"Mellow Yellow" (#2)

http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

I'm sorry my photo is grainy.  I'm lucky I can get pictures downloaded much less fix them!!  Maybe if I do these often enough, I'll learn more of the basics!  (Realistically though, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!)  Anyhow....onward!



Some days it just ain't worth gettin' outa bed!! 


My 2nd contribution to Mellow Yellow Monday!  Hope you liked it!  Go to http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/ if you want to join the ranks of lovers of all things YELLOW!

♪♪....They call me Mellow Yellow!....♪

                                                ~~  Donovan

"Things I Couldn't Say" (aka Dear So and So....)

To All individuals involved in the discovery, drilling, refining, transporting, and sale of oil, petroleum and gasoline,

On Tuesday in my part of Austin, the  most common price for regular, lead-free gasoline was $2.99 per gallon.  On Wednesday the most common price for regular, lead-free gasoline had risen to $3.09 per gallon.  Today that same product sold for $3.19 a gallon.  In case you aren't too good with math, that is an increase of $.20 a gallon which doesn't really convey how outrageous the increase actually is.  After all a fill of 15 gallons (which is what my fills usually are) only costs $3.00 more. 

However, when you look at percentage increase, that means that plain old regular gas price has risen 6.5% in two days!!  (I think, I'm not too good with math either!)

Do you plan to continue raising gas prices at this same rate for the foreseeable future?  At that rate I will not be able to afford to fill my tank by next Tuesday.  Please let me know your plans as soon as possible.  I have a couple of errands I should take care of before I become housebound!! 

Outraged Auto-dependent Mel

**************

Dear Gloria Vanderbilt Jeans Co. (Wherever You Are),

I have been wearing your petite jeans for years.  They fit me far better than any other manufacturer.  Up until the last year or so, I have been perfectly satisfied with the garments you produced.  Within the last year, suddenly I have several pairs which have begun to pucker and wrinkle in front about 4 inches below the waist.  This occurs only in light colored jeans.  Once the puckering begins, it remains there permanently and I can't do anything about it!  I can no longer wear the jeans because it looks just awful.

Last week I went on-line to try to locate a way to contact your customer service in the hopes I could get some assistance with this problem (perhaps the washing instructions have changed or I'm doing something wrong when I launder the jeans.)

Imagine my surprise when after a reasonably long time searching I was UNABLE to find a company website or a phone number to reach your company.  The search only would direct me to retailers who sell Gloria Vanderbilt Jeans.  There is no means of contacting you as the manufacturer.  Do you have a website?  If not, why not? Are you hiding from your loyal customers??  Why??  Sounds like a guilty conscience to me! 

Ticked off Mel

***********

To Whom It May Concern,

I'm not sure who is actually at fault for this, (in fact, it's probably another one of those situations where there is no SINGLE responsible party) however,  I would like to express my STRONG disappointment and dissatisfaction with all the meddling you people are doing into the food industry, particularly in relation to the use of the dreaded trans fats issue.  Since the time when restaurants and food producers have been forced to eliminate the use of trans fats, I have not had a decent french fry, potato chip, cracker, or tortilla chip.  They are completely tasteless and awful.  I am an adult woman with sort of average eating habits.  I am not grossly overweight, my cholesterol is good, and I am bright enough to know the difference between eating fried foods ALL THE TIME and having a few chips with my sandwich.  

Would you all please get your noses out of my plate!!  And put the trans fats back or else find something that doesn't make my food taste like cardboard!  Life just ain't worth living without good potato chips!!

Grumpily,

Mel

***************** 

Dear Amazon.com,

I love my Kindle, really I do!  It is so much easier to carry around than an actual book.  I find it easy to navigate, easy to read from, and it is easy to never be without something to read!  It's cool and one gadget I am thrilled to own.

However, the free "books" that you have available are, for the most part, disappointing.  Much of the fiction  offered there is either poorly written, or a short story or novella, or a "classic" that was written a hundred years ago (I read most of them a hundred years ago too!)  I have also discovered that much of the "women's fiction" offered for free are Christian books (though not identified as such).  I am not interested in "Christian" books as they are usually bland, predictable, and uninteresting to me.  Couldn't you please identify them upfront??

