And The Beat Goes On

The high temperature today was:  82 degrees

The humidity today was:   62%

Muggy/rain/sun/rain/muggy

The air conditioner was turned on at 7:00 tonight!

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If one doesn't get to sleep until 5:30 a.m., and one awakes at 10:30 a.m., that doesn't count as sleeping in!!

I was so hyper last night.  Like a little kid, overexcited from a party, I could not sleep.  I hope tonight is better, because I have to get up at 8:00 to make it to church by 10:15.

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When I went to get the mail today, in the box was a smallish envelope.  The return address was from my BFF's younger sister, Patty.  When I opened the package and saw her note, I gasped.  Her handwriting looks exactly like Arlene's.  Inside, was a small yellow book, full of photos from when our band went to Bob-Lo Island (near Detroit.)

Also, three loose photos.  I especially loved this one.

Just as we did when we were little, here we are playing in the water

40 years later!!  At her cottage.

My wedding day

My 25th anniversary day

(I can see the reflection of my husband in the sliding door.)

Her surprise 40th birthday party.  Me, welcoming her 

into her OWN house!!!

Such a treasure these pictures are for me.  Her family is getting the house cleaned out and are having an estate sale in a couple of weeks--19th-23rd.  I will go and try and see if I can find something personal of hers to buy--a small ring or something I remember and meant something to both of us.  I met her the first day of Kindergarten.  We double dated all through high school.  We lived 3 miles from each other.  She had a girl and two boys. I had a boy and two girls (and then Jen, who Arlene baby sat with a lot.)  We took camping trips and vacations together.  Our kids all grew up together.  When she got her cancer diagnosis, she called me to tell me before she told her sisters or her kids. She asked me to notify our friends a couple days later, because she just couldn't tell them.    

What really tears me up.  When we both went through menopause, we both had hemorrhaging problems.  I didn't have health insurance, so my doc put me on iron pills and I lived with it for three years.  She did have insurance, so she asked her doc for a hysterectomy.  He refused.  She tried another doc, he too refused.  She died of ovarian cancer 20 years later.  IF she had the hysterectomy, she never would have had the cancer.  There is no cancer in her family.  That is what made me mad at the time of the diagnosis and still makes me mad!!!!!   

She died March 28, 2012 and I have missed her every day since.

I love you, Wienie!!!!!

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Today, I decided to try out my oven to see if it still worked.  I haven't baked in almost two years.  I had the ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cookies, so..................I did buy a new small box of baking soda, because I wasn't sure how old the box in my cupboard was.

The nice big "grandma" bib apron my sister made for me.

Gathering together of our tools

The recipe--no I don't bake by throwing things together.
I need precise instructions.

Beat the butter and sugars together--add 2 eggs.
(you have no idea how long it took me to save money
for this fixed head mixer.  I've had it about 20 years and
love it fiercely!!

Add the dry ingredients, chips and walnuts

I always use a smallish melon scoop to scoop the right amount of dough for each cookie

Ready to go..........

....into a 350 oven for exactly 12 minutes

Take out, let set on sheet for 2 minutes

I use paper bags to cool the cookies on.  This must be an old one.
I know we went shopping at a Food Lion when we were on the Outer Banks
Is no Food Lion in this part of the world

What I am going to do with 6 dozen +3 cookies is beyond me.
I ate six and froze the rest.

The cookies were good.  The oven did not explode and the smoke alarm did not go off.  I consider that a SUCCESS!!

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Balisha posted on her blog about trying to find silence in our lives.  I am in great need of silence right now.  My sister likes noise--I like quiet.  I should trade places with her, LOL. 

There is never a time of complete silence around here.  I have gone out on my porch to sit at two in the morning, and yet I hear the occasional traffic on the Inter-State, three miles away. 

I have everything turned off in this house, right now--seeking total quiet, and still--there is the whirr of the refrigerator, the klump of the ice maker, the hum of the computer.  Complete silence is impossible.  

Neighbor Tami, lives so close and she is very noisy.  She never gets in or out of her car without slamming the car door--I mean, SLAM!  When she closes her kitchen cupboard doors, she doesn't shut them, she slams them.  Sometimes, it sounds like she is moving furniture over there, or hanging a few pictures on the wall--drives me nuts.

