Monday, June 29, 2009

Contest



Welcome to a needlessly complicated contest, courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Woman's inability to keep things simple and straight forward.

Before I drone on about how to enter, let's talk about the prize.

LivingRoomsDirect has very graciously donated a home accessory (up to a $40 value) from their website at http://livingroomsdirect.com/ . They offer a great selection of under-$40 mirrors, vases (including Lenox and Waterford), magazine holders, clocks, fountains and more. The beauty of this prize is you get to select it. Also be sure to browse their living room furniture line.

By the way, if anyone wishes to donate their prize to me, please note that I loved the Lenox Botanical Boutique vase and the CBK Circle of Stars Design Wall Mirror. But of course I'm sure nobody's going to enter my contest to turn around and donate their prize to me. Just in case I'm mistaken, though, some of the fountains caught my eye too....

Now, the details.
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This contest will run through tomorrow, Tuesday the 30th, at 6:00 p.m., or approximately the time you'll finish reading this and deciphering what in the heck kind of contest this is and what--exactly-- you have to do to enter.

The winner will be selected randomly by Random Number Generator. (Random redundancy, anyone?) I will assign numbers to the comments sequentially in the order received. This assumes there will be more than 10 entries, otherwise I reserve the right to enter my own contest and change the rules.

You may enter one time each for the two questions below, meaning you can have two separate entries, thereby increasing your chance to win. (I am already confused.)

1. Pictured above is an egret I photographed down Bethel Beach. All by himself and completely focused on fishing for lunch, he was oblivious to a frizzy-haired wild woman in the background swatting flies and taking his picture. In fact if I had to guess I'd say this egret may suffer from Avian ADD because he definitely could not multi-task. His one and only mission was lunch. Mr. Egret has spent all his life without a name, and your job is to bestow one upon him. What would you call him?

2. In this week's Gazette Journal, our local paper, the Glimpses into the Past section shared the following which came from the Mathews Journal on June 24, 1909 (100 years ago):

There will be an all-day picnic at Hess Farm on July 3 for the benefit of the Mathews Chapel Church. Dinner twenty five cents.

Twenty five cents for an entire dinner.

What is something you recall being so much less expensive than it is today? For example, I remember filling up on five dollars' worth of gas. Today I can't even fill up my lawn mower for five bucks.
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This post will stay up until Tuesday at 6:00p.m. or so at which time I'll throw up something new. I cannot tell you the pain and angst I feel at not publishing at my normal time of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, but at least I will not break my streak of posting something new every single day in 2009, regardless of the quality and with no regard whatsoever for content.
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p.s. If you can't decipher the rules to this contest, just leave two comments.

The End.


30 comments:

Unknown said...

I love it when I'm first because that way I can't plagerize someone elses answer...because I would if i could.

How come that eget isn't picking bugs off a black bull in Texas? Your egrets have fancy taste buds wanting fish.

So, since I'm a Texan I want to name your Egret "Bull". Yep, Bull!

Annie said...

Well, I am going to call him Easty the egret..a long complicated reason ...(my daughter reliably informs me that they are carriers of West Nile virus), but since you are on the east coast and he is an Egret...I am using poetic licence and calling him Easty!! Just so you know what you are dealing with there! Don't get bitten by mosquitoes!!

I'll get back to you on the other one..!!

And btw , If I win...the prize is all yours cbw...since it might be difficult to ask them to ship it offshore!

;-)

Anonymous said...

I want to name him ingste the word verification but I will name him Whitey intead cause its early....as far as the $$ question everything was cheaper but the biggest pet peeve is penny candy cause it upsets the kids the most that there is no candy for a penny the cheapest is a nickle.

Kitty Litter

Anonymous said...

guess if i really read the rules right i would have left two seperate comments new better word verification name goducci haha!

KL

maria from nj said...

Mr. Edgar Egret

maria from nj said...

Sr. Ernesto Egret

Mental P Mama said...

Hamlet

Lynne M. said...

Chester the Egret.

Lynne M. said...

Food.

nativedevil said...

I think his name is Esau. That's the one that came to my mind.
I remember buying a candy bar for a quarter and a soda for 40 cents. They are a dollar each now.

Anonymous said...

Earwyn the Egret. Earwyn means Friend of the Sea. Yes I go and google these Things...Surely you don't think I'm smart enough to think of them on my own LOL.

