Leaping lizards!

OK, I have tried to think about what to write here, and for now I am stuck (writer's block) so ah ha! I have figured out how to get my keyboard to sing, and that is to have this itty bitty post as a place holder.  Once I can come up with topics, anything, I will append it here.  I mean, how many times will I get to say "Happy New Leap Day."  I want to do something, write something, special.  Bye for now...

I went to see my new family doctor and and went over all the stuff in my file.  I am really
tired of having to dredge up the dates and who and what they were.  My memory wasn't very cooperative today and I felt like I needed remedial memory retrieve work.  But maybe getting my meds straightened out will point us in the right direction, I hope.  Meanwhile when my family asks me questions  I can say I don't remember.  Period..    Sometimes I remember the answer the next day, oh well. I resolve to beat myself up before going and writing details, and take it with me so I won't feel so scatter brained.  After all, I have 9 doctors, from B to W, And I don't see some of them more than once a year.) 

 

When making out your tax return , it's better to give than to deceive.

You would think that after 12 or 15 years of doing the income taxes I would be able to whiz right through them.  But our elected representatives in their infinite wisdom have in a major way amended the tax laws again, boo hiss.  Sigh.  Too bad bitching doesn't burn calories.

The temp hereabout has slowly crept up, but my enjoyment of it is blunted because the stinkbugs have slowly crept up too.  Horrible icky bugs, which are at least slow and they like to climb the walls which makes them easy to see.  If only they didn't fly (poorly) we could leave them to the cats, who occasionally get one on the floor what great fun.  The smell doesn't seem to faze them.

When I grew up in Miami FL I had a horror of cockroaches.  Palmetto bugs some people call them, because if you peel back a layer of a coconut palm tree you will find a nest of them, too gross to even think about.  They can grow to several inches in length, and are also half of that in width, and are flyers.  At night I could hear if there were one in the bedroom, their legs making clicker sounds, and I had to get up right then turn on the lights and search it out.  When N and I shared a bedroom at Mom's house (after our marriage, I hasten to add) I shrieked when I saw one in our suitcase.  N said (a little condescendingly, I thought) "I'll take care of it".  And when he lifted the top piece of clothing, there it was.  He let out a shriek to match mine, jumped back and dropped the clothing back into the suitcase, and said "THAT'S a roach??!!"  And I split before it could get between me and the door, and let N take care of it.  I've never seen a roach here in WV in the house, and very few outside as well.  But just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't there...

This blog post is not the interesting and cheerful one I like to think I mostly make.  I read an article in BlogHer.com that lists suggested topics when the old brain stalls, and it was all either things I am not qualified to comment on (like,bragging on your beautiful granddaughter) or there are the ever-present  memes, the motivational ones that are less than "cool and empowering" and more like "condescending and trite" particularly the ones aimed at readers who are struggling with depression, etc.  So I will end this for today, wishing all of you an enjoyable day.

Bumpersticker for the day:  "Life is short.  Smile while you still have teeth."

Valentine's day

Yum!  I got three hearts filled with candy, and 3 Dozen roses (red, yellow and pink) And they are very fresh and have some fragrance. The cats have been very well behaved and leave the roses alone.  I have given up trying to get Family Tree Maker to work on the MacBook Air, I am not sure why it doesn't work; it is the way I set up FTM on the MacBook all those years ago, but not currently.  I can't run the FTM for MAC, because the version of the OS (El Capitan) is not functional, the blurbs on the box notwithstanding. And the partition for Windows seems to come and go.  Ah well, not a terrible crisis.

We got 8 inches of snow last week, I am so tired of winter.  I haven't been out of the house since my doctor's appointment last Monday.  Partly it is due to the ice on the driveway, and partly due to my nerves once we are underway.  If you try and leave space between yourself and the car ahead of you, another car will zip past us and get between in the "buffer" space.  I've got 4 wheel drive, and snow tires, so I can zoom along as if there were dry pavement, right?  Mutter mutter.