The same with light.  I like it totally dark when I go to bed. There is a Mercury light at the end of the street--50 feet away. Oh by the way--they hum too.  Tami, on the bedroom side, has a motion detector light on her front porch. If a car drives by on the street or an animal walks across her lawn, that dang thing turns on and seems to never go off!  She lives so close and she is very noisy.  

PLUS--and this is the kicker--I have had Tinnitus since 1995.  I don't have ringing in my ears--I have a high pitched sound.  So it is never completely quiet in my head/ears.

Tomorrow--after church--seeking some SPACE around me AND more quiet, I am driving up to The Farm.   At least, I can walk in the woods for a bit and hear nothing--except the Cicadas (Tinnitus) that sound in my head/ears.  I can sit out on their front porch and hear only the breeze in the high maple tree branches.  The drive there and back will be peaceful.  I need it a lot, right now.

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I am going to take a couple "ZZZ Quil" and go to bed.  I hope I can get more then 5 hours sleep tonight!!!  No wonder my eyes are always red and I look like death warmed over.

Oh, by the way...Monday I am calling around to find a doc who does eye lid lifts.  I was suppose to have my lids done four years ago--they interfere with my seeing, so now---IT IS TIME!!! I'm scared, but maybe with that, it will help make my face look a bit more awake.  BETHIE--I checked.  Life Style Lift costs on average, $7,500.

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Later--Jude  

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World........

Today's high temperature was:  72 degrees

Today's humidity was : 36%

Once again--Sunny, breezy, beautiful!

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I think the reason I got flirted with yesterday was my pheromones.  You know--I was a bit stinky, with that musky, female smell?  That must be it, because I just looked in my mirror tonight and I look TERRIBLE!  My eyelids are so low--I need a lift--my eyes look hooded.  Around my eyes is red--all the time now--I have dark spots on my face and wrinkles on my neck.  My hair is way too short and is getting grey.  I look so terrible, that when I saw my expression in the mirror, it startled me and I said right out loud, "Oh Dear God.  I look awful!"  I look sick and really, like I am half dead!!! Quite a shock actually. As you will see later in the photos posted.

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I wanted to tell you--I have sold three sets of books on E-Bay and 1 lone book on Amazon.com.  I collect certain authors, keeping the books, thinking I will read them again, but I usually don't.  I usually give them to The Salvation Army or the library, but this time---I sold all my Nicholas Sparks books, the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber and my (Father Tim) Mitford series by Jan Karon--total= $107.00.  The strange thing is, I have a James Herriot book, that is a First Edition, First Printing, that just doesn't seem to want to sell--and I only want 8.00 for it.  Hm-mm.

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This is what happened when I opened the refrigerator door this morning.  Oh Oh!!

Now, if I was Pearl, I would use this excuse to go out and buy a new refrigerator.

But--I am Jude.  Household repair woman extraordinaire!

So, I gathered my tools.  Gorilla glue and duct tape.

Didn't need the WD40 for this job.

I do not have C-clamps, so I put duct tape on, to hold it while the glue dried.

Bada Boom, Bada Bing, fixed.  Good as new!!

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Then I decided it was time to clean the shower stall.  I made up a spray bottle of my wonderful bathroom/sink/tile cleaning mixture.  12 oz. vinegar, warmed for 2 minutes in the microwave.  12 oz. of BLUE Dawn dish washing detergent, 12 oz. water.  Wet down the shower stall, sprayed on the cleaner, let it set for 20 minutes, scrubbed it down with my mop (ouch, the shoulders and arms hurt again) rinsed it off with the hottest water possible AND, shining again and it doesn't pit or hurt the shower stall material in any way.  The shower walls felt kind of rough with calcium and lime build-up--afterwards, smooth and nice!!

The same cleaning solution I used on the back of my shed.

I could have put bleach in this solution, but--forget.

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Then, I came out to get ready for my big night!!!  The football game and the Marching Band!!

The last two days, Maggie has taken too laying

like this on the couch.  Usually she has her front paws crossed,

her head on them and naps on the couch.

Sweet girl.  Bitey, but sweet.

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I drove into Brighton, parked in the Meijer's parking lot and Karen and Mark picked me up and off to the high school football field we went.  I walked farther tonight then I have in about 5 years.  We parked on the east side of the new stadium and walked way around to the west side.  Probably 1/4 mile.  Up the bleacher steps to get to our seat.  Bleacher steps have really high risers--never noticed that before, but I did have a hand rail.  During the third quarter, I walked to the bathroom and back--another 1/4 mile total, back up the bleacher steps. Afterwards, 1/4 mile back to the car.  Almost a mile!  Doesn't sound far, but it was for me.

