Yup! That's what happens, I hear *grin* How else can you wear a t-shirt 5 sizes too small and attract enough beads to weight down a burial at sea?! Not by wearing a jacket - for sure! Enjoy and let the good times rollez

yeah, well that was me, keeping warm, and the teens (with mom right behind them) without coats but getting all the beads. they'd go right up to floats despite the "float guards" who, for safety, tried to keep people back.

What fun is it to be a float guard if you don't have all those shrunken t-shirt rubbing up against you?! (Now, go to bed, Wolfie!)

yes ma'am *smart salute* actually, i gotta go to sleep.....see ya tomorrow!

G'night Wolfie!! It was fun...sleep well and talk to you tomorrow!

(Marcia) How do you thicken gumbo without okra? Fil� powder, which is from sassafras. Gumbos use okra or fil�; never both.

we always use file'.....but i've had gumbo with okra and it's good too. cooked okra isn't really slimy at all....

See, I learned something. Thank you, ladies!

Can you taste the sassafrass in the fil�?

couldn't tell you, never had sassafrass by itself but you can definitely tell when the file' is added!

You mean you never walked through the woods in the spring and your Dad cut you a shoot of sassafrass to chew on. Gets really slippery and tastes really neat. Sort of like rootbeer without the sweetness.

I have a fun botanical fact, okra is a member of the hibiscus family. I must have had improperly cooked okra, as it was slimy, worse yet it was slimy and furry. Not a great textural sensation.

It is downright nasty cooked improperly. My mom managed to do that each time she put it in the home-made veggie soup. Indeed, it is a hibiscus...just as Spanish moss is a bromeliad and a relative of the pineapple!

Thats right, the pineapple is an edible bromeliad. It is also an immigrant to Hawaii, being native to either the Caribbean or Central America. The pineapple was introduced to Hawaii by Europeans.

Indeed and now it is grown in Southeast Asia and the Philippines at much lower prices...*sigh* We priced ourselves out of the sugar market and soon will do so for pineapple. Very sad!

It's your real estate. It's worth too much to be used for farming said items.

Well you still have the Kona coffee. The last time I had it was in a blend; it was blended with Columbian coffee. In Florida Big Sugar are dirty words to many people.

Karen, the sad truth is that even in Paradise the people need a way to earn a living. Granted that tourism is our main strength along with the military, but in the past 10 years base closures and depressed economic situations have made it very difficult to keep our state supported University campuses afloat. We need other sources of income if they are going to price themselves out of the market! Sugar workers chose to go on welfare rather than take a cut in pay - they were the highest paid agricultural workers in the world when they made this choice. Who is supposed to pay for this welfare if we all take that way out?!

we have pineapple growing in my house (until real spring hits)! i've got a couple of okra seedlings growing, first time this year, they seem viney....

It's not just tourism but real estate development. Remember, the San Fernando Valley used to be full of citrus trees.

Yes, I know, but they commute to their jobs in Los Angeles by car. Where are the people going to go to get jobs to commute? That is part of the problem. The Kona side is pricey and touristy. This side is the working part of the Island and it is not as healthy financially as is the other side.

Wolfie, is that pineapple doing ok? I remember discussing what to do with it last fall - then I forgot all about it. Say Aloha to it =)

Was there once cattle ranching on the island of Hawaii? And do Maui onions really come from Maui?

Oh yes, Okra that I've seen grows on tough prickly vines. Sounds right!!!

Still is cattle ranching though the Parker Ranch is no longer larger than the King Ranch of Texas. We have great range-fed beef here. Maui onions really come from Maui and they can be pretty hot if the weather is too dry and hot over there.

So if you're in the mood, you can enjoy a nice steak with some grilled onions.

Oh yes ma'am! And the best Prime Rib you can sink your teeth into on earth! Washed down with Menehune Beer (local micro-brewery) and a side of Manoa Lettuce salad...*sigh* getting hungry!

there's room to farm cattle? *grin* the pineapple is doing well in the house. not a shoot yet though. perhaps this summer when i'm away *frown*

Our island is about the size of Connecticut. 200 square miles, I think - but to verify that I just fired off an email to John to check. It takes 18 months from cutting to cutting. You harvested that top only a few months ago...is that right??!

i harvested it last year before summer. so, maybe december i'll have a shoot or something! it had to be summer because i started it outside and it wasn't cold at all.

The crown should grow to about 2 feet in diameter then in the center it will take on a deep rosy color. Then a tiny bunch of little thingies will be down in the deep well made by the leaves...then the stalk under it will grow...then the pineapple will swell and increase in size. Happy thoughts of harvesting come into your mind but remember, pineapples do not ripen off the plant. Make sure it is perfect when you harvest it. When you put it outside in good soil, water it well and feed it. It will respond!