Old barn + old horse

Tonight the temp was 2 degrees, and I want to see that end too.  I love love the heated tack room in the barn, so the water is still liquid, and the hose works too.  Back when we had the old barn, we had to haul buckets of water from the bathroom.  Sometimes we had to fill each one twice, because they would drink the first bucket dry immediately.  And the stalls were open at the front, brrrr.  The new barn is pretty good looking, even from the road.

new barn

Time for bed again.
Bumper sticker:  "The last time I reached for the stars I pulled a muscle"

Winter moving into spring

Well. Old man winter has paid us another visit.  It is about 8 inches of snow as near as we can tell.  I hope this is the last of the snow, the state plows usually come through once maybe tomorrow.  I have been extra careful when I come and go in the Highlander.  Last year I fell and slid under the car which was running at the time and this winter I have practiced getting in and out.  I hate this toyota I didn't want it then and I sure do not want it now.  N asked if I liked it, there on lot.  I said "no"  and he went ahead and and bought it,  I have driven it once.  For 16 years I had my own car,  well, 3 Miatas:   a 1996, a 1999, and a 2002.  But once I retired the 2002 sat in the garage and any time I wanted to take it, the battery was dead.  Finally we sold it for a not-too-great amount, I couldn't stand to watch the guy drive away.  We still have the pickup truck, it probably gets driven about 7 times a year and it needs to be jumped every time too; why not trade it in instead of the Miata?

I've got to admit the Highlander goes better in the snow.  We can't drive a little bitty Miata,when the snow is higher than the car,  Not to mention it is rear wheel drive.

I watched the DVD for "Riddick" this afternoon which is pretty dated, but I liked it.  I couldn't get it to run on my computer (not a Blu Ray), It would play on the gigantic TV, but if a movie is gory, it is a lot easier to look away and turn the sound down when the screen is 7".  I know I am a wuss when it comes to decapitation, sharp machete and so on, but I just look away.  In the end I watched it on my little MacBook Air, now that I got a CD/DVD player for it.  One for Mac, 0 for PC.

We've been looking at the latest catalog for nursery plants.  How do they always arrive on a dreary snowy day?  So for we have narrowed a tree down to either a weeping cherry or one other whose name escapes me.  I will plant this in honor of Suzanne, who died last fall.  She always loved the blooms on everything,  When I was down in FL the last time, she showed me a night blooming cercus that only blooms at night with a fragrant bloom which dies in the morning. I miss her .

Bumper Sticker for the day:  "Honk if you love Jesus.  Text if you want to meet him."

Not very cold here

...But we got 20 inches of snow.  It is hard to know where to measure, with drifted and scoured snow, but checking here and there that is the estimate for this storm.  Luckily the follow-up rain hasn't materialized yet, making everything not completely clear into ice.

I am feeling a little cabin fever-ish right now, but I got some new yarn yesterday in the mail from Turkey, a dark heather gray color, to make a scarf along with a lacey pattern in cameo pink on the reverse side.  I finally gave up on the decorated hat, it was too complicated for me at this stage of my knitting ability.  The pink and the gray should make the pattern stand out on both sides.

The colic-y horse Willie is back on regular rations and seems all over his colic .  The farrier came yesterday and said his hooves look great, even, uncracked, and he was not even sore on the right hind leg (the horse, not the shoer) which he sometimes resists having it picked up.  Usually that is really the left hind that is sore (and has to take all the weight when the right side is picked up) but either way the bute (horse aspirin) given the day before seems to do the trick.  Both horses got wormed (ick) as they do every 8 weeks when the shoer comes, and though the winter blankets and winter coats make them look like Mongolian ponies, they are warm and, under the blankets, clean.  My very first horse, all those years and years ago, was a palomino, and I kept him clean and groomed every day.  I boarded for a while at the stables in Golden Gate Park, and when I washed his white mane, and dried it with a blow dryer,we never failed to attract a crowd.  Old times.  He was 22 when he died.  I miss Poco still.

 Thought for the day:  "Lottery:  A tax on people who are bad at math."

Poco

 

 

 

 

 

Blizzard?

Well,the forecast is for 8 to 12 inches of new snow beginning this afternoon; and every function in the area for this weekend has been canceled.  I wonder what a wedding scheduled for the weekend will do?  And I can't help remembering the time when John Rockefeller was governor here in WV and a huge snowfall was predicted.  He called for the National Guard, canceled all the state and university activities, and we got zip.  After that, snow could be 4 feet drifted and he wouldn't call anything off.  Once bitten...

