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Dear Ma,

Lately I've been feeling that something's missing from my life. With all the hoopla over Sarah Palin, I think I finally know what's wrong. All the guys are gushing over her and her abilities to kill and field dress a moose. Of course, they may like her because she's also pretty and has nice hair, but I'm wondering if the huge hole in my life could be filled with moose hunting. The kids are grown and now would be an ideal time to start a new hobby and maybe impress the hubby. What do you think? Should I go out and get a moose-hunting license?

Madge, in Corpus Christi

Dear Madge,

Your instincts are right on target, but maybe you should start smaller and work your way up. Are there any mice in your house? Do you have gophers in your yard? The local hardware store can be very helpful in selecting items for pest-control management. Let me tell you, NOTHING beats the satisfaction of lighting a gopher bomb, tossing it into a tunnel, covering the hole and watching wisps of poisonous smoke ooze out of the cracks in the ground. And you were right about impressing your husband. MY guy was so thrilled with my efforts that he now lets me take care of all the varmints that come our way. I've picked up a snake in the basement, killed raccoons in the breezeway and whapped bats with a broom.

But don't limit yourself to the home front! Much can be accomplished on the open road. I've personally been responsible for the demise of a badger, a seagull and a deer, while driving. No, never underestimate the killing power of a woman in a large vehicle. And if anyone gets on your case, just tell them you're doing your part to decrease global warming, but cutting down on CO2 emissions, which the dead animals won't be emitting, once you're through with 'em.

So, as far as the moose-hunting license goes, you might want to save your money and wait a bit. You'll get faster results if you just go out and buy an SUV.

Plus, it's much more comfy inside a heated vehicle, as opposed to standing out in the snow, gutting a large mammal with palmate antlers.

You go, Madge! And happy hunting,

Ma
 

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It's Report time, again

The Derek Report: he's feeling a little better and started doing some school yesterday. The Hydrocodone (pain med) makes him sleepy so he can often be seen dozing off on the couch with Moby Dick or his English book half-falling out his hands.

He's eating soft and semi-solid foods. Last night was a real breakthrough in that he was able to eat some Tater Tot Casserole, a renowned dish which is served at Maxim's in Paris, if I'm not mistaken.

The Ardith Report: doing quite well, she is :-) Ardith worked all last week, though that was a bit rough. Since being able to taper down her Prednisone she is doing better and actually feels more energetic than she has in weeks. She even mowed the lawn this past Monday! Of course, I taught her everything she knows about mowing...

The Pink Report: The Breast Cancer Site has been raking in the "clicks" for their big promotional month. They're up to 75% of this month's goal, which is to get enough clicks to fund an extra 200 mammograms above the goal of 500 they've already set for this month. Remember, your clicks are free!
________________

From the BBC's list of 50 Favourite Words:

13. I like the word termagant, meaning a quarrelsome shrew of a woman - because it's just obscure enough to get mixed up with "ptarmigan", a lovely bird.
Jan, Portland, Oregon, USA

(vote now, as to whether you consider Ma to be a termagant)
 

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Teeth of Wisdom, (cont.)

Part the Second: When last we left our intrepid dental duo, they were traversing their way across the roof of Parking Garage 4. The weather was partly cloudy and cool, with a dew point of...something. (I could do research to get the exact dew point details, but that would take time. Time that could be better utilized toward injecting drama into an otherwise lackluster occurrence)

With practiced skill, Ma pushed the correct buttons in the small yet amazingly minuscule elevator. This was followed by walking, another elevator, and yet more walking. Through it all, the young molaric victim carried himself and his semi-loaded backpack with the ease of manner bespeaking someone who has no idea how much and how long he will hurt.

Upon achieving the desk of oral surgery, Ma announced to the deskish lady that they had arrived and the son needed a protime. Without a moment to rest or even catch a quick nap, the pair was sent back to the elevator and onto another floor, where they promptly got lost.