As far as things that were so much cheaper years ago. I can't believe the cost of houses!!! It used to be you could buy a house for what some cars cost!!!

msseabreeze

big hair envy said...

Esther Egret

big hair envy said...

The cost of my first house was $46,000. It sat on a acre and a half of land, and had three bedrooms. My, how times have changed...!

Word Verif..."derag"...oh, the places I could go with THAT one!!!

Angela said...

The German name for an egret is Silberreiher! Now who of you can pronounce that??
(and speaking of that, who can pronounce the veri word flojach?)

Anonymous said...

Mr.Egrets regrets to infor.... no wait - Mr.Regrets egets to inform you.... No, that's not it either.

I think Mr.Regret has held his head under water too long - and we all know that there is 'something' in the Mathews water!
**********
Was laughing the other day that a store was advertising that their cigarette prices were ONLY $6.30 a pack.

Sad; I quit smoking when the price of cigarettes went to $6.00 a carton.

Sadder; I fondly remember the days when I could fill my car w/ethel AND buy a carton of cigarettes AND still have change from $6.00.

Saddest; If I used the gas that gave my car the knocks, I'd have enough of that $6.00 left to buy a McDonalds value meal ("change back from your dollar").

Beyond Sad; There was a girl in my class named Ethel who happened to enjoy the back seats of many cars. For the boys in the class, it gave an alternate meaning to the phrase "Filling my car with Ethel"

Anymore & I'll make everyone weep.
SMBS
(Single Male Blog Stalker)

Asthmagirl said...

His name is Jordan. It's short for Jordache. Along with ADD, he has that whole pretty boy name thing going on. I'm pretty sure he's self medicating on bugs and fish due to the trauma of living up to being named after 80's jeans.

Poor sap.

Annie said...

Ah. yes. there you have it. Someone has prompted my memory..HOUSES! of course. And LAND. My, the price we paid for our first block of land 22 acres for just 2000 dollars...that was partly paid for with the money I had saved while I was working... before I was married. I don't know how I managed it. I was only earning about 4000 dollars a year (40 odd years ago). But then again, we were never rich, so was just used to going without ..fancy clothes, makeup etc.

Our first house we bought for 18,000 dollars. And sold a few years later for 26,000, ditto ditto with the next two houses. Mind you my husband spent all his time doing them up, while I was having babies, and going quietly crazy.
And the house I am in at the moment, is worth 4 times what we paid for it, 24 years ago!! I hope. If anyone ever wanted to buy a run down old house these days!

You can now judge our ages, the older we are the longer our comments are going to be...sorry!

Anonymous said...

I would call him Needeep Ndrizing.

AMN

Anonymous said...

This may not count, because it's not my memory, but my mom's (Anonymous Mathews Mother) but she can recall my grandfather saying that some years after the depression, he was lucky if $200 cash passed through his hands during the course of a WHOLE YEAR.

You heard me right, people. I've been known to take that much out of the ATM at one time, and the man raised 11 children on less than that in one calendar year.

That is what is known as living off the land.... Mumma says if they hadn't lived on the water they would have starved.

AMN
Anonymous Mathews Native

PS Am trying to get AM Mumma to write you a story....

Caution/Lisa said...

As if someone with adult ADD could think long enough to come up with 2 comments! Okay, a name ... Is 10 minutes long enough to spend thinking and then admit I've got nothing? Earl? Elbert? Addled?

And the other question: I once test drove a car and the owner put 50 cents worth of gas into the tank. We test-drove that car all over town and never ran out of gas.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Not to skew the sequence of comments (I'll omit mine from the sequential count), but...a few responses before my head hits the desk.

BEFORE I FORGET: The winner will be a random winner, so you don't have to put a lot of thought into your answers although I crafted the questions to get you to think a little bit. Love reading your answers thus far...just know that there is no right or wrong answer, just the luck of the draw. May the luck be with you.

GJ-I'm sure if we had bulls wading around in this water, our egrets would be sittin' pretty atop 'em. In the mean time, Bull the Egret will settle for fishing. PJB says hey. He might be getting tired of the humidity and he says the food isn't nearly as good as what he's used to.

Annie-If they don't deliver to Australia (and they tout free shipping although I didn't check if that extends to folks abroad) you still get to pick and I'll have them ship it to me, then I'll ship it to you no matter what it costs.

Kitty Litter-I almost mentioned the penny candy conundrum in the write-up, it's one of the first things I thought of after reading about the twenty five cent dinner at Hesse. You can't get ANYTHING for a penny any more. Nada.