DH was at the grocery store yesterday to pick up 2 items, and never thought to get milk or orange juice (a vital necessity) and thus he went out this morning.  They were restocking the milk when he got there, the crowds he dreaded were nowhere to be seen, the shelves were pretty depleted and all the snow shovels had been sold out.  I think we should buy milk every time we are in the store, we will never run out!  The other big item everyone stocks before a storm is, you guessed it, bathroom paper.  We are fortunately OK there, as it was sold out except for weird brands and single Scott rolls.

Best of all, both DD and DS have today off, as the storm should be OK to go to work, but a mess to get home.  We even got a call from the pharmacy to make sure all our (many) scripts are filled in case the roads are impassable.  Do you think they would refill my hydrocodone pills?  No, I don't think so either.

I am doing the never ending task of laundry today, hoping we don't lose the power.  I was in the shower one evening and the power went out.  It is dark in there!  And my hair was all soapy so I couldn't just step out.  I keep a flashlight nearby now, just in case history repeats itself.

My birthday is soon, I got my driver's license renewed last week, and I don't even recognize myself in the photo.  I forgot to tip my glasses up and so my eyes look like Orphan Annie from the flash making a white spot on the lenses.  My jacket hood is visible on one side, and makes me look hunchbacked.  And worst of all, my double chin shows!  Sigh...

Thought for the day:  " Who needs a spring chicken when you can have a well-seasoned bird?"

This is your brain on chocolate

 

  All the Christmas candy is GONE!  Even the fruitcake! Who could have eaten it all? (Burp).

I was sure that I had written another post in January, but it only seems to reside in my brain, and not here.  So I will get something down today before all you lovely people will be reduced to reading cereal boxes (my nearest competitor).

Last week we had a new crisis.  C went out to feed the horses and came running back to the house to tell us Willie (24 year old gelding) was colic-ing.  He was cast in his stall (laying so close to the wall that he couldn't get his legs under him to stand up).  We un-cast him ( a simple (!!) matter of flipping him upside down) but he had sweated so much his blanket literally dripped.  We stripped that off and put on a dry one, and began the tedious business of walking him round and round to keep him on his feet.  I had some injectable smooth muscle relaxing med to keep him comfortable (well...) and we dosed him with mineral oil to ease things along, so to speak, until the vet came.  The vet gave him several different meds and listened to his gut sounds until he could hear normal rumbles.  He was here around an hour, and the bill was $$$, but the alternative was a horse that rolled until his gut twisted, and that equals a dead horse.  Post treatment he has recovered well, although he is on a no-grain regimen.  Horses are really poorly engineered, one whose only defense is to run away, and to have no way to vomit or even burp, so everything has to exit at the rear of the bus.  We will never know the cause of this - did the casting come before or after the colic?  I really don't think he has ever done this before, and since he was born here I have a pretty good handle on his medical history.  We'll just have to keep an eye on him closely until springtime.  Don't you wish you had horses?

We have been having snow showers the last few days, and it is snowing now.  I have a different attitude about snow than I did when I was a teenager growing up in Miami FL.  All I wanted was to be able to play in it, and when I was in college in SC that is what we did.  Now, though, I understand what people meant when they said, you haven't driven in it.  I am a total chicken, and not having to work means we can postpone appt and non-critical trips indefinitely.  And of course there is worrying about R and C having to drive in it.  I should be glad that this little snow is the most we have had so far this winter.  All the trees and flowers are confused, and several have started to bloom (forsythia, cherry, and the hosta is starting too) so I don't know if they will bloom again in the spring, or is this it for the year?

Thought for the day:  "Oh, no!  Not ANOTHER  learning experience!"

Afters

We had a very nice Christmas, not because of the gifts, but for the peace of having all four of us sit down to a great meal, with no one rushing off to do something else.  Yesterday it was back to work (for son and daughter) and back to the routine of laundry, grocery shopping, etc. for us.  I have been playing with my toy, a KitchenAid mixer, I have ordered a cookbook (which I really don't need) that uses the mixer, which apparently can do anything except get up and dance, I guess.  It is (of course) bright red.  And very heavy.

I did finally get the cards done, on Christmas day in fact.  Anyone who knows me would be unsurprised I am sure.  Meanwhile we received 2 cards, not counting those from politicians.  I guess few people do the Christmas card thing anymore.  It's OK.

We lost one of our barn cats today, she was around 17, and died in her sleep right where she always lies.  It wasn't unexpected, she had been ranging around the neighborhood for the last weeks or so, totally unlike her usual habit of staying right in the garage or the barn (less so).  I was afraid she would just disappear and we would never find her, but this is better.  Her name was White.

