What's one way to waste a life?

I came upon a site listing "40 questions you're afraid to ask?"  This question about wasting a life is number 40, and is a question that I have asked myself.

My answer is, predictably, drugs.

And that includes marijuana.  When I lived in California, some 35 years ago, pot was everywhere even then.  You could smell it in the park, in theaters, in the grocery store, everywhere.  One of the people in the lab where I worked was a graduate student in endocrinology, a very very bright guy.  He smoked pot all the time, I think in place of eating(!), and he was a very unflappable, mellow, helpful student, but he couldn't finish anything.  He would, I don't know, lose enthusiasm?  Or maybe just lose track of where he needed to continue?  Despite being well spoken, smart, likable, he never finished his degree, and finally got a position as a salesman for (wait for it!) a drug company!  I think of him now and again and wonder if he married and had kids, and if so, what he told them about pot.  Did they smoke while driving, like he did?

But you have only to look to Hollywood to see the mess drugs make of talent.  Look at Whitney Houston for example.  All that power, beauty, money, gone for coke and heroin.  Or what about Elvis - fighting the battle against age that no one wins, taking prescription meds to get through a single day.  Or thousands more in Hollywood like these two, all stumbling over the same roadblock.  Do we ask too much of them, to be "on" constantly?  Do they fear failure so acutely?  Is it just part of society now, too easy to get and too easy to dismiss the risks?  Do they too support legalization?

See how one question begets a host of other questions...

I know there are other ways to waste a life, maybe drinking is the closest to drugs; in a way it is worse because social drinking is OK.   But laziness alone will waste a life just as easy as drugs or liquor, and so will fear of making the wrong decision, and so not making any decision at all.  Or leaving the decision up to someone else, spouse, parent, teacher, church, all of these and more.  A sad waste of a life.

On a more cheerful note, today's bumper sticker for the day:  "I'll grow my own food when I can find bacon seeds."

OWWW!!!

There I was, sitting on the edge of the bed, I stood up and BLAM! my back shot lightning bolts down my legs.  So completely bent over, 3 days of bed rest, and minimal stair climbing, and I seemed to be on the mend, when I tripped and fell on my back and backside in the middle of the night.  I had to crawl over to the bed to pull myself up.  Now my entire back is one massive bruise.  If it weren't for pain meds I'd still be in bed.  But at least I can now stand up straight.  My back was already a war zone, dating back to a riding accident when I was 24.  I never take walking for granted.

So working on the premise that one disaster cannot occur without two more, our refrigerator is a warm 60 degrees, and everything is crammed in the little fridge we use for soda, water, etc. while we wait for the repairman to call.  What event number three will be I don't know.  Yet.

 Pause...

OK the  fridge is repaired ($$$) but the repair will probably hold for only a short while.  So we will order another one, choosing the features we want.  Meanwhile there is all that food to return to the kitchen...

I wish ordering things online was like it is in the road runner cartoons.  Wiley coyote puts his order in the mailbox, taps his toes for a minute, and there is his order from Acme or wherever.  Instead it is 7 - 9 days, unless you spring for the $20 next day charge, which I don't.  All I have ordered today are some sleep shirts, mine have gotten all gray and tattered but no big rush.  I ordered these in the middle of the night, and ordered the same nightshirt twice by mistake.  The seller caught it immediately (different time zone or an insomniac like me) and offered to cancel the duplicate, much appreciated. 

I heard eBay has spun off PayPal into its own company.  I hope that doesn't mean any significant changes at the consumer level, I am a big fan of PayPal as the way to purchase online without spreading your credit card number everywhere.  I remember when I had to explain eBay to everyone, but even in the dark ages at the beginning of the site, I hardly ever had a bad experience.  The last major purchase I made was last month for $725 for a knitting machine with all the accoutrements, and I admit I was fairly apprehensive, not just because of the amount involved but because the seller had "zero" feedback.  But she went overboard with packaging and speed of shipping, so the two huge boxes came through unscathed from UPS.  Everything was there and more, and she answered my questions completely as I worked my way through it all.  Definitely 5 star.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "In my day we walked to school uphill both ways and had dial-up internet."

