Women Over Fifty

I’m going to grouse a bit today so I thought I’d decorate this post with roses - a bit of sweet with a bit of thorns seems appropriate.

I had my hair cut on Thursday at one of those shops that offer a pretty decent cut at a fair price and hardly any waiting.  You know the ones I mean.  My hairdresser was a beginner with some experience.  She was very professional, verifying what I asked for and cutting cautiously until she got it right.

So, what’s the problem?  If she wasn’t asking about my preferences, she was advertising the salon’s hair care products.  After 20 minutes of this I was ready to walk out.  No way would I have bought anything.  I was her captive while she cut my hair.  I tried to tune her out.

This morning I woke from a sound sleep to talk to a telemarketer from Readers Digest.  When did “NO” quit meaning no?  My RD account is messed up so I wanted to talk to her, but she wasn’t listening.  She was selling.  She kept saying the price was going up next month.  I kept telling her no and trying to talk about the problem I wanted solved.

I guess she’s the human version of a recorded computer call.  I finally just hung up on her.

My point is that advertising is about persuasion.  It’s about making your customer want your product.  It’s about gently nudging them toward your goal.

How many of us read most of the ads for Easter goodies and clothing?  A high percentage, I’m sure.  The persuasion is easy because we want to buy it.  It’s the same with the book ads for me.  I love to read and I buy an indecent number of books.  When a Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com ad comes to me  I open it and read, looking for something interesting.  In this case, the persuasion is easy.

So, where did they get the idea that pushy sales work?  I wonder what percentage of actual purchases results from telemarketing?  They must annoy a jillion people for a very few sales.  I hate telemarketing so much that I won’t listen to anyone of that sort.  I simply refuse to buy by phone.

I suspect they sell to the weak and the gullible.  That’s just wrong, in my book.  I’m on the Do Not Call list, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.  They still call.

Two or three times a week I get an alarmed voice (automated) telling me they’ve got to talk to me about my credit cards, or my auto insurance, or something else.  No way will I talk to them.

So, we pretty much have passive advertising on Today.com.  You can buy or not as you please.  That doesn’t bother me unless the advertising gets pushy with flashing lights, colors, whatever.  Those ads I wouldn’t buy from if they were selling half-price milk and eggs.

I feel better.  Thanks for putting up with me.

Marilynne

I love our National Parks, our State Parks, any park, especially the ones that are full of trees.  Like the California Redwoods.  I love trees.  I love being in a forest.

Part of the reason we chose our current house  was the trees.  Between the house and the road there was a thick stand of eucalyptus.  They were young trees, but growing thickly together.  Rumor has it that the previous owner got some cheap mulch and it sprouted eucalyptus trees.  It doesn’t matter.  I loved that thick screen of trees.

In the southeast corner of the next door property there were 6 or 7 mature eucalyptus trees.  They weren’t our trees, but they crowded our property so they felt like our trees.

In the northeast corner, next to the neighbor’s house there was another thick stand of young eucalyptus trees - probably from the same mulch.

When you entered our driveway, you drove through these trees to the surprise of lawn and the house.  From the house you couldn’t see the road.  Delivery trucks had a very difficult time finding us.

One by one our trees have fallen to disease or the ministrations of the gas and electric company.  When the gas and electric company took down the young eucaluptus because they threatened their power lines, I counted 47 stumps.  In return for my loss, the gas and electric company gave me three trees, nearly as tall as me, not threatening the power lines.  We had to plant them.  They have not thrived.

The gas and electric company also has its eye on an old ash tree.  Understand, that in Southern California, almost any tree is valued.  I value this old ash.  It’s trunk is thick.  Its branches are many and they stand tall.  When the tree trimmers come, I have to watch them or they’ll put a huge bite mark in the tree.  They just carve out space for the lines.  I am not fond of bite marks in my trees so I watch them carefully until they do a more graceful trim.

Today, the gas and electric company was here to take down two trees: one an ugly olive tree that stood at the entrance to our drive, the other the last of our eucalyptus trees.  The eucalyptus trees had been hit by a bug infestation and died - except for this one.  However, it now has a crack going maybe fifteen feet up the middle of the tree.  I can’t have it in my yard while I wait for it to fall.  Thankfully, for the budget at least, it could endanger the power lines if it fell.  They will cut it down.

