The Best Day

Today's high temperature was:  72 degrees

Today's humidity was: 26%

Sunny, breezy--lovely

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Now--we are into Jude's favorite kind of weather--the 70's!!  Not such a long post, but lots of pictures.

Rolly clouds under jet streams

It was the third Thursday of the month, so it must be Lunch Bunch day!!!  YAY.  Today was really nice.  Instead of a noisy restaurant, we went to a member's home--such a home you would not believe!!!  Cedar Shake siding, quiet gravel road--ON THE LAKE!!!  She has promised that I can move in and rent the basement!!!!!  Yep--I could live there the rest of my life--not in the whole big house--but the basement--which of course, looks out over the lake and is a walk-out basement.

That is pronounced Are Jen Tine not Are Jen Teen.

Little town about 10 miles east of Byron, my hometown.

Argentine Roller Rink--where we skated a lot.

It used to be called just Myer's Lake

A decade, or so, ago, they sold it to the Byron Methodist Church

This is the park where we used to hang out a lot and swim.

Every last day of school picnic was held here.

Roller Rink in the park--skated a lot here too.

The lake where most of us took Red Cross Swimming lessons

and

where I tried to drown.  I could practically walk to that float out there

and dog paddled the rest of the way, but when we had to jump in

and

the water came around me--I just couldn't remember what to do, so....

the two instructors jumped in and saved me and towed me back to shore.

I am sorry I did not get a picture of the front of the house--

I was carrying in deviled eggs, my purse and Diet Pepsi.

This is what greets you when you walk into the front door

and kitchen.  This room is 30 x 24--living room I guess.

Nice landscaping.

Love the switch plates

My two best gal pals left from the six of us that were a 

"group" especially in high school.

Sally and Bethie

They would not like this picture--from left around --

Ruth Ann, Marlene (in red) Sally, Carolyn (Marlene's sister and our hostess) June, Bethie

One of our group, Nancy is recovering from total knee replacement she had this past Tuesday.

Not a very good picture of Carolyn, but you can see the big room behind her.

and that lady straight in front of you, about to eat cake is

June.

I have mentioned her before!  She married a real weird guy-

I think he had money.  No children, by choice, so she gets irritated

if we spend too much time talking about ours and our grand kids.

She was a teacher and has traveled to 6 Continents

AND

she will tell you all about her travels, ad nauseum.  Plus, she knows

everything about everything and will also tell you that, ad nauseum.

She has told me outright what a plebeian, bumpkin I am

because I have never traveled to Europe and don't want too.

I told her, "There is so much to see in these beautiful United

States and...I have no wish to ride in a crowded plane for a day

to go see some old, falling down,crowded city."

(Which is not exactly true as I'd love to see Germany and Austria

but I will never let HER know that!!)

Each of us take a turn sitting beside her because she will monopolize you

and you can't hear any other's conversations--she wasn't too bad today.

She also has many rentals and will complain, ad nauseum about

all the work involved, but when Sally asked her why she didn't sell

them, June answered, "Oh, I can't afford to." so Sally said, "Well, you

made your decision, now quit griping about it."  LOL

Then on the way home--back roads all the way because....I needed it...

Fields and fields of corn--tasseled out real nice.  Looks like a good crop this year

Hay fields

I believe this time of year, this must be his third cutting.  

That is unusual as we are glad to get first and second cutting.

I was surprised he wasn't chopping it to blow it into his silo.

He is cutting it into furrows to bale.

Love this old barn--what used to be.

Scheffler on the end in some sort of glass circles.

Then, too soon I was back in this construction that's going on around here.

When I shop at the Rich People's store, they give me a coupon for .10 off a gallon of gas.  Last week, they gave me a coupon for .50 off per gallon!!!  I got gas today and only paid $3.00 a gallon.  Which is a really great price.  No wait--$3.00 for a gallon of gas is ridiculous!!!  But--I can't control the price, so at least, today, I got a break.  Do you all remember pulling into the gas station and saying to the attendant, "Give me a dollar's worth, please", and then cruising around on that all weekend?