Here at home--I can barely make it down to the lake, which is only about 1/8 mile, WHICH MEANS--I have been lazy.  Tomorrow I am going out and walk around the block.  DAMMIT--I can do it!!

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I was there to see my grand daughter Madeleine, who is a Senior this year (gasp) in the marching band.  They are called the Marching 200, but actually there are 245 kids in the band.  245 kids!!!  That is about the total number of kids who were in my school, from K-12.  

Imagine--that number in just the band.  I have 3 other kids in the band that I absolutely adore as much as my own grand children.  Drew, who also plays the horn.  Brian, who plays horn and Matt, who plays trombone, but this time of year, is the main Drum Major.  These kids are fantastic!!  I might note here that these kids come from quite wealthy families, so they have private music lessons--they attend band camp and are quite privileged.  You'd never know it however.  They are not stuck up, they are so respectful and polite--blows my mind.  Matt attended West Point this summer for training.  They are ALL involved in the Leadership Club at school--open only to Seniors.  They call me Gram Gram!   

I had the most wonderful time--cried on the way home because, through the miracle I experienced with my last hip surgery--I can once again LIVE!!!  Also--family times are getting more and more and MORE important to me every day.  I will attend every thing Maddie is involved in this year--because, 9 months from now, all the great times I have had watching those 5 kids of Karen's, grow up and all their school functions, will end.  AND by the looks of the pictures taken of me tonight--I just hope I make it!!!!!

On the way into the stadium, we had to stop and pay homage

to granddaughter #2 (Susanna) for the school record she

still holds from 2004, for the 800 (track).

 Susie Rivard

By the way, she and hubby Derek qualified last week to run

in the Boston Marathon next April.  I told her to wear a 

flak jacket. (Because of the bombing this year.)

...and here they come!

 Matt--my other adopted grandson, is the one in the middle.

 and, by the way, he has been told he has a very good chance of being the drum major

for Michigan State University marching band next fall!!!

Madeleine--over that fat guys right shoulder.

I was several rows up and had my zoom lens, but he saw me!!!

I love the way his ears stick out.

Matthew--I adore him.

Maddie and Drew, the other adopted grandson.  He is

President of the Senior Class!!!

Isn't he adorable!!!

The drum line doing their thing.  Great!

Maddie is gorgeous without make-up.  Gramma--see what I mean?

I look terrible!!!!!  I hope I didn't embarrass her!!!

Nobody flirting with this old hag for sure!!!

I don't know this Bulldogs name, but I know he was pooped out!!!

Their mascot.

I didn't get a picture of Brian, my other adopted grandson, but Karen did and will e-mail it to me.  His name is Brian Tang.  I call him "Ting Tang"--because of the Witch Doctor song?  Oo ee oo ah ah, tin tang, walla walla bing bang, remember that one?  Of course, these youngsters never heard that song.  Hope I don't embarrass them!!!

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I feel wonderful right now--close to midnight, and I know I won't be able to find sleep for a few more hours. I am totally GEEKED--or hyper or high, whatever.  I had the most wonderful time tonight.

Time to take a Naproxen so I can get out of bed tomorrow--see ya, Jude

   

Is The Holiday Over...or Not?

Today's high temperature was:  69 degrees

Today's humidity was: 42%

Sunny and lovely!!!!

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We seem to drag out any holiday we have for an entire week--sometimes, more then a week.  A few days before, and the whole week afterwards.  We are weird people.
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It was cold in this house this morning, but---I DID NOT turn on the furnace for a few minutes.

I am kind of getting weirded out about this lovely weather.  Wondering, because of our wonderful spring and summer we are going to have a knock down, drag out winter.  I don't care how much snow we get--very rarely a time when I HAVE to drive in the snow, but I don't want it to be bitterly cold.  Not that it would bother me either, staying inside, snuggy and warm, but......that winter gas bill can be a killer!!!

I have recovered from the "ache in my arms and shoulders" chores.  Feeling really good today--got up at 8:00--took a shower  I do believe that I am the worse on personal hygiene!  Growing up on the farm, we took a bath on Saturday night.  We washed up in between Saturday's, but took the long soak, good scrub on Saturday nights.  Even when I worked, I did not shower every day--although I did wash my hair every day--in the kitchen sink.  My doctor one time told me, that because of my extreme dry skin, to only shower twice a week and NEVER take a bath.  I so love soaking in a huge, deep tub, water up to my ear lobes, bubbles all over the place, hot as I could stand the water.  When I lived on (Pammies) farm, we had a pedestal tub--deep and long enough even for this 5'11" frame to stretch out for a good soak, water up to my grommets.