We didn't have any snow for the holiday, but last night there was a rip-snorting wind storm.  The house cats all hid (in their usual places) until things quieted down around midnight.   I'm not so brave in a windstorm myself; a holdover from growing up in Hurricane Alley.  In the morning we can see a ton of branches down that will have to be piled up for the next brushy fire.  Some of the neighbors were out with their chain saws, do you suppose they were Christmas gifts? 

Back to dinner prep, hope everyone out there has a safe holiday Thursday night.
Thought for the day:  "I suffer from Compulsive Indecisive Disorder.  I don't know what I want but I know that I want it now!"

Almost there

All of the gifts have arrived (the ones I and DH bought) and they are wrapped even and then under the tree.  It looks very festive.  The only gift that has not come yet is an office chair for our son.  If it comes before the projected delivery date of Dec. 28th I will be very happy, but if not, then so be it, we can get it later.

We also gave folding green to various people and to the red kettle ringers.  We donate it all at once instead of a dollar here, and fiver there, etc.  There aren't as many kettles this year, fewer volunteers I guess.

We have received no Christmas cards yet, unless you count the one from Rosalyn and Jimmie Carter. I think it was seeking donations to Habitat for Humanity, but there are far more good organizations (and I include this) than there is money to spread around.  I'll work on sending our cards out this weekend, all 8 of them.  I write notes in all of them, which is why it takes a fairly long time.

Thought for the day:  "Merry Christmas!"

P.S.  It's snowing...

Hello Santa

Well, not entirely, yet, but I am getting there.  If UPS and FedEx come through for me, we have all the shopping done.  Today we went by Belk's (Large-ish department store) to get electric blankets for R and C, but they only had them in queen and King sizes, no Twin ones at all.  So I came home and ordered them on-line.  I'm willing to support local (sort of) merchants, but if they can't restock quickly at this time of year, it is no wonder that people resort to online buying.  I wish I could have felt the ones I ended up ordering, but I just ordered a well known brand, and hope for the best.

It was 71 here today before the rain started, this on Dec. 14th!  Will we have a winter at all this year? I guess if I had my druthers it would be for snow on Dec 24th and gone by Dec 26th.  Just enough to have a white Christmas.  But we shall see.

I am writing this on my MacBook Air, and the keys are really small.  But that is no excuse for this to auto-correct my spelling every other word.  I liked it better when the questionable words were underscored and then you corrected them after you were done with the paper.  It is especially annoying when it wants (if you can say an inanimate object wants anything) to change the word entirely to another word.  I can remember when (here we go...) cash registers just added up the total, whereas now they calculate the amount of change to give back too.  This is because the checkers couldn't count from the amount due how much change was due.  Like, the total came to 16.50 and they handed you a $20, you would count, here are two quarters, that's $17, and then 3 singles, and that equals $20.  Hand the customer $3.50 and you were done.  Now the registers show the change due, and what with coupons, specials, credit cards, and so on, is it any wonder the checkers have job related stress?  When I manned a register, we had to make up any shortfall out of our own money, which certainly gave us the incentive to get it right.  Granted, it isn't rocket science, but now we have self-checkout lines at the grocery store, so checkers aren't needed at all.  I never use the self-serve, I feel like I am cheating someone out of a job.

Enough grimness.

The house cats have been amazingly well behaved with the decorations, etc.  not even a single ornament batted off the tree.  So far.  No one felt much like doing the decorating, but we all  plugged at it a bit at a time until it was done.  Now it looks quite festive.  Only 11 more days.

I will be 65 in January, and thus obligated to begin Medicare.  I have gotten a ton of mail offering medigap insurance, which I don't need or want.  Straight into the trash.  Sometimes I wish for a trashcan right at the curb, to save having to carry it inside and fill up the trash can in  here.  I really don't need the daily reminders of my "coming of age" this time, either.

Thought for the day:  "Support the economy -- buy a congressman!"

It's beginning to look like a lot like....

Christmas.  I enjoy the day itself, seeing how much everyone is pleased with what I picked out, eating lots of yummy foods.  What I hate is shopping for Christmas, even when done on-line.  I depend on catalogs, mostly, and ask the family to pick out something they would like.  This is not foolproof; last year I bought DD a cute cat hoodie and a poncho, neither of which have seen the light of day since, but she picked them out, so I am not at fault...

