Let me just say one word: WATER, AGUA, L'EAU, WASSER, VAND, ACQUA, WODA, H2O

In the movie The Graduate, one of the party guests says to Dustin Hoffman that he just wants to say one word to him and that word is plastics. Well, my dad and I have a pet saying and that is "it's going to be all about the water." (After gasoline and food naturally.) We mean the distribution of water as the population grows, particularly in the drier climates in the western United States. We, of course, are referring to our "one word."

Then there's the whole topic of water pollution. In today's Tennessean newspaper, I read about Franklin citizens who are thinking of suing the Egyptian Lacquer Mfg. Co. for contamination of groundwater. Our own little Love Canal. I've lived here for 17 yrs. now and never heard of Egyptian Lacquer, a Franklin company who is evidently helping to pollute the Harpeth River. Cleaning up the Harpeth and other rivers in the area is something we do unfortunately hear about from time to time.

Meanwhile, in New York City, that city full of Yankees that redneck Southerners love to compare to evil incarnate, they have opened for business a $15.5 million public art project, "The Waterfalls", which Mayor Bloomberg expects to generate $55 million in economic activity. I know I sure would like to take a long weekend trip to the city and take one of the cruises past the 4 man-made "waters that fall". One is taller than the Statue of Liberty! For all the interesting information about this project, such as how the waterfalls work, visit http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/

"Water is very ephemeral," Mr. Eliasson said as his own falls made their debut. "It is full of dreams." Wish that Mayor Dean and the powers that be would dream that big about the Cumberland River and what the development of our riverfront could be for tourist dollars.

Friday night delight

Friday night as we went outside to say good-night to Keri and Grant who had come over to see Mojo, Bill remarked upon what a clear night it was. So I looked up into the sky and immediately saw a shooting star. I almost didn't believe my eyes. Then Grant saw one too. We watched for a minute or two more, but it was late and that was the end of the show. I made a wish . . . you guess.

The (Tire) Decider

Bill with his retirement gift from his friends at BFUSA. I gave him the grill cover. We graduated from the University of Virginia.

By the way, this is a picture of the guy who just retired. Gosh, it just occurred to me - we will have to buy tires from here on out.

Where are those hovercraft they promised us? And, can they run on oxygen or ozone or whatever else is in the air for free?

They had this picture on display at the party, and a couple of us were trying to come up with an adjective for his expression. What would you say? Please leave a comment.

They also had a picture of the 1973 college class that was hired in at Firestone; there were about 25 newbies. Bill has dark hair and a mustache of course. Bell bottoms were still in. :-)

Let Them Eat Cake

• It's hard to believe! Cliched, but true. After 35 years at Firestone, then Bridgestone/Firestone, Bill is retired. His department, Sales Engineering, had a delightful little party for him on Thursday on the 12th (top) floor of the Bridgestone building in Nashville. They gave him a propane grill as a present (they asked me for suggestions).

• The 2 pretty cakes pictured above were a carrot and a chocolate. There was also ice cream, a cheese plate, and fruit plates. The party ran from 1:30 to 3:30 during which time the reception line patter ran from people who said things like "you don't really know me because I just started here . . . " to lots of hugs from women. Then there are the guys who get wind of the retirements who are already retired and come back for the parties. They all say how much they love retirement.

• We hope to too. But, just in case the 2 of us were to get on each other's last nerve, I got the 3rd party, Mojo, for happy distraction. So far it's working.

It's a Boy!

Introducing the newest member of the family and it's the terrible two's already!

When we were at our monthly couples' bridge club Sat. night, I mentioned to a lady that we had a new puppy, and her response was "Are you crazy?" I don't think so. I guess it boils down to dog people would tell you "no" and non-dog people or semi-non-dog people might say "yes". But we had a lot of encouragement from our son and his wife who promise to babysit whenever we want to go out of town.