Now, some would consider 'getting lost' to be a bad thing, but not Ma. One person's 'lost' is another person's opportunity to take a quick tour of the medical facility. And for our dear Driver-of-the-Lurching-Lincoln, it was neither, actually. Getting 'lost' was simply another way in which to display her great humility. For example, at no time did Ma shout the following words, "SHE TOLD ME TO TAKE ELEVATOR 'L' TO 2nd FLOOR AND GO DOWN A LONG, LONG HALL....SO WHERE IS THE STUPID, STUPID LAB!?"

Eventually the laboratory was targeted and entered. THAT was when Ma was introduced to two colorful characters. ('introduced' is rather too nice a word. 'Subjected' would be more accurate) Seating in the lab waiting room was arranged in such a way as to practically promote the touching of knees between peoples of vastly differing politics, faiths and even disparate clothing materials.

Within inches from Ma, a father and son wiled away their time discussing promising fishing bait. Chicken livers, fish eyes, as well as puppies and kittens were mentioned. Ma made no outward sign of hearing or comprehending their loathsome talk, preferring instead to smugly immerse herself in the open crossword puzzle before her....("Let's see, three-letter word for 'boor' that begins with 'C'...)

THANKFULLY, Derek soon returned from the curtained-cubicles-of-phlebotomy, and he and Ma exited the lab whilst she whispered the fervent prayer..."Please don't let those guys be going to the same place...please..."

Her recent petition agreeably answered, the death-defying duo returned to the oral surgery facility and plopped themselves and their various study materials into waiting chairs. Chairs appropriately placed out of eyesight of the obnoxious television and it's annoying program, The View. Unfortunately, said program could still be heard, as well as the wails of some poor tyke who was not responding adequately to his or her applied agent of sedation.

No matter! Entomology and The History of Mathematics were studied. At times the strident voices of women mixed incoherently with the child-not-responding-to-meds, yet bugs and ethereal sums were pored over, examined and reflected upon. It was all so surreal, and yet so dreamlike.

Then, came the call..."Derek?" 'Twas a nurse; practitioner of comfort as well as purveyor of doom.

With leaden steps, mother and son proceeded to the room of tooth-outingness. It was prep time. It was crunch time.

It.

Was.

TIME.

(thus ends, Teeth of Wisdom: Part the Second )
 

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First of all...

...Derek was a pretty miserable camper, last night. Because of his Coumadin, he cannot take Ibuprofen, which would have helped with the swelling. However, he DOES get to take Hydrocodone, which may not negate swelling so much, but has the added advantage of being that neat drug that so many of the stars find somewhat addictive. So Derek will have a leg up if he wants to switch from engineering to famous-person-who-doesn't-do-much-for-society-other-than-make-the-tabloids.

One should always have a back-up occupation in mind providing the first one doesn't pan out.

Secondly, he's feeling better today, though his heart did go out-of-whack during the early morning hours. Thankfully, it went back.

God bless Sotalol.

Thirdly, we had an interesting visitor to the backyard, last evening...
...this picture was taken through two windows of the old blue van. Bambi heard me, but he wasn't quite sure whether I was part of the vehicle, or not. Doesn't he just look like something that belongs on the wall?

(incidentally, the Spanish form of 'Bambi' would be 'Bambo,' and the Italian, 'Bambio.' I believe the German form would be, 'Bandligheinstichus')

A car went by, distracting the intruder, so I moved around the van...
...here you can see him more clearly, right behind my lame-apple-tree-of-leaningness.

Thoughts come to mind of inviting Steve Bell over during deer season...but then Loren would have to build a massive tree stand out of treated lumber (which he would be happy to do) and I would have to have gourmet coffee on hand (which I would not be happy to do) so I think we'll just leave things as they are.

Looks like an 8 point buck to me, but I'm not an expert at horn inspection. I welcome enlightenment on the topic. Please keep any explanations to a minimum of 25 words or less. My eyes glaze over when we're talking antlerology.
________________________________

Went shopping in Iowa Falls, this morning, and driving through Ackley I noticed that gas was down to 2.44 per gallon.