Just heard from John: The BIG island is officially 4,038 sq. mi. and increasing all the time where the lava meets the ocean in Puna. It is the largest island under the U.S. flag.

kinda like a bromeliad, then, marcia, only no water in the well! it's fairly large compared to when i planted the pineapple top. no reddish tinge though. do you think if i put an apple on the soil, it'll force the fruit? (this is what you do to get a bromeliad to bloom if it hasn't in awhile)

The Pineapple IS a bromelaid. Funny thing about the thought of no water in the well. They grow in open fields here and it rains a lot! Needless to say, they get a lot of water in the well and just about all of the time! It does evaporate quickly, so if you are gonna plant them where they will get wet but not dry out again, you might just kill it with crown rot. If you get water in the well, no biggie, but be sure it dries out again. I have not heard of the apple forcing a plant to flower. I know it ripen already formed fruit. Not sure, either, that Pineapples are forceable. I think their 18 months routine is cast in concrete! But, experiment! We all may learn something *gtin*

see, i was afraid to give it crown rot by watering from the top, but in the summer, the water evaporates fairly quickly and does go down the well!

It'll be just fine! I know we are damper over here than you are even deep in the bayous.

Wolf did you and the junvenile members of your pack (i.e., your offspring) have a good time on Fat Tuesday. Now here it is the beginning of Lent. If you look at it philosophically without Lent, Carnival has no meaning. I know the pups (cubs?) were well looked after. Wolves are exempliary parents. Are young wolves called pups or cubs? Of course, your young ones, Wolf, are properly called children, but they probably hate that, especially if any of them are teenagers.

my pups are still young enough to love their mama! offices in new orleans and some select places in town close shop for tuesday and wednesday (fat tuesday and ash wednesday)....my first day of lent was alright as i was so busy i didn't miss the hershey kisses or the caffiene from sodas. (yup two things this year cuz i skipped last year). i'm not catholic, but we practiced lent in my homw growing up. had the AM doing it too (and he is catholic!) the pups were busy raking leaves in the front yard yesterday (they got paid, too)...yard looks great and the kids learned a lesson on teamwork (that's what i tell myself anyway)!!

Excellent practice for wolfhood in the big bad world. I got paid for raking leavesm, mowing the lawn and shovelling snow - but only if my father did not have to remind me. Then, I HAD to do it and got nothing for it. I remembered!

this is good. we do that too. boy do the kids get ticked when they're asked why they didn't do their chores. my son actually came out and told his father that the reason he didn't do his chores all week was because he didn't want to. no allowance. (of course, i'm home with him evenings and he tries to pull stunts)

Oh yeah! I guess they would not be normal kids if they did not try their boundaries...butcha have to live long enough to see THEIR kids doing the same things to their parents...Then you can say, "See!" It reaches them responsibility and mine learned that way, as well. I was a sorta push-over Mom, though. Way softer than necessary, but he turned out to be Very Responsible. I guess he was listening all those times!

well, i'm the fit thrower (ok, well, that's how i feel) but those ying-yangs would rather be with me than their father (!!) kids, gotta luv em....

Got that right!!!

Wolf, your pups will still love their mama when they're grown. Speaking of giving up things for Lent, my mom gave up smoking for Lent when year. That's how she stopped smoking, it worked for her. I did have a Catholic upbringing, (I'm what is known as "lapsed" now). Anyway -- I remember when I was little telling my mother that I wanted to give up broccoli for Lent. She said I had to give up something I liked, to which I replied, "I do like broccoli." In fact, I very much did and still do.

i like broccoli too! my son is trying to give up nintendo but just today he asked to play!! i told him he had to try to avoid it the best he could. cheryl, thanks for that, i do hope they are close to me as we get older....

It would be easy for me to give up broccoli if I did not have dips and salads in which to put it, and my mother to boil it till it ws gray...Yuck! Wolfie, mine is close to me - so close that when I send him what I consider a funny story about a mother he writes all worried asking about hidden meanings and what was I really trying to say...! The acorns doe not fall far from the tree. Take my word for it - love will bond you like nothing else. On levels you never imagined!

good. (obviously something was missing in my childhood relationships *frown*)

Yup! Mine too. Think that's why we are so affectionate and cuddly.

well, then good things do come out of bad at times.....*HUGS*

Indeed!!! Hugs, Wolfie. Was your weather terrible last night? Wish Austin would check in but I know at least one is online. That is good new, indeed!

we had lots of lightening and it's rather cool today. supposed to have a light frost tonight. better go put backs on all those goodies i planted!