Traffic

I live in a very small city, pop. about 25,000.  But when the university is in regular session the students add about 25,000 themselves.  This town was never designed to deal with the associated traffic, and especially not students who have their own drawbacks.  For one thing, in the winter the typically slick streets are a hazard because student winter tires are any tire with tread.  For another, all the parking anywhere near the campuses is designated for paid staff and faculty, with very little left for students.  The orientation for new students stresses that there are 2000 parking spaces on campus and 25,000 students, around half of which have a car.  The math isn't hard.  Leave the car at home.  So generally the traffic and parking ease off in the Thanksgiving holidays, when the students go home and leave the car behind when they return.

But...

This summer, which is usually great for getting around by residents, was still a disaster.  There was construction accounting for part of it, paving, etc.  But basically it was just too many people overloading cramped two lane roads.  Probably by the next census the town will have closer to 40,000 permanent residents, many of them staff and faculty.  The city council passed a resolution that forbids heavy trucks in the downtown area (think big tri-axle coal trucks).  Somehow they think the trucks will just disappear, when in reality it means a work-around for the trucks will bring  worse conditions somewhere else.  It's not like the trucks will go 'poof'.

 And so it takes an hour to drive 1 mile at commute hours, which is 3:00 to 6:30 or so.  The three o'clock start is because of the health workers on shifts at all the hospitals and clinics.  The six thirty is accounted for by all the people waiting in traffic for the hour.  It is a mess, every day.  And don't forget the Saturdays when the university has home football games; that adds another 60,000 people to the regular weekend traffic.

Since we are retired, we just try to avoid the 'rush hour' (why do they call it that when no one can move, much less rush?  And it lasts for more than an hour?) .   And if one waits until the game starts, you can get around on game days.  But the side effect is more accidents here all the time now, too.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day.

I knitted a nice chenille scarf yesterday, photo below.  Unfortunately, the diamond pattern knitted into the scarf doesn't show on the 'right' side, only on the purl side.  But it is a nice scarf and easy to do, once I got the hang of it.  It is for two yarns together, which I haven't done before, and was done on my new 260 knitting machine.  I like it.  I'll knit a matching hat soon.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "You do not need a parachute to skydive.  You only need a parachute to skydive twice."

Ringing the bell

There is a small bell, like the kind that used to be put on cows, nothing fancy, sitting on my desk here tonight.  When I worked in the electron microscopy room, I hung it on the inside of the door so I would know when someone came in.  Where I worked would be in various locations (it was a 4 room suite, and one was a darkroom) I would get so involved in what I was doing that people would walk in the room when I had no idea there was anybody behind me.  Talk about jumping!  And of course, being in near-total (TOTALLY) darkness and hearing the darkroom door cycle (squeeeeek) tended to get my attention.  Anyway, that's the reason for using the bell.

But now it just sits on my desk, the nines knock it off once in a while, and it reminds me of bittersweet memories.  It was a good job, while it lasted.

DH and I went to a fund raising rally last night for Natalie Tennant, who is running for the U.S. Senate, in the slot left by Sen John Rockefeller who is retiring after 30 years.  She is an impassioned speaker, and has a smooth way of working the crowd.  Right now she is Sec. of State for WV, and would make an excellent senator. But I am doubtful about her chances, as the Repub. candidate is pouring so much money into the campaign.  We will see in November, I guess.  But what was fascinating at the rally was people-watching from the side lines.  Such an odd assortment of people, mildly inebriated, shouting like at a football game at each talking point.  Loud.  I actually stood for over an hour in dress shoes (I would have killed for a chair)  and DIDN't eat anything, even right by the table, yea Weight Watchers, because I ate a light dinner at home before we went.  If we had arrived sooner we might have managed a small table and a chair (!).  I'll see if I can walk later today.  Right now it feels a little iff-y.  Our attendance at this event was the idea of DH, who worked the crowd pretty well himself, even though he is retired now.  It was interesting to watch.  And I actually spoke to TWO people!

I have deliberately not watched the news from Scotland, will they be Scotland the brave, or the foolhardy?  And the idea of allowing 16 and 17 year-olds the vote is sure to make a BIG difference.  I am sure that at 16 I wouldn't have known the names of our senators, rock group yes, senators no.  For certain, this vote has both sides whipped into a frenzy, if the news coverage is anything to go by.  Our family was Welch, a long time ago.  No one will be likely to vote for a Welch candidate who has a name that the newspeople cannot pronounce. Padraig for Patrick isn't too bad, but Afagddu (ah VAG thee) or Blwchfadd (BLOOKH varth) do you see my point?