Because I read so much and so quickly I go through a book in a day or two, in order to read books that are new to me, I have to purchase them.  It shouldn't surprise me that the publishers set the prices, but it didn't sink in ahead of time that the Kindle's purpose is to increase book sales.  I keep forgetting that just about everything in the world is driven by the anticipation of profit! 

Now if the public libraries would offer ebooks the same way they offer regular books....for free....then I could read what I want to read rather than just drivel because that's what is  free!

Just never happy,

Mel

*************

Dear Kat,

It was your birthday this week!  Happy Birthday!!  I hope it was filled with all the things and people that you love!!

Belatedly,

Mel

OK, bloggers, now go on over to the Dear So and So home at 3 Bedroom Bungalow to Let in Crazytown!  This is Kat's birthday so she may not actually be doing a Dear So and So, I'm not sure.  Go on over anyway and give birthday wishes to Kat!  She and her kids live in England with her military hubby and are far away from home.  Nobody should spend their birthday far from home!! Tell 'her Mellodee sent you!

"Something's Gotta Give"

As I have said many times, I am not a very good photographer.  What that results in, however, is a great love of beautiful and striking photographs taken by people who ARE great photographers!  One of my very favorite photography blogs is Stephen Baird's NikonSniper. 

Now one of the main reasons I love Stephen's photography so much is that not only does he take great photos, he also frequently titles his photographs with a quirky, frequently funny phrase.  The pictures are always beautifully done, but his quirky titles can change a photo from one that will make me smile to one that will make me laugh out loud!  Like the photo below that he posted this week:  

Surfers' Obstacle Course

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfdWtwg_yRLEitfElpxP6gStwlEVboGgi6mx4P22x8huewsFCc4K_uXicJNzOD3ppoTCeEUb66ZuRtE1s6X-yDeH9gmeEAC_52PxbagUGb7SsUp_BLliD6vHD9sfXS1Nl1gjZwyJzMfk/s1600/DSC_0279a.jpg

He absolutely nailed it!  Take a closer look at the photo, especially the rocks.  Can't you just see some Extreme Surfer (and they do exist!) trying to maneuver his board through those rocks like a snow skier on a downhill slalom course?  Yep, one of them is going to lose!  It's a law of nature that when two things are on a collision course "Something's Gotta Give"....and it sure ain't gonna be those rocks!  

If you haven't already, go visit NikonSniper, you might love his work too!

All of this brought to mind one of my all time favorite funny stories.  You may have heard it yourself:

Believe it or not...this is the transcript of an actual radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. The Radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on Oct. 10, 1995.

US Ship:        Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision. 

 

CND reply:   Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

US Ship:       This is the Captain of a US Navy Ship. I say again, divert your course.

CND reply:   No. I say again, you divert YOUR course!

US Ship:       THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA, WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!

CND reply:   This is a lighthouse. Your call

Isn't that a great story??  It makes me laugh out loud!!  The U.S. Navy, of course, denies it ever happened.  Maybe so, but I hope not!  It's only really funny if it's real!  Still....  :)


creative-3d.net  

♪♪....When an irresistible force, such as you
Meets an old immovable object like me,
You can bet as sure as you live....
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give,
something's gotta give!....♪

                              ~~ Johnny Mercer

A Cappella #1

The description of this blog in the header is pretty much the story of my life.  Probably about 75% of the time, there is one song or another running through my mind.  The songs are rarely in response to anything I am doing or thinking about, just some random melody that wanders in, sits down, and hangs around for awhile.  Sometimes the same song lingers for a day or two and I am surprised to realize that I have been humming the same song for multiple days.  I don't seem to have much control over what songs visit either.  If I make a conscious effort to switch to a different song to drive out the one that has outstayed its welcome, it works for a bit but before long I realize that the song I woke up with is back!