When I came back with my stash of chocolate groceries, the price had dropped further...
(I didn't crop the picture so you could take in some of Ackley's ambiance)

Casey's had not yet dropped their price to match, but I'm sure they will, soon.
_________________________

There will be another installment of Teeth of Wisdom, the Untold Story, except, after I tell it I'll have to change that last part....
 

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Teeth of Wisdom, Day One

Introduction:

Many things took place upon this day. Some even involved extracting all of Derek's wisdom teeth. But there were other notable occurrences that in no way involved pulling out intelligent or dense dental fixtures.

A proper accounting of this tale will necessitate its dispersal, in small parts, not unlike doses of foul-tasting medicine. This will not only give adequate opportunity for all facts to be told, but it will give me more time to make stuff up.

Let us begin.

Part the First: In her usual organized fashion, Ma had laid out most of the required items-of-takage, on the table, the night before leaving. This included a list of items to be taken, most of which were already set upon said table.

One can never be too conscientious.

All necessary persons having arisen at the proper hour before dawn, Ma Hoyt and kid-the-fifth (son-the-second) did depart 2.5 hours ahead of the proposed hospital arrival time.

The trip was advanced sans incident or music. Working with school books on the road requires nearly complete silence for Derek, because: "Music is a language, and it speaks to me."

He can't concentrate with all that talking.

Ma, on the other hand, needs her diversions. And sacrifice of euphony requires reciprocal portions of gluttony, which in this case added up to a can of Pringles, two Diet Cherry Cokes, and a bag of Dark Chocolate Bliss.

It is at this point where we will note that despite the above phrase, 'sans incident' (fancy French verbiage meaning, 'nothing much happened'), the car-of-drivage did produce certain lurchings and revvings at intervals that did not coincide with Ma falling asleep at the wheel (which I should hasten to add, she never did...really).

Ma attributed these random movements to the high-spirited nature of the car, so aptly named, The Green Dragon Lady Lincoln. It had been two weeks since the dark green beauty had strode the open road, and she was merely responding to the wild call of fall, and the heady scent of sleek and smokey semis.

Iowa City and it's warren of clinics were safely attained, with extra minutes to spare. Some of those extra minutes were used in the three tries it took Ma to back into the top level parking space, conveniently located across the lot from the door which had many spaces next to it but which Ma was then to lazy to move the car. To.

(on this exquisite literary note we do end, Teeth of Wisdom: Part the First)
 

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We Be Back

Derek and Ma are safely back at the ol' homestead.

I'll give a more interesting report, later, but basically he is OK, though he can't feel his lower jaw, yet.

Only one or two little unusual things happened...
 

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Naturally....

....when you have to get up early, you can't fall asleep.

Tomorrow is Derek's big day of wisdom tooth-extractuality. He'll be taking along plenty of school work to study on the 2.5 hour drive. I told him not to worry about academics on the ride home, since his mouth will be so full of gauze he won't be able to see beneath his lower lip.

Ma is all prepared:

--bag of dark chocolates

--two cans of Diet Cherry Coke

--can of Pringle's Spicy Avocado ships (Oh, did I mention I'm off the diet for a few days? And I was "down" another pound, this morning :-)

--Master Gardener Resource book, so I can finish reading up on Plant Pathology and Entomology for Tuesday's class

--crossword puzzle book (in case there are too many distractions to concentrate on the life cycle of nematodes)

--cheery blue tote bag from Mayo Clinic (one of the perks of a heart transplant)

I even have a coupla things for Derek: water, apple juice and a sippy cup.

You might pray everything gets accomplished with no untoward developments, e.g., Ma driving into the ditch or Derek having complications related to his heart.

I'm sure all will go well.
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We haven't had a Latin phrase for quite a while, so here goes:

Magna res est vocis et silentii temperamentum - The great thing is to know when to speak and when to keep quiet
 

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Goodish News

First of all, Ma is feeling fine and perky. "Ah's so laght ah'd like ta float away ona cloud," ha, ha. Well, perhaps not that, light, but I do feel good.

Also...attention, please....

MA HAS PRETTY MUCH COMPLETED HER CHRISTMAS (and 4 birthdays in Nov/Dec) SHOPPING FOR THE YEAR!!