Then, a few years ago, I had my big tub taken out and the whole area made into a shower "room", I call it.  You could get 4 people easily standing in there.  It has a seat and two hand grips--really nice--quite expensive, but not as expensive as those walk-in tubs.  I realized this morning that the last shower I took was Sunday morning before church.  Does that make me an old, stinky person?   

I don't use deodorant either!!!

Yikes--you are going to think I have taken the hermit thing too far!  If I have a doctor's/dentist/orthopedic/--any appointment, I would take a shower that morning--simply to get my hair washed, actually.

I have a condition--don't know what it is called, but I do not sweat!  Thus the problem I have with heat/humidity/sun.  I have a large package of what is called Adult Towelettes, (used them in rehab and buy them now), that I wipe under my arms and other parts with them before bedtime, sometimes.  And I always use the Cottonelle wipes after a potty break, but other then that.  GEEZ!!!  I will have to ask Bethie or Pearl if I stink--I don't think I do, but...........YIKES!!!  How can a person, who basically sits in their computer or recliner chair all day work up a stink?  BUT--I don't know why I don't take a shower every morning--it feels so good!!!  Laziness of course!
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At 10:00, I walked down to Pearl's--while my hair dried--and hassled her for an hour.  Oh--I didn't really hassle her--we had a good chat about a whole bunch of stuff.  Then, Merle came home from work early.  He looked a bit rough--said he was dizzy all morning.  This man (77) gets up at 4:00 a.m., goes to the golf course and works until 1:00.  He is only suppose to mow the greens, but he does a lot of repair on the mowers and the golf carts and a lot of lifting.  That is way too much work for him, in my opinion, but Pearl says, "We need the money."

I asked him, "Did you get in to see the cardiologist?"

He looked at Pearl and she said, "I haven't made the appointment yet.  I'm going to wait until Monday to call them."

GEEZ!!

I said to him, "Did you get in to see your primary care doc?"

He looked at Pearl and she said, "I haven't made that appointment yet either."

"Didn't they tell you, at the hospital, to get in to see him within a week?"

Merle says, "Yep, but we've been busy."

I decided not to scold, not to teach, not to say WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!  Instead I said, "Okay--I'm just worried about you."
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I came home, watched my soap and then drove on in to Brighton.  I had read Bella's blog post,  http://culdesacchronicles.wordpress.com/, this morning and decided it was time for me to get my Shingles vaccine!  I had to go to the Rich People's store too, for some more Boar's Head sliced Pastrami and salads. I stopped at the Walgreen's first to get my shot.  They took all my insurance information, my name, phone number, date of birth, on and on.  Then the pharmacist said, "Okay--that will cost $225.00...no wait...$98.00 for your co-pay.."

I didn't know what to say.  No words would come out of my hanging open to my chin, in shock, mouth.

"I don't have that kind of money.  Isn't it covered by Medicare....or my Blue Cross supplemental insurance?"

She said, "I know.  Isn't it terrible?"

"Yes--I thought this country was into preventative medicine and yet....the flu and pneumonia vaccines are fully covered, but not Shingles?"

She nodded.

"Well--I guess I will have to take my chances.  At least if I do get Shingles, the pain meds and treatment will be fully covered!"
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I am still shaking my head about that.  I had all my childhood diseases.  I missed nearly 3 months in Kindergarten because I had, chicken pox, whooping cough, mumps and measles.  Almost died from the measles, so---having had such hard cases of all those diseases, maybe I will be more immune to getting a really bad case of Shingles?   You know--I think that those of us who had childhood diseases have a stronger immune system.  I was really scared when I was exposed to the German Measles when I was 3 months pregnant with Jennifer, but my doc told me that because I had such a hard case of them when I was younger, I had nothing to worry about and that my immunity would transfer to the baby. Guess he was right.