Grant came over on his lunch hour to see Mojo and let him jump all over his head. While he was here I said that Mojo was starting to chew on things he wasn't supposed to chew on, and Grant's answer was "lots of toys." They sent 4 with the wire cage they let us borrow that they no longer need, but puppy is only interested in 2 and that interest only lasts so long. Then it's on to cords and sofa and drapery corners. So, I guess a trip to Pet Smart is on the to-do list. Meanwhile I'll contemplate if I'm crazy or not. It'll be about a year's worth of contemplation; that's about how long the puppy terrible two's last as I recall.

Toyota ??? That's worse than a boy called Sue

• After Lucy died in Oct. 07, I said she was our last dog. Guess what?

• We are going to drive 65 miles to Lawrenceburg tomw. at the crack of dawn to see this male Pembroke Welsh Corgi with the strange name.

We will have to change the name. I'm assuming that when we see him we'll be goners.

• Grant and Keri are keen on us getting a dog so we can exchange lots of babysitting; that kind of sealed the deal for Bill.

We're not just all about the country music - Here are real Nashville llamas

• Llamas originated in North America about 40 million years ago, then were wiped out by the last Ice Age. Thanks to importation from South America, there are now over 100,000 in the U.S. and Canada.

• Llamas spit at each other when they fight, not to mention neck wrestling and chest butting. That, my friends, would be the guys trying to become alpha male.

• Llamas hum to their newborns.

• Guard llamas protect livestock from intruders such as coyotes. They actually herd the livestock and might even kick Groundhog Gary or Muskrat Sally to death. Hey, survival of the fittest, folks.

More pictures of the llamas NOT dancing at High Note Farm

Grant and Keri on the left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erin and Dave on the right

But the animals didn't get to dance . . . that I know of anyway

• Bill and I were lucky enough to attend the wedding of friends of Grant, Keri, Dave, and Erin. Actually it was the reception, the wedding having taken place on the beach in Key West in May. Grant and Keri had been part of that wedding party and had turned it into a week's vacation spending another night in Miami's South Beach and then a 4-day cruise in the Carribbean., They said they had a good time, but I don't believe that!

• The reception took place last Sat., June 14, at High Note Farm off Hillsboro Road in Nashville. Everyone I talked to remarked how surprised they were to find out that this place existed. I have no idea how many llamas or horses they have, but I scurried to take pictures before it got any darker. I felt very sorry for the horses, who came over when they spotted us, because there were so many flies all over them that I think they must have been miserable.

• But their misery was certainly delightfully overshadowed by our good time. The food (and drink) was wonderful; we met some nice people (a couple from Akron); and the 9-piece band rocked! We stayed till the bitter end mainly because we enjoy all of the boys' friends (i.e. the young people) and because I had one of the best low-pain days in a long while even though it was humid (which I thought increased the pain). So, my next theory is that I had taken a lot of prednisone for a bunch of bug bites I had. That would definitely cut down on the swelling in my head which I can feel when things are bad.

Anyway, as I've said before, I love weddings. What a celebration for the road ahead! A shout out and our best wishes for many happy years to the Sheppard's.

We'll Miss Him Acutely

I didn't hear about Tim Russert's passing until Bill mentioned it last night around 6 p.m. My response was: "Tim Russert? I can't live without Tim Russert!" Unfortunately I had just started watching his TV show Meet the Press (the longest running TV show so far) because I had just gotten interested in politics again after the dreadful years of the Reagans, the Bushes, and the Clintons (I never trusted Bill's zipper from Arkansas days and it turned out that he did embarrass the Democratic Party, in my humble opinion). But, I was very familiar with Tim because he was also on TV, hosting presidential debates, and doing political analysis. It didn't take long to figure out that this fellow boomer (2 yrs. younger than me) was the best. Here is the email I sent my sons last night:

Dear Sons, You have probably heard that Tim Russert, Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News, died suddenly today of a massive coronary at age 58. He was a fellow boomer who I like best of all the folks on TV – I guess because he loved politics and so do I. He was from Buffalo and loved his dad, a sanitation worker, and had recently written a book called “Big Russ and Me” – his dad is still alive. He only had one son who had just graduated from college and he and the wife and son had just gotten back celebrating that fact from a trip to Rome the night before and this happened the next a.m. I’m sure Tim was a Type A personality and blah blah blah . . . However, he was known for being tough but very well-liked. He never let his political opinions influence his work. He had been the anchor for Meet the Press on Sun. a.m. since 1991 I believe. And he hosted some of the presidential debates. Anyway, to get to the main point, he was a bright man, brighter than me I’m sure, and they said he gave his son 3 rules to live by when he went off to college and they were: 1. Work hard 2. Laugh often 3. Honor yourself (I’ll add and family to that but it could be argued that it’s implied) They also said that because he came from such humble roots, he used to say the world didn’t owe you a living and that whatever job you did (even garbage collector I guess – because he got his values from his dad), it was worth doing well. You were not entitled to anything. I think that reminds me of being the exact opposite of Bush and part of that is just the inherent pitfalls growing up as a rich kid as opposed to a poor kid who gets inspired by something or someone or maybe just his own dang good genes. But he did look like he might have had a few Philly cheesesteaks too many (his Achilles’ heel) and a piece of that nasty cholesterol broke off and got him. Anyway, when your dad told me who died today, my response was “Tim Russert??? I can’t live without Tim Russert.” For me, Tim has definitely left the building – empty. Love, Mom

It IS Friday the 13th after all

Just doing my part to help the cause . . . do you think he will lose because I pasted his picture on this day?

* * * * *

(I chose a respectful photo at any rate)

This deer doesn't chuck wood, he chucks my flowers!

Do you see the stems in these 2 pictures that have been nipped off? I'm accustomed to the daylilies being chewed up before they ever get a chance to bloom; but this year, they had hung in there for the longest amount of time without being eaten and I had great hopes for them. Evidently, I was mistaken in thinking that the deer might have gone to a different neighborhood. And, the geraniums! I always plant them because they were the only annual that the deer had always left alone. Shoot! And these deer are connoisseurs as well; they only eat the delicate tender buds, not the blossoms. I swear; I'm surprised you don't see them going for the little budlet babies in the strollers.

Well, the daylily is finally going to be moved inside the doggy enclosure although I don't doubt that the deer will climb over the fence. I did see a deer inside the enclosure 2 ft. from our house once. I saw it step over the part that I have cut down a bit so I can climb over easily to get to the garden, and I also saw it soar over the regular height of it when I started down the steps to scare it away. At any rate, I think people have fenced in backyards not only for their dogs and children, but also to keep deer and rabbits out. I have lost several hundred $$ on perennials trying to find plants that deer and rabbits won't eat to the ground.

Since I last posted, so many things have happened, though nothing spectacular. The main thing that took some time was babysitting Magi the Corgi and then setting up another blog with pictures of her. If you type "vandysview" into Google, you will see both blogs. This is a pulitzer prize site for Welsh Corgi pictures!

Then poor Big Brown lost the Belmont. I read all the blog posts on the NY Times blog "The Rail" and the consensus seems to be that either Big Brown needed his May steroid shot, or it was the heat, or his cracked hoof, or the way he was ridden by the jockey. I tend to agree with the latter - first go here, then go there, then don't go fast, then go fast until Big Brown just said the heck with it. I just wanted to run straight from the beginning.

Bill's idea for the Triple Crown is to require all the horses to have to run all 3 races so that they are comparing apples with apples. So, if you ran in the Kentucky Derby (no matter where you came in), then you can run in the Preakness, and if you ran in the KD and the Preakness, then you can run in the Belmont. Then we wouldn't have fresh horses coming into the Belmont as "spoilers." Horses that were distance runners only. Someone else compared it to competing in a triathalon: you can't compete in just the event that you are good in. You need to be able to do the whole ball of wax. Not a good metaphor.

Well as W.C. Fields said: Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. Since I always try to find a conspiracy in sporting events, do you ever wonder how much some people win when the favorite looses and a long-shot wins????

