Gluten Free it shall be!

I am putting this post in for all the friends out there who are going gluten free and to alert some others to why they should be aware of this dietary change possibility. Many years ago wheat was wheat and gluten was in it. Did not seem to hurt anything and we all "broke bread together." It is not that way anymore and I will tell you why.

The scientists have altered our food source! Wheat has been hybridized until it is not longer the wheat it was 50  years ago. Not only wheat, but everything we put in our mouth has changed. Cut an apple in half and leave it lay. If it is not organic it will not turn brown. Tomatoes will lay on the counter from now on and not even change shape. What does this tell you?

I digress. I am not going to educate you on all the side affects of gluten, but be aware if you have distress in the lower tract after eating a bowl of spaghetti or a sandwich, you may be gluten intolerant. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley and in a lot of places you least expect it. You are going to need guidance.

I know you can use the computer because you found me. So go to your search engine and type in gluten free. Then start reading. You will find gluten can affect your sinus's, headache, allergies and on and on. If you are celiac you will already know as that is serious business. There is even talk that Autism may in some way be affected by gluten.  Any way, read up on it, then come back here and see the widget that says Amazon? I have it all loaded for you.

I would recommend the book 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes, by  Carol Fenster, Ph.D. or Gluten-Free 101. These books will fill you in on all the bad stuff the gluten intolerance can cause. The recipes in the 101 book are great and trust me, I have tested most of them. I prefer to make my own flour using the recipe on page 41.

If you are not inclined to make your own flour, Amazon  sells the gluten free flour mixes. I prefer to mix my own so I buy the basics from them, sorghum flour, rice flour, xanthan gum, and all the other little things you will need. It is my one stop shopping center because they have it all and it is reasonablly priced.

So that is my speil for the day. Look into it on the internet first and see if anything here at Amazon would be helpful to you. See, I get a monetary reward if you use my widget!!  I am not gluten intolerant, but I have friends who are, so I bake for them. Always did like a challenge!

Eating cereal is a scientific process?

This morning I walked in on a scientific process is the kitchen. Never knew that to happen before, but apparently I was just not that observant. Bret took the cereal out of the box, rolled it down and carefully weighed it with his left hand  and eyeballed it carefully. In his right hand was the gallon of milk which was undergoing the same process. After a few moments, the cereal bag went back into the box and the milk into the refrigerator.

The deduction was this, there was not enough milk to cover all the cereal. Rather then fill a bowl with cereal and pour milk over it, he decided not to eat breakfast. Now this is a case of all, all, or nothing at all. What if the cereal box had been full and a new gallon of milk? I'm thinking the whole box would have gotten eaten!

Teenagers are bottomless pits, as we all know. I just did not know so much thought went into eating cereal in the morning. I did fix him a bacon and egg sandwich. That is another one that requires thought. Can not eat just an egg sandwich, it has to have bacon diced and fried, then drained (my rule; not his) and blotted with a paper towel. The eggs (2) are then whipped and fried with the bacon bits. Immediately slap that between two slices of toast covered with mayonaisse (Not to be confused with Miracle Whip.). Do not cool it first. By having it hot it causes the toast to become limp, thereby negating the whole idea of "toast".

I am having a piece of toast with a glass of orange juice. The toast is Oregon Western Hazel Nut, available only at Safeway and not available in Kansas. Best bread on the planet. It has to be toasted in a toaster oven and slathered with real butter while it is piping hot. That way it becomes limp thereby negating the whole idea of "toast."

And there you have our breakfast habits. Or some of our habits. Humans are creatures of habit and that is just the way it is!

They have arrived, took sister Mary, and left!

Here are the culprits! This is Dorothy and Mike Flory. They live in Shawnee, Kansas. They both work and have strange hobbies. They have cows for pets and a farm for a hobby. It is calving time on the farm and with this weather, they keep pretty busy overseeing the birthing process as well as having full time jobs! Then to take time out to run out here and pick up Mary, my hat is off to them!

They arrived Saturday night, ate supper, slept, ate breakfast, loaded Sister Mary in the car and away they went! Now I am alone. Well, not really alone since I do have Bret, Daisy, Elvira, 10 geese, and 23 ducks, but I have nonetheless, lost my buddy.

And here is Sister Mary, all ready to go. She even has her purse hooked on her arm. Maybe they are going to stop and do some shopping! I do not like to shop, so we did not do that while she was here, except when we did it for survival.

Having Mary here was a definite treat, and a diversion to say the very least. You have to look back on our childhood to realize what a learning experience this really was. Mary was always the "pretty one". Dorothy was the baby, Donna was there, Jake was the boy, and Josephine was the oldest. I came in between Donna and Jake, so that made me the "middle child" and you know what the middle child was good for--nothing.

Middle Child Syndrome is what it is called. I am not a leader and not a follower, just kind of there. Or at least that is how it should have worked. But in our family, Josephine married and left very early, Jake attached himself to a farmer and then forged a new birth certificate and joined the Army when he was barely 16 and was never there. So, I then became the leader. Then I left.

But back to the relevant part. Mary and I were never very close. She was closer to Donna. Then she married Tommy when she was 13(?) and he was 15(?). Think that is right. They remained together and lived happily ever after until he passed at the early age of 52. So when the opportunity arose for her to come spend time with me we jumped on that. You really get to know someone when you set and talk for hours. We have a lot in common. We both lost our mother, both lost our husbands, both have grandkids, went to the same grade school. And on and on. Lot more than I thought. Might have to do this again someday!

But for now, I will savor the weeks we spent together, knowing she is safe at home with her family checking up on her. Guess I will plan a trip to Wichita, Kansas as soon as the snow melts!!

Got to weigh in on Tiger Woods!!

This will be short and sweet, but since everyone else has an opinion, I have to state mine also. Somebody once told me that opinions are like bathroom habits, everybody has them and they usually stink! That being said, here is my opinion:

If the cookies are missing from the cookie jar and you have no crumbs on your shirt, it is kind of hard to prove anything. You can deny it from now on and only you will know for sure. If, however, you continue to run back to the cookie jar someone is going to catch you! Odds are not in your favor on this!  Trust me!

Now we come to Tiger and these are the facts: Tiger was pretty well covered in crumbs and there were definitely several cookies ready to talk about what they saw and and discuss exactly how much those cookies ended up costing! Pretty well established fact who had their hand in where and sounds like the cookies were pretty willing to be taken on this trip.

So now we have the confession. Did anyone expect him to stand up there and deny this? Did we expect him to apologize to the cookies that jumped out of the jar, knowing full well where they would land? I do not know exactly how many cookies the man devoured, nor do I care. It would behoove me to state here that I don't think the cookies need an apology.

Ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar? About all you can do at that point is cowboy up and issue a very sincere apology. In my case, it involved a canary, a cat, an open cage, and my mother! Had all the items not been there, I might have been able to lie my way out of that, but I never had that chance.

Back to business! My hat is off to Alina Woods. She has more grace than I could ever hope to muster. She has more faith then most of us. For Tiger I have these words of advice: I hope any sex you  had was
safe sex. At this point that is all I have to say to him, but then since I volunteer at Southern Colorado AIDS Project where they have free testing that is always my gut reaction. A little honesty is going to go a long way in this case and time will tell. All favorite sayings from my dear Mother.

Poor old Llama!