I sometimes worry that all the vaccines the little ones get nowadays, is not such a good thing.  They have nothing to make for a strong immune system?  Wouldn't it be better for them to get the disease and have a lifetime immunity toward it?  My littlest grandkids, pick up every dang cold bug that walks past them--bronchitis, ear infections, croup, the flu--on and on.  I never had much of that as a kid and now--I never get sick.  My doc told me years ago that I had a very strong immune system and---probably from having such hard cases of my childhood diseases.  What didn't kill me, made me stronger?
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I must tell you--I have decided to go to the Rich People's Grocery Store every week to build my self esteem and confidence.  I got flirted with TWICE today.  Once in the produce department and once in the check-out line.  In fact, the cashier noticed that one.  He was in line, in front of me.  When he left, she said, "He was flirting with you--did you know that?"

I said, "Yeah, I noticed. Cool, huh?"

When I got out to my car, he was parked next to me, putting his groceries in the trunk of his car.  He looked up and smiled and said, "beautiful weather, isn't it.  Have a gorgeous day, Gorgeous."

HAH--two old codgers--parked next to each other in the handicap parking spots, out of breath from lifitng their heavy groceries into their cars.  WHAT A HOOT!!!   Used to be flirting while driving around town in our hopped up cars---now the handicap zone.    Just cracks me up!!!!!

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Shortly after I got home, neighbor Tami came over to chat.  All of a sudden, she looked out the window at her place and the strangest look came on her face.  "LOOK", she yelled.  I thought her place was on fire, until I got up and looked out the window.  This is what we saw---five feet away from my window--between her place and mine.

They were over by my bush and when I got up to take

a picture, they started walking, nonchalantly away.

I had to get down on my knees to take a better picture.

Good thing Tami was there, to help me back up, LOL.

Sand Hill Cranes

I'm thinking I should put a trail of bird seed or corn from the back of my place up to my bird feeders so I could catch sight of them, at my feeders, from my chair.  Wouldn't that be quite a sight!!

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This whole Syrian thing has me freaked--kind of.  They haven't attacked any of our Embassies, or our ground, so why should we get involved?  For humanitarian purposes?  We are not the Teachers of the world, nor the PROTECTORS.  To "tell" them of our plans, so they can hide all their WMD's in mosques, hospital, schools, is ridiculous point #1.  Then to say there won't be any "boots on the ground", is another ridiculous statement because, every other time, there is ALWAYS CIA, or some sort of secretive military group on the ground--they are the ones watching and telling the ship the coordinates to use on where to aim the Tomahawks.  I DO NOT care for Sarah Palin--I AM NOT a Tea Partyer, but the statement she made about sums it up for me, "Let Allah figure it out!"  All the people fighting each other are Islamists--let Allah figure it out indeed!  We need to keep our noses right here in the USofA and figure out our own problems.  We don't need to be spending billions way to heck over there.  We've done enough of that in the last decade.  

What is really a wonderment--my Liberal friends have cursed George W. Bush forever because he went into Iraq--because Saddam Hussian had gassed over 5,000 Kurds and Iraqis to death.  We had to do something.  We knew there were WMD, but couldn't find them.  He had used them--they had to be there.  Now--their Prez. is thinking about doing the same thing.  Many, many Democrats--even my most Liberal friend, Lynn, is totally against it.  She is a SBB=Supreme Bush Basher--I wonder what she will post on Face Book if her Main Man sends in the rockets red glare?

It also is a wonderment to me why I feel the way I do.  I tend to be a Hawkish person.  Born at the beginning of DoubleU DoubleU Two.  Waving at the planes going off to "help our boys win the war!"  Even though I was very young, I was very patriotic!!

You should have been with me when the bombs fell on Baghdad in a surprise attack--you would have heard me cheer!  At work the next day, I was appointed chief reporter--had to run down to the TV in the building's cafe', every hour or so, to listen to the reports and then report back to my bosses.  It was my duty to go out at noon and buy 12 smallish US flags to put on the corner's of our cubicles.  

"Rah. Rah.  We are bombing the shit outta them towel heads!" No I didn't say that, but it was said!

But--you know--those people over there--they have been living and fighting for eons and I am weary of being involved in their wars. Besides that--whose side is the right side?  Is the Muslim Brotherhood really any better then Assad?  Give them weapons and they may someday, use them on us.

We had our Civil War and figured out how to come together, now it is their turn.  Let (their) Allah figure it out.  Just sayin'

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Later--Jude 

Glutton for Punishment

Today's high temperature was:  77 degrees

Today's humidity was:  34%

Sunny, breezy.

PERFECT WEATHER-(once again).

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I'm so glad you stopped by.  I really enjoy our daily chats.

