WEDDINGS, RAINBOWS AND POLICE WITH SHOTGUNS

OH MY.............

Weddings:

Ever wonder where wedding traditions come from - like throwing the garter, tossing the bouquet, veils, etc? Lark & I went to a wedding on Saturday and on the way home he started talking about this, so I challenged him to look it up. There are lots of theories on the internet, but here are a couple of my favorites.

1. In ancient (whatever that describes) times, it was thought to be good luck if you had a piece of the brides dress. To avoid having her dress ripped off, it is believed that the garter and bouquet became a substitute. Something to throw at the guests who were grabbing for the dress.

2. Some believe the garter is the symbol of the chastity belt and by removing it from the bride, the groom is signifying that she will lose her virginity to him. At one time bride's wore two garters. One for the groom to remove at the reception and one for "later".

3. My favorite, which must have been before anyone invented locks...guests would sneak in the bed chamber while the couple were consumating their marriage and throw their discarded clothes on them. The person who could hang a stocking off of either of the couple's nose would be granted great luck. I'm assuming this is because other protruding parts would be otherwise occupied.

Rainbows:

Cloudy, windy and rainy for the last leg of the Amgen Tour of California. Everyone is all a dither over Lance Armstrong coming to town. He didn't win, but there was GODD excitement in Modesto for a change. And when I got home from work there was a rainbow over my house. All together now - Ahhhhh. Too bad I have to leave in a few minutes for the Board of Supervisors meeting and spoil that happy glow.

Shotguns:

Last night about 9:30 I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. My neighbor had a UHaul in front of her house on Sunday and Monday, but she always has one relative or another moving in or out, so I thought nothing of it. As I'm drinking my water I notice there are a lot of cars around the UHaul. I'm thinking they are having a moving party. Then I noticed they had light bars on them!. When I turned off my kitchen light to get a better view, I found that there were 8 Police Cars at various angles in my street. None had the lights flashing, none arrived with sirens. Makes you wonder what kind of call generates 8 Stealth responses. Anyway, Lark & I watched for quite sometime. At one point 4 of the officers approached my neighbors car and popped the trunk. I didn't see anyone turn away and puke so I'm relatively certain there was no body inside. But they searched that car several times. The UHaul was blocking most of my view of the house, but my next door neighbor had the misfortune of trying to come home after work and get into her garage thru the maze of patrol cars. She reported several officers in the front yard with shotguns. I did see one shotgun (with officer) leave. Then all of a sudden 6 of the police officers returned to their vehicles and took off in the same direction in a hurry. The remaining 2 stuck around for awhile and then searched the UHaul and left. Lots of potential excitement, but in the end...boring.