Cover'um with burlap and leaves if you have any - they'll be ok! Bummer!

yup!

In case this did not get to the eyes for which it was intended in Today's quotes, I repost it here: For the creator of Geo: "Real programmers don't work from 9 to 5. If any real programmers are around at 9am it's because they were up all night." -- Anon.

I have no idea who that might be referring to... ;-)

The creator of Geo will see it and know =)

Because it is important to read this following information I post it here as well as in News... Because everything you read on the internet is true . . . I was on my way to the post office to pick up my case of free M&M's, (sent to me because I forwarded their e-mail to five other people, celebrating the fact that the year 2000 is "MM" in Roman numerals), when I ran into a friend whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken - which is predictable, since as everyone knows, there's no actual chicken in Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is why the government made them change their name to KFC. Anyway, one day this guy went to sleep and when he awoke he was in his bathtub and it was full of ice and he was sore all over and when he got out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN. He saw a note on his mirror that said "Call 911!" but he was afraid to use his phone because it was connected to his computer, and there was a virus on his computer that would destroy his hard drive if he opened e-mail entitled "Join the crew!" He knew it wasn't a hoax because he himself was a computer programmer who was working on software to prevent a global disaster in which all the computers get together and distribute the $250.00 Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates. (It's true - I read it all last week in a mass e-mail from BILL GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disney World vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the e-mail to everyone I know.) The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his missing kidneys, but a voice on the line first asked him to press #90, which unwittingly gave the bandit full access to the phone line at the guy's expense. Then reaching into the coin-return slot he got jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped around a note that said, "Welcome to the world of AIDS." Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital - the one where that little boy who is dying of cancer is, the one whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send him an e-mail and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a nickel for every e-mail he receives. I sent him two e-mails and one of them was a bunch of X's and O's in the shape of an angel (if you get it and forward it to more than 10 people, you will have good luck but for 10 people you will only have OK luck and if you send it to fewer than 10 people you will have BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS). So anyway, the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but on the way he noticed another car driving without its lights on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly shot as part of a gang initiation. Send THIS to all the friends who send you their junk mail and you will receive 4 green M&Ms, but if you don't, the owner of Proctor and Gamble will report you to his Satanist friends and you will have more bad luck: you will get cancer from the Sodium Laureth Sulfate in your shampoo, your wife will develop breast cancer from using the anti-perspirant which clogs the pores under your arms, and the government will put a tax on your e-mails forever. I know this is all true 'cause I read it on the Internet.

Sorry this is off conference but I have to put it somewhere: http://promotions.go.com/espn/mascots/challenge.html the Nittany Lion won the mascot battle! It was so close.. 50.0 to 49.9. Could anything be closer? But, it's great that your mascot won and I'm very happy for Penn State! 56,763 people actually voted on this important issue (including me, but we won't tell anyone!) Thanks, Barbara!

Spent most of the day sruffing envelopes for the scholarship fund drive at UHHilo. I am too tired to write any more with no one to talk to. More tomorrow. Good night...*hugs* U

Marcia, you must have been tired. You typed that you were "sruffing" envelopes.

LOL *S I G H* I guess I was more tired than I knew. Actually, after stuffing the envelopes, much to everyone's horror, we were told to put them in zipcode order. So, with as much dignity as I had left, I plopped onto the floor and spread the states out around me and did them all while the rest of the gang gossiped.

I am on the W 3.1 laptop onto which I downloaded *gasp* IE. I can see the pictures on Main - finally. Looks like the Magicians are busy at work on it even at this hour. Let's see if this can be posted. Lots of people have said that IE does not post very well. If you can see this, I succeeded.

It's there! I guess it does work. Now I can post the real reason I came in to Spring tonight (tomorrow for everyone else!) More about that on Geo 17.

Hello to one and all. As you can note my name is Saskia Burch. I don't have any Dutch lineage despite my first name. My mother has a degree in art history and she really admires the work of Rembrandt. That's the story of how I got my name. A bit about me, in brief. I was born in Hong Kong. My father is of English/Chinese descent and my mother is American of German and American Indian (Crow) ancestry. I don't remember much about Hong Kong. We moved when I was four. We went to live in England, at Cambridge, where Dad was working toward his doctorate in mathematics. After that, I lived in Montreal and New York City. I'm 22 and am currently studying theater arts. No, I do not want to be an actress. I want to direct plays, opera, theater!

Let us know when you need some encouragement in those noble pursuits. We are good for that as well as other stuff. I am SO delighted to have you posting here!

