Sunday, November 23, 2014

Sunday leftovers

JohnnyCashCat has developed a sense of entitlement with the recent wintry weather.
Every time he stands at the door asking to be let inside, he expects me to open it, and I comply.
Resistance is futile.


I've been trying for weeks to get a picture of the doves all lined up, sunning themselves on the barn roof.
Talk about flighty...all I have to do is stand in the window and they take off.
Every time I see them up there, I'm reminded of Amelia. 
It was three years yesterday that she made her first appearance at the 7MSN.
If you don't know her story, click on the label "Amelia" in the list at the bottom of the page.
She was such a character. I wish she would have stuck around.



Solveig in Northern Alberta e-mailed me this week, asking what became of the egg in the cupboard,
which, as predicted, I had forgotten about. It's been six weeks since I stashed it there,
in the name of proving and/or disproving the egg freshness test.
Would it now float in a bowl of water, proving itself unsafe to eat?



Yep. It floats. Not safe to eat and time to throw it away...



...but not before I cracked it open to see what it would look and smell like.
For the record, it looked good enough to eat and it didn't smell at all, which surprised me.
I didn't put it through a taste test.

As a chicken and burro keeper, one might think I'd know the grammatically correct way
to write about "laying" eggs and "lying" down to take naps.
In fact, I struggle with "lay" and "lie" and every permutation thereof
every time I try to include one of those words in this blog.
So when I saw the chart below somewhere on the internet this week,
I immediately saved it to my desktop and share it here, hoping someone besides me will find it of use.




16 comments:

  1. i always always have trouble with this, saved to my folder. thanks. good to know about the egg thing

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  2. Right? I feel like I've taken a huge risk every time I settle for 'lay' or 'lie'. Most useful post!

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  3. With two teenage boys, they need all the help they can get! I have it on my desktop now, too!

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  4. I mastered this in grade school, only because I'm a total grammar nut and love diagramming sentences!!! BUT I still can't get the difference between 'shall' and 'will,' and would be happy for any advice in that regard!!!! But I do have the apostrophe down, a major pet peeve of mine when people put an apostrophe in any word ending in an 's.' LOL Love JohnnyCashCat. Wish he would come visit me.

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  5. Good info, both the egg and the lay/lie chart. It now resides on my desktop -- the chart, not the egg. Thanks!!
    When I first met my husband to be, he had a terrible time, until he decided to just correct my grammer. Tell the dog to go LIE down, not go LAY down.

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  6. Thank You! Good to know I'm not alone in this lying, laying thing. Another one is who and whom.

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  7. Excellent pic of Johnny and most helpful chart. I'm a good speller but those two words have always been super confusing. I also agree with Cranberry Morning about possessive apostrophes when people just mean plural. Makes me crazy.

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  8. Had to laugh over your "lay & lie" printout; I also have it, although I remember my grandmother always coming back w/ a sharp, "Chickens lay eggs! You LIE down!", so it 'stuck' early on, although I still wrestle w/ the past participle of 'lie'.

    That said, I still get confused with 'who' and 'whom', and as a language arts tutor, I always have to think first before I open my mouth or write something!

    Maggy

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  9. Excellent chart for lay and lie.
    Now, could you please find some that illustrate accept/except, farther/further, I/me, than/then?
    I and other grammarians would be forever grateful for any contribution you could make to the cause.

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  10. Northern AB gal11/23/14, 9:44 AM

    Thanks for the egg update! The "lay/lie" chart is very helpful. I have heard that English is one of the hardest languages to learn (I only know one language so I'm not sure that is truthful :)) I wonder how much of this is actually taught in school anymore.

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  11. FWIW I believe that shall has fallen into disuse in regular speech. Still a very important legal/legislative term though. When I was learning these rules as a child it was only proper to use "will" for second (you) and third (he/she/it) person. First person required the use of shall. Rules allowed for reversing the usage only for emphatic speech.

    British holdover most likely. Of course I still cringe at alright instead of all right. I accept it as the norm now, but cannot help the cringe. Wicked language, English.

    Johnny is absolutely correct. Resistance is futile. He should come in whenever he appears. Love the pics. All of my store bought eggs are old, but not old enough to float. Loved the bright orange yolks at the resort in Cozumel last November, and the fruit!

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  12. thank you for the chart, I copied it for good use!

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  13. I like your pictures and stories with Johnnie. He is so beautiful and looks so intelligent. What a great cat!

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  14. Much to my 5th grade teacher (AKA grammar nazi) dismay, I am sure, I always get those confused. Thanks for sharing :-)

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  15. I knew it.....I predicted it when JCC first came to live with you....he'd be inside in no time. Carson...you ole softie!!

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  16. An American in Tokyo11/24/14, 5:37 PM

    Wow, your blog is so educational! Egg freshness and spelling correctly! I feel like I learned a lot today. =)

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