It is still snowing!

I know there are people out there, when they hear about the snow in Colorado, especially the ones measured in feet, that they think of me! Thanks for thinking about me, but usually those feet of snow are anywhere but here. For the most part this is basically desert. Or at least I think so.

So now, we had our first snowfall yesterday, which was the 28th. It is putting down another layer, so that is 2 off of the 28. Means we have 2 snows left after today. Right? I wish the Indians that decided that stuff had been more specific. Since this is a snow on top of a snow is it one snow or since it is the second day is it 2? Because I do not like snow, I will count it as 2. I will mark it thusly on the calendar and next spring, assuming I actually did it, we will see what happened.

Hey! I got on my wii fitness thing today and I did not hear that woman say I was obese! She actually said my BMI was normal. And further I am now 37 years old! Course it was also blaring something about the batteries were going south and need to be replaced! Will that affect the accuracy? Do I care?

I kind of like this being normal and 31 years younger than I am so I may start putting weak batteries in all the time.

Good Lord! I can hear that weather man in there yapping about 5 more inches of snow! This is getting very scary. I do not like this stuff! What if it just keeps snowing and then gets over the house and keeps on snowing? What if the whole world, at least the cold parts, just lays there and keeps getting snowed on every day? It will get deeper and deeper and I will run out of food. The water will freeze. I see nothing but gloom and doom. I know that has never happened before, but what if.....?

It is gonna' snow!!

It is official, it is going to snow today. Of course it is! Yesterday I went out to the storage trailer and guess what was falling on my head? You got it, a drip! I could not get a tarp until last night, so we were out there this morning bright and early this morning and tried to fit a 12 x 20 foot tarp over an 8 x 30 foot trailer. We, of course, have a nice little breeze going and it did not go well at all.
So now, what to do. I need to leave here in 15 minutes to go take a lady to the doctor, then try to make an appearance at the weaving guild meeting. I fully expect something to happen while I am gone, like the tarp blowing off and up, up and away.
So this is the plan: I will come home and start moving the perishable and not waterproof stuff out of the trailer and into the tin shed. I fully expect to do this is a full fledged blizzard. I know how my luck runs.
Just wanted to touch base right quick. You all have a lovely day, and remember, "Some where the sun is shining and some where hearts are free, but there is no joy in Louville, the mighty trailer has sprung a leak!"

Why do the llama's run and jump!

Well, a very unusual sight out back this morning. The brown llama was running up and down the field and stopping to jump or buck or somethhng. The brown and white llama stood very still watching the brown llama. Now I have no idea about the sex of these 2 animals so they will be referred to as brown and brown and white.
If horses run and buck, there will be a change of weather. If cattle lay in the field the fish will not bite. I know if the geese or ducks hold real still and all look in the same direction, there is usually something furry over there thinking about duck soup. But this llama thing has me buffaloed.
I know what llama's are used for, kind of any way. To look at their shaggy, ragged coat, you would never guess that here is a fiber that when shorn, washed, combed and spun will make a very soft item to be worn. It is not itchy like wool, but it is a kind of wool. I would love to get my hands on either of these two fellows/girls.
See the irony of the whole thing is, when the man stuck them in the feild right there beside my house, he had no idea that I have in my possession, a basket to wash the fleece, hand carders to card the fleece, a spinning wheel to spin the fleece and 2 looms to weave the yarn!! I further have the knowledge to do all that.
I wonder what the man would think if he came over here and found naked llama's waiting for him?! What would the headline read in the local paper? "Old Lady Strips Llama", "Granny Charged with Fleecing Fleece", "Pulling the Wool Over Brownies Eyes!"
I think I probably would be better served just staying over here in my own yard and watch that silly llama hop around over there. I must learn to keep my mind from wandering.
If you know why llama's behave like they do, please let me know.

My Mohawk Hair Cut

Ever have a "Bucket List? I do. It is getting whittled down slowly but surely. Two years ago I decided to fulfill the mohawk desire. I had taken my son to the barber, one my husband had used forever, and the time was right!
I had a very hard time talking Louie into that, but finally he decided he might as well do it if he ever wanted me out of there. The deed was done! A little axle grease and the old mohawk stood right up as proud as you please.
Now, you should know, I always kept my hair short so the grand and glorious strip on the center of my 65 year old head was only about 3 inches tall. The bald head that surrounded it made it look fantastic! Paid my bill and off to the first stop; step daughter!
"What in God's name have you done? Wait till my husband sees that!" Her husband did indeed make it over to see me and know what he said? He laughed! "Way to go grandma!"
The grandkids were taken aback, but quickly adjusted. The other grownup kids were appalled, but soon adjusted. In all fairness, not all of them live around here and did not see it when it was fresh. I hated that.
The people at church dropped their jaws. But the best part and the part that made it all worth it were the strangers. Not many old ladies show up with a mohawk. The best reaction was the "gang bangers". I would walk down the aisle at the grocery store and run into one of them with his hat cocked on crooked and his eyes all hard and mean. He would glare at me, make eye contact and then give me the sweetest smile.
I had that happen several times and it dawned on me that if we would all just shave our heads and meet on common ground, an old lady and a punk teenager, we might get a little further down the road to peace.
I do not know how many thumbs up I got. Old people smiled, young people smiled,strangers on the street smiled. I had a good time with that haircut.
But, alas, the hair grew back and there was a lot of itching going on when that happened. I don't know if you have ever shaved your head, but there are a lot of bumps and stuff up there that is never seen unless you do shave the hair. Something up there is responsible for what is known as "cow licks." (Cow licks will be a later post!)
Now we all know there is not much sense to doing anything wild and crazy if you do not keep a record of that act. The day after I got my mohawk, I renewed my drivers license! It took the man 2 tries to get the light and everything just right so the mohawk is preserved for posterity! He actually worked with me on that photo!
Now when the clerk asks for my id, I hand her my license, she glances at the top of my head and we have a conversation going! I do not regret that haircut one bit, and may do it again if those kids of mine don't watch out!