Have you had a chance to direct anything yet? What a fascinating lineage, Saskia. And you've lived in the worlds cultural meccas, very interesting. I look forward to talking to you more.

I do, as well *smile*

How do I get the buttons back onto Geo - please check my rc file, Magician of the Spring!

Looks like cfadm put them back.

One or the other of us did - we were both working at the same time on it. I am sure he was the one who did as he is much better at it than I will ever be. I wish I knew how it happened so I could prevent its reoccurrance. Thanks and plaudits to the magician who restored my conference! *hugs* too.

If you ever need answers to real specific Yapp questions you can post on the bulletin board at http://www.armidalesoftware.com

Thanks for that! I am installing new marble which is so lovely...I hope cfadm does not mind. I think it would be much better for dancing and does not resemble the pastry marble that he thought it other did...*grin* Now, to get the last of the frames transparent.... Comments (other than it is slow loading the first time) on the new wallpaper???

As you can see, I changed it back almost exactly as Cfadm and I created it almost a year ago! It is now much easier to read. The other marble was lovely, but not a good background on which to read, and it clashed with my buttons. I could not find any bars which looked right but these at least do not clutter the place. Opinions, please? I have these same bars in a charcoal and a light green as well...

it's ok, but at first, i thought i was looking at chewed up straws! *GRIN* looks good!!

I think it is supposed to be wrought iron. I can try the darker version

*grin*

The light green might be interesting, as it is a naturally occuring color in marble. Yes, I know charcoal gray also occurs naturally in marble. Consider how gray to you want your page to be. The background is pale gray, with black body copy, the light green might offer a certain visual interest. The darker gray would work as well, it would be very tasteful. Sort of an antique book look, if you will.

Don't like the coprolite bar? actually, look at the title page and imagine the clutter with colorful bars. I tried rust, other gold ones but I think these have the necessary dimentional qualities without being too obtrusive - and they ARE stone!

It works!

Mahalo! I think I shall leave well enough alone!

Comments, Please! New look???

These bars I also have in the same quality of pale blue with dark just like the green ones on now......which just might look better with the front page of Geo's clipart globe. Thoughts?

personally I lke the old grey ones! But that's just me ...

Have plenty of options. One I tried laast nght was a very dark green and bold square-ended one which dominated the entire place. I'll be playing with it so check back.

it's taking ages to load!

Yes...I was working on it when you were trying to load. Back to the minimalist. I think they work best and the other are in storage for some other time. Downloaded an awesome one which I have no idea where to use.....but it was too stunning to resist.

I like the green hyper-links. Sorry I missed seeing the green bars, but if they were taking forever to load..It's just as well you brought back an oldie, but a goodie.

The green ones were splendid with the dark green links, but miserable with the front page of Geo with the bright red Visto Banner and buttons. It was just wrong in every way... I tried a dark green long bar without texturing but was far to dominant. I think this one works best...there is enough going on in here as it is, I think.

Red and green, must've looked like Christmas. Red and green, I remember them from color theory class. Mixed together they give you brown, but used to together, for anything other than Christmas, the effect isn't pleasing.

I know.....here are the others: Overwhelming bar boring bar The one I like best but clashes with the cover page Awesome bar:

Hmmmm: retrying the first two Overwhelming Green bar Boring in Brown

The awesome bar has a really nice graphic quality. The one you like best has a very nice classical aesthetic, but not with the title page. The boring brown bar does have a attractive pattern. As for your current choice, I think it was Mies van der Rohe who said, "Less is more." I know for certain he said, "God dwells in the details."

Those two quotes puzzle me...hmmm. They seem to the flip side of each other. If I wish God to be with the conference I must have lots of detail? I though the devil was in the detail?! Guess it is all in how you look at it. I decided it was best for all concerned if I kept it as classic and uncluttered as possible. I thought the pink marble and gold bars was exquisit, but better for a Victoria's Secret webpage. I did not want to alienate the men in here by making it look like a boudoir. The brown boring and my fav green are two of four identical bars with different coloring. I also have it in blue and charcoal. I seriously considered the blue but liked the green links....! That awesome one I saw on shown on a dark grey back ground of such color that the horizontal lines seemed to disappear and it seemed to hover on the page. Amazing!

I'm still a minimalist at heart!

I agree and this shall be the look for Geo... Any more elaborate bars clutter the main page with all of the graphics at the top! I agree, Maggie!

For all the men who check to see what I am doing in here and occasionally post, this is for you: *Hugs*

Happy Fathers' Day, indeed, to all you guys.

HAPPY SOLSTICE DAY

Happy Solstice!