Last night I was having a little trouble sleeping. I call it my random insomnia. I looked out the bedroom window and there was this Llama all hunkered down sleeping in the field. It was a lonely looking sight, but I guess that is how it is.  I somehow took solace knowing the Llama was out there, also alone, and drifted back off to sleep.

Of course, I am now thinking about the sight of the Llama all alone out there. I know it is not alone, because there are 2 of them, but still each one is alone. Now I make the jump to my life. I am alone. Even if there are people all around me, I am still alone. And so are you!  One time I told a friend of mine "Gee, I thought I knew him better than that!" He replied "You never really know anyone, you only know of them." I thought that was the most profound statement I had ever heard!

Now, I know in life there are many profound statements and today I am going to think up some of them and perhaps blow your mind tomorrow. But for now, I am going to scuttle off into the kitchen and do the things that need doing in there.  Sister Mary will only be here for 3 more days, so I need to do something memorable with her today. Perhaps we will go walk around Union. There are a lot of antique shops there and that should amuse her.

Have a good one!

Wooden Floor is all Done!

The floor is all done and the boys have gone home! Remember that part about posting pictures before I got the stuff back in here? Well, that did not happen. Tim and Justin started by putting the heavy tables in and then the computer desk and next the office desk and a 2 drawer chest and it just went from there. Now, granted, all the junk (Great stuff for sale on eBay!) is not back in here, but it is creeping this way.

Some day I will need to do a post on how much I enjoy my thing I do on eBay. They are raising their prices or revamping or something the end of March and that may very well be the end of my career there, but for now it is a fun thing that makes me a little bit of money to stretch the old Social Securtiy check a tad bit further. I have also met some interesting people.

But for right now, I am going to work on getting the stuff out of my bedroom so I can walk over to the other side of the bed. Sister Mary will be leaving me on Sunday. We have found that if we neglect the Brain Gym exercises, we are not as coordinated as we could be, so maybe there is something to this.

Anyway, I am going to leap in the shower and get ready for the day. No baby today. Only on Wednesday. According to Indian Lore, we still have 18 snows coming this year, so I am hoping they get here soon. Did I tell you in the middle of the snow storm last week I saw a Robin up in the Cherry tree?

Have a good one!

Look at this pile. This picture is taken with me on the stairs and facing Northwest. This is what you see when you start up stairs to my bathroom. Isn't it amazing how rooms are named to reflect the usage?

 

This is a pile of carpet! This is in the middle of my office.

This is my bedroom (It is a bedroom, because the bed is in there under that stuff!) and all this stuff used to be in my office! This is called "Remodeling"! This is also the reason I could not get online last night and early this morning.

This is my bathroom. This is also my desk. Behind the desk is a washer and crammed against the wall is a dryer. I need to get the clothes out of the washer and into the dryer because it is a bunch of shirts that need to be embroidered and mailed off today. If I stand on the desk to get in the dryer, I will have a flat desk. Another delimma for my already overloaded day! It is now 8:30 A.M. I should, perhaps call this room the office

When we are all done, which will hopefully be tomorrow, I will have lovely wooden floors in my spacious office.  I will send you pictures before we move all the eBay stuff back in there.

So you know now what I have planned for my Valentine Weekend with my best friends husband. See the "we" I refer to does not actually include me. Just Tim, Lyn's husband and Justin, Lyn's son-in-law. I just furnish floor space! Now you go have a lovely Valentine's Day and I will see you when I see you!

The Lamb Funeral Home and Orson Wells!!

Now, you might wonder what those 2 have in common, but just bear with me. Back in Nickerson, Kansas where I grew up, there were few opportuities for employment. The main one  for me,was babysitting. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb owned the funeral home and had (I think) 6 kids. At the time I was probably 14 or so. I realize I could research and find the exact date, but will not do that and will rely on your memory.

The appointed night came and Mr. Lamb picked me up and took me to their dwelling place which just happened to be over the funeral home. There also just happened to be a body laying in state there. As a matter of course, he gave me a brief tour, which included showing me the casket room! Are you getting the picture yet? You will.

Before they left they turned on the television, which was the first one I had ever seen. The kiddies were soon settled in their wee little beds. They were all redheads and the youngest was about 6 months and the oldest probably 5. They were so cute!

Anyway, with the kiddies in bed, bedtime story read, I tidied the kitchen and set down on the couch to watch this television! Do you remember when the Orson Welles (I think) movie came out named War of the Worlds and caused a panic all over the United States for it's opening? The announcer came on and made the announcement that the world was ending and then the electricity went off! The phone rang and I picked it up to hear the man who was tending the body tell his wife that he would be right home since there was no electric here.

What kind of shape do you think I was in when I put down that phone? Here I was alone with 5 kids, no electric, a bunch of coffins in the next room, and a dead body down stairs!  I was pretty sure if the world was ending that I had a problem!!

I went in to set with the kids in their final hours, but they were sound asleep and had no idea what they were in for here! Need I paint the vivid picture of that night? The groveling and begging God to save me and such. I bet the lights were out for about 30 minutes, but that was the longest 30 minutes of my life. I have never been as happy to see anyone in my entire life as I was to see those people come home.

It is strange that something that was so traumatic on me as that night can now be something that is so funny today. I ran into the Lamb's in South Fork 20 or so years ago and we got quite the chuckle out of that night.
I guess the way to face your biggest fear is to remember that someday you will look back on this and laugh!

Have a good one!

Snowing again!! I must be hungering for the sun!

Hey! I see a Robin out there in the snow storm! What is he thinking? I sort of feel that perhaps I am getting a mixed message.It snowed yesterday and is snowing this morning. According to the Indian Lore, we only need 18 more snows to end the season. Course everyone is wanting Spring. Apparently so is the Robin Red Breast!

One thing nice about snow is that I can go out to the duck pond and see what kind of critters have been visiting during the night. I know there is a skunk and something with little paws. I think that is probably a fox. I am sure I will need to do some work on the fence before spring actually arrives.

Had a great email from a guy I went to school with in Nickerson, Kansas. He had been sent my blog about Nickerson. He is younger, but of course everyone is younger that me. He is actually the cousin to the "Beth" that got me in trouble with the popcorn ball in fourth grade. Small world, huh?

 I actually joined one of those Classmates things once and paid for a whole year. This one did not work quite like I thought it should. Every time I would see the name of someone I remembered, I would click on it and they wanted me to contact them and get them to sign up with them!  Well, excuse me, if I knew how to contact them I would not have paid you to tell me where all my dear friends are today!

I also signed up for a Find People Fast, although I do not remember just what the name of the company was. I think that cost $29.95 for the year, but every time I found some one, I needed to pay $2.95 for the address and phone number. For only $39.95 I could look at their criminal record.  Bet some of those kids I went to school with would freak out if I showed up with my mohawk! Bet they would be looking for my criminal record! This is where I put in LOL, which means laugh out loud!

Ok, we now have a real crisis! I can not find the spell checker! Just go with the phonics thing! Since I can not use any big words, I guess I will sign off for today. Got to go do my Brain Gym exercise, if I can find the book!

At Grandma's house we are!

This is the view from Grandma's deck! We went up to Rye yesterday to see Grandma. Actually she is Tim's Grandma, and no relation to me. When you reach the age of 95, which she will do in a couple weeks, you become Grandma to everyone under the age of 70. I still qualify! She is the sweetest and most alert lady I have met and a miracle for 95. She had a stress fracture in her pelvis and after 3 days it bed it had begun to "knit". Not me man!  If I am correct this is the view looking East.

