Sunday morning

Just finished my daily crossword puzzle on Yahoo. Unfortunately, it was kind of difficult today as I couldn't even get much help using my dictionary.  On the other hand, I suppose I learned a few new words.  Now we'll see how long I remember those words. 'Mission Imposssible III' just started on Netflix.  Hunter is wrapped up in a blanket in a recliner and Sammy is outside running through the dandelions.  Sure hope I get those weeds chopped down today.

Jenni and Wayne went to a concert to see 'Journey' and 'Steve Miller Band' so Hunter arrived here about 8 last night and Maddie spent the day and night with a girl friend.  Actually, Hunter spent most of his time with a girl friend too.  They went to the lavender festival in Sequim with her folks and out to dinner after.  He brought me a bouquet of lavender as well as one for his mom.

He was sleeping (or so I thought) earlier this morning when all of a sudden he arrives in the kitchen and needs to get online.  Like many teens his phone is always with him and it buzzed him when he won a bid on ebay.  He was excited as he had his eye on this fancy Iphone.  Needed a better phone as his other one wasn't getting reception.

Later this morning he'll move my single bed from the back bedroom to the sewing room on the other side of the house.  Will be nice to have one whole room empty and ready for storing stuff I want to sell or donate.  Nothing much on my agenda today as I'm still healing from the nasty flu bug I had last week. I suppose if I had to suffer from an illness, I'd just as soon do it now and not next month when my shoulder surgery is scheduled.

I did manage to get a few household chores done yesterday, though. Probably overdid it but when you've been in bed for days, you get anxious to tidy up and rearrange. Well, some people do.  I decided the table on my back deck wasn't being put to good use as I seldom sit out there or have people over to eat out there.  If I do sit, it's in my lounge chair.  Anyhow, the umbrella inserted in the middle has to be tied down as the wind has a tendency to want to carry it off sometimes.  I took that out and put it back in the garage and then put some of my plants on the table after moving the table nearer the sliding glass door so I can see them better.

Moved my other pots down to the other end of the deck.  Those red ones are attracting hummingbirds pretty well now but I still made fresh nectar for the feeders in the front.

Here's a picture of Sammy claiming one of the chairs as his.

I've been watching various things on Netflix and Amazon but finding that I tire quickly when the characters continue to become more and more sleezy and without morals.  Not that I'm a goody-two shoes but sometimes writers go overboard on what is acceptable and entertaining versus what is a waste of my time.  Orange is the new Black was a big favorite of mine but now...not  so much.  Starting to feel the same about Scandal.

I often tune in old Andy Griffith shows just for background noise when I want something on.  I never tire of ole Barney Fife.  Last night I watched a BBC documentary called 'Walking with Cavemen'.  It was excellent.  May even watch the two-part show again.  I also discovered all the old 50's Alfred Hitchcock Presents shows.  What fun they are.  Corny as hell but entertaining.  Especially seeing the old actors and stage sets.  I got to thinking about Hitchcock and dug up these facts on him at IMDB.

As a child, Hitchcock was sent to the local police station with a letter from his father. The desk sergeant read the letter and immediately locked the boy up for ten minutes. After that, the sergeant let young Alfred go, explaining, "This is what happens to people who do bad things." Hitchcock had a morbid fear of police from that day on. He also cited this phobia as the reason he never learned to drive (as a person who doesn't drive can never be pulled over and given a ticket). It was also cited as the reason for the recurring "wrong man" themes in his films.

In a recent USC class on Hitchcock (fall of 2000), guest speaker Patricia Hitchcock revealed that two guilty pleasures of Hitch's were Smokey and the Bandit and Benji.  (I watched Patricia, his daughter, in one of the 1955  TV shows and she was pretty good as an actress.)

For Psycho (1960), he deferred his standard $250,000 salary in lieu of 60% of the film's net profits. His personal earnings from the film exceeded $15 million. Adjusted for inflation, that amount would now top $150 million in 2006 terms.

A statistical survey he did among audiences revealed that according to moviegoers the most frightening noise in films was the siren of a police patrol-car, followed by the crash of a road accident, cracklings of a burning forest, far galloping horses, howling dogs, the scream of a stabbed woman and the steps of a lame person in the dark.

Regarding  his lifelong fear of eggs (ovophobia), he said:  I'm frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes . . . have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it.

Walt Disney refused to allow him to film at Disneyland in the early 1960s because Hitchcock had made "that disgusting movie Psycho (1960)".

Nothing on my calendar this week except a trip to the casino on Friday to meet friends for lunch.  I do need a few things from the dollar store and Walmart but I think I'll put it off until tomorrow. Still feeling only so-so and that's a good excuse to stay home.

I'm going to have to spend more time watching Ancestry.com videos on YouTube.  I know there must be ways to access information that I'm not getting.  I spend hours some days on one dang relative and come up blank.  Besides the elusive Charlie (my grandpa's youngest brother maybe?), I decided I'd start at the top of his sibling list and begin again with his oldest sister, Georgianna, who married Jacob Stark. I found quite a bit on 3 of their 4 kids but the youngest (who I think was nicknamed Babe) has been a struggle to find.

I know Ailene was born in 1896 or 1897 in Independence,OR and died in Oct 1951 in Alameda, CA.

I also know she married Fred Cole in 1918 in Eugene and that they divorced and he remarried a woman named Nettie.  I could follow Fred a bit as he had a cigar stand in a hotel and later became a hotel manager.  Ailene lived with her mom at a hotel they owned in Eugene after her dad died and in 1930 she was managing (and maybe owned) the Medford Hotel.

At some point she married a guy named either Vincent or John McBride but I haven't been able to find out what state they married in or when they married.  I also can't figure out why she was in Alameda, CA when she died.  Have to do some more digging, I suppose.  Once I start to focus on someone, it becomes kind of obsessive and I want to know more.  Would love to have photos of all these people too. Here's a "possible" picture of her with her mom, Georgie. If this isn't Ailene, then it could be her older sister, Inez.  She's another one I'm puzzled about.  I did find a whole lot of info on her but I want to know why she died in Baltimore Maryland.

Well, the trees across the way are blowing pretty good now so I guess it's not going to get too warm.

Probably going to need a nap before the day is over as I didn't sleep that well last night.  Goofy dreams again.  A usual dreamscape has me participating in the Rhody Parade.  I won't go into detail about what happened last night but it was weird beyond words.  Like dreams can be.