Just two, small items to be gotten at a local store.

"Who da ma...?" I say,

"WHO DA MA?!?"
 

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So glad it's Friday...

...except this will be another killer weekend.

Time for a few reportings.

The Diet Report: Ma stepped on the scale this morning and discovered that she's lost another 1.5 pounds, so that makes a net loss of 5.5 pounds over 12 days. I guess that's not too bad, though I had hoped for more. Two days left and I can stop thinking about food restrictively and start thinking about it obsessively, again.

The Ardith Report: Guess what? The docs don't think she has ITP, after all. They think she has mono. Ha, ha! We love the docs. They are such fun people, without which some of us wouldn't be alive to experience the fun of going to the doctor for the rest of our lives. You can get more info on Ardith from her latest post.

The Sore Arm Report: The eight of us were all shot up, yesterday afternoon. Flu shots, I mean :-) Each one, a brave little soldier. I've read that there is a particularly nasty virus from Australia (H3N2) which could present in this year's flu season. That virus is covered in the current shot.

The Harvest Report: it rained a bit overnight and looks like the rest of the cornfield has been postponed. There was some gnashing of teeth yesterday, since flu-shot procurement conflicted with harvest-watching. We did briefly consider asking Farmer Frey to delay combining until we returned, but taking time out for that request would have made us late for the flu shots...

And now, for The Reptile Report: Trevor put on one of those vest jackets this morning, pulled in his head and arms and declared himself a turtle.

Nolan soon followed suit, and here we see...
...The Turtle Twins.

Then Trevor switched to a butterfly, escaping from his chrysalis and appropriately flapping afghan wings, behind him.

Great fun. And best of all, they've discovered another way to delay school.
 

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It all started last night...

...when Mr. Frey's pick-up was spied coming into the bin drive to check on the corn.

And then, this morning....
...the semi drove in and parked.

Soon, young boys set up a watch station. All eyes were peeled for an approaching combine...


Oh Joy! Oh dream fufilled!


Farmer Frey gets closer...the lads stand out of respect.
Nolan does his "happy dance."

Already the combine's bin is full, needing to offload.
Looks to be a good harvest.

One could lose one's self, 'tis so thrilling.


And now the moment they've waited for....


Run, Trevor....WUN!

 

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Something Fishy....

You'll just have to take my word for it, since I have yet to find the documentation on YouTube, but Iowa senators Grassley and and Harkin, Republican and Democrat, respectively, are both running for reelection.

And both using the same ad.

With my very own Ma-wellian eyes, I have seen a commercial, multiple times, showing kids in a mock election scenario. One time the face at the end (and name) will be Grassley, another time it will be Harkin.

SAME KIDS and SAME COMMERCIAL.

At the end comes the clever line, "Next vote, longer recess!"

*massive cheering by underage voters*

Methinks some PR company is laughing it's head off...
 

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As Time Goes By

While Nolan loses afternoon computer game time in increments (goofing off at his schoolwork) let us take note of a few productive items:

1) Melinda took the PSAT for practice this morning

2) Ma knocked off yet another birthday present...online

3) Flu shots are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon

4) Ma gassed up the Green Dragon Lady Lincoln because,

5) Monday morning Derek et moi will go down to Iowa City for his wisdom tooth extraction party

Other futuristic endeavors:

6) Sunday, pot-luck at church

7) Sunday night, the Reynolds Family gives a concert at the church down the road

8) Monday, get up EARLY so that Derek can go to....oh yeah, I already said that, but it bears repeating.
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BBC Favourite Word of the day:

36. Borborygmus - the rumbling sound that comes from an empty stomach.
Rupam, Ashburn, VA USA

Hmmm, that reminds me....time to fix lunch.
 

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Notable Quotes of the Day

Nolan, on seeing Ma stick one of Ethan's prize melons in the fridge, to chill:

"I LOVE watermelons! I like their size, not how they taste."

Trevor, upon finding out he had not brought a jacket with a hood for shopping in the rain:

"I'm gonna wun wil-wy fast and miss getting wet!"

