Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Tell us about a time you found yourself 'in the middle of nowhere'. Was this deliberate?

My child-bride, Suzanne, and I would actually like to live in the middle of nowhere. 

However, I have often found myself in the middle of nowhere and had no idea where I was.  Back in South Carolina, that was no real problem.  I knew most of the roads around us and knew that eventually I would find my way back to civilization.

Texas is a whole different country.  We moved out here back in 2004.  We like to go for drives in the country as a good, relatively cheap form of entertainment.  The problem is that one Texas road looks just like all the others.  A bovine is a bovine and they all look the same.  A cotton field looks like most other cotton fields, etc.  The highway signs that tell you the route number are miles apart. 

I have an internal sense of direction but with few landmarks it can be a challenge.

See Suzanne's Post at PS-Annie

2. What's something you're 'in the middle of' today or this week? 

This past weekend we moved our oldest daughter home from the University of Texas.  This is about 120 miles round trip and it took five trips to move her back in our little Ford Fiesta, Zoomie.

Along the way, we also went to pick up our other daughter from Texas A&M. This is about 157 miles one way to get her.  Suzanne does all the driving.  We were both pooped, but it is good to have them back home.  The youngest daughter has to go back this Friday.  We get to keep the oldest a little longer since she is not going to the summer sessions.

3. At what age do you think 'middle age' begins? What does it mean to be 'middle aged'? 

For me, it does not really matter where it begins.  I have a seventeen year old mind trapped in the body of a 54 year old.   I still think I can do things that I could do at seventeen.  I usually regret this.

I know I am still mentally stuck in Junior High School because I find the following video funny.

How did all my friends get so old?  I did not age.  LOL

4. Ravioli, stuffed peppers, samosas, deviled eggs, steamed dumplings, pierogis, or a jelly donut...your favorite food (from this list!) with something yummy in the middle. Your favorite not on the list? 

Well, I think you named my favorite.  Deviled Eggs.  Very few people can make them right.  They are: my child-bride Suzanne, my Grandma Ruby , and my mother.

I asked my Aunt Gloria how my grandmother made her delicious deviled eggs.  She told me that Grandma used this sacrilege known as Miracle Whip and mustard.  That could not be how she made them because I don’t like either of those things, but I loved her deviled eggs.

Suzanne makes better deviled eggs than anyone on the planet, including Grandma Ruby.  You have to have Duke’s Mayonnaise, pickle juice and, of course, eggs.

Many of the recipes that real Southern ladies exchange will actually say, ½ cup of Duke’s.  Notice I did not say Duke’s Mayonnaise.  The mayonnaise part is a given after you say the word Duke’s.

5. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying ''In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.' Would you agree? Have you found this to be true in your own life? Feel free to elaborate. 

Often the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” comes to mind.  Sometimes we have to use ingenuity to overcome problems.  Other times, we just need to work a little harder.  I talk a little about this in the second part of my In Loving Memory of Robert Bruce McClendon, Jr. post when I discuss the Television Marathon.

6. What's a song you remember loving from your middle school years?  Do you love it still? 

Honestly, I don’t remember what was playing on the radio during my middle school years.  Between eighth and ninth grade I found out I was a diabetic by going into a coma.  

The only song I remember from that time frame is Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band.  I remember this because I went on a beach trip with my church and almost every one of our youth group bought an Afternoon Delight T-shirt.  It is like none of the chaperones on the trip listened to what that song was actually saying.   It is not an appropriate message for a Christian teenager to have on their T-shirt.

7. May 18th is National Visit Your Relatives Day. Will you celebrate? Which relative would you visit if time, distance, and expense were not considered. 

Gee, I like so few of my relatives that this would be simple. If we had the money to go see anyone, Suzanne and I would go see her mother, my Aunt Gloria, and an aunt and/or uncle or two of Suzanne’s.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

The world we live in today has become so complicated.  There was a time when we felt that it was difficult to decide whom to vote for because there were so many good choices.  Today, we have to decide which bad choice is best.

There was a time when two to maybe five or six minutes of commercials were squeezed into every hour of television.  Now, we squeeze about two minutes of content into every hour and only if the commercials don’t run too long.

I guess I grew up in Leave It to Beaver Land.  When I grew up, things were easier.  Life was simple.  I miss Mayfield and Mayberry. 

What do you think?  Has life changed since you were a young'un?