Love dogs? Love New Hampshire?

If you answered "Yes" to one of those questions, you'll be fine. If you answered "Yes" to BOTH of those questions, then prepare for Operation Throat Lump.

San Angelo Saturday.

San Angelo was GREAT! One of the best District 1 fall meetings EVER, a delicious lunch at Sealy Flats,  a shopping blitz down Concho Street, and finally, Lily Fest 2010 at San Angelo's International Water Lily Gardens.

Oh, and then when we took Sarah & Jane back to their car, there was a WEDDING happening at the gorgeous San Angelo Visitors Center! What a lovely day...and then...

...when Terry pulls up to the curb in front of my house after the long drive home, she says, "Is your dog SUPPOSED to be in the front yard?"

Apparently, May Bee crashed through the gate in the morning and spent the whole day outside, growling at anyone who came near. (Thank God May Bee is a homebody...as Karen said, "This could have been tragic.")

Grateful that Man's Best Friend (and my best friend!) is safe and sound,
May Bee's Happy Mama

Roach? Mouse? (gasp!) RAT?

Ugh. Can you see the two little poops deposited on the toilet paper rolls in my cabinet? I'm pretty sure that toilet tissue did not come pre-pooped when I stuck the rolls in there last Saturday. My fingers are crossed that it's just the cousin of that "water bug" (a.k.a., ROACH!) that landed ON MY BODY during a shower once.

My worst fears would be vermin. I am terrified of mice and rats...and would have to burn this house down. So I guess it's time to call Pest Patrol and have them do a CSI-style investigation of the poop evidence and then treat the premises accordingly.

Oh, and speaking of All Things Scatological...

TO THE MAN WHO POOPED IN HIS PANTS WHEN MY DOG TRIED TO KILL YOU THIS MORNING:

Hey, here's an idea. When a lady is running IN THE DARK, don't step out of the abandoned playground toward her and her dog. (May Bee didn't bark at anyone else this morning because they were all running or walking. Plus, they were all wearing athletic gear and sneakers--not dress shirts, pants, and boots.)

I would offer to buy you new "running slacks," but I was a little too busy trying to keep you from being ripped to shreds to get your name...

I'm with Lisa from "Green Acres."

To all the Farmer Types out there trying to make us all jealous with your canning and bread-baking and kefir-brewing(?) and home-schooling stories...it's City Girl's turn!

This morning, after visiting HEB, the world's best grocery store that is 4 MINUTES from my house, it was time to hit La Popular for the Yum Fuel I would need to mow the lawn with an old-fashioned reel mower. (Oh, and the HEB "Combo Loco" deals were especially LOCO this morning. Anyone buying four Lean Cuisine frozen dinners could score free Nestle or Wonka candy. That's right...if you buy low-calorie, low-fat meals, HEB will reward you with free CANDY.)

Next I'm off to the post office (a full 3-minute drive), the mall (where I get a nice employee discount on the cutest clothes at Christopher & Banks!), and then Sonic for a half-price Happy Hour tea (UNsweet, as God intended). City Life has its PERKS. :-)

"Abilene is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a sunset view.
Dah-ling I love you, but give me Sayles Avenue!"
 

Man...

...I wish I could DANCE!

Thanks to dooce for the heads-up on this one!

Miss the puzzle on Sunday?

Not to worry, my precious.

Aunt Kristy took care of it. Enjoy the synopsis I sent out to the NPR Puzzle Google Group this weekend.


* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Synopsis of
NPR Weekend Edition puzzle
Liane Hansen & Will Shortz
2010-09-05

CURRENT CHALLENGE (given 20100829):
From the NPR puzzle page: Take the word "bookman." Change one letter and rearrange the result to name a famous person who wrote books. Who is it?

The answer was NABOKOV, as in Vladimir Nabokov, author of _Lolita_,  _Bend Sinister_, and many other works.

Liane reported more than a thousand entries.

The randomly-selected, on-air player today was Kevin Callahan, a math teacher at Madison Middle School, from Eugene, Oregon. He is a member of KLCC.