What's on the Agenda for today - the 92nd Indy 500

OK - so this is the last year that Bill will be working for Bridgestone/Firestone. Presumably he will have no more reason to need to talk intelligently about the Indy 500 around the water cooler in the morning. Want to bet that means it won't be on our TV set next Memorial Day weekend . . . the wheels going round and round and round and round! Don't take that sucker bet. By the way, Scott Dixon won. Don't ask me who that is. I know he rode on Firestone tires, but I think they all do.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck . . .

On the left is Muskrat Sally: see the skinny tail On the right is Groundhog Gary: see the bushy tail If a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck all the wood if a woodchuck could chuck wood. I've been stewing over Muskrat Sally (and evidently you can eat both of these animals as well as wear the muskrat, particularly on your head; that would be as a hat) since she didn't have a rat-like tail like a musk-rat. So I emailed the San Diego Zoo and the Nashville Zoo with a picture of the muskrat and asked them to name that mammal! Can you believe they answered lickity-split! Maybe San Diego even answered too quicky and didn't read that I was from TN because they told me that it was a prairie dog. But, Nashville said it was - ding ding ding!!! - a groundhog (also called woodchuck). Perhaps Punxsutawney Phil was on vacation and bunking in the area or we have our own groundhogs. And, our own evidently aren't as well fed as P-Phil. Groundhogs' diets, for your edification, consist of grasses, berries, grubs, grasshoppers, snails, insects, and other small animals (I'm assuming this means mice). They are also one of the few mammals that hibernate (hence Groundhog's Day). Whatever, Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia says that groundhogs' natural predators are coyotes, so now I'm pretty sure he was hiding under our deck until the coast was clear the other night when I heard the coyotes howl. Now, to end, for all you groundhog lovers out there, yes, and sung to the tune of "I'm a little teapot", here is: I'm a little groundhog:

I'm a little groundhog, it's my day.

Wake and stretch, go out and play.

Down in my burrow, down so deep,

Time to wake, from my long winter's sleep.

* * * * *

Grumble, grumble, scratch, scratch,

Grunt, grunt, yawn.

I'll eat my breakfast in your front lawn.

I'm a little groundhog, it's my day.

Wake and stretch, go out and play.

A Redder Shade of Pale

Spring is in full force in Brentwood TN which means the roses are in bloom at the Brentwood Library.

This is the second season for the rear-facing reading terrace, complete with flowers, fountain, statuary, and benches for reading or talking on your cell phone, which we try to discourage in the library.

And if you don't like the real colors of life, I have, like the Queen of Hearts, decided to make them more intense for you. Do you like the roses RED?

It's getting to be a regular zoo out here, and I'm not just talking about the kids - a tail of Muskrat Sally

Relaxing this morning in the sunroom with the Sunday paper, I was surprised to hear Bill exclaim, "look who's at the door." Then again in another second, "look who's at the door." I wondered why he wasn't getting up to answer it since he sounded like it was someone we knew even though it was sort of early for visitors. He finally said, "there was a muskrat at the door."

Now I'm really confused.

"What door?" I looked at him.

"The door right here. It looked just like a muskrat looking at us through the door," he replied calmly like we always had muskrats peeping in on us.

I got up and saw nothing. "It's gone now. Are you sure it wasn't a 'possum. We have a lot more 'possums around here." Like we lived in the country and not in the middle of Cool Springs, which, if you've been paying attention, you already know is mostly retail, large office buildings, motels, and residential. Not really 'possum or muskrats. Still deer, of course. But they practically frolic on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

He was sure it wasn't a 'possum. He described what it looked like. He could have picked it out from a rodent line-up. Pointy face with the whiskers away from the face and a bushy tail. I guess it probably wasn't any more likely to be a mole or a beaver or a figment of his imagination either. He repeated again that it was at the top of our 8 steps looking in at us. He/she probably wanted breakfast. I was terribly sorry to have missed her/him since I hadn't previously seen any of the species ravishing my perennials.

