Never let your right hand know what your left hand is doing,

My mother always said that to me.  I do not know how many times that has popped into my head in my lifetime.  When I was younger and sometimes thought of doing something that I knew was wrong, that would run through my mind.  Try as I might, I could never make it work.  I fell in with a girl who shoplifted.  Sadly, her mother had taught her how.  I thought that was sad, but here was a mother who explained that the stores had lots of money, lots of products and they would never miss just one, or two.  I never asked my mother if this was right or wrong, but I did reason that if my right hand did not know what my left hand was doing that it was alright.  And her mother was an adult and adults knew stuff.

Sadly, her father also made homebrew and stored it in the cellar with the door wide open.  I think I was probably 16 at the time.  It was after I had lived with my grandma so I did not feel as connected to my family as I probably should have.  Grandma had died.  Great Grandma had moved to Southwest Kansas with her daughter and I was just sort of cut adrift.  So I was easy prey for someone who showed me a little attention.  My friends father always went to Hutch to gamble on the weekends, so the cellar was free game for whatever we wanted to do, which was to get drunk.  Get drunk and steal stuff.  I probably spent a year or so in that rut before I decided that it was a dead end party.

Time passed and I married, became a mother, divorced, remarried, and divorced several more times.  Some  where along the years I decided to pull my head out of my ass and become a decent human being.  I also became independent and learned to think for myself.  Stealing was wrong.  Drinking to oblivion was wrong.  Lying was wrong.  Hard work and honesty became a mantra that I was comfortable with and rather enjoyed.  I had always known about God and was baptized when I was 12 years old.  Looking back over my life I decided that I actually needed to wash all the sin away again.  So I did.

Now, the secrets I keep are just between me and God and they are mostly good ones.  I sometimes hand  money to someone just because.  My car is usually full of stuff to take to the migrant center.  When I buy groceries I purchase extra for the food banks around town.  I like to visit with the homeless.  I would bring them home with me, but I am afraid my kids would commit me.  I keep secrets from myself.  I just think that "but for the grace of God, there goes me."

My life is good.  My finances are fairly stable and I am mostly happy.  Sometimes I wonder just where this will all end.  Hopefully I can just not wake up some morning.  I do not want to get old and senile.  I do not want to have my diaper changed by one of my kids, but I guess what ever will be will be.  You know, the "Que sera, sera" thing.

As I set here at my desk, I have a cat on my lap, a dog at my feet and a cup of cold coffee to sip from.  Yep, life is good!  

So it is off to Los Pobres in my new car.

So I got a new (to me) car and what better way to break it in than to go by Nancy Martin's and pick up a load of stuff Ross Barnhart had ear marked for Los Pobres.  I had about decided that it would take 2 trips when Ross showed up and taught me how to cram it full!

This is the passenger seat.

This is the drivers seat and the only one not crammed full.  That is my purse taking up residence.

Here is me and my load buckling up for safety and since I could not see out I was pretty sure I would wind up in jail. 

This was the view from the rear of the vehicle. 

Side window. 

And away we go!

And now we are coming back.  This is a memorial alongside the road .  Been there several years.  Kind of hard to drive 60 mph and get very good pictures!

But look at that empty passenger seat.  Doesn't it look inviting?

So the new vehicle has now been properly introduced to it's future as a work horse for Los Pobres and wherever else the open road calls me.  And guess what?  The gas mileage appears to be about 42 MPG.  I can live with that!

My little lunch time gathering!

Decided to have a few friends over the other day for lunch.  You know,  just to get together to jabber and catch up.  I do this a few times a year, just to keep people in my good graces.  

I made Chicken and Home made Noodles since I was hungry for comfort food and that is the best one I could think of at the time.  After eating the subject of puzzles or wood working or something like that came up jarring my memory of little 1" by 4 " puzzles Kenny had made.   I had three of them up on my desk so I brought them down and opened them up.

They very soon were engrossed in the job of putting them together.  I had shown them to them when they were in one piece so they knew it could be done.  I do not know who finished first, but it occupied them for about half an hour.

It was a fun little diversion and when they were all put together and back in the plastic bags, our conversation turned to more interesting topics, like Black Hills Energy and their outrageous charges and heartless acts.  We think we may get a little more active along those lines. 