I am feuding with the pharmacists that now have my 'scripts after the last pharmacy closed.  I had a script filled there on Sunday, and when I got home I saw that one of them had only 6 pills in it, I was expecting 60.  The doctor has been going on about closely following how many I take (I tend to take fewer), and I thought it was an attempt to get me to call her, which I did, and she was puzzled.  After back and forth, it looks like the pharm. dispensed 6 instead of 60, and now they are in turmoil trying to figure out what went wrong with their system.  It's not without problems (insurance, etc.), and I am grateful it is not for any kind of narcotic.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Two rules for success in life.  1.  Don't tell everyone everything you know.  2.                       ."

Let the good times roll...

Ten things I (or we) did right:

1.  Marrying DH (44 years and counting).
2. Having children (really great ones).
3.  Moving from San Francisco to WV.
4.  Sending the kids to a catholic school (even though we aren't catholic).
5.  Having a yearly mammogram (that found my aggressive cancer quickly).
6.  Buying and keeping special horses (Poco was the best).
7.  Getting my medical technology license.
8.  Living close enough to get to know my aunts amd uncle.
9.  Seeking help when times were dark and seemed hopeless.
10. Encouraging and then helping my parents move here from FL.


There they are, mostly as they occurred, and in no special order.  I hope it doesn't seem like I am bragging,  It is just that I seem blessed with special people around me.  I've had problems, mostly about work near the end of my career, and really bleak times, but an extremely helpful therapist as well as a doctor helped me through those times (and now I feel mostly OK).

What are your good decisions?

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Calm you shall keep and Carry on you must."

Days Gone By

Here is the photo from Google of the house from last year .  Now the driveway is paved, the railing painted to match the lower half of the house, then repainted to the original color.  I can't figure how to download the image, so I took a photo of the screen.  Clever, aren't I?   Don't know what the blurry part is.  Rain?  Thumb print?  (Ghost??)  whatever. 

 

And here is the photo as of 9/19 (the porch is entirely repainted here; all those damn balusters - twice!)

We made the big mistake of painting the porch the same color as the wall behind it.  Now it is half and half until the rain stops and the porch dries.

I was thinking of the mistakes we have made over the years, some big and some not too big (like painting the wrong color).  Here is the list so far:

1.  We didn't buy the empty lot next door when we had the chance.  Now owned by the Paul Bunyan type (see a post a few days back) next door.
2,  Buying a dud pickup truck (why hasn't it been recalled for crappy brakes)?  8800 miles and three brake replacements!
3.  Getting the black kitten at the pound.  She spends her time beating up on the other cats and barfing.
4.  Choosing the wrong major in college,  one which would have given me upward mobility and not one which needed a PhD. to move upward.
5. Not taking my photography or my computer programming seriously.
6.  A regret about the kids.
7.  Not writing my grandmother when I was in college; she died suddenly while I was taking final exams my freshman year.
8.  Going to Bob Jones University, no place for a skeptic there.  They taught me how to lie.
9.  Buying a boat!  The two happiest moments, when you buy the boat, and when you sell it.
10.  Buying a small house (no room for a craft room) !

I think ten are enough, don't you?  'I'll do  "ten things I did right" another day..

Bumper sticker for the day:  "No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery. "

Cats and dangling string

I've been trying to get some progress made on  the baby blanket I am knitting.  I finished the first panel, and started the middle panel.  Six times.  I knitted up 47 rows before it struck me that I was supposed to connect the edge of the first panel to the second one as the second one is knitted.  So that got frogged.  One time I forgot the ravel cord, that is used to remove the waste yarn.  Frogged.  One time I realized that the ravel cord was the same color as the yarn (red), so it was invisible.  Out it came.  Forgot to cast on (did that twice), oh I hate to even recall all the errors (knot in yarn) that I have made.  It is currently at the point of beginning the second block of the second panel, and I am going to put in a lifeline just in case.... (frogged = ripped out, ribbit, ribbit, etc.)

All the dangling bits of yarn ends are an irresistible lure for the cats ~ as I concentrate on the current row they are trying to make off with the part hanging down by my knees.  I shall have to shut them out tomorrow when I work on  it.   I even must discard all the bits I cut off, as what the result is of cats ingesting said yarn is too awful to contemplate.

