It’s almost 9:00 pm and now that I think about it, the day has been pretty long, lazy, and I didn’t eat even one piece of chocolate. I did, however, have a cookie that had chocolate pieces in it, but that doesn’t count.

The day began at 5:30 am when we woke up so we could attend our church’s sunrise service in the cemetery. That didn’t happen until 7:00 am so we had plenty of time to grind up some beans and make coffee to get the day started. The dog thought that getting up that early was pretty cool, too, because they got to go outside earlier, and stay longer.

It was chilly during the service, but it wasn’t raining. Many sunrise services have been rained out in the past. We were all gathered near Diane’s Dad’s (Mel) grave, and not far from our son, Brad grave. During the service we Pastor tried to teach us a new song which didn’t work out so well. He’s always trying new songs on us but it’s difficult to figure them out when all we have are the words. But, it makes things kinda interesting.

After the early service we all retired to the church basement for breakfast which was provided by a number of folks including Jennifer. That’s Jennifer, our daughter. It was very good. Once that was over we brought Cedric & Jeran home with us. We didn’t know where Lydia was so we just left her figuring she would call if there was a problem. She is, after all, a teenager now. On the way home we got a call from her friend’s Mom saying they had hijacked Lydia for the day.

When we got home we chained Cedric and Jeran to chairs in front of the TV so they would have to watch, then we took naps. They also had a tray with cookies, sodas, chips and cheese so they wouldn’t go hungry. This worked well until it was time for us to go back to the late service at 10:25 am. Then we had to lock them up in the basement so they wouldn’t bother people walking by on the road. That’s why we have the dogs. That’s their job.

Like normal, we took Diane’s Mom, Jean, with us. Before we left we heated up the oven and stuffed in a tray of generic lasagna for lunch and set it to terminate at 11:30 am. The service ran a little late, as expected, and we had to stop by Safeway for french bread, and pick up the boys … oh … that’s right! Jennie took the boys with her when she left breakfast, not us. We picked them up on the way home after the late service. So, we didn’t tie them up, or lock them in the basement after all. That must have been on another day. I get them mixed up.

We didn’t get home until after noon-o’clock, but the lasagna was OK. Didn’t burn up or anything and was very tasty. After eating, we tied the boys up in front of the TV and took a nap. It’s true that Lydia was hijacked by her friend, and we didn’t see her until almost 5:00 pm. At 7:00 pm Diane picked Jennie up from work and brought her home to eat lasagna. By then the boys were hungry again, so they cleaned it up. Lydia had some too. While she was waiting for it to warm up she cooked a package of Ramen to tide her over. The way those kids eat, it’s a good thing Jennie works at Safeway. I had a ham sandwich. On french bread.

I read a little bit of USA Today news on my iPad this evening and learned that Kodak has filed for bankruptcy and requested permission to pay 300 or their 7600 employees $13.7 million in bonuses. That seems fair, doesn’t it? Reminds me of the Enron days when they owned PGE while I worked there. While our stock, and 401k’s were going down they drain the executives doled out millions to themselves to kinda clean up the loose cash they had laying around. Apparently most of that was legal which I don’t find surprising. the CEO of PGE was paid $900 thousand a year in bonus money for a few years to ensure she would stay on the job. Nice.

OK. Now I’m depressing myself so I’m getting off that subject.

I think I’ll just quit for today. Hope everyone had a pleasant Easter Sunday and, for those of you who hid eggs in the house, I hope you found all of them. They get pretty nasty after a couple of months.

Greetings and Happy Easter to all. I got to wondering about rabbits and Easter so did some research. Here’s one of many I found that gives some background. I selected it because I liked the pictures. Don’t, however, forget the resurrection while melted milk chocolate bunnies are escaping from the corners of your mouths. Diane’s favorites this time of year, actually all year long, are Peeps – only the yellow ones.

Analysis by Trace Dominguez
Fri Apr 6, 2012 03:55 PM ET

There’s no story in the Bible about a long-eared, cotton-tailed creature known as the Easter Bunny. Neither is there a passage about young children painting eggs or hunting for baskets overflowing with scrumptious Easter goodies.

And real rabbits certainly don’t lay eggs.

BRIEF: How the Moon Affects the Date of Easter

Why are these traditions so ingrained in Easter Sunday? And what do they have to do with the resurrection of Jesus?

Well, nothing.

Bunnies, eggs, Easter gifts and fluffy, yellow chicks in gardening hats all stem from pagan roots. These tropes were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

According to the University of Florida’s Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, the origin of the celebration — and the origin of the Easter Bunny — can be traced back to 13th-century, pre-Christian Germany, when people worshiped several gods and goddesses. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproduction rate.

NEWS: Was the Last Supper a Day Earlier?

Spring also symbolized new life and rebirth; eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility. According to History.com, Easter eggs represent Jesus’ resurrection. However, this association came much later when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in Germany in the 15th century and merged with already ingrained pagan beliefs.

The first Easter Bunny legend was documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published. These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s, when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country, according to the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture.

The tradition of making nests for the rabbit to lay its eggs in soon followed. Eventually, nests became decorated baskets and colorful eggs were swapped for candy, treats and other small gifts.

