The Good Old Days

It is very cold and last night we had the first snow fall of the season. Now old Indian lore states that the first snowfall only counts if you can track a deer in the snow, so this one does not count. It does not count because it melted before our eyes. Had it lingered that would have made our first snowfall on the 8th of October. Therefore we would have 8 snows this winter, deep enough to track a deer (Got to remember that part).
Further lore proclaims if the caterpillar has long hair it will be very cold. If the caterpillar spins the cocoon high it will be wet. And there was more stuff about what this woolly little worm could make the weather do. Of course, once again memory has failed me and I know not where the Indians have gone. Back East, I think. Actually I think they went to Washington, D.C.
There are things grandma told me on a fairly regular basis. "Your face is gonna freeze like that! " " A stitch in time saves 9. " " Where spider web grows, no beau ever goes! " " Sugar draws more flies than vinegar!"
When I was growing up, I was not sure my grandmother ever had an original thought, but now in my wisdon, I realize they were her thoughts. She just thought them a lot and out loud. Would I have remembered these things had she said, "Quit making faces or you will have wrinkles." "Do your mending or your clothes will need major repairs." "Clean your room or you will be an old maid. (That one never worked. My room was a mess and I managed to marry several times.)" "Being sweet will get you more friends than a nasty dispostition."
The answer is a resounding NO! I lived with my grandmother and greatgrandmother when I was in high school and it made me who I am today. I learned to crochet, the radio was always tuned to the news and market report, the only book worth reading was the Bible, and I had to sleep on the couch because the spare bedroom was upstairs and they worried that the house might catch on fire!
Those definitely were The good old days!!

And what would you like to live without?

Got up this morning and made breakfast for a lady friend. At that time I was told the water would be off for 2 hours "a little later this morning." Panic mode! Bret said "Fill the bathtub with water! Fill all the pans!" Now, I do not normally use that much water in a week so I opted for a gallon pitcher.

Then the appointed time arrived. How many times did I start to was my hands, flush the stool, really want to mop the kitchen floor, and fill the duck pond? And why was that? Normally that time of day is spent on the loom or one of the sewing machines or in town.

But not this day! Today is the one day I needed the water on, because I could not have it at my beck and command. Had it been the electricity I would have wanted to watch television, or run the air conditioner.

Think about this people! Less than 100 years ago running water in the house and electricity all through the house were the oddity rather than the norm. There were very few roads, because there were very few thing needing a road. Computers were unheard of, although I am sure some one had dreamed them by then.

Now think further; what would you give up if you had to give up something? My guess is nothing. You could not function without your ipod, cell phone, computer (and chances are those are in one item), car, pace maker, and on and on, because the things that were in everyday use 100 years ago can not be found today.

If they are found they are antiques or reproductions. And they make reproductions why? Because we long for the "good old days", but not enough to give up the conveniences that we now take for granted every day!

So today I am going to give up one of these things that I have been taking for granted and see how bad I miss it. Just have to decide what it will be. Hmmm! Oh, I already did, I gave up water for 2 hours. Now to report on how that worked out for me: It sucked!!!

Happy Birthday!

Well, today is my Happy Birthday. It is 8:30 am and 5 of the 10 kids have remembered. I will be going to the Springs to have lunch with the Pastor and Kay and Frank. Then tonight we will go out to eat at the Chinese food place, so the social ritual of eating is all planned and that is one less chore to do.
Birthdays are necessary, but only as a point of reference, "I got married when I was 19, first baby when I was 21, moved to Colorado when I was 36." Things like that. Some people count the day until the birthday, then count the days after the day. I am not big on that stuff. I usually forget until some one reminds me and then I am showered with gifts, even though I protest that I do not want them.
I really do not want them! There is not a single thing in this world that I can not live with out except for the food and water thing. So today I am inundated with a daughter, grand daughter, her husband and 2 great grandsons. Of course there will be presents and cards in the mail and they will all ask, "How old are you now?" Well, they expect me to remember how old they are, and I am the old forgetful one, so they should be telling me. Course they forgot.
So for posterity sake, I will tell you and that is if I have remembered correctly. I am 68 and holding. About the only memorable thing this year is that I survived it! Oh, yeah, I learned to swim. Been wanting to do that for many years. Still don't go in the deep water, but may stray out there one of these days.
So for now, Happy Birthday to me, and the rest of you have a good day.

Peacock Returns!

Yesterday I put sealer on the deck. This made it necessary to take the dogs out the front door. I stepped out in the front yard who should greet me, but Mr. Peacock! I of course, went into catch the peacock mode. Then it dawned on me that the neighbor lady was home and it was, after all, her peacock. So I ran over and got her.

She is not nearly as good at catching a peacock as her husband, so the last we seen of the peacock was him headed west down South Road and going a lot faster then either one of us! My son did observe that the peacock seems to be drawn to me. What ever. Peacocks are supposed to be a sign of good luck and I am hoping that will start kicking in soon.

In the meantime, I have been keeping pretty busy. Got a quilt quilted. Made small soaps with tons of lavender to keep moths away. Will sell them at the sale in November. Picked the remaining cukes so I can make dill pickle slices. Picked 3 tomatoes on the green side so I can fry them. I also looked at the closet with a critical eye. Then I reached a monumental decision; that is way more then I can get done since it is almost nap time!