I wish I could find me someone to use that $1200 scroll saw and I could sell these on ebay.  It was a very lovely lunch and I hated to see it come to an end, but such is life.  Faye was the first to leave because she had to go clear to Spring.  Then Sister Nancy and Sister Barbara.  That left Paul and Nancy.  I meant to send the noodles home with Paul, but I forgot.  A good time was had by all!

This has nothing to do with anything and was not the same day, but I took a picture of Ito, who lives next door and then when I got through moving it around I wound up with this!!!

 

Same picture, but  look at the snow actually falling!  How in the hell did I do that?  Ross just called and I was telling him about it and he thinks it might be something I smoked back in the 70's.  Do you see it to?  Anyone have any idea how this came out like this?  I do not have a moving picture camera.  Maybe something lives in my computer.  You do see it don't you?  If it is not there, please do not tell me!!!

 

 

Happy New Year and here are my "did last year" and the hopes for this new year.

2013 Year in Review

Seemed like a pretty good year.  I think I was a good steward with Sherman’s money.  I bought glasses for a girl who needed them. Made donations to YWCA (Battered Women), Hospice, Memorial Fund, Los Pobres, Scholarship fund at PCC, Tere for her little charity helping indigents, bought flour and oil for 100 families at Los Pobres. 

From my own reserves I made SCAP social lunch and learn happen 10 times.  Also catered  the Christmas Dinner.  I spent a lot more money then I should have helping people, but I am not quite broke.  Replaced the transmission in the car.    Replaced the carpet in my house with laminate.  Attended several church gatherings as representative.  Went to Hutchinson to see my sisters.  Neglected to make the trip to see Mary who is the one I really needed to see.

Went hiking in the mountains twice which seemed to be the high point of my summer and that is sad.

Aspirations for 2014

I plan on going through the volunteer program at Hospice and then working in the 11^th hour program. 

I will do at least 10 lunch and learns for SCAP now that there is a director I actually like.  Will entertain the idea of the AIDS Walk in September.

I need to bring my will up to date.   

Go hiking with Tere.

Make sure I get Val and Dale to the mountains for a picnic. 

Check in with Jan at least every 60 days. 

Spend a couple days with Libby and Dave. 

Plan a trip to Dallas to stay with Sam at least a week. 

Go see Shirley in the spring and take a trip on the riverboat.

Start selling excess stuff ie. Spinning wheel, 8 harness loom, list variations of seed catchers on ebay,   scroll saw, sander, molds in trailer.

Publish Long Ago and Not Very Far Away.

Finish Antlion.

Decide if I really want to remain alone in this house until the day I die.  Do I want to move into town?  Do I want to move far away?  Do I want to actually start dating?  Am I really that lonely?

Get a manicure.

******************************************************************

And there you have it!  Oh, I forgot a few things, but I am sure I will remember them when I do them.  I am pretty good at doing whatever I need to do without a note to myself.  I want to figure a way to replenish my SSLBDGWorks trust fund and that is not even written down any where!

So from me to you and yours, have a happy and prosperous New Year and remember

You can not sprinkle showers of happiness on other people without getting a few drops on yourself!

HAPPY 2014! AND GOOD LUCK FORGETTING 2013!

 

And this is how the day went down.

The guys from Carpet Clearance Warehouse showed up at my door about 8:30 Wednesday morning.  Jason ramrodded the little fellows inside, pointed this way and that way, and Casey and Ron went right to work.  In very short order the old carpet and pad were gone.  The pad went to the dumpster and the carpet went to the front yard.  The carpet went to a new home in Boone where a man named Leroy uses it to insulate his chicken houses.  By the time the years of dirt that had filtered down through the carpet was sucked up and gone, I was breathing much better.  By 9:30 the first strips of flooring were in place and by 10:30 the living room was covered.