Today's on-air puzzle: You are given a five-letter word and a seven-letter word. Rearrange the letters of one of the words to get a synonym of the other word. For example, given ALLOY and DEVOTED, the answer would be LOYAL. (LOYAL is an anagram of ALLOY and a synonym of DEVOTED.)

CLUES (HINTS directly below clues; ANSWERS at the end of synopsis):

1.  THING & EVENING

2. STATE & CLEARED

3. MARCH & DELIGHT

4. TIMER & DESERVE

5. IRATE & GRENADE

6. NADIR & DEPLETE

7. ONSET & BOULDER

8. AWFUL & INHOUSE

9. GIRTH & CORRECT

10. AGREE & ITCHING

HINTS:

1. Rearrange the first word,THING, to make a synonym for EVENING. Will reminded listeners that *either* of the words can be the one that is to be anagrammed.

6. Liane shared a tip Will had given her once: when working with anagrams, it is sometimes helpful to put the letters in "bowling pin formation" it helps your head get out of "the linear way of thinking."

8. "It's usually used to describe a villain..."

10. "As in, you are 'itching' to do something."

Brandon Flowers, member of the Las Vegas band The Killers, read Kevin the booty he scored for playing the puzzle on the air. Kevin will receive an NPR lapel pin and many other coveted puzzle-related items.

NEXT WEEK'S CHALLENGE:

The listener challenge for next week, as copied from the NPR puzzle page: From Eric Iverson of Eagan, Minn.: What is the longest common word in which all the letters rhyme with E?

The listener challenge for next week, as Will gave it on the air: "Well, this week's challenge comes from listener Eric Iverson of Eagan, Minnesota, and it's a simple question: 'What is the longest common word in which all the letters rhyme with E?' I have my answer; we'll compare notes next week. So again, 'What is the longest common word in which all the letters rhyme with E?' "

Answers must be received by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on THURSDAY.  One
entry per person. NPR will no longer receive entries by email.  Be sure
to include a telephone number where you can be reached if you are
selected as the winner.  Entries may be made at the web page:
http://www.npr.org/templates/contact/index.php?columnId=4473090
You might also get to this page by going to:
npr.org/puzzle

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Editor's notes:

Puzzles, and contents of the _Weekend Edition Sunday_ puzzle segment are
copyrighted 2010, by Will Shortz and NPR. Reprinted here with
permission.


Liane opened the segment asking Will if his life at the moment was "more puzzles than ping pong...or vice versa?" Will discussed the table tennis club he plans to open in his hometown, which he believes will be "the largest table tennis club in the Northeast." (At 11,000 square feet of playing space, there will be enough room for eighteen tables.)


Today's serendipitous links:

Today's on-air player teaches math at a Madison Middle School in Oregon--and today's puzzle transcriber is the librarian at a Madison Middle School in Texas! Perhaps today, 12 days before Constitution Day, is a good day to reflect on our tiniest President (approximately 5' 4" & 96 pounds) and the "Father of the Constitution."

http://www.montpelier.org/explore/james_madison/index.php

Fans of the book _The Phantom Tollbooth_ can celebrate the reunion of author Norton Juster and artist Jules Feiffer, 50 years later, by reading their latest collaboration, _The Odious Ogre_.
http://n.pr/92UrqN

Happy Labor Day!

http://bit.ly/9bfMyc



Here's our regular monthly puzzle transcription schedule:
1st       Kristy
2nd      Richard
3rd       Joe
4th       Jerry
5th       Richard

Email us at:
Kristy Fowler <mad4cowbell@gmail.com>
Richard Renner <rrenner@igc.org>
Jerry Miller <millergm@muohio.edu>
Joe Wander <jdwandersr@gmail.com>