The olive tree is now interesting-looking wood for the fireplace.  They began to take down the eucaluptus tree and quit.  It would seem that there is a birds nest in the top of the tree with eggs or baby birds in it.  The tree trimmer won’t take it down until the birds leave the nest.   He has trimmed the tree so it’s fairly safe, but I wouldn’t say it’s attractive.

I think the birds are crows - he calls them ravens - and I don’t think the world will miss a few crows growing up.  In our neighborhood with its many crows we might actually appreciate a few less crows.  It’s not just the tree trimmer’s personal  feelings though.  He says there’s a $25,000 fine for taking down a bird nest that has eggs or baby birds in it.  So we wait.

To my secret glee, his mulcher broke down and he won’t be back until it’s fixed.  Maybe I can convince the neighborhood hawks that there’s good eating in the top of that tree.   They can’t fine hawks, can they?

Marilynne

I’ve been tagged.  This is a first for me and I’m honored, I think.  I was tagged by Recovery Rocks.

I’m supposed to post seven weird facts about myself.

1. I’ve had many high-pressure jobs and the tension sometimes comes out in odd ways.  My daughter and I were at a Fred Meyer store in Washington State.  It was near Easter and the store was decorated for the occasion.  Walking down the aisle, I saw two dummies dressed for Easter.  The man was dressed as a golfer.  The woman was dressed for an Easter parade.  Without saying a word, and looking terribly respectable, I walked to the woman with authority and stole her flowery Easter hat.  I placed it on the golfer’s head, stole his cap, and put it  on the woman.  By the time I finished and stepped back to admire my work we were laughing so hard we could hardly leave the store.  It seemed wise to do so.
2. I was in a five and dime store (kinda like today’s super drug stores or maybe Walmart).  I was back by the curtains and the phone was ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing.  When no one seemed interested in answering, I did.  I told the caller that no one was there and hung up.  This time we managed to leave the store without giggling.  I’ve been tempted many times to do it again.
3. In high school we were given the word about how someone had written something on the wall.  I wasn’t really listening.  I was probably reading a book.  Then I heard my name.  Apparently the principal was really putting the pressure on to catch the culprit.  Everyone in the room was insisting that I did it.  I didn’t know what I was accused of, but I answered “Yes, I did it.”  This was a game we played with our teachers.  I would admit to almost anything and the teachers always knew I hadn’t done it, but they didn’t know what to do.  This time the class roared.  The writing was on the wall of the boy’s bathroom and it was a dirty joke.  Every one knew I didn’t do dirty jokes.
4. I visit my daughter’s web sites and pretend to be my husband.
5. I will write almost anything if I’m getting paid for it.  So I was at work and I was told to write a How-To book on how to use a particular telephone.  This was the old fashioned ten button desk phone.  It had no special features.  The interesting part of the product was installed on the roof.  It was a satellite receiver/transmitter for the phone and I wrote the book on how to install it on the roof. The contract said that we would write a book on how to use the telephone. So I did.  I told them that when the phone rang they should pick up the receiver (picture of receiver) and say Hello.  Then they should listen in the receiver to hear what was being said.  When the conversation was done, they should say Goodbye and hang up.  This was complete with illustrations, captions, and arrows pointing to things. As the little book was being published I entered it in a contest.  When asked what was the most difficult part of the work, I said it was to be serious about what I was doing.
6. I also wrote a quick reference card for a cell phone that would fit inside its leather skin.  It covered the basics of how to use the phone.  It was about 1.3 x 2 inches or something like that.
7. Glory be!  We’re on the last item of this list!  I’m writing a mystery and I won’t blog about it on this list.