Good old days may be yet to come!

I see I have been AWOL, which is the acronym for Away With Out Leave. That means I just took off and told no one that I would not be typing away in my little journal here. Did not go anywhere. Did not do anything in particular, just did not function like I should have. I do not feel one bit guilty even knowing you are out there thirsting for my wisdom and humor. Which brings me to the point of this missive.

For many years, well about 68 to be exact, I have functioned as others thought I should. I got my diaper changed and ate when momma thought I should. Went to school when teachers thought I should. Married a man because he thought I should, and then tended the babies, because that was expected. Life turned me into a single mother and then it was work, work, work. Later life gave me a wonderful husband who made sure I did not need to do that anymore.

Now, I find myself a widow, with a home and grandchildren and great grandchildren and a lot of time on my hands. I live alone, basically, so my life is pretty simple and my wants are few. I can eat breakfast at 6:00 AM or 2:00 PM. I can take a walk or a nap, depending on my mood. I can make a quilt, weave a tea towel, bake a cake, or just set and watch the ducks and geese. I can go to town or stay home. My choices are endless.

I am at no one's mercy but my own. I know that some day this life of mine will make a "u" turn and I will end up just like I started, but for right now, this moment in time, this is my good old days. Think this depresses me? Think again! Right now I have the whole enchilada and I am going to run with it. :)

Polly Parrot

And along that line, I have to tell you about Great Grandma's Parrot. When I lived with them, it was 1955. Residing there also was Polly Parrot. Polly was a green Amazon who (was almost a who as opposed to a thing) had been captured in South America and brought to Great Grandma covered in cotton in a matchbox and fed with an eye dropper.

Great Grandpa (I never knew him, but assume there was such a man and that he did the chores around the house and was indeed, the parrot smuggler.) built a wooden perch for Polly and there Polly spent all the days of his life. He never had a cage and beneath the perch was a sand box which had to be cleaned periodically.

When Polly was 45 years old he was in a feature article in the Kansas City Star. His whole life story was told and he became a celebrity. But for the most part, he just set there on his perch in the dining room, right outside the kitchen. Every Sunday was a big family dinner, because that is what you used to do.

Polly would sing for us, "After the ball is over, after the dancers have gone- - ". That is all I remember of the song, but Polly knew more. Some one would pop around the corner and give him a piece of apple or a brazil nut, or something just as good. Polly always said "Thank You!" That bird knew his manners.

I had a favorite cousin at the time named Carl. Carl assured me that one night he was sleeping on the couch and Polly fell off his perch and when he hit the floor he said "damn!" but I am not sure that was entirely true. When Polly did lose his balance and end up down there he would walk back to the sand box, pull himself up the pole that held his perch and once more be king of the domain. He had a hard time walking because his feet were shaped the same as the perch he spent his life on.

Polly never bit anyone or ever had a bad day. He was just there and stayed there until Grandma died and Great Grandma went to live with Aunt Helen. Several years later Aunt left the window open and Polly spent a night with the cold wind blowing on him. He ended up with pneumonia and died shortly there after.

Great Grandma lived to be 104. She kept her mind to the end, Crocheted with heavier yarn, and could tell you stories of Jesse James and the Younger Gang in her barn and eating at her table (She did not know who they were at the time, just their name.), and always Polly had been there. It was a sad day when we learned in a letter that Polly had died. But I am sure that up in Heaven some where there is a tall, regal white haired woman coming around the corner to feed a piece of apple to a big green parrot who has just finished a rousing rendition of
"After the ball is over, after the dancers have gone...."

Grandma Haas

As I mentioned, I lived with Grandma and Great Grandma for a time. I dearly loved my Grandma. She had suffered a stroke and used a walker. One arm was pretty useless and that was back in the time that physical therapy was not practiced. I guess she did her own therapy because she still managed to crochet.
Grandma was 72 and Great Grandma was over 95 when I lived with them. They arose every morning at sun up and were dressed in their little cotton dresses with a full apron over the dress, shoes, the long stocks that passed for nylons, glasses on their nose and every hair in place.
Breakfast had been laid out the night before. The egg poacher filled with water set over 1 pilot light and the drip-a-lator coffee maker full of water set on the other pilot light. One half of an orange was at each place setting setting. Jelly and all the condiments were covered in the middle of the table. Breakfast would be cooked and served in 5 minutes. I then put all the dishes under the sink to await for my return from school.
My Grandma was a short, plumpish woman and had golden hair as opposed to white. I still have her braid. She had the sweetest smile, like angels would have. My mother was the spitting image of her in later years.
Great Grandma was a very regal woman. She was tall, thin, aristocratic nose and piercing eyes. She moved very slowly, but then she was 95 years old and the main caregiver to her 72 year old disabled daughter! What did I expect?
These women never raised their voice, but I was always most happy to do what ever they asked. Every night, with out fail, we took turns reading from the family Bible. We never ate with out praying over the meal. We never slept with out praying we would still be there in the morning. And it always worked. Right up until Grandma had another stroke.
If I could have one wish for the world it would be for everyone to have Grandmas like I did. If these 2 women had been in charge of the world there would not be war, pestilence, or poverty and violence. Just a world of people setting around and never raising their voices, doing what they knew in their souls was the right thing to do. Making sure that their little corner of the world was in peace and harmony.

After all, if we each took care of our own little corner, there would be peace and harmony. If we took care of each other in a compassionate manner, we would have no time nor energy for the back biting and in fighting that leads to strife and war.
I think I will just practice what I preach!!