Spring time back home in Kansas.

I wonder if I will ever be old enough that I do not miss Springtime in Kansas.  Oh, I love Spring here where I am at in eastern Colorado, but it is not the same.  When I had Bret back when he was smaller I used to plan trips back home over Spring Break.  Sadly those days are over, but not my missing the Lilacs, Spirea, Iris, and the cool spring rains that brought all that to fruition.  I would leave here as soon as school let out on Friday.  Saturday morning would find us headed East.  A short stop in Lakin and then on to Donna's house.

My sister, Donna, has a big house with a full basement and two bedrooms along with a bathroom and a shower.  So that was home for the week.  In the front yard is a tree that I forget what it is called, but it would be in full bloom preparatory to throwing down some sort of big seed covered with sharp thorns.  Hutchinson is very temperate most of the time and in the springtime it clothes itself in a floral cloak just for me!  Forsythia, Spirea, Lilac, Iris, Tulip trees, Catalpa, Redbud, Hyacinth, Maple.  Hutchinson is very humid and my skin thrives on it.  At least it does most of the time.

Donna and Karen own Skaets Steak Shop.  Skaets is Steaks spelled backwards and has been in our blood since I started working there when I was 17 years old.  I was the dishwasher at the time and when I moved back after having my kids and divorcing my husband, I waited tables.  Skaets sets right on the main entrance to the fairgrounds, so best not to go in the first week of September.

Needless to say, they have very good food.  This is son Tommy choking down a Moon Burger.  It is one of their specialties.  It is a cheeseburger with bacon.  Bacon makes everything taste better.

But we are not here for the food.  We are here for the scenery, the trip down memory lane, and to just leave Colorado behind for a week.  I usually go check out the 2 fishing holes I used to frequent.  Maybe next time I will climb up the levee and visit the Arkansas River where I used to take the kids wading.  We would stop at B & D Carry out and get a box of burgers which was 8 hamburgers and french fries, all for one dollar.  Probably was not the healthiest meal in town but it fed the 6 of us and we liked it.

I have only a few friends left in Hutchinson.  I do have a nephew and 2 nieces.  Oh, and 2 cousins, Darrell and Steven.  I think that is about it.

All this talk of Kansas is just making me homesick.  Rest assured, Colorado is my home now and I have no intentions of moving back there, but I do have fond memories of Hutchinson and Nickerson.  I married my first, second and third husbands in Hutchinson.  Four, five and six, were all Coloradans.  I owned my home in Hutch, but gave it back to my mother when I left.  It has now been torn down and an apartment complex covers the lot.   I have lived in 3 different houses in Pueblo. I have been in this house 37 years and figure I will just do the toes up thing here.  Maybe.  Lord only knows what I may run in to out there in the real world.  Have to be pretty special to make me look twice and poke out that ring finger, but I digress.

Time to get ready for church.  Sunday is the one day that I make no commitments and I think I will keep it that way.  Just sort of drift with the flow and take a long nap while watching the cooking shows.

Peace!

It's 4 in the morning and once more the dawning.....

It seems like I do my very best thinking early in the morning.  The clarity with which I can see the world at 3:30 or 4:00 AM is almost blinding.  My house is a wreck.  I thought it was Bret and Amanda that were the messy ones, but I have since discovered that it is I!  There is no one here but me and these animals and yet the place looks like it was struck by a hurricane, and it very well could have been.  So yesterday I decided it is time to take control of the situation.  I decided that I spend way to much time on this computer, so I am going to limit the social aspect of the Internet.  I have lost contact with several of my "e buddies" so there is no reason to keep copies of our correspondence. 

So, first goes the guy from Vermont or where ever he was actually from.  Idle curiosity made me weigh that file.  One and one half pounds!  That is a lot of paper wasted.  I thought about reading it, but opted to just toss it in the recycle bag.  I do confess I may have leaked a little tear on that one, but life goes on.  I am sure the demise of that friendship was all his fault.  Then I picked up the one from Gino.  But he is still my friend.  We correspond on a very irregular basis, but I know he is there.  Niagara Falls.  I will probably drop him a line this week.  But Wayne, Steve, and the interminable list of "one week stand's" are lost to me.  I do keep my little Amy in a special file on the computer and I will not lose touch with her.  Alex is a 3 minute job a couple times a week.  So my butterfly days are over.  Unless somebody really interesting pops up on the horizon.

Now eBay.  That is a vital part of my livelihood, so that has to stay.  But I will henceforth hold myself to a schedule.  I will do all my listing in the evening from 4-6.  I will still answer questions through the day when they arise.  I will do the packing and mailing thing early in the afternoon so it can go in the mailbox by 4.  This will work very well except when eBay surprises me with free listings or penny listings.  So I have to add, unless eBay changes my pattern.

The blogs will be taken care of early in the morning.  Like now.  I will stop rambling and keep them short and concise!  I will keep a list beside the desk of things I want to write about.  And I will adhere to that list.  Unless something comes up that I really must address like a spider making a web over there in the window on the outside and I am afraid it will come inside so I have to watch it. 

Oh, and then there is the yard to maintain, geese to take care of, garden to till and plant, seed catchers to make, newsletters to write, people to take care of, visitors to entertain, cookies to make, dogs to walk, lunch with Phyllis, and that nap thing in the afternoon.  I guess we will just see how commited I am to this getting a handle on things.  First I better make a list.  And get ready, Lisa, Dorothy, Tina, and Tommy, because I am going to tell secrets on your mother in the very near future.  I just been thinking about her and this will make you laugh!

Well, surprising as it may seem, I have once more gotten off track.  So I am going to get with the program and take 2 steps over to that desk and throw away the floppy disks I have been saving since 1994.  I will make you proud!