This is kind of Southwest. All my directions are subject to being discredited and corrected. The only place I know my directions is Hutchinson, Kansas. I was not born with that little honing device for North that most people have.

This is the view looking West. East and West are both fairly steep dropoffs. North and South are a little more gradual. Actually, to my way of thinking, they are all steep and they are all dropoffs. You must remember I am from Kansas and my husband always referred to me as a "Flatlander" because I never knew if I was going uphill or downhill.

And here is the approach to the house. Do you see how it kind of sets there on the crest of the hill? This is like dying and going to heaven. I have a better view of the house, but for brevity's sake, I will not post it today. I will just throw it on someday.

 

I took these pictures with my cheap little camera, but am giving serious thought to some Amazon sent me literature on yesterday. I am trying to get a hold of someone who knows dates and place, but I think this house was located in Rye and was moved up the mountaing by Grandma. Well, she is the one who did the buying of the land, and hiring and honchoing the movers. She did a great job!

Gotta get busy. Today I am babysitting the great , great grandson of this lady. Five generations and there is one branch that has six generations! Have a good one.

The Llama might be getting ready to be sheared, or not!

The Llama's over in the field are getting very hairy! I'm thinking it might be getting close to shearing time, but think about that! It is just now the first week in February and some of our biggest snows are ahead of us. I remember one May we got 18 inches on like the 4th and then 4 days later we got 14 inches. Course it was warm enough between them to melt or we would still be digging out.
The point here is this: I would hate to have someone rip my fur coat off and leave me outside this time of year. It is still freezing at night and the daytime temperature hasn't had me breaking a sweat yet! Any way, I have one friend who makes her sheep wear coats to keep the fleece cleaner. I think that might be a good idea, but the fellows/girls in the field don't look all that bad. Well, yeh, they have longer legs than a sheep! DUH!!
Seeing them makes me remember, I bought some dyed wool from Joanne Caldwell and I need to get it washed and dried. If it was just a matter of throwing it in the washer that would be simple. Ever throw wool in the washer? This is loose fleece so I expect it would wind up a very tight ball. I know how to do this, I think.
I need to fill something with cool water and add Dawn dishwashing soap to it. Then very gently work it around and then drain it and rinse it. I need to do that several times until the rinse water is clear. Then I have to lay it out to dry. Then I will need to hand card it. That is work!! Then I need to spin it on the spinning wheel.  All this is assuming it has not got moths in it while waiting for me.
Hey, you spinners out there! If this is not how to do it, you better get ahold of me because I will be doing this surely in the next few years.
You know, I go back and read my posts and have I ever finished one that matches my title with the title? Seems I am a clear definition of the saying "Her mind has taken a turn!" My mind is probably what is known as a Whirling Dervish!
But you gotta' love me!!

Klear Nearly Day or Near Klearly or something like that.

I forgot to tell you, Nickerson, Kansas also has a special day in the summer which is called Klear Nearly or Near Klearly or something along that line. If anyone out there remembers, give me a shout out because otherwise I will need to go research it and I have the little baby today and do not have time for that.
When I have the little baby, I have to be alert. If I am not alert the dogs will lick him and he feels  neglected if I wander off from him. Babies need lots of care. They are also very messy, especially the bottom half!

Welcome me to Amazon.com!

Ok, I just signed up with amazon.com so I have a link to their sight. Now I have to find out how this works. May not be something I want to keep, but then again it might be. I buy a lot of books from Amazon and was surprised to find that they have lots of other things including groceries. Especially the gluten free stuff.

I think I told you the other day about the Brain Gym book I bought from there and use here at home for myself and my sister. So anyway, I just wanted to see how this little widget works. If you don't like it let me know. I sure don't want to clutter up my site with stuff we don't need.

Nickerson, Kansas Elementary School, 1945-1953

This may take more than one posting. I woke up this morning thinking about grade school. When I can not fall asleep at night, one of my favorite things is to remember the one mile walk to and from school. I picture the houses and try to remember the names of the people who lived in them. It usually works if I follow it with the Lord's Prayer.

What I woke up remembering this morning was the music room. At least what passed for the music room before they moved in a small school building and set it on the corner and that was the music room. This room was on the second story. Cultural Department.

The windows in the whole school were huge, very tall. Every window in the school was covered with heavy blackout curtains that were fastened to the sides. This was in case the Japanese were to fly over here and end up in the center of the United States in a town named Nickerson, Kansas, population 1,100, we could close them and no light would get out so they would not bomb that building. Homeland Security!

Once a month, we were all called to the central hallway, which doubled as a lunch room and given a glass of orange juice. There was a small room off the first grade classroom that doubled as a sick room. Health Department!

I think that was so we would not get Rickets, or something like that. Our meals were cooked in the kitchen by Mrs. Ritchie. Her husband was the Janitor. He committed suicide shortly after the 8th grade, or so we heard. Probably about the 4th grade one of the boys in our town was killed in the war and the whole school went to the train station to meet the coffin. All I remember is looking up his marker in the cemetary and it says "He sleeps in Iwo Jima."

Also in fourth grade, a classmate named Beth (You know who you are!) brought a popcorn ball to school and dropped it in the stool in the bathroom and blamed it on me! Said I grabbed it away and threw it in there! If I had touched it I would have eaten it! Mrs. Howe was very upset with me and wrote on my report card, "Louella teases the other kids on the playground." So much for the Justice Department!

Fifth grade I had a poem published in the Jack and Jill(?) magazine. Other highlights: Last day of school in 8th grade, the band played outside and a bird pooped on Gay Withrow's cap. Mother had cancer and the church ladies sewed all us kids clothes for school except Jake who only wore overalls anyway. Mother recuperated and lived to be 80 years old. Miss Barkis, the music teacher, married the principals son, David Houston. Miss Donnough, the first grade teacher, married someone. Mrs. Howe, the fourth grade teacher got a thorn in her intestine and nearly died.

Oh, for the days of trivial nonesense!! And to think I have remembered some of this stuff for 63 years!!!

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days!

Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,

taught to the tune of a hickory stick!

This is my Church: First Congregational United Church of Christ

This is my new church. I love the United Church of Christ and have been a member for probably 20 years. Not at this church, but at the Christ Congregational UCC Church which is in Belmont. I will do a piece on that one later. For now, I want to introduce you to my present church and it's history.

This building was built in 1878 or thereabouts. It has lots of wood and lots of stained glass windows which I would love to see at night, but I don't get into town at night and if I did I would be inside the church. This building is on the Historic Registry and since it is a working building it really has to be kept in tip top shape. I am sure that the reception area which is called Mayflower Hall (and I am sure there is a story behind that name) along with the rest of that part was added later.

I really do not know a lot about the history so I am going to tell you about it from a parishoners point of view. We have a beautiful window called "The Rose Window" (again, for whatever reason) which is in dire need of repair. Well, not really repair, but restoration. This is a $20,000 project and I think we almost have enough money to do that.It is the original Tiffany Glass and is indeed a work of art.

The Rose Window is behind the other high point of the church which is the pipe organ. I do not know how many pipes this thing has, but they are BIG and there are a lot. I have not counted them because I am afraid it would be like the counting of sheep. Our organist is named Randy Tryon, and that guy must have been born with a pipe organ under him, because it is second nature to him. He fills our walls with the most beautiful music you have ever heard! That in itself is worth at trip over on Sunday morning.