Maria - Edgar is a wonderful name, it has an even deeper meaning for me, but it's a great name. But wait! (As I read your next comment...) Senor Ernesto is wonderful too. Bravo.

MPM-Hamlet the Egret. It has a certain je ne c'est pas. (I've forgotten every lick of French I ever knew, so please disregard if that makes less sense than usual. The phrase is probably je ne c'est quoi but I know what je ne c'est pas means so I'm stickin' with it.)

Lynn-When the cat food costs more than what I spend on my family for two days, you know the Apocalypse is nigh. Our food and pet food prices are out of control.

NativeDevil-Esau is such a great name. BTW, at my work the drinks out of the machine are a buck and a quarter. A two-liter in Food Lion can be had for 99 cents on sale, but if you simply want one tiny machine drink in the afternoon to keep your head from hitting the desk, it's a buck and a quarter. Highway robbery for nothing but sugar water.

Ms.SeaBreeze-If the care and thoughtfulness you put towards your patients is a fraction of what you devote towards a name in a random contest, you are the best nurse ever. Of course I already knew that without this contest. Will you tend to me in my geriatric years, which according to the way time is flying, begins next week?

BHE-I know people who recently paid more than $46,000 for a vehicle. It's crazy.

Angela-If I had to pronounce it, I'd guess it sounds like SILVER HAIR except with a "b" instead of a "v." Of course I know absolutely no German--BAby Sis however knows quite a bit.

SMBS-Ella Fitzgerald, singing about regrets, perhaps? If not, then play along. I'm hearing the song about Ms. Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today. I love Ella. Love her music. She has ties to Virginia, Newport News in fact. But don't quote me on that. Or anything else.

Asthmagirl-Hilarious. Can't wait to meet you at Blog Fest. Jordache jeans bring back particularly horrific memories. Poor sap indeed.

Annie-The longer your comments, the better. Never, ever hold back.

AMN- Pleeeeeze get your Mumma to write that up. OH how I want the old stories. BTW, you have a career in marketing and/or naming boats,although I don't think there's much money in the latter. (Ham biscuits on Thursday of Blog Fest? And please bring Anonymous Mumma, along with anyone else you want.)

Caution Flag-Elbert the Egret is a one-of-a-kind name, bravo. I am truly impressed with the fifty cents of gas and how long it lasted.

Contest runs until 6:00 p.m. Tuesday. No posting at 12:01 Tuesday morning, much to the chagrin of my inner compulsive posting self. New picture Tuesday night, though.

Can't break the streak.

Golden To Silver Val said...

HER name is Ree. Yep, Ree Egret. She regrets having a mother with a warped sense of humor. The kids in school made fun of her name and teased her relentlessly. She also regrets having to eat fish all day when she'd much prefer chicken.

Golden To Silver Val said...

I remember cigarettes at 22 cents a pack. You got 3 pennies taped to the package as your change when you bought them from a machine for a quarter. I also remember gasoline for 10.9 cents a gallon back in 1961. A dollar's worth filled up your tank plus the attendant would pump it for you, wash your windshield, check your oil and then take your money. You never had to leave the car.

Annie said...

Ah..the good old days..

The prize is definitely YOURS if my number comes up in the random generator. We will have no nonsense posting things over here! But thanks for the gesture anyway.

Hooray my power cord for my laptop arrived in the mail..only took a week from door to door. A bit less than a week. That was pretty good.

mmm said...

Terge the egret.

Jack's hamburgers for 15 cents,
So good, good, good
You'll go back, back, back
To Jack's, Jack's, Jack's
For more, more, more

When Jack's hamburgers went up to 17 cents, we thought we were about to be bankrupt by inflation.

Anonymous said...

Miss Ella the egret, walk'n the sholes, sing'n the blues.

Wonder what would happen if she were to ever met Mr.Regret?

Anonymous said...

1.The Egrets name should be Farrah. She a fairhaired beauty in memory of another Farrah.
2. I quit smoking when cigarettes went from $1.40 to $1.45. Now they cost $6.00 a pack. Thanks to being cheap, I'm healthier.

Suzanne said...

His name is Joe ;-)

abb said...

Damn. I'm losin' it. Thought FOR SURE I entered this. My dreams are becoming more life-like every day. Scary!

foolery said...

Had I entered I would have chosen

Vern.

I know, I know -- Vern should be for an erne, but I'm a rule-breaker from way back.

Vern.