At which point, there he/she was again. Down in the dog pen, a 20 x 8 ft. enclosure made with some admitedly tacky, but green, chicken-wire fencing that no one but us really saw and anyway was only meant to have the shelf life of our dogs who, bless their departed hearts, have never been noted for their longevity. Bill keeps asking when we can take it down, and I keep saying, "but, sweetheart, it's so handy for the granddogs now." Meanwhile, there was the skinny, though definitely not a squirrel either, muskrat. Obviously looking for the way back out. Pacing the perimeter. Shaking the fence. Trying to go under. Fairly frantic, I thought, though I'm also not familiar with muskrat behavior in the early stages of enforced captivity.

"You're right. Not a 'possum. Much cuter." It was my first muskrat in years, so I rushed to get my new camera. By the way, it isn't easy to photograph wildlife, I'm finding from a bird friend of mine who sits on my garden arch and sings constantly, yet flies away everytime I get the camera locked and loaded so to speak. At least the muskrat was caged. Compared to the children, you can take multiple pictures of wildlife without any lip, but they'll never face the camera and smile, which I can usually get once out of the kids. That being said, I'm pretty pleased with my first muskrat pictures. Dear Muskrat Sally.

After a few minutes Bill, being a kind soul, decided he needed to go down and direct her escape. Without anything but the clothes he had on. Which were shorts. Bare legs.

"Don't get bit," I shouted.

"I won't," he responded without an ounce of sense.

This just wasn't right. How would he direct her escape? With his foot? A leg? His whole body in a strange muskrat sally dance? Just how do you slow that muskrat down?

"Don't you think you need a shovel or something," I suggested.

VandeWater's don't usually respond to suggestions. I could picture the final outcome: rabies shots for Bill; silent, but smug satisfaction with the mental "I told you so" for me.

Fortunately, at that point, the bushy-tailed muskrat took cover under the enclosed part of our former deck that the sunroom is built on, perhaps pinging the frontal or backal lobe (whichever contains the muskrat memory) and finding the elusive route out. And out she went like a streak of greased lightning, running along the side neighbor's fence towards the back neighbor's wooded backyard. Adios, Muskrat Sally. :-(

My theory for this unusual visitation? Last night as I was going to bed around 1 a.m., I heard howling that sounded like coyotes. Not that I know what coyotes sound like, but I know they howl and I know what howling sounds like. Also, they absolutely have been spotted various places in Williamson County. My second thought, to be honest, was that it could be dogs that someone had cooped up too long. But they would have been howling longer. Then I heard that horrible sound that cats can sometimes make. Then back to quiet.

My hypothesis is that the whole thing freaked the little muskrat out of her habitat, and she hid under my deck until morning when she thought the coast was clear. Only she had been there so long she forgot the way back out until Bill scared her out again.

So, do coyotes eat muskrat? Sounds like a question for a reference librarian to me!

I said wildlife was one of my favorite things, but I didn't necessarily mean in my backyard

After articulating the words "I think the rabbits are gone" - refering to the ones that ate my perennials to shreds - hence, my boring garden, guess who? I have seen one parent and 2 children inside the dog pen. The children are still pretty small as you can see in comparison to an ivy leaf. Oh well, they are no worse than the deer. And make a cute picture for the blog?

This one's for you Grant

Mother's Day.

That was last Sunday; this being Thursday, and I've finally gotten around to downloading pictures from the day's events. We had planned a cookout, but it was so cold and windy that we decided to eat at Goten after a visit to the Frist Museum of Art. The art wasn't very good, in my opinion, but they also had a Tiffany lamp exhibit which was wonderful.

When Grant noticed I had brought my camera, he said something like "I guess we can expect lots of pictures taken today that will end up on the blog tomorrow - just what the internet needs - more pictures on more blogs." I must have embarrassed him when he was a teenager when I took his picture once because he rags me about taking photos all the time. He should have an alcoholic for a mother, huh? There could be worse hobbies. And, I don't even know thing one about it - just that I enjoy it for some unknown reason. I think I just want to capture and hold on to the things that I like or love or find beautiful or amusing. The bad things in life can slip away and be forgotten. If only.