Nolan, after Ma returned from a five-minute errand, to the car where she had locked them in to eat their snacks, with dire threats not to get out or unlock the doors for ANY-one:

"Whew! We didn't get abandoned!"

This next one is going to take a little set-up...do you remember the old quartet song, Tell it to Jesus ? The first line starts out, "Are you wear-y, are you heavy heart-ed..." (Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus) etc. Now, hum those first few measures, so you have the tune in your head....

Trevor, winning 'the most creative change of gospel-song lyrics in the frozen food aisle' award:

"Piz-ZA, Piz-ZA, PIZ-za-PIZ-za-PIZ-ZA..."

Trevor, sitting in the back seat of a Lincoln, unable to see out, and easily obtaining the non-contested prize for most unpronounced 'r's' in an interrogative sentence:

"Awoh we about to tuhwn, he-woh?"

And...bebebbb...that's all, folks
 

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School

Here is Trevor, hard at work on his consumable math book.
Math is FUN with Pooky Bear at your side! Pooky is a HAPPY bear, always ready to lend a helping paw!

(math is also fun if you can write in the book and have cake problems)

Here we see Nolan, slightly less engrossed in his math.
I'm afraid this is not an umcommon pose.

We're working on a contraption that will cut down on distractions. It'll be similar to a Burka, only less attractive.
 

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Harvest....

 
...and the thought, "Will there be combines in heaven?"
 

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Reports and Fun

The Ardith Report: if you want to get the first-hand account, check out her post. At present, barring something untoward, she's planning to go back to work on Monday.

The Diet Report: lost another pound, so that makes 4 pounds since Sunday :-) I'm gonna take a break from weighing in, so as to set myself up for a pleasant surprise (hopefully) at the end of next week.

The Pink Report: The Breast Cancer Site has acheived 35% of their goal for October. Remember, each click counts as two, this month. Your click is free and goes toward funding free mammograms.
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Daughter Sharon forwarded an email--and she never does this--concerning 12 ways to get rid of a telemarketer. GOOD STUFF :-D We don't get those any more, since we're on the 'no call' list. But Ma will have to share one every so often, to spread out the fun. Here's the first:

2. If you get one of those pushy people who won't shut up, just listen to their sales pitch.
When they try to close the sale, tell them that you'll need to go get your credit card. Then, just set the phone down and go do laundry, shopping or whatever.
See how long that person waits for you to get your credit card.

On a related note, those annoying campaign calls have started coming in, and Ma just hangs up, recording or not. Can't WAIT until the election's over.

From the BBC list of 50 favourite (British spelling :-) words:

28. kakistocracy: The government of a state by the worst citizens. A very useful word!
Helen Collins, London, England

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Do you need a break from economic news?

Ma has JUST the thing....

Last night's topics for the Master Gardener class were:

--Integrated Pest Management
--Pesticides and Pesticide Safety
--Weed Science

Now wait....stick with me :-)

Besides discovering that it is nearly impossible to get through 3 subjects in one evening without going 30 minutes over, I learned some interesting bits of information:

First, you can tell it'll go long when the third chapter isn't started until 10 minutes before the 3-hour session is supposed to end.

Second, our local resource speaker told of a guy at the edge of town who had been advised he couldn't have an electric fence in his back yard (no houses around) to keep away the multitudinous deer. This in fact reminded me of an article read earlier in the day, which I chose not to bring up (due to the first point).

A man in Worcestershire, England has been told to take down the waist-high barb-wire fence around his garden, on grounds of health and safety...."in case intruders scratch themselves."

Mr Malcolm said he had been robbed three times since June, along with around 16 of the 50 allotment keepers on the site.

'About £300 worth of tools were taken, including everything from a stainless steel border spade and pitchforks to screwdrivers and hammers,' he added. 'The thieves cut through steel locks on the shed, or broke in through the windows. I caught one lad of about 16 red-handed.

'He dropped the bag of tools and fled, but although the police took a description and finger prints, I heard nothing. Another time yobs broke in and completely trashed my potato and vegetable patches.