We finished covering the porch with the"restore" paint from Lowe's and it looks -- awful.  The color isn't even, it's the wrong color, the surface is very sharp and gritty (the paint has SAND in it) and it will all have to be done again with a regular latex paint.  I am so disappointed.  I thought it would grow on me, but it looks awful even when I am doing  something              like carrying in groceries.  Live and learn,  guess. 

N got one of the horse stalls cleaned/stripped before he gave out.  That isn't a job for a 70 year old, but since DS is working 6 days a week, it seems unfair to expect him to clean the barn on his only day off.  Of course, if he had is own place, he'd be using his day off to do laundry, get groceries, etc. so I strive to remember that when I ask him about the stalls.  The horses got into the paddock we were trying to keep off-limits for this year as we are trying to get the grass to grow back over the big bare parts.  The horses thought they were in heaven, the grass is 12 inches high, but the idea is to let it go to seed and get it even denser when it sprouts. 

For a look at a really beautiful horses, take a look at this short video, and be sure to listen to the music too.  Friesian Horses  are incredibly majestic.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Logic:   the art of being wrong with confidence."

Decorations

Is this smiley visible? YES!

And clearly I have too much time on my hands, to figure this out.  I like that they are big sized...

Let's assume I'm right, It will save time.

My son showed me our house on Google street view yesterday, and WOW wasn't that a eye opener. Our horses were plain to see, and we could also see our neighbor getting into his truck.  I know it must have been a Tuesday, because the trash can is empty and at the curb, and the survey states it was done in Sept. 2013.  I wanted to post a photo here, but it includes my address, which I really don't need to share with the entire internet.

I am not a happy camper this morning.  Our next door neighbor recently cut down 3 trees (that were dead or near dead) along the property  line.  Today he cut down a live tree;  all the trees were on our property.  Husband and son went out to stop him, but too late.  We showed him the property markers,  you can sight along them and see that the trees are on our side.  Several of them are Colorado Blue Spruce, which if you know trees you know how very slow growing they are; we planted them 35 years ago.  He said they interfered with his mowing (??).  He said he would pay for them, but that won't bring the trees back, will it?  Jerk. I am not happy.

The clinic last night discussing knee replacement surgery has had one effect on me; I am not going to have mine replaced any time soon.  The cortisone shot has worked its usual magic and I can walk normally again.  It should be better for at least a month.  My main difficulty is stairs, and according to what I heard last night, that is problematical with the artificial knee as well.  So forget it.  If I start dragging my leg behind me I'll consider it again.  The doctor was very nice, he is a partner with my ortho, but I don't want to have my ortho do the surgery anyway, as he is in the midst of retiring soon.  Along with all my other doctors and therapist.

I am in too bad of a mood, so I will cheer myself up with some knitting.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Retired.  One owner.  High mileage.  Needs body work."

August is winding down

I have messed up my organizer; I finally figured out that August has 31 days---what a shock!!-- and thus appointments for this week are different from the ones next week.  I postponed my psych dr. appt to October, thinking it was a conflict, but really it wasn't (oh darn).  I left it in October; for some reason I have been getting one hour appointments with her.  I swear it is because she can't find anyone to talk to that isn't in worse shape than I am.  Which is hardly at all, now.  Still, husband is waiting outside for me, I feel like the meter is running.  If only I could get past my driving phobia.

We are facing the humongous task, painting the deck in back and the porch in front.  We will be using the Restore paint that is 10X thicker than regular paint, and is said to cover splinters, cracks, etc. in the wood.  I bet it is a bear to use, not to mention very pricey.  But still cheaper than replacing entire structures.  I will post before and after photos, I think.

The knitting carriage is off to be deep cleaned and adjusted, so the new (to me) knitting machine is at a standstill for now.  I did get some minor parts and have them to change up also, the machine should be in top condition once it is fixed up. Now I just need to decide what to knit first.  Probably something easy, like a hat or scarf.  I will wait to do a punch-card pattern, I think.  Meanwhile I am waiting for an email that the carriage arrived safe and sound in Georgia. Starting to get nervous.  It was insured, at least.