So email for next week's synopsis goes to Richard:
<rrenner@igc.org>

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Our group of volunteer co-editors distributes these free weekly synopses
of the NPR puzzle segment.  You can read more about this free
distribution at:
http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle/topics
You can subscribe from this page, too.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/nprpuzzle?hl=en
If you want to remove your address from the former Topica list, send a
blank email from your account to:
nprpuzzle-unsubscribe@igc.topica.com
To change the email address of your subscription, remove the old one
(from the old email account), and add the new Google subscription (from
the new email account).  For more information about this list, and an
archive of those distributed by Topica.com, visit:
http://igc.topica.com/lists/nprpuzzle@igc.topica.com/read
or, for more information about the Topica mailing service, visit:
http://lists.topica.com/
NPR posts the weekly challenge (and the previous answer) on its World
Wide Web page.  Go to www.npr.org , and "select" Weekend Edition Sunday
from the drop-down menu under "Programs."  You can also pick up an audio
recording of Weekend Edition Sunday program after 12:00 p.m. Eastern
time each Sunday.  In the alternative, for the text of the weekly
listener challenge, you can go directly to:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4473090
Podcasts are available at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/rss/podlayer.php?id=4473090 or
http://www.npr.org/podcasts/

From:
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=4473090&uid=3ba205bf25adca5af473ab1102e03b75
How do I subscribe to this podcast?
Copy the URL [above this paragraph] into your preferred podcasting tool
software (e.g. Odeo, iTunes, iPodder). You will automatically receive
this podcast each time it's published.
Follow Liane on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/nprLiane
Links of interest:
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament:
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/
Merl Reagle's article on constructing crossword puzzles, available at:
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/articles/inq031697.htm
World Puzzle Federation:
http://www.worldpuzzle.org
For U.S. Puzzle Championship info:
http://wpc.puzzles.com/uspc11/
More of Ed Pegg Jr.'s puzzles are available at:
http://www.mathpuzzle.com
Next year's National Puzzlers' League convention will meet in
Providence, Rhode Island. For information, visit:
http://www.puzzlers.org
Joe Wander suggests linguaphiles check out:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad
You can join Kathie Schneider's email list for accessible word and logic
puzzles. To subscribe, send a blank email to:
blind-puzzlers-subscribe@googlegroups.com
For the results of April's 5th Annual World Sudoku Puzzle Championship,
see:
http://wpc.puzzles.com/wsc2010/
Kristy Fowler, guest editing today for Richard Renner:
<mad4cowbell@gmail.com>

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

CLUES & ANSWERS:

1.  THING & EVENING: NIGHT

2. STATE & CLEARED: DECLARE

3. MARCH & DELIGHT: CHARM

4. TIMER & DESERVE: MERIT

5. IRATE & GRENADE: ENRAGED or ANGERED

6. NADIR & DEPLETE: DRAIN

7. ONSET & BOULDER: STONE

8. AWFUL & INHOUSE: HEINOUS

9. GIRTH & CORRECT: RIGHT

10. AGREE & ITCHING: EAGER

End of NPR Puzzle Synopsis.

Doggie Splash Day, 2010!

 BEST DAY OF THE YEAR! 

Last year, May Bee and I were forced to skip The Best Day of the Year because of that stupid, awful, horrible operation (that I only survived because of my wonderful family & friends!!), but this year we were out in Full Pale Force (well, I was pale--May Bee, not so much). Dan, Kirsten, Jaeger, and Rhowdie were there...and CHRIS & FALISHA, TOO! They drove all the way from the Metroplex to get in on the fun!

Oh, and we made TWO of Abilene's three 10 o'clock newscasts as we went off the diving board together AND a color pic in the Sunday paper. (Page 12A! Not too shabby, Miss May Bee!) Must have been a slow news day...

Check out the cool page Kirsten, a Creative Memories consultant, made with her CM Storybook!

And then, to end a perfect day, we enjoyed a cookout and concert at HOPE Church of Christ. Here's the last photo I snapped before Chris & Falisha had to head for home. (You can see Thus Far taking the stage behind them!)

The documentary, which aired after the sun went down, was beautiful and touching and wiped me out. It still does. (Thanks to Jessalyn Massingill for her amazing movie and to Thus Far for their beautiful music. I've watched the movie twice...and cried both times.) 

If you ever want to worship your Creator in a place where you will be accepted no matter what, come visit us at HOPE.

Networks from jessalyn massingill on Vimeo.