Granny Squares

To make a granny square, combine the bits 'n pieces found in a large stash of yarn to make a colorful, interesting square. Because I have no large thoughts coursing through my head this week, I'm going to construct granny squares from all the little thoughts crowding my mind.

First, I did not realize that Japan moved so much during the last earthquake that many areas may never recover from the devastation because the earth upon which they live is 9 feet lower than previously. If that were to happen to the coastline of CA, the waves would be lapping on the other side of San Gorgonio! Looking at the USGS earthquake map shows that the huge ring from Japan's side of the Pacific Ocean to the coast of California is shaking, so there may be more massive movement in the future throughout the Pacific Ocean that results in more far-reaching devastation.

Rosie O'Donnell was not one of my favorite TV personalities, but I enjoy listening to her on Sirius radio. Rather than being distracted by her facial expressions and body language, I get to listen to what she says -- and find her to be articulate, interesting, challenging, and delightful. Yesterday, she was talking with her cohorts about Bill O'Reilly's latest "left wing" slam, this time aimed at Rosie's question: can we talk about how we went about taking out Bin Laden and the street celebrations that followed? She is not complaining that Bin Laden is dead, but simply questioning the mercenary way the mission was planned and executed. After all the yammering about how the US conducts interrogation, Rosie's question seems to follow naturally: we cannot water board to get information, but we can ... do whatever it takes to kill Bin Laden? I don't agree or disagree, but I like that Rosie asks the questions and then discusses the deeper issues surrounding them. There was more closure when Saddam Hussein was captured, interviewed, then executed, but perhaps that was not an option with Bin Laden. What's done is done, and asking questions does not take anything away from the SEALs mission, but just helps bring another form of closure for those who need it.

Why is anyone shocked that Arnold and Maria have acknowledged their marital split? They've been apart for about a decade, but Kennedy women know how to do the job they were hired to do. Maria signed on to give Arnold legitimacy 25 years ago because he's a hound dawg and has no idea how to be faithful to one woman at a time, much less forsaking all others forever. She's stood by his side for the more public sexual misconduct of his past, and probably for the discrete activity that has been kept out of the press while he's been the Govenator, but Arnold is going back into show biz and he simply cannot keep his hands (or other body parts) to himself. Maria is smart to step aside, pick up her own career once again, and let Arnold flame out on his own.

Regarding the concern parents and school districts have about cyber bullying, take the damned phones away from the kids while they're at school. No kid needs anything more than a 30-minute calls-only phone in case of emergency: no texting, no Facebook, no making movies, no surfing the net, no on-line shopping, no game playing, no cheating on tests while claiming to be answering a text from good ole Mom -- and no cyberbullying while the kids are at school. Kids are not mature enough to make adult decisions, but adults think that their kids only use the phone in case of emergency. All the parent has to do is look at his/her own phone usage to realize that what kids see, kids do. If you want the kids to have a phone in case of emergency, then get them a phone that meets that need and nothing more. If you give them a state-of-the-art phone just like yours, they are going to use it -- just like you.

The dog park is a great idea!! My friend invited me to bring Daisy to the nearby (to her) dog park, so we went last week. Daisy loved it: she played appropriately with other dogs, ran like a recently discharged psycho dog, and slept more soundly that night than any night since she moved in. Yesterday, I decided to take Mia with us as I think that Daisy may have been rubbing it in a bit that she got to go to this cool place while Mia stayed home and sulked. Daisy again had a great time; Mia, not so much. You have to separate the dogs by size, so Daisy went with the smaller dogs, while Mia went to the larger dog area -- and stood next to the chain link fence and barked at me the whole time. Mia refused to engage with the other dogs, even though a couple of them sniffed her. Daisy kept going over to the fence where Mia stood barking, probably wondering why Mia wasn't in the yard with her, romping and stomping with all the other dogs.

As I began to get ready for bed, I found Daisy snuggled underneath the pile of pillows on my bed, sound asleep. Dog park is the only thing I've found that unwinds her enough so that I get to sleep through the night.

Okay, saving the worst for the last, this Saturday morning is the funeral.