In October it will be 10 years since I started this blog.  My post counter says I have written 525+ posts so far.  I started it on a whim back in 2004 when there were oodles of posts to read.  Now there are far fewer out there, and I follow just a few.  Quality over quantity, I think.  It is hard to find topics to write, there are very personal ones that I don't want to share with the internet, and trivial ones that nobody wants to read, least of all me.  I should get back to posting photos with a post like this one, short on content.
  I resolve to do better in the second ten years ~)

Bumper sticker for the day:  "On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your favorite color of the alphabet?"

"This message...

is  a natural product made from recycled electrons.  The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its beauty and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects."


The knitting machine arrived and is up and at least for a simple stockinette stitch, is knitting (once I lubricated it with a little gun oil).  It is bigger than I thought it would be, I really need a bigger room.

The Apple 5c phone arrived and is very entertaining.  But I will never do some things with it - like write emails.  I am usually within a ten yard radius at any time that includes at least one computer, that's out of a total of  five, not counting tablets.   The manual book has arrived and I am slowly going through it, with my phone in hand, and have learned quite a bit.

With the advent of the phones, we discovered an interesting factoid we didn't know:  Our LAN in the house will let us have only 5 hook-ups at a time, max.  After that, it says "no connection" which means something different, at least, I think it means that linksys was down.  Two of the 5 computers are hard-wired in, and are on if the PC is on.  Maybe there is a way to disable the link temporarily but I don't know how.  If I am browsing the net on the phone, and the kids are on their PCs, that's five.  No bandwidth for a second phone, a tablet, etc.  So I do my browsing while the kids are at work.

My, that took way longer to explain than it should have...

I had an appointment with a podiatrist on last Friday, but  ... I got cold feet and cancelled.  Too many doctors already.

 Bumper sticker for the day :  "I didn't trip, I was just conducting a random test of gravity."

A new knitting machine!

I have purchased a KH-260 knitting machine and it is on its way.  I have been looking for one for several months, and this one on ebay has all the add-on bits and pieces.  Can't wait, I'll post photos.  It is in two boxes, and the main one weighs 63 pounds...

My husband bought two apple 5C phones for us, we am waiting for them to come, too.  He originally went to Sears (they have a representative for Consumer Cellular there) but the guy there was majorly clueless and it was easier to do it all online although that means waiting.  I also ordered a book from Amazon called "the Missing Manual"  to use to figure out all the things it can do.  The book is nearly 600 pages long, it is good the cost isn't per page...

About toothbrushes:  When the internet was reached via MS-DOS and a .edu address, there was a site that featured a photo of a toothbrush, no text or anything but the photo.  In spite of this, there were thousands of hits.  Now, if you google images for a toothbrush, it gives you all the sites for Colgate, etc.  More useful but less amusing.  The reason all this came up for me is that my (Panasonic) toothbrush died the death a couple of days ago, and I had to get another, sticker shock.  Hope this one lasts as long as the other...

Bumper sticker for the day :  "Knitting keeps me from unraveling."

Summer is sliding away...

Here it is August already, what happened to the summer?  We haven't missed the pool, it has been such a mild summer here (West Virginia) that the water would have been a nippy 70 degrees.  And yet the southwest is burning up, between the weather and the fires.  We had a pile of old lumber and a bunch of tree limbs to get rid of, so we burned them, along with an old stump of a huge ash tree.  The fire burned for 4 days, smoldering in the stump, until everything was ash.  This with rain every day, hard rain.  It gave me an appreciation of how hard it is to declare a forest fire as "contained"  because they smolder and burn under what looks like cold ashes, for days.  

Thinking seriously about knee replacement surgery.  The cortisone shots only help so far, and then climbing/descending  stairs becomes a misery.  Oh for a one level house.  We have been in this one for 34 years, and I can't even imagine what moving would entail.  Just the attic alone gives me the blues, full of old junk, books, furniture, lots of stuff.  We would have to rent a dumpster first thing.  

My son got a smart phone this weekend, it is so entertaining.  I'd get one myself if I could think of anything I needed it for.  As it is, my dumb phone sits idle for weeks at a time, and is always needing to be charged when I finally turn it on.  It seems to me that batteries should hold their charge if the device is off, but this one has been like this since it was new.  It is a Motorola Razor, just the thing in its day.  It has a camera and no apps at all.  I don't think I could even receive texts or web pages.  And I have never figured how to get the photos on the phone off of it, to the Mac.  Again, not any need for that.  I carry a tiny tiny little camera which is ever so adaptable for all sorts of photos, and has a huge capacity with a flash card, and of course they can be switched out as needed.  It is a Nikon, no less.  It was a mother's day gift 2 years ago.