Now, who will I tag?  Here are seven sites in any order at all:

1. Review Me Today by ~Kat~ .  Kat reviews other people’s blogs.  You can request a review at ReviewMe.Today.com .  Before you send in a request, read her blog. There are some restrictions.  Lately she’s reviewed sites in honor of Batman, how to create an avatar, and the Quirky World of Jessi , which is another great site.
2. In Fifth Gear by huskies to husbands.  I love her handle - choconoodle.  In Fifth Gear talks about how to own your name, why not cut your nails it public, and how to survive a long-distance relationship - maybe.
3. RetroYakking .  Topics here are Google and stalker technology, an add for a car for sale, and talk about the weather in Britain.
4. Ideas Free and Frugal .    This blog claims that dogs can talk (she proves it with YouTube),  offers her peanut butter fudge recipe to anyone at all, and invites you to meet her new dog, Sweetpea.
   
5. Momma Dosey .  Momma Dosey says she takes it day by day, laugh by laugh.  On this site she talks about the government breaking something - a bone? She also talks to her stomach and says some things never change.
   
6. Mouse Medicine.  This is one of my favorite blogs. Mouse’s blog is full of pictures, poetry, and interesting things.  She’s also won a number of awards.  Check out her picture of birds on telephone wires, which she calls Random Notes.
   
7. KatalinaMau.  Katalina talks about Health, Wealth, and Happiness.  She’s also my kid.

Thanks for the award Recovery Rocks .  I’ll do something nice for you some day.

Marilynne

I just migrated to the new Today.com theme.  I didn’t expect to like it, but I found out you can change the picture on the header to be whatever you want it to be.  Ah!  I can personalize.  They tell us that later we can change the colors as well.  That sounds great to me.

Here’s how to make a header image.  I’ve never done this before, but we’re never too old to learn something new.

• Pick a photo.  I chose a photo my brother Rich had taken in Costa Rica of the Little River.
• Crop a wide slice from it.  The header isn’t tall so I saved the picture as something else and cut a wide slice out of it.
• Save it as Low Resolution - about 300 dpi.
• Save it where you can find it.  I have a folder called Web Stuff.  Under it is a folder called Tiny Pics.  That’s where all my blogging pictures are.
• Resize it.  The header should be 995 x 140 pixels.  Sorry Charlie, but my graphics program doesn’t work in pixels.  Well, I decided to go with points since they’re really small.  Guess what?  It worked.  I took a slice of my photo, resized it to 995 points in width and let the height determine itself.  It wasn’t exact, but it was close.
• Upload it to Today.com.  Go to Look and Feel, Custom Image Header.  Browse on your computer and find the image you prepared.  Click on upload.  When the upload is complete you have more choices.
• Select the portion of your photo to use.  We only got close to the right size with the points.  Now you’ll see a dashed box on your picture.  Click on the box until you see the funny X.  When the X is there you can move that box around on your photo.  Just use the box to decide the best picture.
• When you’re done, select OK and the picture becomes your header picture.  Neat huh?

Here are two more possible headers:

If you take these pictures from my blog, please give credit to Rich Mau.  He’s the one who went to Costa Rica with his camera and sent the pictures back.

Photo credit:  Rich Mau

Marilynne

We are sitting in the study (computer room, guest room, storage room).  I am blogging as usual.  Himself is lost in a computer game.  Normal stuff. 

Slowly the stink of burning food sneaks into the room.  Is that still the burned potato smell?  Probably not.  Engrossed in what I’m doing, I say “Something’s burning.”  As the thought worms its way into our busy brains, we both rush for the kitchen.  

The dog’s carrots have burned dry.  My husband whisks the pan off the stove and submerges the burned carrots in water.  

I look into the pan and the carrots - the little, already peeled ones - are standing straight up in their bed of char, looking for all the world like orange muscles or some sort of orange eels with their heads up in the water.  I run for the camera, but my husband is already at work hacking them from the bottom of the pan.  In short order they are headed down the garbage disposal and the pan is soaking.

I didn’t touch them!  Ever!  My husband was cooking the carrots for the dog.

Our dog’s been on a diet since he weighed over 100 pounds at the vets.  The vet suggested we mix veggies with his food to add bulk while not adding a lot of calories.  The dog wouldn’t touch them until we started cooking them with unsalted beef bouillon.  Now the dog thinks they’re just fine.  Fine, except that my husband has taken on the job of cooking for the dog. 

