Yard Work - Dragonflies - Birds - A Word

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We had a beautiful day yesterday. Frank and I mowed the yard... yep got the spring weeds chopped down. I saw a bit of green grass, so soon the spring weeds will fade. Frank rode the riding lawn mower very, very slowly around the yard. I pushed the push mower. My I was tired when we finished. My face was red as a beet. I had not mowed the yard in about 10 years or so. I probably won't be able to do it when it gets real hot weather. Me, exercise and hot weather don't mix.

Before mowing I went around the yard and picked up the fallen pieces of pecan tree limbs. Then I looked at the garden and dragonflies were buzzing around. I got my camera, but of course the dragonflies were not cooperative... they kept facing away from the sun. This was my best picture; which isn't saying a whole lot :-) Right click on the picture to open in a new window or tab for a larger view.



The male ruby-throated hummingbird showed up last Sunday and the female yesterday... or was it the day before... alas, my memory; where art thou! I will try and get pictures, but I am lousy at bird pictures. Well, lately I am lousy at any type of picture :-)

The great-crested flycatchers have arrived too. Soon they will be building their nest in the gourds we put up to attract purple martins. This is a snap shot from last year.

I want to work on some projects, but my mind just isn't up to it. I just can't seem to concentrate long enough. My embroidery still sits in the basket by my chair. Last time I looked at it... the directions looked like gobbledygook :-) I have books I want to read too. I am managing to comprehend reading a magazine now... so I'm making progress :-)

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A Word -- gobbledygook

I had to look the word gobbledygook up to make sure I spelled it correctly. It has a very interesting origin. This is from World Wide Words:

This is a truly maverick word, not only because it is surprisingly modern and also one whose genesis we can pin down to the day, but also because a maverick coined it —Maury Maverick, a Texan lawyer who was at various times a Democratic Congressman and mayor of San Antonio.

He used the word in the New York Times Magazine on 21 May 1944, while he was chairman of the US Smaller War Plants Committee in Congress, as part of a complaint against the obscure language used by his colleagues. His inspiration, he said, was the turkey, “always gobbledy gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity”. The word met a clear need and quickly became part of the language. It is sometimes abbreviated slightly to gobbledygoo.

Word coining runs in the Maverick family, since Maury Maverick’s grandfather, Samuel Maverick, a Texas rancher, was the inspiration for maverick, originally an animal not branded to identify its owner (because Sam Maverick didn’t brand his own herds), later an unconventional person, and later still a politician who stands aside from the herd, refusing to conform to the party line.

I like it when I run across something unexpectedly interesting. Oh... I ran across Delightful Dots yesterday. Some very cute free Blogger templates there. I put the link over in the next column, just in case you lose this post.

Well, thunder storms are on their way so I need to get this posted.

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The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. -- Mark Twain