This goes on most every day.  Sometime during the day I will realize that some random song has taken up residence and I am, once again, humming out loud.  It drives Mikey straight up the wall!  I assume everybody around me is aware of it, but most of the time, they don't say a word.

(Anyone who knows me who is reading this, I'm sorry if my humming bothers you.  More often than not, I'm not even aware I doing it!!)

I guess it doesn't bother me too much because music has always been such a big part of my life.  It's sort of like having my own sound track, just this low key background music underlying every scene.  In fact, it surprises me that it doesn't happen to everyone!  What do people do in all that quiet????

Anyway, when I first thought about starting this blog, I had no grand plan in mind.  What did I know about blogging?  I was just making it up as I went along.  "Mellodee" is sort of my nickname for myself (it's a long story).  So when I decided it was a go, the name Mellodee Musings.... seemed a no brainer.  That very first posting way back then (306 posts ago!) was sort of an introduction.  As I was writing it, the song "It's Not Where You Start It's Where You Finish" popped into my brain and the posting just sort of followed along that theme (you can go here:  http://mellodeemusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-not-where-you-start.html
to see what I wrote during that first post.)

I thought the idea of naming my postings with appropriate song titles would be fun and kind of clever (Oh God, if I only had an ego!!)  So that's what I did!  I've always said there's a song for every occasion, so it should be a snap, right?  Once I had an idea for a topic to write about, the first step was coming up with the right song title.  Now I know a lot of songs, but I surely don't know EVERY song ever written!!  There are  hundreds of thousands of songs out there; some are very well known and others so obscure NO ONE has ever heard them!  I made it my rule that I could use any title of an actual published song.  That seemed like it would give me nearly endless resources.  I was on my way!  "Mellodee Musings....the Music that Meanders through My Mind" was born!

So for the last 19 months and 306 postings, the vast majority of the postings have been named with song titles.  (Just to clarify, the posting doesn't have anything to do with the actual song, it's just the title which ties in to what I'm writing about....and sometimes it's a real stretch!)

HOWEVER (dunh dunh dunh), sometimes it's a real pain in the derriere to find a song title that works!  There are several websites that list song titles and I peruse them whenever I can't think of a song to use.  Even so, there are times I just cannot find a title that would work!  The end result is that I DON'T WRITE THE POST!!  It's frustrating and annoying and then I am sorry I ever started the pattern!  But I still like using song titles....mostly! 

Sooooo, for the times when nothing appropriate comes to mind, I have come up with a solution!!!   (Yay me!)  I will continue to use song titles wherever and whenever possible....but when I can't come up with a song title, I will "sing" A CAPPELLA!!!

For those of you unfamiliar with music and singing, one of the basic definitions of a cappella is "without musical accompaniment."  How perfect is that??  A post titled a capella, means that there is no appropriate song title that I can find, but I'm going to write anyway! 

I realize that I am making WAY TOO MUCH of this whole thing.  The reality is that NO ONE has EVER commented on my song title post titles! (I find that a bit surprising to tell you the truth.)  I don't know if that means nobody likes them, or that nobody cares, or that nobody ever even noticed! 

Nevertheless, I am committed to it, because when it works it works REALLY well....and if it isn't working, I'll just go a cappella! 

"Mellow Yellow"

There are times when life just ups and taps you on the shoulder and says, "Hey, dummy, it's as clear as it can possibly be that you should (...whatever...).  Wake up!"  Well, as I was reading my favorite blogs today, I had one of those times!

As you might expect, it is as plain as the noses on Mt. Rushmore, I was destined to join the meme....

Mellow Yellow is a song....Mellodee musings....yellow, my fav.....tomorrow is Monday!  Surely I can find a photo with some yellow in it and join the parade, right???? 

Right!



Spring 2010 was a BIG year for wildflowers in Texas!

 So, there you have it, my 1st contribution to Mellow Yellow Monday!  http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/  Not too bad for a crummy photographer, huh?   They call me "Mellow Yellow"! :)