My husband is the one who burned the carrots.

I’d say let’s call it even and forget it, but this morning I burnt my croissant in the toaster.

Marilynne 

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately creating an eight-page newsletter in Microsoft Word 2007.  I am fortunate in that during much of my career I not only wrote new material, but I also had to do my own Word Processing.  There are ups and downs to that. 

The upside:

• Everything was formatted and set up just the way I wanted it
• Formatting was limited to whether or not I knew how to do it
• I now know an incredible number of programs for word processing

The downside:

• I spent a lot of my time doing word processing instead of writing
• I tended not to want to do some complicated rewrites because of the amount of effort involved
• The word processing software was chosen by my company and I just had to deal with it.

So, I know a lot about computer equipment and word processing software.  When it came to creating the newsletter, it just took time.  Time spent cajoling people to send in their stuff and time to do the word processing end of it.

My readership includes a lot of computer savvy people with email addresses so I can send the newsletter by email, saving a lot of money and a lot of my time.  A very tiny portion of the readership needs a paper copy.  I know enough about Outlook to create a group mailing list so I don’t have to type in everyone’s email every time.  I just do it in a batch.

I have Word 2007 - a word processing program that many people are reluctant to upgrade to.  That includes my readership, a group of writers who write because they love the work, not because they’re getting rich.  I was unwilling to work in an older version of Word to keep them happy.  Obviously the best solution was to send a PDF file.  Briefly, a PDF file allows any reader to read and print the file.  It requires Adobe Reader, but that’s free and easy to obtain on the web.

The big problem here was I didn’t want to purchase the Adobe Acrobat just to do a newsletter once a month.  Adobe Acrobat is a wonderful program, but it comes with a wonderful price.  It’s priced more for a company than for an individual.

Microsoft has saved my day!  They have Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS as a free download for owners of Word 2007.  I downloaded the program, it did its thing, and now I can send as PDF or save as PDF with no more trouble than sending a document to a printer.  If you have Word 2007, you can download it from this location.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en

When I was at work and sometimes formatted entire books, I didn’t like Microsoft Word.  Now that I use it for home tasks, I love it.  I especially love it that I can do PDFs now with no trouble.

Marilynne

Legal Note:  All software mentioned here is copyrighted by their respective companies.

I watched Barack Obama be sworn in as President of the United States this morning.  Isn’t it great that we can all just watch it instead of having to wait for radio and newspapers to report it?  When I was growing up, those were our two main sources of news, combined with word of mouth.

I am so impressed.  For the first time I listened to the entire speech with interest, with hope, and with renewed belief that maybe this IS the man who can lead us to rebuild our country.  Certainly his speech promised much.

I like the title of his book “The Audacity of Hope.”  It says a lot about how he looks at life.  (This clip is from Barnes and Noble.)

I am so impressed that Barack is not only black, but white as well.  He supresses saying this, but it’s true.  His mother married the man she loved and Barack is the result of that union.  Isn’t this what America is about?  The blending of colors and cultures to to advantage of everyone’s strengths and build a strong country?

I’m impressed that Malia and Sasha managed to sit reasonably still for all that time and in the cold.  I adore Michelle Obama’s Inauguration coat and dress.  While she must have been cold, she looked lovely.

I don’t think we can help but change as a nation with Barack as President.

Marilynne

This is the way I remember it.  It was a cold day and there was going to be a parade.  My mother packed my little brother in his pram and with my other brother and I hanging onto the sides of the pram, we headed for the parade.  We were in Philadelphia and the parade included President Truman.  My mother was excited to be able to actually see the President in the flesh.  She wanted us to see it too.

I remember that people were packed thick along the street.  I remember viewing this from a very low level.  How old was I?  Grade school age, but I have no idea of the year.  I just remember coats and pants and purses and standing in the cold waiting to see the President.

Usually when there was a parade, people would let children squeeze up into the front position, but not today.  So when the president came along, I was still looking at the coats and pants and purses - a virtual forest of people looking away from me.  That’s all I could see.