DISCOVERY NEWS: All About Easter

So, while you’re scarfing down chocolate bunnies (I hear chocolate is good for you!) and marshmallow chicks this Easter Sunday, think fondly of this holiday’s origins and maybe even impress your friends at your local Easter egg hunt.

Happy Easter!

Credits: Ian O’Neill, Library of Congress, Corbis

Panzee’s got a sock monkey. She wasn’t very impressed with it, and ignored it until she discovered that it squeaked. Now she carries it everywhere. I’m sure the reason for that is because she has no idea where her squirrel is. It squeaks, too, and she’s had that for years. Really. She just bites it enough to make it squeak but she doesn’t rip on it. Pretty amazing.

I had to fix the floor drain in the basement, again. You’d think fixing it once would be enough, but nooooo. Not this drain. It only runs over when the washing machine empties so I know for sure that what’s causing it is all the little tiny pieces of wet lint that gets sucked out by the washer. Either that, or some socks. Some of those are missing, like normal.

This evening Diane, me, and Diane’s Mom, Jean, went to the Warren Community Fellowship church to witness their presentation of “He’s More Than Just a Man” musical. There were 70+ people in costume for the event, and Jack sang two solos. Quite impressive. Jack was a Sanhedrin Man but I didn’t get any pictures on my camera because I used Jack’s for the performance. I gotta tell you that I never, ever thought Jack would look good in makeup, but he does. From the looks of tonight’s performance, he’s ready for Boogie (Bugis) Street in Singapore. I did get this shot of Diane’s socks before they turned out the lights. Nice, huh?

The steering wheel in the RV is still laying around in pieces waiting for the new blinker thingie. It’s supposed to be here on Monday. The new awning is supposed to show up on Wednesday.

Diane got the car washed because she heard it’s supposed to be nice all weekend. Guess what! She made it rain, and she knows better than to flaunt the weatherman by getting the car washed at the first little hint of blue sky. I have to admit, however, that it looks pretty nice.

Now I’m going to eat a snack and go to bed before it turns to fat.

This morning, at 8:00am, Diane was at the County Courthouse for jury selection indoctrination. I was left home. Alone. I as instructed to sit quietly until she either called or returned. This presented a complication because I had a dentist appointment at noon and no way to get there until Jennie brought me a vehicle. I could have used the lawnmower, I suppose, but that would have made Diane cranky. So, I just sat there. Thankfully, after a couple of hours, Diane returned with groceries. Shortly after that Jennie showed up with the alternate transportation which we no longer needed because Diane was home and available to drive me  to my appointment.

I don’t know why I’m sitting here typing this because a trip to the dentist isn’t all that exciting unless they yank something out of your mouth, which they didn’t. I was just there for my cleaning. At one point, with my mouth wide open, my saliva glands spontaneously let loose and sprayed my face and my hygienists mask. Good thing she had it on, but she didn’t think anything about it. In fact, she shared with me that she and her friends used to spit on each other in that manner, when they were much younger, and they called it “gleeking”. Finding this very interesting, as I do things of this nature, I checked it out on the internet and, guess what! Gleeking is real. It’s the action of projecting saliva out of the submandibular gland upon compression by the tongue. Give it a try. Then clean the mirror.

Here’s more information from Wikipedia, and I quote:

Gleeking

Gleeking involves the mouth,tongue, and submandibular gland (#2 in diagram)

Gleeking (also gleeting, geeking, gleeping, glarfing, glitting, gleaking, glicking, glything, glanding, geezing, yanging, cobra spitting) is the projection of saliva from the submandibular gland upon compression by the tongue.^[3]

In general, gleeking occurs when an accumulation of saliva in the submandibular gland is propelled out in a stream when the gland is compressed by the tongue. The stream of saliva is released in the general direction of the front of the mouth. If the mouth is open the jet may project several feet. Gleeking is more likely when the salivary gland has been recently stimulated, but even a residual amount of saliva in the gland may be released by gleeking.

Gleeking may occur spontaneously due to accidental tongue pressure on the sublingual gland while talking, eating, yawning, or cleaning the teeth. Gleeking can also be induced, for instance, by pressing the underside of the tongue against the palate, then pushing the tongue forward while simultaneously closing the lower jaw and moving it slightly forward; or by yawning deeply and pressing the tongue against the palate. Practice is usually required to induce gleeking consistently, and induction is more likely to be successful under conditions of salivary stimulation.

End Quote (actually, I copied it)

Then, this evening, Diane made me change out of my jammies, which I donned upon return from the dentist so I could rest, and eat my tacos from Taco Bell, so I could go catch pitches for Lydia at her softball practice. It was in the High School gym. Lyd, me, and her coach were the only ones there so she got some one-on-one instruction. She’s the designated pitcher on her team and will back up at 2nd base. She’s learning a new method so is having a little trouble finding her release point, but slams a hard one in about every 3rd pitch. It’s getting better and we can’t wait to watch her team play. It’s handy because they play at the field at the bottom of the hill from our house. We could walk there, but we won’t because it’s all uphill on the way home.

That’s all I have.