We are a very small church as is Christ Congregational, our sister church, so we share a minister. Or at least when we get one we will share. I think that will be soon. The way it works is for 6 months we will meet at 9:30 and Christ will meet at a later time. Until we get said minister, we have temporary ministers. We have two who alternate.

The first one is Reverend Fred Dare. He is retired and comes to our church on alterate Sundays. The other one is Rev. Steve Parke. I know him a little better. He is retired from the State Hospital. He plays the guitar and sings us songs. Kind of a little hippie type fellow, but a loveable little cuss and gives a very good sermon. Well, so does Rev. Dare, but you know what I mean, just different types: poles apart! I do love them both.

Ok, I have rattled on long enough. I would love to have you visit my church just for the reasons I have given. It is sure worth the trip. We are in the phone book, or click and leave me a comment!

Remember the old song, "You go to your church and I'll go to mine, but we'll both walk along together!"

Button up your coat!

I heard some one say "Button up your coat!" That started me thinking about the way we talk and I realize a lot of it hearkens back to the olden times. Like "Button up your coat." If you think about it, that is the correct way to button because you can start at the bottom with the buttons matching and it will button straight. If you start at the top, you really can not see to match them and when you get to the bottom, sometimes one side hangs down below the other.

"Put that book down!" would seem to mean that it should go on the floor as that is the location of "down." We need to be more specific with the kiddies. "Place the book on the table." Now you may wonder, what got me off on this tangent. It was the trash.

I told Bret, "That trash needs to go out." Seems like a harmless statement on the surface, but I could see his wheels turn. So I amended the statement, "That trash needs to go out and you need to be the one to take it out (then I added) to the barrel that is located by the carport and you need to open the lid and place it inside and replace the lid then you need to walk away leaving it behind." I think he did it on his way to work.

He used to be so cute! What happened? Where did I go wrong? I never whacked him in the head I don't care what you think! The last I remember he was a tiny boy coming to the door with both his hands clutching something and saying "Let me in! I have too many hands!" Now he just gives the door a kick and comes on in. Well, at least he has learned to fend for himself!

Well, that is it for the day. Got to go do the Java Automatic Update so it will quit flashing at me. Enjoy your day, and think carefully about all you sentences. You could start a world war!!

Sister Mary comes for a visit!

Well, Sister Mary is here for a visit. She is not really A sister, she is MY sister. We are in this order: Josephine, Brother Jake, Me, Donna, Mary and Dorothy. Mother spaced us all 2 years apart. Josephine and Jake have both gone to the big resting place in the sky. Josephine from Pulmonary disease at the age of 70(?) and Jake in a car wreck at the age of 29. That leaves me as the Matriarch of the family.

Being the Matriarch carries a lot of responsibilities and is also a postition of respect. No one bothered to tell any of the sisters this. I have tried to point it out, but I refer back to that statement about the position of respect. My mother once told me " There is no sense beating a dead horse." Now I know what she meant.

Anyway, Mary and I ventured off to the Brain Gym at the Arts Center yesterday to make ourselves smart in our old age. Well, we ventured home in basically the same condition we left. But here is the good news! Brain Gym is based on a premise of left and right brain activity and exercises that will increase usage of both sides.

While the Brain Gym workshop was beneficial to me, I know it is not a magic bullet and we will need to do the exercises to see any improvement. I also know that not everyone has a Brain Gym program in their area, so I ordered a book from Amazon and I am going to recommend this book to anyone who is interested. It has clear directions for some of the more popular exercises.

The book is Brain Gym. It is written by Paul E Dennison, Ph.D and Gail E Dennison. The cover is orange (and that seems to make a difference). The ISBN:0-942143-05-1. The cost is $12.95 new and is well worth the price even if you don't think you have a problem. We are all getting older and need all the help we can get.

So, back to the subject at hand. Mary has been here for 1 week and we have babysat twice. This has been fun. First one was 6 months old and the second was 2 years old. The 2 year old gets around a lot faster then the other and fairly well kept us entertained for the afternoon. Course his grandma was here all the time. Might have been a different story had grandma left! I foresaw screeching if that happened!

We also went to the Mexican Grocery store in Salt Creek. I bought a new cast iron griddle for making tortillas. Got a coke from Mexico that is made with sugar cane as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. It was really good and different then coke made here. Wanted corn meal, but they only had the cornbread mix. Alas, and alack.

Elvira sleeps with Mary and Daisy sleeps with me. So we each have a dog in attendance. Today is church and it starts at 9:30 so I got to start stirring around here or we will not make it on time.

THINK GOOD THOUGHTS!

Thoughts of Haiti

It is amazing how the sun shines

and the birds sing

as the very earth beneath me trembles

and breaks into pieces and my home falls at my feet.

It is my nap time and your point exactly?

Yesterday I missed my nap! I was very busy since I had to take my 90+ friend to the doctor. She does not drive any more. Well, personally I am rather glad about that. Hope I can give up my license long before that. Actually, I could throw that sucker in the pile right now and we would probably all be better off, but maybe not.

Back to the crux of this blog today. When the clock starts pointing to 1:30 or 2:00 o'clock, my little mind starts looking for a place to lay the body down for just a few minutes. Just a short nap, you know. Nothing that drags on, that is called bedtime and that lasts for 8 hours. I figure it this way:

I am pushing 70 and I am not going to miss out on much if I have a short nappy poo. I just lay there on the bed with the telephone right beside me, because we all know if I don't it will ring, but if I do it won't. That is called Karma! I work hard when I am awake, so after this many years, if I selfishly want to take 30 or 40 minutes for myself in the middle of the day, I think I have earned that right.

Now I know realistically I am wasting time. I have been doing the nap thing for probably 6 years. At 30 minutes a day for 6 years that comes to 65,700 minutes which becomes 1,095 hours which becomes 45.625 days, which becomes 6.52 weeks. You know, now that I figure this out logically, I am wasting a lot ot time laying on my duff!

I could get a lot done in 1,095 hours. And sometimes the nap is a little longer. OMG! Talk about wasting time! I could get a lot of weaving done. I could cover this house in blankets. Ok, here is what I will do; I am going to start taking a nap every other day. I will nap on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. That will free me up to hit the garage sales on Friday and Saturday!

You know, I am kind of glad we had this little talk! Wait, we did not have a talk. I am talking to myself! That is what a blog is, I think. They call it journaling, but it is basically talking to myself! So if I give up the napping, I will have more time to talk to myself. I sure feel better about life now!

Sign my widget over there so you can be a follower. I might actually say something some day and you wouldn't want to miss it, would you? I want to have at least 11 followers by the time I croak! And remember, There is a big difference between a follower and a stalker!

I have a widget and would like you to click on the thing!

I see my blog is picking up a few readers! I did, however, forget to mention that over there on the left is a place some where (can't see it right now cause I am writing) that you can click on and you will become a "follower". Now I have never had a following, per se, but I did have a stalker once. He got tired of that right quick. Following me entails actually getting up and moving!

Anyway, this neat little widget over there is a great help if you came to this site and then want to come back to it. I think it should send you an email when I am active. At least that is how I think it should work. If it does not, just let me know and I will see how to fix that. I need all the followers I can get now that I am old.