I read Balisha's blog post this morning, http://balisha-neverenoughtime.blogspot.com/and it brought back a whole lot of memories of the summer's of my youth.  My grandma had a hatchery and a chicken farm.  She got her "mash" for the chicken feed in pretty sacks.



It was the easiest thing to make dresses or nighties out of this thin, cool cotton.  Of course, they were dusty from the ground up feed inside, so you had to wash them, but--they were pretty and bright.  I think some of those feed sacks ended up in the quilts my great grandma, grandma and Mother made.   We were well enough off so I didn't have to wear them for church or school, but Mother made me some.  Sleeveless (like a tank top) or tied on the shoulders--and just hung in an "A" line to my knees.  Mother didn't need a pattern--she had sewn from the time she was 10, so she took measurements and then stitched them up in a quick minute.  They were so cool and nice on a hot summer's day.

Of course, I was practically naked under them, but...I always wore my two pair of under panties, under them.  You wonder...why two pairs--at the same time?  Because....I wore my cotton ones and then a nylon pair on top---to make sure I was completely covered and nothing showed through.  You see--I spent a lot of time hanging by my knees from tree limbs, or climbing up trees, or doing cartwheels.  The fact that I had a dress on, and when I was upside down, it would fall around my head--that never mattered to me.  So Mother made sure, I was a respectable Tom-Boy.  LOL

Weren't those days wonderful?  Seven, eight, nine, ten years old.  Running barefoot all over all summer.  Getting as "brown as a berry," my Daddy would say.  When I got to be around 12, grandma cautioned me, "You need to wear a hat or put some lotion on your face when you are in the sons.  Boys like girls with a milk-white complexion, not all tanned up like a hired man!"  

Like I've said before--I am so glad my parents had another child--a girl, so they could get their dainty little princess, who never got tanned, who never had scabs on her knees, who stayed inside and learned to sew and decorate and draw and paint.  While this wild scallywag was out making forts in the hay bales in the top of the barn, walking across the beam up there (15 feet off the barn floor) and swinging on the rope into the pile of hay in the hay loft--or, catching turtles and frogs down by the creek and making hide-outs in the ditches along the gravel road.
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This morning, remembering how bad the back of my shed looked yesterday, I got my bucket of hot water, my mop and my special cleaning solution and headed out back.  I sprayed the back of the shed to get it wet.  Spritzed the cleaner all over it and let it set for twenty minutes.  Then I got my mop and started scrubbing--no big deal, right? Well, you know how life is.  Tasks or things that look easy peasy, usually turn into the most difficult.

Perhaps my arms and shoulders were inflamed because of yesterday's, having to hold the hedge trimmers over my head to trim Mary's bushes, I don't know, they didn't seem to be too sore.  But--for some reason,having to hold that mop above my head and then work my way down, and then having to bend over to get the siding next to the ground--that back and forth mopping motion just about killed me!!!  I thought it might take thirty minutes--took an hour.  I had to go over a lot of places and spritz on some more cleaner.  Truth be told--I would have taken a picture, but my arms and shoulders hurt so much I couldn't lift the camera up to eye level!!!

So I came in and rested and ate a lunch of sweet corn on the cob and tomato slices and watched my soap.  (It is so good right now!)

At 2:00, I was going to kick back my chair and take a little nap, and I looked over at where the book shelves are, sort of in the kitchen and I got a bright idea!   Bright ideas should be illegal for a person like me!!!

Old picture as I do not have the humidifier running now--

but you can see where the book shelves were.

This is a walnut piece that my great grandfather made.  

Rather primitive in its construction, but very solid.

I was also very tired of walking into my house and this being the first thing I see--

My microwave stand over by my chair--although, granted, it is 

technically in the kitchen.

So--I decided that the book shelves should go into the den to replace this old wicker box.

The one Buddy is laying in front of.

But--then, where would I put the box  I had it in front of my couch last fall and winter, but I don't like it there anymore--the reason it had been dispatched to the den.

So--I had to empty out the box.  And, I had to take everything off the book shelves.  Then I had to dust and clean the furniture pieces and dust the books and pictures and.........well, you know.  It just goes on and on.

As I was working away, I got another bright idea.

I tugged and pulled this heavy old wicker trunk out

to where the microwave stand use to be.

I think it kind of fits in with my other old boxes.

Then I pushed the microwave stand over by the kitchen table,

out of sight of anyone that would walk into the house.