Would you see this deer in the headlights?

Near the library, which is quite populated with houses, trees, and a park, lives an albino deer. Several people have seen it; unfortunately not me. But one of my friends got a picture of it finally. It does hang out with several other deer, but it doesn't seem to come out into the open quite as far as the others. An instinct survival thing? Don't know any albino deer consultants to ask!

BIG Trees

Redwoods

For Heaven's sake! I tried to learn how to do something new tonight and here it is! I never have enough time (or maybe brains?) to figure it out before I have to do something else. I'm hoping to get Bill to give me more input on this kind of stuff once he retires and has more time too. In other words, a lot of things on the blog aren't placed right (some of that is the blog's part, like when it will not take a paragraph return). Anyway, I love Muir Woods north of San Francisco, so there are some pictures that I didn't take. I have some that I did in real albums.

Tears on the Sun

Today I told my boss I was retiring, somewhere around the July 1 date. Talk about bittersweet! I've known some of my happiest days with my great friends and the patrons at the library. I was overwhelmed by the get well cards I got while I was sick this past year. Being at the library means being able to smile a hundred times a day at people, and we all know that's good for you. I hope they call me back to sub. Thank goodness we live close, and we can now be easily back and forth as patrons ourselves.

Well I lost $10, but it'll be worth it if Big Brown, the Kentucky Derby winner, can go on to be a Triple Crown winner.

He's a beautiful horse, and the first to win from Gate 20 in a gazillion years!

Tragically, Eight Bells, the filly who came in 2nd, broke both ankles and had to be euthanized. She just fell down about 10 yds. after the finish line, throwing the jockey. How sad, sad, sad.

It's Saturday noon and the tire man has a phone interview. That usually means he's on a radio show. Lucky is beginning to pace around looking for more napping spots. I am looking for any way to put off Sat. chores.

Last night we had an all staff meeting to hear about the library bldg. expansion. It only amounts to 13,000 sq. ft. but it will mean a lot of books to move. I enjoyed being able to sit back and think about how I wouldn't have to move any of them since I'll be retired. The circulation people seemed pretty up in arms over a second drive up window and 1-person circ desk that is in the new plan. The Adult section will get a rather large chunk of that 13,000 sq. ft. with much of it devoted to audio-visual. The library world is really changing faster than a speeding bullet. Yesterday I also attended an audio teleconference on our new language learning database called Tell Me More. It is absolutely amazing!

Meanwhile, to add to my post about stuff in the Cool Springs area. Less than a mile down the main road from us, Carothers, is an amazing business district. There must be more than a dozen business buildings all about 6 stories tall. I have no idea what businesses are there other than the new Nissan headquarters. The traffic at the morning and evening rush hours never bothers us, and, once again, they must generate a lot of tax revenue. If all the workers got to live in all the nearby houses, they would have nice little 5 miles commutes like I do. Not to mention becoming COOL, if they aren't already.

It's May and that means Kentucky Derby and Oregano Julips !

We have good friends that we had dinner with every month back in Ohio. As statistics would have it, once our dinner date fell on Derby weekend, and our host thought he'd serve us mint julips as tradition dictated. Lucky for him, his neighbor was quite the gardener and had a large herb garden to pick the mint from. Not having had mint julips before, we didn't have anything to compare them to, but they were not a taste delight, to put it delicately. We said they were delicious.

Several weeks later our friend called us up to say that the mint julips were actually oregano julips; he had picked the wrong herb. We never had them again, mint, oregano or otherwise, but every year we talk about it.

By the way, our children, who are big fans of the Derby and have been attending now for about 10 years, rain or shine, will be in the infield tomorrow. That's my horse up there, Colonel John. I've picked the winner the last couple of years but not sent the money. Since we're babysitting Lucky, one of the granddogs, this year I made sure to send my $10 when they brought the dog. It will probably go to gasoline, but I swear this time I will collect if I win. Go Colonel !