Just a short note today as it is Sunday and that means church today. After church a potluck, then our annual meeting, then I have to run to Lamar to get my sister. She lives in Wichita, Kansas and is coming for a couple weeks. Her daughter will take her to Garden City, Kansas. My daughter will pick her up there about noon and bring her to Lamar, Colorado. That way we will be home before dark and nobody has to make the 430 mile trip.

While she is here we will be attending classes at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center. This workshop is for the Brain Gym. Seems they have a program to take us little old ladies and teach our minds to work differently so we are not so forgetful. Some one said, "Will it help?" My answer is "Can't hurt!"

So I am going to keep you posted on how well I can remember after this workshop. Maybe you will want to attend one with me. What were we talking about? Who are you? What the h---! Who am I?

Have a good one!

Haiti

My God! The devastation on that tiny island is almost more than I can bear to watch! How can they survive through something like this? Haiti is home to some of the poorest of the poor as you know. What now that people who had next to nothing now have nothing at all?



Can you imagine something like this happening in your neighborhood? Suppose you were fixing supper or lunch and all at once there comes an earthquake that just flattens your home. Imagine further that you were under that rubble. Imagine further that you are still alive under all that wood and concrete. What would you do? Imagine your husband or children were outside. What would they do? I am sorry, this is a scenario that I do not even want to think about. It is hard enough to read about this in the papers and to see the devastation on the television.



I will, of course, send money. That seems to be the easy out every time. No problem is too large if we just throw enough money at it. I can not go to Haiti. If I did I would be more of a hindrance then a help. Haiti is not the first catastrophe, nor will it be the last, so I am going to make a plan. I want a plan whereby I can do the most good for more people. I have noticed that anytime there is something like this occurring there are 2 groups of people who are there before the government, before any other humanitarian group. That is Doctors Without Borders and The International Red Cross.

The work those people do is phenomenal and the reason they do it is most admirable. Both are there when there is any kind of need and they are there first and they are there last. They are very good at what they do and all they ask in return is a little bit of releif for these people. They do need money, because these operations take money. Someone has to furnish the water, food, bedding, medical supplies and the list goes on and on.

So, since I sell on Ebay and Ebay has a giving program, all I have to do is set here in my nice secure home and list things to sell, giving a large (or all in some cases) portion to these two groups. I already list occasionally for SCAP, so this is just an extension of that.

So now, I will say my prayers for the people in Haiti and the rescue workers who are already there. Then I will get busy and do my tiny little part of trying to make this world a better place to be.

May the good Lord take a like'n to you!!

The hoarders club does not include me! I'm different.

I saw something the other day that made my blood run cold. It was during day time television. Not the soap opera's. Lord, I have seen snippets of them and that is a whole 'nother blog. This was on the Oprah show. It comes on sometime in the afternoon and apparently is quite popular. I want to go on record right now as saying I do not watch television as a rule, but I do watch the news and sometimes neglect to turn it off when I go downstairs, so there it is when I come upstairs to rest my eyes a minute. (Some people call it napping.)

So back to the topic. There were pictures of houses with stuff piled everywhere and women and children sobbing because the mother had let the shopping and hoarding get out of hand and the kids had to eat on the bed because it was the only flat surface. Kids were embarrassed to bring friends home because, frankly, there was no where to set. I gathered from the snippets of conversation and the Psychiatrist in residence that this was indeed a mental problem.

Ok, to make a long story short, I looked around at my house. Now maybe it is getting a bit out of hand, but here is the scoop. I sell on Ebay for other people and so that stuff is setting over there in the corner, both on and under the table. Some of it has spilled around the corner into my bedroom and then there is that pile in the closet. I am trying to run a store out of this office (and bedroom and closet).

I see how you are rolling your eyes! Maybe the weaving has gotten a little out of control what with 3 looms, a spinning wheel, wool to weave someday, a truckload of thread, every book I ever bought, but that is what that room down there is for. That is why it is called the "Weaving Room." The next room down there is for sewing. When you have a machine quilter, 2 sergers, a heavy duty machine, 2 sewing machines, a mangle and tons of scraps and books, you need a "Sewing Room." The third room down there is called the "Embroidery Room" because it has my big embroidery machine in it along with 4 pickup loads of thread, 2 freezers, quilt batting, a train set....

Ok! So maybe I have a small problem. But it is just that, a small problem. Not nearly big enough to be considered MENTAL! I could sort right through this stuff and have it all organized in nothing flat. Let's just start right here in front of me on the desk. Here are three pencil holders full of pencils and pens. Maybe that is a tad excessive, I will give you that. Let's just sort this one. Two eversharps. Those need lead. Maybe I will pick up lead today. 3 pens. Two don't work. Maybe they are just a little dry. Pair of scissors, crochet hook, glue stick., magic marker. Looks like pretty good stuff to me. I will just leave that right there.

Ok! So I have a small problem. I am going to work on that. May have to get more advice from Oprah. Right now I have to go into town. I will start this when I get back. You all have a good day and take a look around. Bet you have a junk drawer, a corner where you put the stuff you need to do something with later. Have a good day and:

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!!

Hansel and Gretel: a bedtime horror story for the kiddies!

I just finished reading a horror story! Wait a minute before you pass judgement, I think I am on to something here. Did you ever read nursery rhymes? I mean really read them? Back when you were a wee one, perhaps your mother read them to you. How did you sleep after that? Let me just give you a synopsis of Hansel and Gretel as retold by Rika Lesser.
This book was originally written by Wilhelm Grimm in 1810 and printed in 1812. It has been cleaned up because as I recall, it was a lot scarier the first 6 times around. As it is currently written, it is pretty scary. As the book opens, the father and stepmother are laying in bed and the stepmother tells the father he must take the children to the forest and abandon them or they all will starve. Pretty spooky, huh?
Hansel tells Gretel of her plan and goes out in the yard and picks up stones. The parents take them into the woods and Hansel leaves a trail of stones. Parents drop them in forest and when it gets dark the kids follow the trail of stones back to the house. Daddy was glad to see them but the evil stepmother was not! (Now this is probably where we get our ingrained sense of stepmother's being evil!)
Again the household runs out of food and the trip is planned again. This time the door is locked and Hansel can not gather stones. So the next day he crumbles his bread and leaves a trail. Silly boy! Birds ate the bread. Now they are really screwed. Of course, you remember the rest of the story. They find the gingerbread house and then are held captive by the old woman. Hansel is fattened up to be eaten and Gretel is the slave.
The old woman gets greedy and decides to eat Gretel first, telling her to crawl in the oven to see if the bread is done and Gretel tells her "Show me how"and the old woman crawls in the oven and Gretel slams the door, lets Hansel out of his pen. Then they go back and take all the jewels the old woman had and miraculously find there way home to learn the stepmother was dead also and they all lived happily ever after!
Let us dissect this story. Hansel and Gretel slept in the same bed. There is one for social services! They are abandoned in a forest. One is subject to child labor law violations, the other will be fattened for fodder. Gretel is a cold blooded murderer. Both of them are thieves! Found their way home with pure dumb luck, or maybe the witch had a GPS in with her jewels. They are overjoyed to find the stepmother dead. Now the old man becomes an accomplice. I can see all kinds of reasons whereby I would not be able to sleep after reading this story. Can't you?
If this were the only one, it would be different, but nursey rhymes were scary and evil! Tom, Tom the pipers son, stole a pig and away he run. (Thief) Little Boy Blue fell asleep while violating child labor laws. Hey diddle, diddle, the cow jumped over the moon! Where will that sucker land? Old Mother Hubbard could not feed her dog! The old woman who lived in a shoe fed her kids broth without any bread! And on and on go the fairy tales. And we don't wonder where we went wrong raising our kids? We read to them!
I think in later years the tales had a better ending. Now Hansel and Gretel would need seperate rooms from birth. The Gingerbread house would not pass the building code. There are no forests. The stepmother would be kept alive on life support paid for by Medicaid.