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I have saved the best news for last.....Bethie gave me some cat food today--YAY--I was needing it.  AND--she said she had another present for me--for birthday's and Christmas' for the next--forever.  It is wonderful!!!  I was stunned and didn't know what to say. Another old box--a Shaker box.  She purchased it in 2006.  It is painted with mustard-milk paint--has what is called Swallow Tail joints in the back, secured with tiny copper tacks.  It is made of Maple--the thin wood, soaked in water and then bent into the oval shape.  It is 110 of 300 made.  It now resides on my wooden box collection site with the Lavender bunch on top--because, Bethie also grows Lavender.  Thank you my sweet friend--it is a cherished piece for me.

Just got a call from the monument company.  My grave markers are in place.  I had called them because they told me "8 to 10 weeks" and it has been 16 weeks.  They said they have been ready for placement for weeks, but the cemetery "guy" never called them to tell them the bases were ready--the bases have been ready since end of June.  It's real hard to get good help nowadays--isn't it?  I just do not understand the ineptitude of some people/businesses, etc!!!  So--now, when I can gather myself to be in the right mood, I will drive on out and see my eternal resting place.  YIKES!!  Might creep me out, but....it is a good thing.

See ya later--who knows what fun tomorrow may bring!

Well--Here We Are!!!

The high temperature today was:  65 degrees

The humidity was: 34%

Cool, sunny, breezy.  

The low last night was: 42 degrees

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So, I posted a post Saturday.  Went to bed and before I got asleep, remembered something I had to do on the computer.  I pushed the start button and.......it stuck!!

All day Sunday, no computer.  Took it in early Monday morning.  Tuesday--nothing.  Half of today--nothing.  GOOD GRIEF!!!  I never realized how addicted and dependent I am on this dang, electronic thing!!

What to do in the morning with no computer?  What to do in the evening, with no computer?  I do not like anything on TV in the morning's it appears--good Lord I tried to find something, but da nada!  I do not like The Talk or The View or The Price is Right--nuttin'.  I had the evening computer "no-time" solved.  If there was not a baseball game on, I watched DVD's.  "Babe", "Charlotte's Web", "Hoosier's", "The Iron Lady".  But---what to do during the day and of course, since I was bored and going to bed at 11:00, I woke up early--making the boring day even longer.

So--I figured as long as the computer was unhooked, I would clean all around my desk.  OHMYGOSH!!!  I just moved everything around in here 19 months ago, but you would not believe the dust and the cat hair and the dust and then there was some really dusty places.  So--I washed the curtains, and the windows and I took everything off the book shelves and threw away and packed up and dusted and shined, then I---are you ready for this?  Scrubbed a couple of walls AND--are you ready--I opened up that storage closet and I pulled everything out and I went through all boxes and threw out and reorganized and put everything back, but in less boxes and quite neat and organized.  So--that was Sunday--now what to do the rest of the computerless days?

I can't remember what I did each day, but I tore apart the kitchen, polished the cupboard doors, washed, starched and ironed the kitchen curtains, mopped the kitchen and entryway floor, washed throw rugs, vacuumed every inch of carpeting.  Scrubbed another wall, and the front door, and the front door threshold, and the wall by the furnace and the inside of the broom closet, took my high reaching feather thingie and went over every ceiling in every room---I even cleaned and dusted my doll house and then--I went outside and tackled the storage shed. Rearranged a lot of stuff, put away some stuff, dead-headed annuals, cleaned, scrubbed bird feeders and had to get a new finch feeder because the whole bottom fell out and..........

I cross stitched, started a crochet project, read, visited Pearl, went to the grocery store and finally---today at 2:00 they called and said it was ready to come home!!!   Apparently I now have my fall house cleaning done?