Here's what a local policeman said,

'These [thefts] have mainly been from sheds and our advice to allotment holders is not to leave anything of value there.'

Mr Malcolm's plight comes just weeks after Bristol council angered allotment holders by urging them not to lock their sheds in case burglars damaged them breaking in.

But back to the Master Gardening class...

Third, concerning pesticides, the term 'safe' is not one which we are encouraged to use with the word 'pesticides.' That's probably why they put it in the title of that particular chapter.

Fourth, the subject of 'Weed Science' begins with several answers to the question, "What is a weed?" My favorite answer:

A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered

- Emerson

Gotta love it! And speaking of literary stuffs, BBC News has an interesting article entitled, "Fifty of Your Favorite Words."

Now, I know most people won't wish to read through all fifty, so Ma will simply post one on occasion for the enlightenment of all, including myself. I'd only heard of about 5 on this list.

Today's fun word, including explanation by it's contributor...

2. Poodle-faker - a young man too much given to taking tea with ladies.
Jane, Pembroke

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Woo Hoo!

I neglected to mention that last week, Derek received the BIG envelope from LeTourneau, saying he has been accepted :-)

To-DAY, he got a smaller envelope....announcing he's been awarded a Presidential Scholarship! And that's not all, he has an invite to participate in Heritage Weekend in February where he can try for more scholarship money!!

Ma is very happy.

!!!
 

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All Things Health

On Monday evening, around 10:30, Loren and I were in bed and got a phone call. We were awake but it was annoying to find that ONCE AGAIN it was a wrong number from someone trying to get the credit card company with the 800 number that varies from our number by one digit.

On Tuesday morning, around 7:30, Loren and I were (still) in bed and got another phone call. I was already awake and getting ready to be semi-polite when I recognized Ardith's voice on the phone...

So here is the scoop: Ardith went to the ER on Monday night, after running a fever for several days and feeling ill. She was found to have a UTI and then they found something else...extremely low blood platelets.

They kept her overnight and she finally got home Tuesday afternoon, with a hefty dose of Prednisone, as well as an antibiotic.

ITP, or Idiopathic (unknown origin) Thrombocytopenic Purpura is the diagnosis, in addition to the urinary tract infection.

Platelets are the components of the blood that involve clotting. Normal platelet counts are between 150,000 and 400,000. Ardith's initial count was 8000 and when she left the hospital it was about nil.

ITP is simply the immune system seeing the platelets as "the enemy" and eating them up. So the Prednisone will dampen her immune system and hopefully let the platelets build up, again.

In the meantime, she's been encouraged not to play touch football.

Sometimes this condition is chronic, but the doctors feel that in this instance it was brought on by the rather severe infection, which Ardith didn't even know she had.

If anyone out there is wondering about leukemia, don't. While that can also be symptomized by low platelets, Ardith did not have the corresponding signs...like a messed up white count.

Just her platelets seem to have been affected. She doesn't feel that terrible at the moment, but I'm sure she would appreciate your prayers, as we also would, for her.
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On the Diet Front: Ma has lost 3 pounds since Sunday :-) Probably water weight, from not eating all those yummy chips, heh, heh. After today, only 11 more days to go.
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You may already know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The Breast Cancer Site is having another promotion...every click counts double toward free mammograms.

Now personally, I'm not sure why they had the big promotion last month if they were going to have an even bigger one this month....but it's for a good cause. Already they have reached 24% of their goal.

So click on the pink rectangle.
 

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Of Debates and Relates

What a shame I'm going to miss another debate this evening.

*insert smirk*

Debates always make me nervous. I'm a uniter, not a divider, hee, hee.

So it is no hardship that I'll be off to class with Melinda, focusing on Animal Ecology: "Attracting Wildlife to Your Landscape," "Wildlife Damage Management."

Any similarities between the debate and the class are purely coincidental.
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Just to let you know a little about kids away from la casa, I talked with Kendra on IM last night. She had a wonderful experience at the Shakespeare festival up in Canada, two weekends ago. Highlights--besides the two plays--were: a scrumptious cheesecake at a local shop, and getting past the border with no complications.