Just some thoughts from my demented mind!

The Baby Llama is holding still for me!

This is the baby llama I been telling you about. This thing is the most beautiful chocolate color I have ever seen. If I could just catch it and get that wool I could spin it and weave it into something and all my weaving friends would be so jealous! That is the mother in the background and I think she may be stomping over this way to spit on me! I have heard they do that, and in fact, seen it happen one time years ago. Have pretty well given them a very wide birth since than.

This is mother and Llamette approaching the chocolate adult. Hey! Maybe that is the daddy! "Hello, Father, may I come into your area of the field?" In order to establish paternity here I am going to need to get a lot closer then I am willing to do. Oh, but I just remembered, I am the writer here and I can tell you anything and unless one of you calls me to task, if it is true in my mind, it will be true in yours. Let me see; do I want to compromise my immortal soul over the sex of a Llama that I barely know? I am thinking that is a big "NO". (Well, I see my picture is now miraculously over there on the left. This blog is way smarter than I am!) This is the whole herd. This chain link fence is 4 feet high so that gives you some idea of how big they are. I love the tail on that baby!

I just wanted to show you the pictures of the baby Llama. Please do not look at the area near the camera where the remenants of last years garden are awaiting my able hand. Lord, I am glad it is below zero and there is nothing I can do about that mess. Those wretched geese and ducks are supposed to help me out on this.

Ok, you have seen the herd next door, the mess in my garden area and listened to my ramblings, so now we can both go get busy. I have 33 shirts to embroider for the Kearny County Library and laundry piled over my head. Also today the new dog gets beautiful and I see nap time will come early today!

Take care and God Bless. Oh, that made me think of Red Skelton! Remember him?

The teenage mind is an easy thing to scramble.

This is the boy. This is the teenage boy. This picture is 2 or 3 years old, but it was the only one I could reach without actually getting out of my chair. My purpose today is to teach you how easily a teenage mind can be manipulated. I like to screw with him, because it keeps me young!

This boy is 18 now. Yesterday he wanted to go to the shooting range and set his new scope. I told him that would be fine if someone went with him. So he came to tell me Matt and Chris would be going also as Matt wanted to try out his new shotgun. The following conversation ensued. See if you can guess which words are his:

" Ok, I am off for the shooting range."

"Smoking pot?"

"With guns! No way!"

"So before then?"

"Before a loaded gun? No way!"

"So later then?"

"No, after, we are going to play Xbox."

"Well, when?"

"I don't smoke pot!"

"Why didn't you just say that? Could have saved a lot of time."

And with eyes rolled back in his head he was off to do his thing. His curfew used to be midnight, but I have noticed that now that he does not have a curfew, he is usually home around 10. We are now in the "fine" phase of our relationship. If he does not bring up his laundry, it is a $5 fine. Don't take out trash is $5 fine. Forgets to load the duck/goose feeder, $5. If I tell him to do something and it isn't done in a timely manner, that is $10. So far I have made nothing off him. Guess he likes his money.

So, that is where we are right now. I am smart enough to know this smooth sailing will not last, and about half of what he tells me has any resemblance to the truth, but he has to learn a lot of lessons the hard way. After all, I am the mother and as such I am very stupid and probably will not pull my head out for another 6-8 years. That is when I will suddenly get smart. Right now he knows all there is to know, so we will just let him think that. He will, no doubt, be a father someday. I hope I have instilled something worthwhile in there somewhere. At least I have his respect and that is a lot more then a lot of mothers have!

Resolutions, or the lack thereof.

Once more the New Year has come and gone and I did not swear by all that is holy that I would quit eating, quit complaining, quit cussing, feed the poor people, work from sun up to sundown, and never let a speck of dust settle on my furniture. For many years I made the resolution to quit smoking. This was really going to be the year! This time I would really quit. It never seemed to matter how firm I was in my resolution, it just never happened.
Then one day, without any forethought whatsoever, I got up and never smoked since. I had not planned it. There was no gum or other snacky food in the house and no one knew I had decided to make this life altering change, but here I am 10 months later, still smoke free. So here is my thoughts on the resolution thing:
I get up every morning and do the best I can all day long. For the most part, I don't gossip, lie, steal, kick dogs, and I do like babies. At times the foot gets a tad heavy on the accelerator, but that has been going on for 50+ years and I have yet to get a speeding ticket, so it can't be too bad. I would help old ladies across the street if I could find one wanting to go there.
I have a lot of friends, and I have those friends for a reason. I live my life in an honest and forthright manner, although I have been told I may be a tad overly forthright, but I see that is not changing, so why do I want to say I will change that when we both know I will not? I tend to surround myself with people who are like minded to myself.
If I did not like you on December 31, I am not going to like you on January 1, because there is probably a good reason I don't like you and it is probably not my fault I don't like you. It is your fault because you are not an honest, trustworthy, sober, reliable person. Or maybe you are into the "me" phase of your life. I like to help the poor, sick and the needy, because I can. There were many years when I did not have the resources to help those less fortunate then myself and while I am not rich I have time and talent to help others.
So, back to the resolution thing. If it will make you feel better, I shall make a resolution:

I, Lou Mercer, do hereby solemnly resolve, on this 3rd day of January in the New Year of 2010 that I will continue to live my life as I have in the past. I will not cheat, steal, lie, coerce or in any way degrade my fellow man. I will continue to laugh at you when you do something stupid, point out your faults, and give you my honest opinion whether you want it or not! I will continue to love each and every one of you in my own little way. I will continue to support the weak and down trodden and attend the church of my choice every Sunday!Peace to All!!

The Good Old Days!!!

I hear people talk about the good old days and while it is true that there is a lot about the good old days to envy and wish it were that way, this picture does not reflect that yearning. Here you see a picture of my five kids and myself. This was in the good old days when I was a single mother and worked 2 jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. This was the good old days when if a man did not want to pay child support he really did not need to. His reasoning was that I wanted the divorce and I had the kids so I should take care of them, after all, he now had nothing. Strange as it may seem, I understood his reasoning!

This picture must have been taken in 1971. Now, I know we are a rag tag lot, but we were a family and as a family we survived to adulthood. I would change a few things in this period of time if I could, but I can't so they will stay as they were lived. As with all families we each came away with our own perception of our growing up years. I came out of my growing up years completely different than my sisters, but more on that later.

I think the whole bunch of us were rebels and still are to a certain degree. Now, as I set here on New Years Eve, I would like to address this message to the 5 little kids above. For the areas where I failed you, forgive me. For the times we fished and had fun together, remember me. For the times you felt alone, you weren't. When I told you someday you would understand, you do. These were your good old days, so take away from them what you can and look to the future. Some times it helps to alter your perception a bit to make it a growing experience.

