Friday, July 27, 2012

Lesson 171: Bronze Medalist, Tim McGraw Song


Eloise's Concert Countdown
Bronze Medalist
She's My Kind of Rain

Here's my real Handsome Cowboy introducing song #3.  Sam's got on his summer wardrobe:  white t-shirt out of the Wal-Mart 3 pack, boxer briefs, and someone else's shoes.  Those are my boots.  No jokes.  I have enough stress in my life.

He's in this get up all day until we decide to go somewhere.  I used to change him when  people dropped by, but I even relaxed on that rule when the well went dry.  The hole in the ground in front of my house that provides Eloise with water dried up twice this summer.  It took the whole night and many buckets from my parents' auxiliary well to fill it back up.   That's the well cap at the bottom of this photo.




We really need rain in my part of the map.  The Great Lakes Region where I am from had a very mild winter with hardly any snow.  On top of that, we've had a dry spring and summer.  That formula makes for low water levels; the thorn in the side of those with weak wells.  Most of the country is suffering from drought conditions.  In a recent article I read gave the statistic that 88% of our cornfields are without sufficient water.  The article warned consumers of a probably increase in food prices this fall.

I like it when things work out, and for this post they did.  We got rain yesterday--a fairly significant amount.  
The view out the Lamp Post back door.
It greened up my grass nicely.


Doused my hanging baskets

Put some water in my creek



One of these days I am going to remember to roll up the van window.



Can you see me?


My cherry tomatoes were happy.


As were the last of my tiger lilies.  Love that flower.


That is the weeping willow along side my creek.  The willow is my favorite tree.  Together on the compound I live on with my parents, we have 5 willows and I named them all.   This is Wisdom. I named her that because she's the oldest and biggest in the yard.   I took this photo out the Lamp Post window. 


The willow trees remind me a little of myself.  They are tall and have those long flowing branches that kind of look like my hair.  The willow's roots run deep, in search of water.  Since you found out in yesterday's post that I am a hometown girl and a Pisces.  I suppose that connects to me as well.

One of the neatest things about the willow is that the bark can be used for medicinal purposes.  The leaves and bark when ingested relieve fever, aches and pains.  This bark was used by Native Americans in our area to treat many conditions.  A synthetic version was created around 1900 and is what we know as aspirin today.

Eloise stays up too late writing, and gets up too early to run.  Therefore that leaves your Favorite Blogger in dire need of caffeine for little boosts throughout the day.  This, in turn makes me drink too much coffee.  Insufficient sleep plus sore muscles plus too much caffeine equal HEADACHES for poor Eloise.  I take way too many Advil and promise myself every week that I will cut back.  If you drive by the Lamp Post and see me gnawing on the base of a tree, just figure I'm giving the drug manufacturers the finger and am trying my hand at an old, Native American custom--chewing willow bark for pain relief.

Unfortunately, the bad thing about willows is that even though they are big and seem strong--their limbs are quite pliable.  Often the wood of a willow is used for baskets.  When a strong wind blows, their branches can snap easily.  I've been known to snap in a strong wind, too.  Look what happened after yesterday's storm.


This casualty is from Wednesday (name of the tree), the willow to the north of my parents' farmhouse, east of mine.  I named it Wednesday because the trunk branches off into three pieces, and Wednesday is the third day of the week.


Those big limbs are foolers.  They look strong, but they are really soft.


Despite the damage, that was my kind of rain.  The storm blew through in about an hour.  The rain was steady and beautiful to watch, but it didn't rain the whole day long.  

The rain Tim McGraw is singing about is a little sweeter.  It's a song about love.  The lyrics are really great in this one:

She's my kind of rain,
Like love from a drunken sky,
Confetti falling down all night,
She's my kind of rain.

How romantic would it be for someone to tell the keeper of the Lamp Post that she was his lost companion,  or Rembrandt's light.  Pretty descriptors, aren't they?

Tim's probably singing the song to his wife, country music star Faith Hill.  You can catch a glimpse of her at the very end of the video.  They walk down the street with their three daughters.

Now for your Tim Fact of the Day:  Guess what city that video was filmed in? I have a few World Traveler Friends who will surely be able to identify the city as they have flown across the pond to visit there recently. Most of you will be able to identify the place very soon as well.   It fits very timely with today, as the Opening Ceremonies are tonight for the Olympic Games.  Yes, you guessed correctly--London!  

So I managed to work Tim McGraw, rain, and London into the same post.  I love it when I can get things to connect.

After today, you're down to only two songs left.  Which two of your favorites haven't I named yet?  Take a guess, write it down on a piece of paper so I know you didn't cheat, and check back to see if we think alike. If we match on the top two, let me know.  You'll get a prize from my prize box.  

Enjoy the video of Handsome and his hats (cowboy and flat cap),
Eloise--just click the Watch on You Tube--it will take you to Handsome in just one click.

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