And--"walked" (because it's so heavy) the book shelves into the den---in the space the wicker trunk used to occupy.

Maggie wonders what the heck is going on.

I don't know if I like it this way, but by the time I was done, I could not raise my left arm, so it will stay this way, until another day, when I get another bright idea.

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I didn't hear from Pearl all day--but Dar called to tell me she applied for and got a job at the Meijer's Super center.  Cashier--9.00 an hour, with a cost of living raise every 3 months, working her way up to $12.00, I think she said.  Full benefits.  Man, that is great for her.  I am actually quite jealous.  Man--could I use that kind of money.  Don't know if I could do the work for eight hours straight, but I sure could use that money. Wish I could get a job at home, typing or making spread sheets for some small business, putting files together--whatever!  I'd do that for $6.00 an hour!!!!! but nowadays, there are never any jobs like that advertised in the paper.  Most home jobs are scams in the long run.

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Hey, Bethie?  You know what I found out about the Shaker box?  You can tell if the craftsman was right or left handed by the way the Swallowtail design lays.  You hold the box on your lap and look at it.  If the >>> go to the right, he was right handed.  Holding the box and the pieces of shaped wood in his left hand, putting in the little pegs with his right.  if it goes, <<< he was left handed.  Cool, huh?

I guess our craftsman or woman, was right handed :-)

I think I will take a Naproxen--anti-inflammatory and hit the pillow.  I think I will sleep well, if the pain doesn't keep me awake.  



See ya!

The Circle of Life!

Today's high temperature was: 71 degrees

Today's humidity was:   26%

Sunny, nice breeze.

PERFECT WEATHER

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A terrible night!!!  I was so tired last night.  After I published my blog post I headed for bed.  

An hour later--still awake, I got up and took a Benedryl.

An hour later--still awake, I got up and read.

An hour later---still awake, I got up and made some warm cocoa.

At 4:00 a.m.--still awake, I got up, went potty, drank some water.

Of course, every time I moved from the bed, the Purry Furries had to get up too, to see what Momma was doing.

At 4:45--still awake I looked at the bedside table clock and just gave up.

8:00 a.m.--not awake, the alarm went off and I hit the snooze button.  I hit the snooze button every nine minutes until 9:30--and then I got up.

My head must be adjusting to the new pills because, I no longer have a thick, full head when I get up.  They aren't working as well as they did when I first started taking them, so...when I go back on the 25th, I will ask him to kick them up to 10mg.

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At 11:00 a.m., I went out to my shed and got my power cord, my electric hedge trimmers, my loppers, and my gloves and walked the few steps to Mary's hedge.  Piece of cake--as it had been massacred two years ago, so all I had to do was trim off the top and the sides--probably an hour's work at most.

1:00 p.m.--job half done, I stagger home to get something to eat, rest my back in my chair and watch my soap.

Nothing is ever as easy as we think it is going to be, is it?  When the "guys" cut back her hedge two years ago, and charged her seventy-five dollars, if they came to a really big "stalk", they just left it and trimmed off the new growth on the top and sides.  So, when I went to trim off the branches, I kept running into the 2 inch limbs.  My loppers can't cut anything that big, so I had to get my little tree saw and cut them back.  Very hard work on my hands, arms and shoulder--trying to saw.

Mary worked right along with me though, she raked up all the trimmings and put them in yard waste bags.  The only problem, Mary can talk.  Mary does talk.  On and on she rattles.  I am using electric hedge trimmers, so every time she started a conversation, I had to stop, so I could hear her, and wait until she was done.

Back out at 2:00 and by 3:00, we were done.  I put all my stuff away--winding up those long orange heavy-duty extension cords really hurt my arm and shoulder.  I left her raking away with the comment, "Just stick the rake in my shed when you're done." and came back to my chair.  She wanted to pay me, but I refused.  She doesn't get much more then I do a month--no one around here does--and if I could help her for a chore she would otherwise have to pay for--and I am capable enough to do that chore, then I am going to do it.

Today, I reminded her to check the outside vent on her dryer.  Two years ago, I was walking past the side of her house to get to the other street and noticed, so much lint coming out of her dryer vent.  The vent was so full, it was packed in there and edging its way out in one long spiral of lint, about 3 inches in diameter.  She got her guy neighbor to come and pull out her dryer and clean out the vent--inside/out, and he told her, "You were about two more drying cycles away from a huge fire!"