When you see your children, remember you were once children. When you see your grandchildren, remember you were once grandchildren. A family is something that is forever held together by a silver thread. When some of you look at the above picture you may see a picture that looks like it came from "The Grapes of Wrath", but let me tell you what I see and see if you can see it also.

Back row from left Patty, Debbie. Front row Dona, Sam, Susie and mother. I saved and cut corners to have this picture taken. Not easy in those times to have a family picture taken, but I wanted one for posterity. Patty and Dona are wearing dresses I made for them. Debbie is, as the oldest, leading the pack. Sam and Dona are the same age through the month of October (more about that later). Sam looks so angelic there and Susie seems a bit distracted.

I have my own memories of this time, but what everyone should know is this: I did the best I could with the knowledge and resources I had at that time. No way would I trade one of these little cherubs to make my life different. This is my good old days. They made me the woman I am today and this woman would like to say :

Happy New Year to all my babies, grandbabies and great grandbabies!!

If I quit smoking, you can quit smoking!!

I smoked from the time I was 16 years old until I was 67 years old. I imagine I quit over 600 times in my mind. I tried hypnosis, Chantix, Nicorette, Commit, Herbal rememdies, prayer, Colorado Quit Line, water, and about anything else that you can think of to try. Nothing helped. I did quit once for about 6 weeks, but then I got stressed and had one to relax. Six weeks down the crapper!

Then I had a very serious talk with myself. There is no one in this world that knows me like I know myself! "Self", I said "You are a woose. You have no will power, you are not honest and you are ruled by a damn cigarette that YOU go to the store and buy. Now make a list of things that is necessary to quit and just do it." Here is my list:

1. I buy these cancer sticks. I will quit buying them.
2. I have friends who smoke. I will not mooch.
3. The craving for a cigarette lasts 20 seconds. I will ram my finger in my eye for 20 seconds if necessary to pass the 20 seconds. What ever it takes.
4. I will never smoke again.

That is my list. Short and doable. I made this mental list in my mind early on the morning of March 1, 2009 when I did not want to go buy a pack of cigarettes. Today is December 28, 2009 and I am still smoke free. I do not ever see smoking in my future for any reason. Do not be misled; this has not been easy. There have been many times when I have almost rammed my finger in my eye and the habit of reaching for a cigarette is still second nature, but I do not do it. If I do not do it, I will never have to quit again.

Quitting smoking is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Only takes a few hours to have a baby, and that was hard. Burying a loved one is a life long ordeal. Having the dog put to sleep is hard. Life is full of hard things and most of them we do not want to keep doing over and over and I sure don't want to quit smoking again. So, if I never smoke again, I never have to quit again.

If I could think of one beneficial thing I get from smoking I might do it again, but I can't. It costs money I could use for other things. I smell like a smoke stack. I pollute my lungs. It makes me short of breathe. I have to do it outside so I get nothing done inside.

Granted, I do not now have money to roll it because I quit buying cigarettes. I still have to use deodorant, and the house still looks like Mickey Mouse and friends live here. But I can now jog a little ways down the road and riding the old bike is a lot easier. So as for me, I shall remain smoke free until further notice.

Merry Christmas Morning!

Here is the Christmas tree of a true grinch! Not really! I went to Penny's last night and had Mexican food. Pretty good stuff. Mexican Lasagne, Tamales, Green Chile, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Taquitoes, Salad, Avacado, Sour Cream, Tacos.. . .

Now today I will have toast for breakfast and make a veggie casserole to take to Jackie's at noon. Then over to Penny's to have lunch about 2. Lots of visiting. Sometime during the course of the day, I am going to get some weaving done. I am working on a blanket. Well actually I am working on two of them.

Got some corn for a special treat for the water fowl. They do not know what today is, but I do. They just like to eat every day. That and swim in the pond. What a life!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all out there. Or Happy Hanakuh, or what ever you celebrate this time of year. But remember...

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Happy Anniversary to me!!

I am going to pretend that today is December 23, 1983. It is very cold today, actually -15 degrees. Kenny and Gene Baugh are putting a drive line in the dump truck. Kenny Mercer is my boyfriend. Actually a little more than that, since we have been living together over a year. We have discussed marriage for awhile, but not got around to it yet.

When Kenny and Gene went to pick up the drive line at Pueblo Brake and Clutch they found it closed for, of all things, a Christmas Party. Gene went home and Kenny came in the house. It was then that I discovered how romantic that man could be! His exact words were "Let's go get this shittin' mess over with!" Now I ask you, what woman in her right mind could turn down a proposal like that?

So I got my new jeans on and my blue and white checkered cowboy shirt and away we went to Canon City, 30 miles up the road. Got the license and then needed some sort of preacher. As luck would have it we found one at the local assisted living facility. A resident minister, his bed ridden wife and another older lady walking down the hall with her walker. Having made short work of that little technicality we returned home, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Mercer, to find a very cheap bottle of wine left on our table by Gene Baugh, who knew our intentions.

Months later Gene would not drink it because if he knew he would have to drink it he would have got some good stuff. So we shared it with a son- in- law who first had to shake it up real good and then shoot the cork across the room at me.

Below you can see a few pictures of my Kenny and why this marriage worked. The first one is Kenny cracking peanuts and sharing with his dog, Polly. The next one is Kenny having a bowl of cereal with his bird, Rowdy. The third is Kenny sharing a laugh with his son-in-law (but not the one that shot me with the champagne cork!)

And of all the choices I have made in my life, this is the one I never ever at any time ever regretted. He had a phenomanal sense of humor, which is always necessary at my house. He was honest to a fault, dependable, caring, responsible and I could go on and on, but that would be gushing.

Suffice it to say, I found my soul mate in 1977 when I came to Colorado. Married my soul mate on December 23, 1983 and began life on another plane on January 30, 2003. Kenny is not "gone", nor will he ever be "gone". He just isn't here. Do I miss him? Of course. Do I need him? Of course. Will I survive? Of course.

That is my story and I'm sticking to it!

The Rainbow Bridge

The Rainbow Bridge

There is a place connecting Heaven and Earth.

It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colors.

Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of

meadows, hills and valleys with lush green grass.

When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this place.

There is always food and water and warm spring weather.

The old and frail animals are made young again.

They play all day with each other.

There is only one thing missing. They are not with their special

person who loved them on Earth.

So each day they run and play until the day comes when one

suddenly stops playing and looks up!

The nose twitches!The ears are up! The eyes are staring!

And this one runs from the group!

You have been seen, and when you and your special friend meet,

you take him or her in your arms and embrace.

Your face is kissed again and again and you look once more

into the eyes of your trusting pet.

Then you cross over the Rainbow Bridge together,

never again to be seperated.

I do not know who wrote this piece and it does not come with anything other than the words. And I think that is fitting, because any one who has ever lost a pet can feel this in their heart. While I have set her copying this, I have been remembering the pets I have lost. Some of them have already left the meadow with Kenny, but I know some will be waiting for me!

The only one I am not sure about is that Rowdy Bird. That was Kenny's Indian Ring Neck Blue Parrot. Rowdy died of lead poisoning a couple years after Kenny, but since he could fly I think Kenny probably went back to the meadow with Chile Dog and Sysnck and Rowdy flew on over. At least I think so.

My baby is eighteen today!