I remember the excitement as he drew near.  People were calling out and waving flags.  At the last minute someone lifted me up so I could see for a brief moment.  I did see him - I think.  Did I really pick President Truman out or did my memory improve as time went on?  Certainly the face of President Truman became familiar to me.  My mother would remind me that I’d seen him in person.

Memories are tricky things.  What I remember of an event is different from what other people remember.  If my mother, my father, and my three brothers are all in the same place, our accounts will not be the same after a few years have passed.  Now days my brothers will say to me that I’m making it up.  It never happened that way.  Pretty soon we are all arguing about what really happened - or sitting by stonily knowing what WE remember is exactly how it happened.

My husband and I have a deal.  We don’t mess with each other’s memories.  If he’s telling a story about something I remember as well, I don’t correct him or try and change the “facts.”  The same goes when I’m telling the story.

My brothers and I don’t have the same deal.  Nor did my mother.  She’d tell me I was making it up.  I’d know it was true, down to the depths of my soul, but she’d say it wasn’t true.

The problem is we all truly believe we are telling the true account.  It’s a funny thing with memories.

Marilynne <who is now free to go to Curves> 

I really appreciate the following things:

• My kids.  I love them, I raised them, I  love their children and they love me back.
• My husband.  He didn’t look like a keeper.  Certainly my parents didn’t think he was a keeper.  But time has shown them wrong.  My husband is definitely a keeper.
• My homes, all of them.  Each time we moved it was special, from the first tiny place with the roses and willows in the yard, to my rambling house today.  They were all special when we lived there and they are still special to me because they hold the whispers of me having lived there.
• My life.  I like my life.  I have interesting things to do, a safe place to sleep, and plenty to eat (maybe too much to eat).
• My friends who put up with a lot of neglect and still like me.  They are my heros.

And then there are the smaller things, but I still appreciate them.

• I appreciate that I can have a computer to just play around with, I can blog, I can email, I can write books.  Whatever.  My computer is there.
• I appreciate my blogs.  I love the idea of speaking to the world.  I love the idea of all of us bloggers, emailers, and social sites, all reaching out to the world.  I like to imagine how busy the world of the internet is.
• I appreciate books, mine and everyone else’s.  They have captured my imagination in many ways and are always there for a new adventure.
• I appreciate art.  When I play with my watercolors, I see how talented artists are and I want to be like them.
  
• I appreciate my advertisers.  I especially appreciate the advertisers who sell the things I like:  Curves, book publishers, women’s clothing, all of them.  I like Curves the best because they have made the biggest change in my life. 

You can probably tell that it’s warm outside, the sun is shining, and I’m triumphant about completing another Curves session, even when I’m tired.

 Marilynne  

It’s really not fair to do this, but I have the sweetest puppy picture.  It comes from my middle daughter who has a special need for this breed of dog.

I had to send her an email and ask for the breed.  I just remember what a satisfying puppy this dog and his brother are.  We were visiting her home in the Pacific Northwest when she brought the puppies home.  These puppies are BIG!  They are bigger than most people’s full-grown dogs.  My daughter has a pair of them.

I was struck by how gentle these dogs are and how smart.  While I was there we began training them to come and to walk on a leash.  This is just basic puppy training.  These dogs were destined to live with her llamas.  She has a modest herd of llamas, who are also elegant beasts with a lot of curiosity.  Because my daughter can’t be outside defending them all the time, this is the job the puppies have to do.

The idea is to raise the puppies with the llamas.  Even though llamas don’t like dogs, they will tolerate the puppies and the puppies will become a member of the group.  Is it still a herd when it’s mixed dogs and llamas?  The puppies, who are herders, will come to think of themselves as the llamas protectors.  They will defend the llamas vigorously.

Not so very long ago, I went back to visit.  Even though I had been in their lives for about a week, they no longer thought of me as friendly.  I couldn’t visit them or the llamas unless a member of the household was with me.  Even though their over-the-fence family was loved, visitors were only tolerated.  These puppies know how to do their job.

The llamas and their babies (crias) are safe from harm.

I’ll add the breed of the dogs as soon as my daughter sends me the info.

Marilynne

Later.  My daughter tells me her dogs are Maremmas, also known as Italian Sheepdogs.