It snowed last night. We need 6 more!

Here is my rose bush all mashed out by the snow!  Of course that was this morning and now it is evening and all of the snow is melted.  This is what is known as Spring Time in the Rockies!  This is the time of year when, no matter how much you are tempted you do not plan anything that entails getting in the car and driving somewhere.  There is a very good chance that, despite the fact that I just shaved my legs and wore my shorts all day today, I may very well be snowed in tomorrow morning, like today.

I had planned on going to Colorado Springs this morning to have lunch with a friend, but when I woke up in the middle of the night last night and chanced to look out my window, I knew I would be staying here doing the at home thing today.  So I did.  Life throws me lots of curves. Like I just uploaded 3 pictures of the snow, but 2 of them are out in cyberville somewhere and I will probably never see them again. But there is always the chance that when I hit the publish button, they will miraculously appear.  Or not.

According to the Indian Lore, we still have 6 more snows coming. Kind of hate that because the buds on the Apricot Tree are just ready to open.  Maybe they will bloom really fast before the next snow gets here.  We usually get a fruit crop about once seven years.  Since I don't care for Apricots, they do better than the Peach Trees which got bores and died early.

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

Some old fahioned values, for a change!

  All this stuff with Sandra Bullock and Jesse James has got me to thinking!  Now, I have no desire whatsoever to watch movies, nor do I keep up on all the behind the scenes hoopla that goes on there.  I did rent "Precious" and I have been known to watch the Cheech and Chong movies, but as far as being an avid fan, I am far from that. If Entertainment Tonight did not preceed the Nightly News, I would be in a complete fog.
  That being said, I did see clips of Sandra winning her awards, and Jesse in the background. It was a fairy tale between the beauty and the bad boy.  Then came the scandal, and it seems that is how it always happens, huh, Tiger? Sandra has gone into hiding and do we wonder at that? Have you ever had anything like this happen in your life?  Not necessarily a husband or wife humiliating you on nationwide television, but some one lying to you and getting caught and exposed?  If not, could you imagine how that would rock your world?  How empty would you feel knowing that the person you share your life with, is sharing with someone else?
  I am a firm beleiver that "the chickens come home to roost," and "it all comes out in the wash".  I am far from perfect and I have done things in my life that I only pray never sees the light of day and hopefully they won't because I have mostly forgotten and anyone who knew is probably older than me and they don't remember either!  A lot can be said for old age and poor memories!
  But what I am wondering here is this; wouldn't it be nice if we could all get back to the good old days, where a hand shake sealed a deal and a man was only as good as his word?  How cool would that be if all our lives were an open book?  I am sure honesty could solve a lot of our social problems.
"Where you been, Johnny?" "Oh, out popping the guy walking through my turf."
"You are late dear, where have you been?" "In the motel with my lover."
"Where did you get that CD?" "Stole it at Walmart."
  Would honesty be the best policy or are we actually better off being kept in the dark about some of the things that affect us directly?  Maybe we are better off with just one big blow up and picking up the pieces and moving on.  Daughter Debbie always said:

"What doesn't kill you or make you bleed will make you strong!"

She also said:

"Setting in a pile of poop is a nice place to be until you start stirring it, then it gets nasty!"

Weaving of the willow basket!

Here is the basket with all the staves poking up. I did get the bottom started, which for me, is a miracle in and of itself. See, the biggest problem here is when I am flipping the basket those long things seem to slap other people across the face. When no one else
is around, the dogs get poked. The dogs run away and I am left with only myself to lose an eye. Therefore, I have decided that this will be my second and final basket, owing to the fact that I prefer to keep my orbs intact!




Here you can see just how long those pokey things are! These suckers are deadly! Do you blame me for wanting to protect myself? I guess I could wear safety glasses. That would work. Any body got a pair I can borrow?








Here is the basket all finished. I got the little things all tucked in and I must confess, I forgot how to end this so I just cut them off and poked them in where I thought they looked good.









Being at a loss for where to put this basket, I looked around and this is the first empty place I could find.  I am pretty sure this is not going to be my Easter Bonnet and I think I look like one of those Russian Cassacks (I know this is not how to spell this and I have no idea how to start looking it up so you tell me how to spell it!).  Seems all I need is a pair of combat boots and a big sword and I am good to go!

(Hey, man! I took this picture myself and I think I did a pretty good job of centering myself!)