We re-arranged the living and dining rooms, moved big stuff to the storage room, and now have a nicer place for our tree.  Also I bought five new house plants, about 10 of mine have died over the last 2 years, and the plant stands were looking mighty bare.  I got young, small, plants that I am familiar with, so hopefully that will mitigate the fact that they are starting in the late fall instead of the spring. I'll post a photo when I get the camera out, in the daylight (it is now nearly dark).  I'd like to do a "before" and an "after" of the dining room, once the plants have matured somewhat.

I have been using the MacBook 13.3 that is being replaced by this MacBook Air.  I try to ignore the horrible smell that it has, popularly known as bad BO.  There are pages of sites on line discussing the cause, how to fix, how NOT to fix, and general support for those of us who have these smelly items.  It is the keyboard that stinks, and not the battery or the case.  If I used it in a public place I am sure I would be asked to leave.  Either that, or prominently display a sign that says "IT ISN'T ME!"  My husband walked past me while I was typing and said how he just took a shower but now he stinks.  I told him it is the MacBook, and he just rolled his eyes.

The temp here is in the 30s, the horses are in the barn, mainly because the recent rains have made the outside footing too slippery for these geriatric beasts.  No blankets yet, it is still too warm for heavy blankies.  Maybe next week.

Last words (for today):  "If God had wanted me to touch my toes, He would have put them on my thighs."

Almost Christmas

I would like to say that I am ready for the big day; or at least some percentage done, but the truth is that I have yet to buy the first present, and no idea what I will get when I finally shop.  Last year I did everything on-line, but I don't have a clue for that either.  Hopefully the children (now in their 30s) will give us a list soon.  They both say they don't want anything.

The main distraction from Christmas tasks is that we have been feeling less than festive, what with the funerals these last 10 weeks.  I haven't even managed to update my new Mac Air, and I had planned to take it to my uncle's house the next time we visited, (to look through the genealogy file) too late now.  The only thing I did right is that the last time we visited I took (candid) photos of both of them, almost the only pictures of my uncle, who had an aversion to being photographed.  I love them both, there is a hollow space in my heart from their loss.

We rented a storage site, to help with sorting our possessions into "keep"  ("donate" and "pitch").  The pitch ones are in the garage right now, they will go into the truck for a trip (or trips) to the landfill.  I feel bad, but there is so much that is far outdated.  All the computers and peripherals will go to a reclamation site for recycling, but the rest will just be pitched.  When we stripped out the old barn when the new barn was finished, we rented a dumpster for a month.  When they came to pick it up, the contents were above the top and had to be-positioned before they would take it away.  Where does this all come from??!!  Of course, we buy it, and then don't throw out the earlier version.

Thought for the day :  "I can't be over the hill, I'm too tired to climb up."

Nancy

This morning, early, my Aunt Nancy passed.  It was not unexpected, she has been very ill for several months, still, it is a grief time again.

This has been a lousy month.

Thought for the day:  "Win, lose or draw, we'll always be your number one fan."

A tweak here, assorted changes, bet you can't tell...

I changed the font here, from gray to black, and from 14 to 12 in size.  I have been finding it difficult to read what I write, and this should help.  I wanted a certain font that I saw on Word, but it wasn't on the roster of fonts, so no go there.  Hope this all makes it easier to read for all of you visitors too.

When I got my new computer (HP) it came with a keyboard, but I continued to use the old one.  BUT, the old one had a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't for the space bar (why not for the "Q" key?) so I switched out for the new keyboard.  It is much shorter than the one it replaced, which gives me more space on my desktop.

I have been struggling with my MacBook Air, and although I called Small Dog Electronics (where I bought the Mac from, last week!), they apparently don't do gratis troubleshooting over the phone; they charge $50 for every half hour.  No thank you.  I got in a terrible mess for passwords on iCloud and start-up passwords, I changed my password dozens of times, apparently successfully, and yet each time I tried to log on, it wanted me to "confirm my identity" over and over.  I ran out of passwords after about 12 changes, because it wouldn't allow any password that has been used in the last year -- sheesh!  Finally in desperation I re-formatted the flash drive, and carefully selected a total of 3 passwords for all the various steps in the software.  Even if I mess up again, there are only 3; I know one of three will be the right one.  And yes, I wrote them down.  Does anyone really attempt to remember all the passwords at all the sites?