The reason the start button stuck?  It was gummed up with grease, gunk and tar from cigarette smoke!!!  It has sat in basically the same place for 8 years (when I had it built) and, at one time, Fred and I both did all our smoking in this room.  So--they cleaned the inside and they cleaned the hard drive and found a bunch of junk, they checked the mother board and everything else.  $65.00.  Then I had them go in and uninstall a couple of "trial" programs I had on it and could not uninstall--AND they took off a PC cleaner I had on it.  They told me that down loading that kind of thing--a registry cleaner can really mess up the registry and load up a computer with viruses!!!!!  Who knew?  I had them load on the virus protection program they recommended and now--I don't have to do a maintenance "cleaning" that I do once a week.  Total price: 130.08 and I am more then happy to have my best buddy back home and running like a charm.

This is what I observed, as I wasn't stuck in here half the day:

Momma Cardinal in for lunch

Daddy saw her chased her away--see him looking down at her?

This little lady comes way more then I ever realized.

Gold Finch on new feeder.  Sparrow and Cardinal sharing the big feeder

AND-look what came in the mail today. To say I like it is an understatement.  I adore it!!!  I love it!!! and it holds my cross stitch AND my crochet project just perfectly.  The only problem I can see?  I need to put a "bumper"  under the heavy lid or I am going to smash a finger one of these days.  It is heavy!!

 I think it looks okay over there with the other old boxes?

It holds my cross stitch quilt

 Isn't it marvelous--the way it is beat up?

It is even wide enough to hold my large, magnetic pattern holder.

Okay kids--I am not dead--which is a good thing, but when I do die, Pammie has instructions on how to get in here and post a note telling you all that I took my long journey.  It is really nice to know that people worry about me--we never know--we could go to the ER one night and never come out, so.........

Later--Jude

I'm Okay

Computer has been in hospital for last 4 days--just got it back home and AMAZINGLY--got all the cords in the right spots in the back and we are now good to go.  I will blog later--maybe not until tomorrow as I have over 300 e-mails to look at.

Cool

Today's high temperature was:  73 degrees

Today's humidity was:  39%

Partly sunny and nice

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Neatest thing happened today.  A month ago I posted that on my way out to The Farm, I had stopped in to visit with a friend of Pam's who had beautiful gardens.

Of course she is not just Pam's friend--I have also known her all her life--small town remember?  We all know each other most of our lives.

So today, I am sitting in my recliner, cats on the end sleeping, cross stitching while I watch the Detroit Tigers beat up on the Yankees and I hear a knock.  It is that girl--Becky!!

She was in the area, taking photos of the huge fields of sunflowers that a farmer plants every year.  She decided to look me up and try and get a picture of the hummingbirds nest in my tree.

She also brought along some photos that she wants to enter in the Birds and Blooms magazine's contest.  I have been encouraging her along the way--telling her she has a real "eye" for taking pictures and the way she crops and finishes them.  Her Mother died twenty years ago and she is from a family of 8 kids, so I figured she probably doesn't get a whole lot of attention and I am going to be her guru, LOL.


This is one of her recent photos--a tree frog in the cup of one of her lilies.

We had a great chat and then she went out trying to get pictures of the Momma hummer in the nest.  I don't think the Momma was in there.  I think Momma has a baby and they are off learning to fly and to drink from the many humming bird feeders in the neighborhood.  She take a lot of photos though, so maybe they will reveal something.

She apologized for just dropping in, "I was afraid I might be keeping you from something,"  Yeah--like I have all that much to do?  I thanked her for stopping in and making my otherwise boring day into a lovely day and told her to please come by again--anytime!!

I felt badly thought, just moments after she left I took these pix:

She would have taken much better pictures with her neat camera!!
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I don't know if I told you, but along with my vintage wooden box collection and my cobalt blue bottle collection, I also collect carved wooden figures.

These were on our Thanksgiving table when I was little

Then Mother gave them to me and they were always on

our Thanksgiving, and now...if I go to one of the kids

houses, or my sister's for Thanksgiving, I take them with me and put

them on their table.