That's my college girl.

You might pray for Ardith, who's been under the weather for several days. She still has not shared a picture of herself sans braces, but that's only because she is following my example of extreme humility. She told me so, herself.

Jason is doing fine, despite a heavy lineup of TV shows classes. He's logging a bit more sleep since his roommate wasn't able to get back this semester.

As for Sharon, she's not taking the Chinese classes at the library any more, since she decided, "I could do it faster on my own."

:-D

In car news....I believe her sporty Honda Civic has been de-dented.

Would that we could take the dents out of presidential aspirants.
 

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It's Monday....back to reality

The weekend seemed to last longer than usual.

There was that whole Saturday SAT business, and then after church we were invited over to Steve and Debbie Bell's place, a.k.a. the Jensen homestead for whom the Bell's are house-sitting.

ANYWAY, you know how adults will yakkity-yak and we got home just in time to take Ma's roast out of the crock pot and have another big meal which people weren't that hungry to eat. (at least I have enough leftovers for soup)

I'll have to post a few pictures since Steve was practically begging to be put on the blog.

I guess he's not as humble as I am.

On to some reportage:

The Doug Severs Report: Doug had gone into a-fib last week and was hospitalized while they sort out his meds. He's been put on a new heart medication which should help with the arrhythmia--but as we've found out from personal experience--these same drugs that keep the heart in sinus rhythm have to be monitored at the outset because in the first days they can throw one into a bad rhythm.

So he should be coming home in a day or two. He's feeling quite good, though, and overall has made remarkable progress from where he was before his bypass.

The Diet Report: it was supposed to start yesterday, but going over to Bells' sorta messed up my well-laid plan...even so, I did step on the scale and am down half a pound.

I'm going to keep this current stint up until Derek goes in to have his wisdom teeth extracted. Things just seem to work better for me when I have a certain amount of regimentation lined up. At least while the kids are still home.

The School Report: going pretty well, so far. Melinda was tickled to do a science experiment and actually look at her cheek cells under the microscope :-) Nolan is getting to the point where he can do some of his schoolwork independently, which is just about enough to make me cry with relief. Trevor is starting his subtraction facts but still annoying me with his reading progress, or lack thereof. (it's not that I take it as a personal affront when the kids don't catch on as quickly to certain things as I expect, it's just that I start thinking about whether they'll be behind and not get a good high school transcript and then an academic college scholarship and then no great job and THEN no great health insurance and then....THEN...

Oh wait....the kid's only in 1st grade.

The CD Report: alas, my Carter Family CD will not play in my laptop/main computer. That's the first time I ever bought a cheap CD from Goodwill and it didn't work.

*sniff*

The Weather Report: it's cloudy. If I could only hear Mama Carter sing...

"Keep on the sunny side,
always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life...."

 

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Goodsome Day

We survived. Not only that, but I got mucho done-o :-D

First off, Derek and I were up and out the door just as the sky was starting to lighten.

Ah, there's nothing like driving off into the red-rimmed horizon in search of decent SAT scores.

While Derek was sweatin' it out filling in circles, Ma was walking and driving in circles.

First I spent a lovely 60 minutes making the mall circuit, top and bottom floors, over and over and over...

Then, after changing into non-sweaty duds, I headed to downtown Waterloo for my package-mailing mission.

Had my directions all figured out ahead of time, and they worked like a charm.

You'd assume a big city like Waterloo would have it's post office open on Saturday morning, right?

Well, they don't. They do, however, have a list of four different alternate places where packages can be mailed during the week, with one of them--you guessed it--right beside the mall where I'd just been.

However, if I ever need to go and not mail packages at the Waterloo post office in the future, I have every confidence of finding the place.

Back at HyVee (yes, it makes WONDERFUL sense to take your post office packages to the grocery store), Ma got all the stuff taken care of, noticing ONCE again that parcel post and two-day delivery show a difference of 5 cents, and why somebody doesn't bring THAT up in Washington DC I have no idea. (if they can't even instigate sane pricing, how will they ever win the war on terror....I'm just sayin'...)