Then to the kitchen and dining room which were more of a challenge.  By that time Jason had left and some one else had come in his place.  Then another change and finally at 2:00 the floors were done.  Oh, don't be mistaken, that did not mean I was done!  The guys moved the entertainment center in off the back patio and moved the china hutch into the dining room where it belonged.  Deven and I would do the rest.  But first it was off to Lowe's to buy the little pads that go under the couch and table legs.  Home again, home again, jiggity jog, after a quick stop to pick up some chicken nuggets. 
We moved the table in from the patio, putting the felt things under it.  Then the chairs.  Then the couches had to be felted and moved where they belonged.  So now it was starting to look like this:

 

Now isn't that pretty!  The name of this is Sunset Oak.  Tomorrow the base boards will be put in place.  I have made rugs and I will put them down.  Then it should be ready for my company on Saturday.  I am having Sister Nancy, Sister Barbara, Pastor Faye and Pastor Maureen over for a nice lunch of Chicken and Noodles with mashed potatoes and some sort of veggie.  Home made rolls, and a dessert of something scrumptuous, perhaps a root beer float.  I know these women eat like a bunch of rabbits so I am giving them comfort food.  And Deven and Mikey are going to drop in to see Pastor Faye.  That will be a nice surprise for her.

 

As for me, I am setting in my office looking down at my kingdom and wondering why I did not get rid of that damn carpet years ago.  I think I am really going to like  this and I thank Jason for doing such a good job.  I know he had planned on doing it a few days earlier, but he wound up with pneumonia and landed in the hospital, but he made it and now it is done and I am very happy.

I will take better pictures when we get the base boards and the rest of the furniture in place.  Looks kind of Spartan right now, but you know I will have crap all over the place very soon.  For now, I think I will just go weave a little bit before I put the tired little body to bed.

 

Good night and sweet dreams.



Saturday August 25, 2012

Sherman Joseph Schroeder, Jr

February 17, 1935

to

July 13, 2012

 

 

This past Saturday we all gathered at The Sangre de Cristo Hospice Center located at 300 West Abriendo (the former Abriendo Inn) to pay our final tribute to my dear friend Sherman.  Nephew Brent Schroeder came from Boulder, Doc from Ordway, several friends from Denver, Colorado Springs and some from here.  Sister Nancy stopped by for a moment.  It is very informal at the center and we just visited.  Libby Kyer summed up his life ( if a life can indeed be summed up in 15 minutes).  Jerry read a few emails.  We watched a photo DVD put together by Brent.  We ate a few sandwiches and finger desserts.  Drank a little tea and coffee and just visited about Sherman and how many lives he had touched over his 77 years.

 

I am still spending my time wondering if I was listening at all the past 2 1/2 years when he was talking.  I knew he had friends, I just had no idea how many,  how devoted his friends were, how they came from all areas and all walks of life.  I knew he helped start the British Motorcycle Association of Colorado, and that he collected Japanese swords, sword parts and books on the subject.  I knew he collected books on collecting.  I knew he had owned a contracting business in Denver and that he was an engineer, draftsman, and designer.  I knew he loved dogs and owned a champion Doberman named Dirk as well as three other very unique dogs in his life.  I knew he liked BMW's, Porche, and Corvette's and had owned them at one time or another.  I knew this and a lot of other stuff, but what I really knew was very little.

 

I knew he loved his Victorian home on the bluff, which will now be sold.  I know he liked to walk on the river, which I now do alone.  I know he liked to go out and eat on the spur of the moment.  I know he was interested in politics.  I know he was a carpenter, and he wanted to grow things.  I know he collected art work.  I know when he wondered about something he researched it until he could talk about it with authority. 

 

I know he had a kind heart.  When he went into University Park he told me to take all his groceries and all his clothes and whatever else could be useful to the migrant center east of town for Sister Nancy to do with as she chose.  And I did.  I know he cared about all God's creatures and as one of God' creatures, I know he cared about me.  I know he was my friend.  And I know I will miss him.  I still reach for the phone to call him and tell him some little thing I have done that would make him  proud.  I just need to find a way to continue what we started together, but without him.

 

The migrant center is still there.  The animal shelter is still there.  So I am toying with an idea.  I need to touch a few bases and then I think I will have a way to keep Sherman J. Schroeder, Jr. alive in my mind.  Stay tuned for updates.  Sherman chose me for a reason!



The BMAC arrives from Colorado Springs
 

Just some folks visiting.

Jerry Pokorny who headed up the bikers for this trip.