It's hot in Central Mississippi! Christiansen's comments,Hinds County Gazette

Painted cncrete leaf....
This cat I could find with out effort on my part.

HCG July 24 2008
How hot is it?!
It is so hot here in central Mississippi, that my cats are no longer concerned with what passes through their yard. My cats before it got so hot would lay, very still, on their bellies in pounce position, fully focused, ready to challenge anything that moved, a falling leaf, a dog’s wagging tail, bugs, butterflies, birds and mice…. Now they just sprawl lazily in the shade, if something does happen to pass their way…the only interest they show is, maybe, a twitch of an ear, or the very tip end of their tails may move slightly.

Big semi trucks are still scraping bottom and getting caught at the top of our new railroad bridge. But with no apparent damage to the bridge…some superficial scuffing is all I could see. I wonder what kind of concrete formula they used…seems to be indestructible….if I had that formula, my cement leaves could quite possibly still be around at the end of time.

I have been busy making and painting my concrete leaves…I have told lots of people they are welcome to come watch…If you were one of those people please come. I am home most of the time…except on Tuesday mornings…that’s when I go to art.

Speaking of art…I finally finish the painting I was doing of the old Railroad bridge…I didn’t like it. And tried to abandon it unfinished, But my instructor BJ Crawford insisted I stick with it ….It is now framed and hanging in here with me….I must say it is growing on me… the frame has improved it greatly.

Egrets have come to town! I don’t ever remember ever seeing Egrets inside the Edwards city limits. Only in the county riding on the backs of cows in pastures. …But recently I had observed several town. Then this week I had one in my very own front lawn…..he was strikingly beautiful…his bright white feathers against the dark green grass. He stayed a short while and was gone…I hope he comes back….I feel sure my golden retriever, Charlie, would not mind carrying him around on his back. Wonder what has happened to make them want to come into town?

The PBS series Antiques Road Show was in Atlanta this past weekend, I love Antiques Road Show…Try never to miss it. I am in hopes, one day, someone will have an item that is worth thousands of dollars and I will have one just like it in the attic.

Sheryl and Cleve Payne, the Queen’s Hill Paynes, had tickets to get in…won’t it be fun if they get on the TV? I asked, but have already forgotten what Sheryl said they were taking. Amanda, Sheryl’s niece, Barbara and Lee Pennebaker’s daughter went too….Surely one of them will get on TV….If one of them does get on and I find out when it is going to air, I will let you know, so you can watch too.

This is the first column on my new computer, Ruby. Ruby is a laptop, I think I like her…I do not ajust to change as readily as I once did…

I did not have Microsoft Office installed on Ruby, so even though I have saved my columns to an external Hard drive from my old computer …I can not open them! To open computer files you have to use the same program that they were created on…. Frustrating! So I am going to have to spend that money and get that Office program put on Ruby…..Life is grand! But not ncomplicated.
Love to all,
Call if you need me….let the phone ring …I maybe be elbow deep in concrete.

I don’t know what the out come of us will be if we don’t get a major rain soon…Last week I was on a farm over in Warren County, the roads going through the corn fields were dust….the first four inches had turned to a fine powder……..When we go with out rain for protracted periods….I think of what mother said as Katrina was blowing out side, “I am not afraid of any kind of weather except drought.” Mother grew up on a dry land farm in western Nebraska……. Pray for rain

Mr. McCain, Mr Obama while you are in Mississippi, I would love for you to drop by for a visit on my front porch...

My Bread pudding....many folks claim it is the best they have ever eaten.
My carmals
My Baklava

My daughter, she will be awake by the time you get here.....

HCG July 3 2008
I use to be a good cook, and didn’t mind saying so….without a doubt I made the best hamburgers ever, and my liver and onions were to die for…I could go on and on. But apparently I do not cook much anymore…You all, last week I went to use the stove…poach some eggs or something…my stove was dusty….Do you hear me dusty! Not greasy from frying…not crusty from pots boiling over…Dusty from lack of use…

Oh! I have been conducting an experiment, (now that I live alone I am noticing, I have begun to do some bizarre stuff. But of course I do not recognize my behavior as unusual, until I open my mouth, then I get that look….you know the one, raise eyebrows and perplexed stare…. that look the old ladies get, who live alone with their out of control cats and spoiled dogs, in big, old, dilapidating houses. What goes around comes around; I gave the look, now I am getting the look…I have gotten the look most recently while explaining my experiment.) Now then, Back to my experiment; as you know the price of everything is going sky high; laundry detergent cost nearly $15 a jug, I went to wondering if I could use liquid dish soap…It takes such a little squirt to get a nice suds. You all, it works! And I get very dirty!….. I am here to report, my overalls are clean as a whistle, except for the blotches and streaks of paint…dish soap does not get paint out but, Tide didn’t ether. My Experiment may be a grand success because of our water over here in Edwards, granted it is brown, but, it is very soft….

Well, it has been settled Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain will be the next president of these United States. I suppose it is too much to ask that it be a civilized race to the White House…. Why can’t each candidate tell us how they stand on the issues and let go of the name calling and mud slinging? Why do they have to holler and yell, scold and scream?

But that vicious strategy of campaigning must work for the candidates or they would not continue to use it. What does that say about us Americans? We the voters? We tune in to the nightly news eagerly, just hoping, to see a bruised and wounded candidate, not only being ripped to pieces by his opponent, but also by the press, and those media people, they rip, and tear with such glee. And the speculating the news people do ….It is shameful!

We are appalled at the thoughts of dog fighting and Cock fighting…It is unlawful….people go to jail for such….But we don’t mind watching, fellow human beings, our candidates being publicly humiliated….by rhetoric which often by the next day or two we find out, was not based in fact.

What astonishes me is that we can get anybody to agree to run for president or any political office for that matter. I have come to wonder how many first-rate, capable, people stay out of politics just because of the brutality of it all….Not just them, but their families are brutalized.

Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama will be debating in Mississippi…Didn’t I hear that? At Ole Miss? Baark, John, while you are you Mississippi I would love to have you drop by my front porch…. come have a glass of mint tea and a green bean sandwich. But Let me hasten to add, I am not inviting you to a debate …I believe you can tell a lot about a person and where they stand by ordinary conversation about everyday happenings.

Before you come to my porch I must warn you…do not try to win my vote by telling me what you are going to give me for free …tell me what you are going to do for this nation and how you plan to get our economy healthy to where we can earn our own way.
Love to all and call if you need me.
Happy Birthday America!!!!!