The sunrise this morning was absolutely beautiful! Usually the sun just kind of pops up and down out here, but the one this morning was kind of slow and made the whole horizon very red and it stayed that way for almost half an hour.

Something about a long sunrise makes me feel inadequate. I feel that I am of very little significance in this big old world, but I somehow feel that I am the only one watching this sunrise. So, I guess my life is basically a conundrum. Do you know what that means? It means a riddle whose answer is a pun. That pretty much sums it up.

So, you have learned a new word today and the meaning of that word. As long as you pick up a little knowledge every day you will never stop learning. Wish I had some wise words to leave you with, but I am coming up blank. Just goes to show you that nothing is ever as it seems.

Chile Festival

I am demonstating for the Weavers Guild in the El Pueblo Museum yesterday and today. This has been fun. Joanne is with me and she is a tremendous weaver and likes people. I enjoy meeting people, so I just mostly talk.
First person to strike my fancy was Rebecca. She is from back east and knows how to use a drop spindle. We got started talking because she let a nasty word slip and apologized. I told her I could out cuss her any day. She spun some yarn and then went away, but not before we exchanged emails and such. Ships in the night.
The next one was a fellow who stopped right in front of me and stood. Not knowing what to say I said "Hi!" He replied, "No, just happy!" I was taken aback by that one, but life goes on anyway.
We watched the Indian Dancers. There is some very intricate bead work on those costumes. If you ever get a chance to take a close look, by all means do so. They go to a lot of work and are proud to show it to you.
There were rides for the kids, funnel cakes, Barbeque, roasted corn, jewelry, bean toss, and just about anything you can think of, but the main attraction is the rows and rows of chile roasters lined up and roasting the product Pueblo is best know for, the Mighty Pueblo Chile!!
So I shall return to my post today and continue to observe people. Will report in tomorrow. Sure I will have a good time.

Middle of the Night

It has come to my attention that I have profound thoughts, so profound that they actually awaken me wherein, I then need to lay there and ponder them. These same earth rattling revelations unfortunately flit away with the coming of dawn and complete wakefulness.
My late husband did not dream. Swore to heaven he did not dream. One morning he crawled out of bed a little more crabby then I was used to him being. As the day wore on his snipping seemed to increase, until I in my gentle way asked, "What in the hell is your problem?"
He stated that when he awoke that morning he "had it in his head" that I had run away with another man. I explained to him that is what is called a dream, which he must indeed be having, since I had not moved from the farm, so apparently had not run away with another man.
Now this brings me to the question, am I having profound, earth shaking revelations, or am I too, dreaming?
I have tried to trick myself, by recording my thoughts when I am awakened by these revelations, but when I play them back to myself, they do not seem all that important. To be honest, some of them sounded very stupid, others like the ramblings of a mad woman. So this leads me to one of two conclusions:
I am very happy that I escape into a dream world and get my creativity and genius worked out in the middle of the night where no one can see or hear just how loony I am as opposed to wandering around town talking to myself. What do you think of that theory?
Here is another one for you to think about. I am so smart when I am asleep that even I can not recognize my brilliance in broad daylight. I may be an Einstein and no one will ever know it because I sleep alone and can't remember anything when I wake up in the morning.
"What evil lurks in the hearts of man only the shadow knows!" That quote comes from an old radio show we used to listen to years ago. I am not sure it is correct, but then it did come from my mind and lord only knows what goes on in there!
A friend once told me " You never really know anyone, you know of them. " Meditate on that for the day.

My Mother

My mother shaped my life by example and a lot of her down home wisdom. I am going to tell you some of these at this point and what my thoughts at the time were.

1. "Get that pencil out of your mouth. You don't know where it has been." (Where did that thing go when I wasn't looking?")

2. " Do you want a lickin'?" (Oh, yeah! That is exactly what I want, a lickin'!)

3. " If Beth stuck her head in the fire, I suppose you would too!" (How is wearing my socks rolled down comparable to sticking my head in a fire?)

4. "Eat that mush! There are people starving to death in China." (Well, I sure wish they had this mush!"

5. "Get that coat on before you go outside and freeze to death!" (Wonder how long it takes to flash freeze.)

6. " Do not stick your tongue on that metal pole, cause it will freeze there." (Of course I am going to do that if I can just make it to the pole before I freeze to death.)

7. "Break this candy bar in half and give your sister the biggest half so you do not appear greedy." (Yeah, give the big half to her because she is greedy.)

8. "The early bird gets the worm." (And why do I want a worm?)

9. " Stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off!" (There is a visual I do not need.)

10. "Keep your legs crossed or some little boy will look up your dress." (And what will he see?)

11. "I am going to knock your block off!" (What is a block? Is that possible? Where will my block land and can I put it back on?)

12. "Keep eating and you are going to pop open!" (So that is what that belly button is for! To hold me shut.)



And there is not a day that goes by that one of her idioms doesn't pop into my mind and jerk me back to the straight and narrow. Today this would be called child abuse, but back in those days it was just called "doing the best we can."

I would not trade my roots for any other roots in the world. I came from good, hardworking, honest German and I am sure this has helped shape me into the person I am today.