Next, Ma went back to the mall, and after checking in at Scheel's sports store, forever nixed the possibility that Ethan will obtain a left-handed baseball mitt from anywhere but divine intervention in the form of a Goodwill store.

I did, however, stop by Walden Books, and folks....I hope you're sitting down for this....in 15 minutes I brought my Christmas/4 birthdays shopping list to a stunning 80% completion!!

(oops, so much for surprise presents. hee, hee...hey, I told you this Christmas was gonna be lean....)

ANYWAY, on to the the wonderful Goodwill Superstore where Ma displayed extreme self-control by not buying one article of clothing.

To tell you the truth, my most treasured purchase was a $2.99 CD (new) of the Carter Family. It's got Keep on the Sunny Side, Wildwood Flower and I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes, to name a few.

I would have played it already, but when we came home I had to put away groceries and then....WHEE DOGGIES, Ma mowed some lawn!

("Ma? Is there anything you can't do?")

("Yes. Achieve 100% humility. Closest I've come is 98%")

Looks like I just have time to get ready for bed and watch The Red Green Show.

*grins*
 

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Off to the BIG CITY

The biggest kid at home...

is going off to the big city of Waterloo...

to take the big SAT...

in hopes it will help biggen his scholarship chances.

Naturally, Ma has many things she can do in the BIG CITY, not the least of which are walking at the mall and stocking up on chocolate.

It's a symbiotic relationship.
 

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New Prayer Request

Hey folks, Ma has another plea for prayer goin' out...

Doug Severs, from our church, was taken to the hospital last night with an irregular heartbeat. (don't know if you remember, but Doug had a triple heart by-pass earlier this year. He also has unique challenges with mobility due to having had polio as a child)

The doctors were hoping medication would take care of things and the email said he'd probably stay the night.

I'll let you know when I hear more.

Thanks very much for praying!
 

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The Diet Starts....

...Sunday, after Derek takes the SAT on Saturday. It's tradition to take the poor brain-strained seniors out to eat after their four hours of torture, so there's no point in doing anything before then.

But do something, we must! For Ma is getting 'mick around the thiddle,' to quote Runny Babbit, by Shel Silverstein.

October looks promising, diet-wise, with no birthdays looming before November 7th.
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I was sent a link by two different people today, so I'm thinkin' that's a sign from God to pass it along :-D

The Sarah-Cuda bow. Let's look at the tribute and see how Ma stacks up:

"Inspired by Sarah Palin, the 2008 Vice Presidential candidate and governor of Alaska, Lakota Industries Inc. is pleased to commission the Sarah-Cuda. The bow is more than just a beautiful piece of archery equipment: the Sarah-Cuda is a tribute to women everywhere who embrace the sport of archery and bow hunting (oops, that doesn't apply....). Women who face the challenges of adversity and demonstrate the courage and strength to survive in today's world (read: live in an old house with a gazillion kids and heart-impaired husband without going stark, raving mad), yet have the caring heart and tenderness of good wives (ut oh...), mothers (*shrugs*), sisters and daughters (definitely coulda been better). This is a tribute to women like Sarah Palin who bear the responsibility of family (like I said....GAZILLION) and work (a stunning 3.5 hours per week, outside the home) while strengthening the moral fiber (I take Senekot, RELIGIOUSLY) of society."

And on a related note, one of my Kiwi nephews alerted the family to this website.

Clearly, I have missed my calling.
 

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Trevorism

*incessant babbling by Trevor while Ma fixes lunch*

"Oh Trevor, you are so funny..."

"No, I'm not."

"You're not?"

"No. I LAUGH in the face of funniness."

 

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Confirmation

Yes, I know that every once in a while it sounds as though I'm whining about being being a traditional homemaker...

And then, along comes a reminder that there are even MORE unglamorous tasks:


Suddenly, I feel blessed :-)

"I sure hope this works," was the confidence-building comment uttered by the man who'd been messing with pipes and heady adhesives all morning.
 

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