Various "little things" that mean a lot

Last week I got an unexpected package from blog pal Theresa. In it was yarn, lots of lovely yarn, just because. I already have plans for both varieties. I am blessed with lots of caring friends both near and far; I definitely "get by with a little lot of help from my friends." :-D

Yesterday morning, when I opened a new bale of what I thought was third-cutting orchard grass hay for the ewes and lambs, I realized that I had stumbled across one lone left over and long forgotten bale of alfalfa! It felt like a gift from God, confirmation that the boys need it to keep calculi at bay. They are getting a top dressing of alfalfa for breakfast along with their grass hay; I'm going to dole it out slowly.

I subscribe to "A Word A Day," but didn't realize for quite awhile that there was more to it than a chance to expand my vocabulary. The author shares some interesting thoughts apart from the word of the day, and yesterday's post was an good example. I was enjoying the read until I came to a little nugget that really warmed my heart. At a point when he could have made a smart alec comment or zingy joke about attorneys, he said something amazing; I put it in red below.

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Oxford has made available their dictionary data via an API (i.e. programmatically). Thank you, Oxford! As I was playing with it, I decided to check out their terms and conditions(permalink). This jumped out at me:

Except for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or for fraud, we ... will not be liable to you.

I can’t imagine what a dictionary publisher might do that could cause death or injury, but you never know. The lawyers must have thought of it. Perhaps they fear someone coming back at them with, “You said the word ‘fact’ means ‘A thing that is known or proved to be true’ and I took the facts given by my president as true and that resulted in ...”

Maybe a prosecutor could claim that the dictionary publisher was negligent because they didn’t differentiate between ‘facts’ and ‘alternative facts’.

These times are different -- anything is possible.

I dream of a world in which there are no terms and conditions, no small print, and no legalese. And no need for warnings, as on this pack of walnuts: Contains nuts. (I sure hope it does).

Why can’t we all go by the golden rule? Instead of pages and pages of text filled with dense jargon, imagine just one line:

Either of us wouldn’t do anything we wouldn’t like if we switched places.

That’s it. It works. Corporations, give it a try! I know what some readers are thinking. What about all those lawyers? They will be out of a job. Well, inside each lawyer there’s a poet or an actor or a writer or a painter or a sculptor or a playwright or a singer squirming to come out. Let it.

And until the day comes when we all live by the golden rule, prepare yourself by being aware of this week’s terms from the world of law.

By reading any further you agree that you are bound by the rule and/or rules set forth by the legal department of Wordsmith.org. Our rule(s) thus far: Be kind to everyone.

(I'm getting more exposure to lawyers this year than in all the previous years of my life combined, "thanks" to a family situation we are dealing with. Trust me; there's still plenty of work for attorneys!)

The VW dealership gave me a loaner car while they worked on mine yesterday, so I ran around doing errands all morning. I stopped by Bi-Mart to get Brian a new pair of jeans, and decided to buy a big pot of curly parsley to plant in the garden for tabbouleh (made with quinoa – the best). On my way out there was a rack of various sorry-looking plants with a sign saying they were free. I cast my eye over the lot – and spied a calibrachoa. MINE! They were kind of spendy for a little plant when I bought the one I showed you in my last post; now I have two which will fill up my urn planter ever so nicely.

This morning was cool and cloudy; much appreciated since I needed pick strawberries. I didn't get all that's out there, only as much as my back would tolerate. Still, I was surprised that I got ten pints in the freezer from my two bowls, when the four bowls Rick and Brian picked yielded 12 pints!

I may not be up early enough to catch the sunrise these summer days, but there is still morning beauty to capture:

That's it for today from . . .