We finally heard from Cousin Airhead, who referred to himself as a knucklehead, so I wasn't far off.  My aunt (his mother) is in fact at home, and we will go to see her next weekend, before winter makes problems somewhere along the trip.  I'm not sure if she will remember us, but this visit is more for us, I'm not sure she will last through the winter, and I want to say goodbye.  A little morbid.  It will be rough, the first time since my uncle passed that he won't be at the door to welcome us.  I doubt if we continue bringing flowers (silk) to the graves of my parents, aunt, and sister, it is a long way to go just to change the arrangements.  Maybe once a year?

 It is 4:30 here and I am back to bed.  Goodnight to all.

Thought for the day:  "Young at heart; slightly older in other places."

Better late than never

I did a big splurge and bought a MacBook Air, looking to replace the 10-year-old macbook Pro.  I got a refurbished one, to hold the price down.  When I bought the macbook 10 years ago I did the same, and the only reason for replacing it now is that new releases of software refuse to work with such an old OS.  I have fiddled with this long enough that I can safely say it isn't a do-it-yourself project.  Maybe the next blogpost will be from there.  Whoa!  Crisis!  Back here in bit.

Why do I do this stuff?

Hello to all

I have been fiddling with this blog template for hours to do a very simple job.  Namely, I needed to find a new blog counter when the previous one disappeared.  I have done this before; blog counters tend to come and go, but damned if I can remember how to do it.  For now I will leave well enough alone, even the part that says, "There have been XXX visitors" that isn't above the counter itself.  Maybe another day.  I took several HTML classes through my work, but that was 9 years ago or more, and stuff you don't use tends to disappears, too.

An on-line friend is very ill, and I am sending good thoughts and hugs her way, that she will be able to go home soon.  If wishes could come true...  Update:  She died, her family are in mourning.  I nearly deleted her address, to avoid the word that she had passed.

Thought for the day:  "May you have warm words on a cold day, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door."

Falling leaves and me

Yes, I fell again, this time in the house.  I was walking around the end of the couch when I stumbled and then wheee, going down.  I managed to (sort of) land on the couch, because the alternative was tumbling down the flight of stairs.  I'm very wary of the stairs, especially if I am carrying something and cannot grip the banister..  I understand  my elders saying, "youth is wasted on the young".  I now have a lovely blue-black-green batch of bruises. 

I now have I clear desktop, I could not believe how much paperwork had accumulated.  And the attic!!  Our new years resolution (in October) is put NOTHING in the attic, but bring everything down over a  period of time, sort out what is worth keeping and take it to a storage rental place.  Leave the attic empty.  If we cannot manage some of what is up there, hire a hauler to take it away.  I know there is a crib, baby chair, etc., that will have to be pitched because they don't meet new (25+ years) safety regs.  And there are tons of textbooks (might need them someday!) as well as fiction, old yearbooks, etc.  I swear they pop up in there, dark and undisturbed.

Daughter and I cruelly pinned down the long-haired cat today and clipped  a fair amount of her hair off.  Not really cruel, we sedated her (vet supplied), but she never really got sleepy enough to do her stomach.  She now hates us, at least for long enough to forget her indignity.  And she looks ridiculous.  But for the most part mat-less.

Quote for the day:  "Someday your prince will come.  Mine took a wrong turn, got lost and won't ask for directions."

Frustrated

I probably should not have called him Airhead; He is more like light-minded when it comes to keeping everyone in the loop about my aunt.  I don't know if he has a facebook page or a simple web page.  It is just that we haven't heard from him since Sept 16 and I want to know (lightly, not every little detail) how his mom is faring.  To lose contact only to hear that she has passed would be sad.  Maybe a quick phone call to us?

I made a loaf of  bread for my neighbor.  She had sent us a big 'ole apple pie still warm from the over, delish.  But she uses Truvia to sweeten her baked goods, which is fine, but for sending bread, it has to have sugar for the yeast to rise; there is 3 T in the entire loaf.  It smelled so good while it was baking and rose perfectly, hope she likes it.

N used the pressure washer on the winter horse blankets, huge chunks of debris washed off. One blanket has a huge rip in it; I think we will pitch it and use the new one I ordered several years ago.  After all, what am I saving it for?  If one is destroyed I have several (damaged) ones to  tide us over for the 3-5 days it will take for a new one to come.