My attempts at machine knitting have hit a snag since my knee is paining me so much, it hurts to sit in a simple chair for more than an hour.  I messed up the project I was attempting and ripped the whole thing off to try again later.  Maybe I will try a different chair.  Meanwhile my resolve to not buy any more yarn has recently taken a hit, but only the once.  Or twice.  I love yarn, it does not need to be knitted for me to appreciate it.  The last batch had an alpaca blend in it, sheer luxury to handle.  I don't feel I am a good enough knitter to buy any of the hideously expensive yarns, or at least only to buy a single skein.


Back when the internet was mainly the place to find web camera sites that streamed continually over a broad band for speed, I had several that I visited regularly.  One of them was in Ft. Lauderdale (where my parents lived at that time), and it showed a big picture window with bird feeders outside, and house cats on a perch inside.  Not a very thrilling site, but it showed me how the weather was for my folks, and a sort of zen-like peacefulness to watch.  I don't think there are many private sites now, only those maintained by cities or big business.  I thought of all this because of my toothbrush, but this post is long enough now and I won't explain this connection until next time...

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes."




 

Housemaids knee/know/

I have been coping pretty well over the last 3 or 4 weeks; this marks the second month since my last cortisone shot.  In another 4 weeks I will see Dr. Kurth, the ortho doctor who said I would know when it was time for an artificial knee, and I think we are there.  At minimum I will have information to read and ponder.  Either surgery, or I will need pain killers to get through the days.  I am also going to connect with the new psychotherapist and go for another session to see if I was a little rushed the first time around.  Ya think??

Meanwhile the last of the pool liner and all the non recyclable stuff is in the truck to go to the dump, with as much of the right stuff for this recycle number as possible.


As a post within a post, doing good is not to be found tonite.  I had topics, and photos, and good jokes, and over time, they have slowly slipped away and tonight I as going to (what happened to the blue font??!!) Now I have lost what tenuous grip I was trying to overcome great...

                                   Close your eyes,  breathe deeply in, then gently exhale.                                 

Good night.   

Today's news today, or later

Greetings to all here from the AZ area, and the brutal hot weather you are suffering through.  It is in the 60s here today and the 50s at night, and it is too bad we can't mix the weather together and have 75 for everyone.  And rain in CA instead of TX.  And what's with that gigantic crater in Russia?

My aunt that we visit down in the center part of the state got up in the night, lost her balance and pulled a dresser drawer down on herself, cutting her leg badly.  My uncle said there was blood everywhere, and the ER put 17 stitches in it.  As happens with age, she is uncertain what happened and how she got hurt.  My uncle sounds exhausted.  If they get a hospital bed the sides could be put up at night so she won't fall out...  she is on hospice so that is possible, I think.

We are tearing down our pool, leaving a big hole in the deck that will have to be fixed somehow.  We haven't used the pool much in the last several years, and the upkeep is both time and money consuming when no one is using it.  I loved to just look at it, especially in the evening when the lights shimmered inside the house, but that isn't enough to warrant keeping it.  I guess.

At least the horrible stink bugs we had in the late winter through springtime are all gone (here).  We had a series of warm days which brought them out, followed by below freezing nights which killed them off.  Of course there had to be a trade-off, and it seems to be spiders in the house.  I leave them alone outside (unless they are right beside the outside doors), but the ones inside have to go.  They are fast !! And killing them means you have to watch where they have run to hide, and then swoop down with paper towel and squish.  Ugh.  Still, better than clumsy flying stink bugs.

 Here is a photo of the Highlander that caused so much trouble for a simple dead battery.  I should say, that jumping the battery let it start, but the low charge bollixed up the electronics, hence all the flashing lights on the control panel.  All OK so far.