My mother bought these on a trip to Canada--Ontario and Quebec.

They are called Canadian Folk Art.  I have another coming from

E-Bay, like these.  An old woman sitting in a rocking chair.

I got the little Amish couple in Bird-In-Hand, PA when Fred and

I made the trip out there.

The two little people on the right, I purchase in

Sturbridge Village, MA, when I went out for Jen's wedding.

...and this little guy is from Germany.

I love how he has his right hand, through his suspenders and

stuck in the top of his pants.  I have seen my great

grandpa stand just like that.  

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I have been on another mission to find an old, wooden box large enough to hold my cross stitch and knitting projects, but not too large.  Susan has lots of trunks I could use, but they are too large for this area.

This is what it looks like by my chair---

Cross stitch project in a basket by the right side of my chair

Knitting project to the left and behind my chair

Notice the towel to keep cat and cat hair off project

So--I measured and I needed a box about 24 long, 18-20 wide and 12-14 deep.  I wanted a box with a lid so that the cats can't get in and so I could close it from view and it would just look like another old box to go with my box collection.  

Bethie gave Susan an old dough box and Susan uses it to hide her projects.  I thought that might work for me, but boy--the lids on those things are heavy, as is the box and when I went searching on E-Bay--they cost a small fortune!!

I have looked each night for the last ten days.  Last night--I think I have found just what I wanted!!!

It is 22 1/5 x 15 x 12 deep and has a hinged lid.  It is only 16.00!! Of course, the shipping is like twenty bucks, but I think it is going to work exactly for I want.  And...if it doesn't, I will put it somewhere else in the house.  I am in love with it already.  The inside is nice and smooth, so nothing to catch my knitting or cross stitch material.  AND the cats can't get in and if they claw the sides--it won't matter a bit, LOL. 

Then I can take away those baskets and that area may look neater--the operative word here is "may".  I am too lazy to keep my projects in another room where I would have to get up off my a** to get them, work on them and then put them away again. EVERYTHING I might need for the day, seems to reside within reach of my recliner!!!

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The day ended perfectly when Pearl came down to watch the "Cedar Cove" movie with me tonight.  She can't get the Hallmark Channel on her TV service.  Merle was napping in his chair, so she came here.  It was so nice to have someone to watch with and comment on and say things like, "I don't remember that from the books!"

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Tomorrow I am NOT going to church.  I have had diarrhea all day and my stomach feels pukey--and while I probably will be all right in the morning--the Youth Group is giving a talk on their mission trip to Baltimore, MD and, while that is wonderful and all--I really am not interested.  So next week--I will go back to continue with the sermons of "Detours" (detours in our life, that is.)  I am looking forward to sitting in my night shirt and watching CBS Sunday, yes, yes--I know.  I am not a very good Christian--but then--you don't have to go to church every Sunday to be a good Christian--just sayin'.

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11:00 p.m.

I just got these photos from Becky---WOW--shows what a good camera can do.

Click on the picture so you can see the spider webs holding

the nest together and lacing it to the tree limbs--amazing!!!

This is close as my camera could take the picture

Pammie--My Sweetheart!!

Today's high temperature was:  77 degrees

Today's humidity was: 39%

Another, breezy, sunny, perfect day!

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I think we are having the best summer we have had in years!!!  This gorgeous weather has been going on for two weeks and will continue--at least for the next seven days.  It is just plain perfect...and my electric bill shows it!  Last July I used 29.6 wattage hours or--whatever, and this July 10.1.  Last July we had almost two weeks of near 100 degree days and humid nights.  This July we had like 4 days of temps in the high 80's, low 90's.  So, the air conditioner hasn't run near as much as last year.  A truly windows and doors open kind of summer.  Kind of like I remember from the olden days--when NONE of even knew that air conditioning existed!!  Maybe in a movie house, but--no where else.  Not in hospitals and I know because, the day Pammie was born it was hot!  The hottest August in 43 years, which was the year when my Daddy was born.