Thought for the day: " A paper cut is a tree's final revenge."

Trivial

I decided to switch to a new family doctor, after the current one left me without any information related to the large amount of lab work he had done.  His nurse said his evaluation of the results were that they were "acceptable".  That was it.  Acceptable.  What does that even mean??

Anyway we will see how this doctor does; so far so good.

We have lost touch with my uncle's son (AKA Airhead) after the funeral.  When we call the house there is no answer, not even a machine, and I don't have the number for Airhead who lives next door.  Finally sent a snail mail to them and it got returned for insufficient postage.  I'm sure they spent more than 22 cents returning it to me.  So I sent another note off today, not too big, not too small but like Goldilocks' porridge, just right.  I predict they will ignore us, but at least we made the effort.  Airhead's wife seems OK, but I have only met her once before the funeral.  I wouldn't have recognized either of them if we passed in the street.  I know where she works, we could go that way if I want to be thorough.  But reason me this; how many people would need to be updated on my aunt's condition?  Anyone in town would know as soon as it happened, and out of town there is us, and some nephews in Ohio.  So maybe 3 phone calls or maybe 4.  Doesn't seem to be an undue stress.

Our son is back on full duties at work, although he calls for help if he has to load/unload some of the big items.  Our daughter is on jury duty, US Federal, most likely drug cases.  The drawback is that the court is 40 miles away, and she will get caught in the rush hour traffic which is more trudge hour traffic.  Still, it is interesting, at least for a while.  I've had jury duty several times, here and in San Francisco, but the "call this number every day after 5 pm" to hear if you are needed the next day, that part is a bummer.  When I worked in a lab, it meant I couldn't start any multi-day experiments because I never knew if I would get called on day 2 of the prep.  My boss was less than thrilled, as I remember it.

I got a neat mug made on Shutterfly, and I chose a template that holds 12 photos.  I used photos of 12 of our cats, 5 are still alive, the rest have passed .  There are still 8 or 10 more (this is a 45 year span of time, we aren't hoarders), all have passed, but I will need to dig through old boxes of non-digital photos to find them all, if possible.  I'll post photos when I get the set done.  I can't remember the next word I want to use, but I remember all of their names.

T shirt for the day:  "If we're not meant to have midnight snacks, why is there a light in the fridge?"

The bee's knees

I wish the topics covered here were the end of any given subject, but some drag on and on.  For instance, my son's broken leg, caused by DS stepping backward off the tailgate of a big box truck while wrestling with 8 foot tables.  There were weeks of post surgery therapy, and now weight bearing  for short trips.  We are trying not to ask him to do all the things he did before, but he is so good natured, he doesn't complain  and there is so much to do before winter.

For example, sealing the driveway.  We had a lovely asphalt driveway installed last year, with specific instructions about NOT using salt or whatever to help when the driveway is slippery and new.  So, only kitty litter.  This year we can use salt, once the driveway is sealed.  We contacted someone to do this, but they never even submitted a an estimate, only measured the size.  So, we did it ourselves for around $XXX, that's the cans of sealer and a squeegee, and the cost of two sets of  clothes that went in the trash immediately after use.  It looks nice.

We found a small engine repair place for working on the Powerwagon.   It is 40 miles away, but we will give it a shot, we must have the wagon to clean the stalls this winter, when it is too cold to leave the beasts outside.  We need to get shavings delivered too, but for now just having the wagon for stall cleaning would be heavenly.

I have put this off and filled this post with trivia to avoid having to acknowledge my loss.
We were planning to go to see my aunt and uncle this weekend, but it didn't work out.  I feel especially bad because my uncle died on Saturday; they life-flighted him to
Charleston and he died en-route.  I can hardly give credence to the thought he is gone; it was my aunt who has been in hospice care and bedridden  for weeks now.  We went to the viewing/funeral , and not only were we the youngest, we were the only direct relative to attend; the rest were church members, etc.  In all, there are 3 cousins who couldn't come.  I felt very strange, he looked much younger than 85.  He died on his birthday.  I find I myself thinking of all he did as the youngest of his generation.  But what I mainly remember is when we hugged as we were leaving and he whispered, "I love you".  There aren't many left to say that to me.

Thought for the day:  "If nothing ever changed, there would be be no butterflies."