I shall wear this shirt today, because I have reached another milestone in my journey to the grave. Today the little Bret who I did not give birth to, but have none the less raised to adulthood, turns 18!
He has been very responsible pending this rite of manhood. He opened a checking account with his paycheck and put money in his savings. Gave me a check for what he owes me to date, plus January's car payment. He is planning on a cookout at the park in Pueblo West, and then will go to John's house and spend the night. He will go in to work about noon tomorrow. All sounds good on paper, huh?
He did come upstairs and kiss me on top of the head before going in to shower. At least he acknowledged that I am here. He does not want a cake. Monies should be paid on his car payment.
I had the talk with him about now that he is older and not so much under control of an adult that he is now entering the age of mutual respect and yada, yada. He has assured me that he will not be coming home covered with tatooes because he heard they hurt.
In all fairness, today is harder on me then I thought it would be and I think I now have a healthy respect for the "empty nesters" out there. While my fledgling has not flown the coop, he has for all intents and purposes shed the mantel of my baby and moved on to work on his own journey. About all I can do at this point is let the little fellow fly and hope he does not crash and burn on his way to the sun.

Happy Birthday Bret Mercer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is goose hunting season!

When I went out yesterday, I was surprised to hear shotguns in the distance and see a flock of geese arise off to the southeast. I could tell by the way they flew in different directions they were startled. They finally got it together and I tried to count as they went over. I do not know why I do that, but I like to see an even number. Guess that means they each have a mate.
Geese are amazing little creatures. They fly in a "v" formation and alternate leaders as the lead goose tires rather quickly. If something happens to a goose in flight, two geese will go down with it and stay with it until it either dies or is ready to travel on. People should be so considerate.

We live out in the county, so the hunting thing is fairly normal. I actually have 2 big holes in the back of my huge garage where a couple stray shots wound up. Now that the county is getting more populated it is not so bad, but we used to be afraid to walk out back in hunting season or target practice season.

The geese above are mine and they are not to worry. Anybody wants to shoot them has to come into my yard and there is a very good chance I would use a fence post over their head. But for the next few days I think I will hang out kind of close to the house until the hunters can get their barrell direction under control. While I realize that hunting has it's advantages in thinning the wild life, I still think it is sad. Of course the whole concept of death is sad, whether it be human or the birds that grace our sky!

Bionic Fingers!

I seen something on the news that just fascinates me. They are now working on and have in operation something called Bionic Fingers. This interests me because I have a granddaughter who was born with no fingers, only a thumb on one hand. When she was small she traveled back and forth from Lakin, Kansas to St. Louis, Missouri where she underwent several surgeries that were simply gruesome.

Doctors would take a tiny piece of bone from her toe and transplant it to her hand where a finger should be. Then she wore an apparatus that needed to be turned every day and the theory behing that was that would make a finger grow there. Needless to say, it did not work!

Now many years later, a set of fingers has been specifically built for a man who lost his fingers and retained his thumb. This apparatus is fitted to his hand. Each finger has a motor with sensors that attach to nerves in his arm. When he moves that muscle the sensor in turn moves the fingers. Now that the leap has been made it will be no time at all before this will be perfected and I can just see how this will help a lot of people, not just my granddaughter.

Having been born with no fingers on the one hand, she is what is called handicapped. She never knew this. I am the one who had a hard time remembering she was limited. She never looked on this as a handicap, just a limitation. I would hand her things with both hands and she would look at me funny. "Grandma, I can't carry all those!" Again I had forgotten. Teaching her to crochet was sort of out of reason.

Now she has two little boys, she cooks and cuts up onions, does everyday chores and has recently earned her Masters Degree. But think how nice that would have been for her to actually have 2 hands when she was doing this! I may actually be able to teach her to crochet, knit and all those 2 handed things I do!

One of these days I shall do a special entry on her, but first I have to get her permission to use her name and all the particulars, but for now it will have to do for you to know that I shine with pride over this little bit of fluff who has given me 2 great grandsons!

Please don't talk about me when I'm gone!

I just woke up with that song running through my head! "Please don't talk about me when I 'm gone! Though our friendship ceases from now on. In parting you go your way, I'll go mine, it's best that we do. Here's a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you." Or something like that!
Made me remember back to when I was in 3-4 grade and we used to play a game called "Gossip". Teacher would whisper something in the first kid's ear like "It is a lovely day for a walk in the woods!" When the gossip was whispered from lip to ear through the class it would come out something like "Lizzies dad talks to himself!"
This was our lesson that gossip is not good and we should not do it. Even if we are saying something nice to start out, when it is repeated enough it can become very distorted. So we do not do a lot of gossiping around here.
My mother had a different take on it. She always said:
"As long as they are talking about me they are letting some other poor soul rest!"
"If you can't say something good about somebody, don't say anything."
"What goes around comes around."
"The chickens always come home to roost."
Mother was a very wise woman and how I made the leap from waking up to the point I am now at is almost more than even I can fathom.
So that is it for the day. Kind of a waste of space, but that is what I am good at doing!

The doggie is running the business!

This is Cosmo!

Anyone who has ever been to Sprinkles Sewing Center knows who this is ! This is Cosmo and he is in charge of the store. While Cosmo is a beautiful little Maltese he came from very humble beginnings having been rescued from the pound in Colorado Springs. He knows a guy has to work for a living, and if he falls down on the job, he could be out the door! That Jerry is a task master that expects a lot out of a little dog! True, he gets to ride in the front seat, but never gets to drive!



When you pull in the parking lot, Cosmo is at the door watching you walk toward the store. It is then that he is deciding if you are on a mission of good or evil! He has a natural instinct to separate the customers from the bad guys meaning to do harm. He will greet you with a smile and a friendly wag. Your job is to say, "Oh, hello Cosmo! How good to see you!" Or something along that line.



Sometimes he is busy in the back, but when the door chime rings he will drop what ever he is doing and run to greet you. He is partial to his humans, Jerry and Cathy, and if he is busy with them you may only get a perfunctory wag, but when he is finished with the current chore he will be back to give you his full attention. Granted sometimes the chore he is involved in is having a little snack, but "treat breaks" are one of the "perks" of the job.



Everyone is his friend, but you need to realize that running a store takes a lot of attention and when you are only 8 inches tall and running on 2 inch legs, it takes a lot out of a guy!



Everything and everyone is his concern and for the most part he does a very good job, but this summer he had a real problem and that is what I want to share with you now. His human got him a new kind of flea medicine. No fleas for this little white doggie! No siree! The next day, Cosmo was not himself. He was lethargic and not meeting people at the door. On the second day the humans were becoming alarmed.



Having eliminated diet changes and all in the list of things that could be wrong, they happened upon the flea medicine! Being good little humans and concerned, they gave the little fellow a good scrubbing. Thanks to the astute humans who were in charge, Cosmo made a rapid recovery and was back on the job the next day!



Seems as though there was something in this medicine that the little silky haired pooch could not tolerate. They had used this kind before and had never had a problem, but apparently this batch was different in some way. Just want to reinforce here, that if you are in charge of a four legged friend, you are very lucky and no doubt have a friend for life. But, it is a big responsibility! They can not talk and tell you anything. You just have to guess.



And if you ever get over that way, stop in to see Cosmo. He is always happy to see a new face, and tell him Lou said "hi!" Oh, and you might visit a minute with Jerry and Cathy, the people he allows to take care of his needs.