I posted this collage on Face Book this morning, for all her friends on my "friends" list to see.

My Pammie--always happy, always smiling.  I think she

smiled when she was born and hasn't stopped since.

No matter what!

Then I drove out to her farm and visited with her.  My sister Susan came down the road to share the birthday.  I took a chocolate cake with me and the nine candles.  Plus a pair of those nice 1,600 count Egyptian sheets I got on-line.  I love them.  My sister loves them.  Pearl loves them.  I think everyone that ordered them, loves them and only $30.00 a pair and four pillowcases!!!  

Here she is at 6 weeks old.  She had such perfect skin.

I think she's even smiling in this picture.

Got her eyes closed, making a wish.

I hope she gets everything she wished for.

She deserves it soooooo much!

Then I told her to come sit on my lap.

"Momma, I will hurt your hips!"

"No you won't.  I don't care how old or how

big you are--you are never too old for Momma

to hold on her lap and love on you."

The idiot that is moving out was there and greeted me very warmly and I was nice to him, of course.  He has a home now, with a big fenced-in back yard and an empty vacant lot next door that goes with the property.  It is a two story older farm house and has a tree fort already in the back yard for his grandson.  It was a bank repo and he got it for...............are you ready?  $35,000.  Unbelievable!!!

I just wish he would get ALL his rusty vehicles and crap off her land!!!  But, at least he and his 5 pack a day cigarette smoking (dropping ashes and lit cigarettes on Pam's carpeting), and his incontinent old dog will be out of the house.  Pam was showing my sister and I the paint chips she has up on different walls of the house.  She really cannot wait to live alone!!!  

Of course, he is telling everyone it was his idea to leave.  That Pam was being a witch and he couldn't stand it anymore.  But, those people that know him and know them together--know he's lying.  Pam supported him for at least 6  years while he was trying to get disability, and loaned him money and got him a lawn mower--things like that, and had to go through bankruptcy because she lost her job and couldn't pay the creditors.

Man--I know how that is.  I went through the same thing 20 years ago--like I keep saying, she is going through a lot of what I went through, 20 years ago.  I just hope she makes it better then I did!!!!!

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So then--Susan and I left so Pammie could do her lawn mowing and I drove up to Susan's place.  I had my Daddy's old straw farm hat and the seed bag I have and I wanted to get a picture of them with an old plow and by the Centennial Farm sign.  Well--Pammie has the plow in her side lawn and Susan has the sign, so I had to take pictures at both places and they didn't turn out like I had envisioned.

Today was my Daddy's birthday too, and I wanted to post a tribute to him--a lot of the kids on my friends list played ball for him and of course, lots of people remember him.

You gotta click on them to see better.

This farm, where Susan lives, has been in the family now, 

for 156 years.  Where my son lives and I was born,

for 75 years and the grandparents farm, where

Pammie lives, 93 years.  I happen to think that is very cool!

Then I posted those two pictures on Face Book with this tribute.

The old farmer took off his hat and put down the tools of his life,

and went to lie down to rest.

and...God said, "Welcome home, my good and faithful servant.

You have been a fine steward of my land"

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Daddy.

Aug. 9, 1916 - June 18, 2008

Well--you know.  I am not entirely sure my Daddy is in Heaven--I know that is not a nice thing to say.  I imagine when he got there, God probably got out The Book and questioned him on the way he treated his daughter, but--no one in or out of the family knew of his abuse.  He was a baseball coach for many years. He was a community leader, trustee on the Township Board--many, many awards for Outstanding Service or Citizen of the Year.  So--I put it on Face Book for everyone to see--because--well, you know-----

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Balisha?  I have a question.  Do I have to bring my succulents inside over winter?  I used to have Hen's and Chicken's in my rock garden and they never died during the winter, but I am wondering about the succulents I have planted in the pots on my porch.  

See  you tomorrow--it promises to be another beautiful day!!