N finished clearing out the office for the volunteer group he works with, his part was mainly providing the pickup truck to haul 10 years worth of c**p to the recycling/dump station.  It was amazing how much stuff there was - they even had supplies in the bathtub! - , and the group has moved into a smaller office with a small closet for storage, so the culling was ruthless.  Some of it was donated to various groups and organizations.  There were a large number of unmarked stick pens and DD took them to work, they constantly run out and have to scrounge, the pens can't have any logos, etc. on them, so most freebies are unusable.  I'm trying to think of what I can do with the zillion pencils, it would have been nice if an electric pencil sharpener had turned up.  I think a lady I know volunteers in an elementary school, I'll see if they want them.  We ended up with two rather battered plastic tubs, clean inside and cleanable outside, that I will use to store yarn (!) in.  I must not buy any more yarn until some of this is used.  Must.  Not.  Buy.  The knitting machine eats up an amazing amount yarn, once a project is started, so what I have is not completely out of reason.  Or so I tell myself.

LK-150

Bumper sticker for the day:  "The trouble with bucket seats is not everybody has the same size bucket."

Grumble grumble

This has been a totally wasted day.  It started off OK, DH went to "help out" a group for which he is on the board.  What was supposed to be a one day project has turned into 4 and counting.  So anyway, he comes home exhausted, showers, eats, relaxes for a while.  We decided we would go out to dinner, something we do every Friday if possible.  We even have a guest card, so we head for the Toyota  Highlander, and it wouldn't start.  This is a brand new car, one month old, 1000 miles, cost a damned fortune, and it won't start?  DH tried everything he knew to do, but to no avail.  So we troop inside the house and call the dealer.  Who says, all the mechanics have gone for the weekend, but we could go ahead and get it in now so it would have first priority on Monday.  DH says,Umm, OK, but exactly how am I to bring it in when it won't start?  She replies, tow truck, and then stops.  DH waits and says since you (the dealer) are paying for this, don't you have a preferred company, and I assume you can call them, yes?  She allows that she can arrange this (big sigh, such a hardship for her.)  So the tow truck comes, hoists the car up into the bed of the truck and off they go.

While we were waiting for the tow truck to finish up, husband asks if we can borrow son's car to go to dinner as it is 6:15 by now and no dinner in sight.  He says sure, and DH asks him for the keys.  Here is where the story diverges,  Son said he already handed his keys over to Dad, and Dad says he only looked at them and did not take them then.  Four adults spend 3 HOURS searching for the keys, including going down to the dealer to search the Highlander.  No keys.

We found a comb, a folding knife, a sock, several hankies, you get the idea, in the living room recliner.  No keys.  At 9 PM I give up and went to bed, and eventually the rest of the family did too.

I'll wait till tomorrow to finish this.

Sorry for the wait, but we have all taken third and fourth looks in all the places we looked before, and we cannot find the damn keys.  Resolve to get new set made later this week, and son can drive using the second (spare) set.  I am so frustrated.

 Bumper sticker for the day:  "I'm not a pessimist; I'm an optimist with experience."

Update to the update:  The keys were at the dealer's the whole time; the tow truck driver dropped them thru the "early bird" box, and the dealer went nuts trying to find a Subaru in the Toyota lot that needed service.  All's well that ends well...

 

Something to think about (in place of bumper sticker for the day):

  "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate and wine in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

 

This is where a post title would go if I could think of one.

I've been letting the old blog posting go by the wayside for a couple of weeks, which is because I can't think of anything to write.  So be forewarned, this post will be a little of this and a little of that.

We drove to the little town in Braxton county WV to see my aunt and uncle.  My aunt was feeling too bad to get out of bed, or even to talk to us; my uncle had a hard time tracking our conversation, probably due to fatigue.  We didn't stay long; DD got car sick on the way down, and so I rode in the back seat of the Toyota Highlander part of the drive down and then on the way home too.  It was my first time in the back, and there is a noticeable sway at highway speeds back there, although it didn't bother me.

This is the view of my back deck, you can see the pool (still closed) in the bottom left corner, and waaayy in the background on the right bottom corner you can see the white bathtub/horse waterer inside the fence.  It was a lovely day today, not too warm and a nice breeze.  We saw lots of squirrels, but no hummingbirds.  Yesterday the front lawn was the site of two Canadian geese with three goslings, on their way to the neighboring pond no doubt.  I scurried outside with the camera all poised, but they were gone by then.  I know lots of people regard them as a nuisance now, leaving huge amounts of droppings everywhere, like in parks and playgrounds, but they are still neat to see.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Back off !!  I have cats and I know how to use them."