I offered to drain and flush her water heater and she told me that a guy came last week and did it for her and, "he only charged me one hundred dollars and he was here for an hour."

<Sigh>

Her bushes last week.

Her bushes now.

I wish I had her place.  Double wide, three bedrooms, two baths, that nice back deck, corner lot.  Of course, I have enough to take care of AND I live on a quieter street and have a view of the woods and wetlands out my computer room window--so--bloom where you're planted!

I noticed, while I was out there, that if she sits on that deck, she can see the back of my shed and---CRAP--I didn't have it power washed when I had the house done, so---there is mold on the back.  So, tomorrow, I will go out--spray it with vinegar, bleach and soap solution, scrub it with my floor mop and try to get it looking better.  

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I just realized.  I have five neighbors that I communicate with most every week and out of those five--four are DITZES!!!  And those four are, Dar, Pearl, Tami and Mary.  Jackie seems to be the only sane one in the group!!!!!

Now--I feel bad when I read some of the stuff I write about Pearl.  She is an absolute lovely lady, nice and sweet and we spend a lot of time together and giggle and laugh and rib each other.  I probably should not write a thing about her, but.........she is a huge part of my day, and some of the things she says and does, are just hysterical to me.  When I write on here about her...I am not putting her down.  I am just relating on the things she said, the way we go back and forth, trying to understand each other.  If it wasn't for Pearl--I might go days and days without speaking a word to another human.  Thank goodness I have her, to stimulate my mind.  Right?

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Yesterday, when Susan and Chuck were here--she and I walked around my perennial garden and Chuck dug up some roots to take back for her new garden, that she is designing and wanting to get some perennials in this month.

As I lay in bed last night, I happened to think of where those plants came from.  The Momma Iris, as we call it, was planted by my mother in 1966.  It was in memory of my grandma.  The Lemon Lily, also was in our Mother's garden, but, it came from a root in our great grandmother's garden--the same place where Susan lives now.  As did the Rudbeckia AND a peony tuber I have.  The Peony plant was eighty years old when I took a piece--it was on The Farm and planted by our great great grandmother.  I have had it for forty-five years.  So, that plant is around 125 years old and still growing!!

Lemon Lily.  Not only is it lemon color, but it smells like lemons.

 What we call, Momma Iris.  Peach in color.

Rudbeckia-Brown-Eyed-Susan

or

as Pearl calls it--Rebecca.

I got the "cuttings" from my mother's garden, when I moved into my grandmother's house, in 1967.  Mother had dg them up from the great grandmother;s gardens.  I planted them in the huge gardens I used to have (and Pammie has turned back into lawn).  Then when I moved in 1988, I took some roots with me.  Then when I moved in 1990, I took some of those roots with me--always leaving a nice garden behind.  Then when I moved to Saginaw in 1992, I took some of those roots and, on the corner lot there, I had an enormous garden that people use to stop their cars to look at.  Then, when I moved here in 2003, I brought some of the roots from those traveling plants with me.

So--here we are--nearly fifty years later, and some of the roots and tubers from the plants are...going back home where they were first planted.

Talk about the Circle of Life!!!!!

My great great grandmother died forty years before I was born, so I don't remember her.  Still---I have living plants that she first planted with her own hands, in the late 1800's.  It just amazes me.

I remember------my Mother went to Holland, Michigan in spring of 1969--she loved it there.  While she was there, she ordered 200 daffodil and tulip bulbs from Holland.  The country of Holland.  She planted them that fall.  She died in March 1970 and I was furious when those damn spring bulbs came up and were so beautiful!  My beautiful, young mother, had died for no apparent reason, and yet those stupid bulbs were alive and blooming!!!  My son, Mark, who now lives on that farm, treasures the plants his grandma planted and takes very good care of her long sward of a lawn---forty-three years later.

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The Circle of Life.  I know that none of my family thinks about these things, but I will tell Susan of my realization--but the fact of the matter is--we are some of the most fortunate people around here.  Not only are we still able to live on the land that has been in our family for over 150 years, but--we also have the plants/trees/bushes/buildings--that they planted or built with their hands in 1855!!!!!  We are a very lucky family indeed!!

All of that means more to me then any other family members and yet----because my step-mother basically stole my share of my Daddy's estate, it is not possible for me to live on any of that land.

Well--I better get off that subject or this lovely post will turn in a rant!!!
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My Sweet Boy!!!