Friday, July 24, 2015

Won eyed

It is truly hard to write on this keyboard when I can't see clearly.  I need to get glasses, it turns out, although one eye has close vision and one eye distance; together they mean nothing is sharp.  And of course my poor typing skill doesn't help.

We are once again down to the last few bales of hay for the horses, the weather this entire summer has been so wet no one has been able to do haying.  The hay we are currently using is last year's cutting.  If the rest of the summer is as wet as this one has been so far, hay prices will skyrocket and there won't be much available at any price.  As it is, the hay in the fields has gone to seed and will need to be cut so it won't smother the new growth, assuming there is new growth.  Wednesday, rain or shine or mud, the hay has to get in, even if the truck will need to get towed back out again.  What we really need is 25 tons of gravel...

I am going to give my looms a trial again.  N gave me yarn for Christmas, number 6 in weight, and it is too thick for the bulky 260 machine.  Hand knitting would be a solution, except that I don't know how to hand knit.  Thus, back to the loom.

I am getting dozens of facebook emails from the daughter of my friend that passed last month.  She is much into parties, drinking, etc. and none of it is of interest to me.  Yet I don't want to "unfriend" her, so I just skip all her messages.  I'll probably withdraw from facebook one of these days, the only reason I joined was for my friend.  I have 6 friends at the moment.

I am trying to remember if my facebook is tied to my blog, but I don't think so; neither is my email, I don't think.  It is hard to remember who can read what.

This post has been sitting in "draft" for several days as I try to think of topics to write about.  I could tell how, sitting here at the keyboard, my chair failed me and I ended up half on the floor.  Or I could write about the damned gnat that I finally killed after days spent chasing it across the monitor; where do they come from?  There is no food at all in this room.  Or i could reminisce about days gone by...

That sounds like a do-able idea.  OK, here goes.

When I went to Junior high, I  was a grand total of 11 years old, and woefully backward.  But I remember with crystal clarity how my mother dressed me in, are you ready?  Saddle shoes.  For those unfamiliar with these, they look like this:



In contrast, all the other girls were wearing:

Minus the red soles (couldn't find just the right photo).  Have you ever tried walking into a classroom full of hyper-critical 7th graders without showing your feet?  Not possible.  It took me weeks and weeks to persuade Mom to get me some even though they "had no support".  Support schmoort, I wanted to look like the other kids...

Now I own dozens and dozens of shoes; no saddle shoes; no flats either.  I have Moved On, fashion wise...

Moms out there, check out what the other kids are wearing at school (sneakers, or whatever) and get your kid the same.  I spent waaay too much time trying to disguise my feet.  Amputation (like the ugly sister in Cinderella) was considered, but the blood would be so ewww...

Bumper sticker for the day:  "When in doubt, mumble."



Thursday, July 09, 2015

Weather

I think blogging about the weather is the dullest topic one can choose.  It is only relevant to the neighborhood, and then only for a very short period of time.  That being said, we just had a tornado warning here (WV), part of a fast moving storm front from the Ohio area.  It  livened things here up for a bit, but then we don't get tornados here, not in the last 35 years I can vouch for.  Too many hills, no flat areas.  Come to think of it, I don't know how to identify a tornado when the straight-line view is all trees to the horizon, which is close by with the hills.  So far the power hasn't even flickered, so I came here to update the old blog.  See, boring, right?

The cataract surgery has left me with skewed vision in my right eye.  I have some close vision, which is good, but the distance vision (anything past arm's length) is very fuzzy.  I am still using eyedrops, so maybe the visoin will continue to change, although it has been 8 days.  I see the doctor next week.

 I bid on an item on ebay but misread the description.  So I had to go in and cancel the bid, something I have never done before.  I thought I was bidding on a 10 quart stock pot, but instead it was an 8 quart one, which I already have.  So dumb.  I have been an active buyer on ebay since 1997, back when I had to explain what ebay was to skeptical friends.  In all, I have had very few complaints over the years.  A few unuseable items (like the artificial Christmas tree where the top and the bottom didn't match)  but I figure that goes with the territory; I've bought things off-line, so to speak, that were a mistake, and just chalk it up to experience.  Hope there isn't any more to this erroneous bid.

 C is doing better with his pool therapy three times a week.  (He fell and broke his tibia right behind his kneecap two months ago.)  He comes home completely beat, but with better flexion.  Still no weight bearing on that leg.  He swings a mean crutch, I'll give him that.  There was so much he helped us with, we really appreciate just how much he did now that the jobs fall to us (old people).  The horses in particular.  But even things like cleaning the gutters of leaves are a problem when the one on the ladder is in his 70s, and the one doing the ladder-holding is me, scared of heights. 


I read a forum for knitters/crocheters and have watched in amazement one particular topic.  The title of the thread is "hand washing knitted things"  sounds peaceful enough, right?  Well, about 10 comments in the fur started flying, over what hand-washing is, and who does what and why, and aren't my methods better than yours... and so on.  The flaming is still going on, it is 26 pages long now, and the original post has long since been swept away in name-calling and ugliness.  Boggles the mind.  Some people need to get a life.


Bumper sticker of the day:  "My people skills are just fine.  It's my tolerance to idiots that needs work."


Friday, July 03, 2015

the 4th of July!





Here's my class image from several years ago ( may have already used it) wishing you a safe and fun-filled cookout day.  Unfortunately the forecast here calls for rain all day, so we will have to improvise.  Tonight we had roast beef, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, biscuits, gravy, and we all did the menu proud.  Nothing processed, preserved, or artificially seasoned. It was yummy.

I had my second cataract surgery on Wednesday.  I remembered more of the process than before, but I had no anxiety.  The result wasn't as immediate as the first time, I have a fair amount of swelling and it will have to settle down before I can focus well.  Right now I sit here with an eye shield taped over my eye and a pair of "cheater" magnifier glasses perched on my nose, so I can read. Sort of.

Too tired to ramble on here, so here is the bumper sticker for the day:  "After 60, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you're probably dead."