Tinker's Damn

Wonder where "Not worth a tinker's damn" came from.  I bet I can look it up on Wikipedia, but I am not motivated enough.  Actually, I'm not motivated enough to do anything at all.  I want very much to fall asleep, but three times when I have managed to drop off, I have jumped up and barfed.  For my next attempt I am going to keep a small plastic pan (you know, the ones you carry home from the hospital) beside my bed.  It only seems to happen when I lay down, so I feel fine as long as I sit up.  Hence the reason I am posting here at 3 am.

Yesterday DH and I scrubbed down the big bathroom adjoining the master bedroom, it was a mess when we started.  The linoleum floor is awful, faded and with gouges and cuts in it, I have no idea how they got there.  It looks like we have been ice skating in there, them changing into golf spike  shoes and practicing the Irish fling.  Yeah, it's that bad.  But except for that, it looks very nice, and even the floor is nice and glossy where it isn't damaged.  Now I feel like I've been rode hard and put up wet.  By tomorrow I will be needing vicodin to soothe the aches and pains.

That's the trouble with housework, you do it once and then have to do it all over again in six months.

The whole family had a nice dinner out; not quite what I had planned for a belated anniversary dinner, but it was OK, (except for my problem in the first paragraph).  We all went in the Highlander, the first time we've had all four seats filled.  I have to say it rides fine, but it feels like it is 8 feet wide, pretty much like the pickup.  Which I also do not drive.  I'll have to get N to drive to an empty  shopping center and let me get the feel of the thing.  To give you an idea, the dash displays a camera view out the back end.  That's because the back end is sooooo far away.  I have been working on my driving skills for some months, so this is a setback for me.  I don't understand why I am so tense when I drive.  Until I retired 7 years ago (at 55), I drove everywhere in my little Miata.  But gradually I drove it less and less, each time having to jump it (boo hiss) and so we sold it.  I have developed an enormous fear of driving, mine and anyone else's, to the point of being sickly and sweaty as just a front seat passenger.  I don't know why.  I should probably go back to the therapist, but someone would need to drive me there...

I am planning to get another knitting machine, a "bulky" one to use with 5 and 6 weight yarn.  The one that looks the best is owned by one of the members on the Knitters Paradise forum that I read every day, usually.  I say that, but after answering my request for information on the particular machine, I have heard....nothing.  So frustrating.

The photo above shows the burgundy swap I sent to my April/May partner.  It is hard to photograph a dark color, but the background is a burgundy apron, then a bunch of stuff here and in another photo of all that I sent.  The concept for this swap is interesting, but I withdrew because I am tired of searching for things that match that month's color.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Dear Karma, I have a list of people that you have missed."

Zoom Zoom

I am back from FL and glad to be home, where I can veg out if needed.  The plane ride was ...interesting.  Going to FL on a 737 was great because in a plane that seats 140 ish flyers, there were only 30 or so passengers.  I got all three seats in the row behind the bulkhead seats.  On the return flight, there were around 130 passengers, and there was someone in the window seat while I was in the aisle, but we had the center seat for our purses, etc.  I was the first person on the plane too.  I flew Business Select, which in NOT first class (Southwest has no first class seats, it is open seating, where you can take any seat that is, well, open).  The ride home was pretty bumpy at take off and landing, the two times when I get white-knuckle hands.  But all was well.  Husband and son met me at Pittsburgh and we drove an hour to get home.  This was the only non-stop flight from here to there.

The day I returned was our 44th wedding anniversary, but I was too tired to go out to dinner.  DH had a nice chicken dinner in the crock pot, so that worked out well.  The next day I was so sore on my right side from carrying a HEAVY tote bag thru miles of airport that I had to take one of my pain pills, I'll have to find a better way next time.  I had checked my suitcase, even though it would have fitted in the overhead compartment, because I didn't want to hoist it over my head to get it in (or out).  I bought t-shirts for the kids, which they said were great, but then they would have said that if they were too small or in weird colors, I will probably never see them wearing them.

The cats literally threw themselves at me when I walked in the door, demanding pets and scratches right then.  They still had had 3 adult slaves to see to their demands while I was gone, but apparently that wasn't enough.  Now, of course, they completely ignore me.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "I'll procrastinate tomorrow."