Ok, I think we are in full agreement here that my career as a basket weaver has reached its peak. I shall now move on to bigger and better things. For now, I read that if I set on the exercise ball while I am at the computer I will be able to work and build my core. So that is what I am doing. Do not be at all surprised to read that I have been thrown and killed by this thing! In the meantime, have a good one!

From here to Madrid, Spain in 7 days!

This is Marvin the Martian. The little fellow left here last Thursday, March 11, 2010 and woke up this morning in his new home in Madrid, Spain. That is less than 6 days which is doing some moving if you just stop and think about that. Here is how Marvin the Martian Telephone came to make this journey.

I sell on eBay and Marvin was dropped off by a member of PFLAG which is the acronym for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. They have a rummage sale in the Spring to raise money for a scholarship fund they maintain at Pueblo Community College. It came to our attention that some items would bring more money if they had more exposure. We were right.

So Marvin came to my house. He was photographed on his best side in natural light and off he went to the eBay auction. Now new phones were selling on eBay at the time for $15.99, so imagine my surprise when I got my opening bid and it went up to $19.99. I was amazed when the auction closed at $31.00. Then came the most amazing post. I received a communication from a guy named Juan in Madrid, Spain telling me how happy he is to support our cause.

Postage to Madrid is by no means cheap, and the best I could do on this was $33.00. And then I check the progress today and find it has been delivered! I have sent things to Canada that are still in transit!  I have had people email me from Canada that apparently never get their package and when I trace it I find it has left the United States at which point it seems to be swallowed up in the big hole called Customs. But again I digress.

I just wanted to tell you how well the United States Post Office came through for me on this one. I sent a boat title to Denver 26 years ago and it has not gotten there yet, nor was it returned. Some letters have taken weeks to get there while the short check I mailed in anticipation of the deposit I would make the end of the week reached it's destination the next morning.

And so my hat is off to the USPO, Customs in Spain, Marvin and Juan! All worked like a well oiled machine for a story of success!

I wove a basket!

Well, here is the basket that I wove on Saturday at my class at Colorado Fiber Arts, 121 Broadway Ave., Pueblo, Colorado.  719-543-1161. It is a neat place for knitting, crochet, felting, all kinds of fiber stuff. But I would rather you pop in and see Karen and learn for yourself, because I want to tell you about my basket weaving thing here!

I took my class from a lovely girl named Simone Soucy. She went out and cut these willow switches for us to weave. Last time I cut a switch it was not to weave and it included my mother and I think a canary (or lack of one), a cat and a pile of feathers! But, I do digress.

This basket is made of fresh willow sticks and I had quite the little time. It is fun to make this stuff out of natures bounty and then be able to use it in our home. But there were 5 or six of us setting around a round table flipping these baskets around and trying to get them whipped into some sort of shape that would hold something! Now Simone did tell us the Native Americans could weave them tight enough to hold water. I rather thought I would use mine to seine fish. It will be for big fish because the little ones will slide out the holes. I figure one or  2 pounders!

Simone taught us how to harvest the willow to get the best "bang for our buck" but I have not gotten that far in my quest. I have to be careful about the venturing in where spiders and snakes reign supreme. Creepy crawlies scare the bejiggers out of me.

So, just wanted to show you the basket. Now I have to go make some Kimchi cause I found a buyer for that. Dollar here, dollar there and pretty soon I have enough to do something.

Have a good one and may the Good Lord take a like'n to you!!

No, really, I am going to clean out that closet today, or tomorrow at the latest!

Lyn was here yesterday and she made the mistake of opening my closet door. Now in all fairness this closet is big. It is  14 feet long and 6 feet wide. It just screams "If you don't know what to do with that just cram it in here!" I have stayed in motel rooms with less square feet than this thing has!

In this room is all my hanging up clothes, thus earning the name "closet." It is very cool in there so I keep all my oils  and soap making stuff in there. There is some overflow eBay stuff in there. Christmas wrapping paper, every piece of correspondence I have ever gotten, Kenny's memorial box, a huge box of hats (all collectible and worth a fortune), an 8mm video camera, sheets, blankets, baskets and various and sundry items that have been given to me and I can not throw them away because someone's feelings may be hurt.

Ok, I can see your wheels turning. You are thinking I am a hoarder. No, that is not it at all. I am not hoarding this stuff, I am merely keeping it until I figure out what to do with it. I am sure soon I will come up with a solution. A few years back I thought I had the solution and I took it all downstairs. I wrote the date on each box and thought after one year I would throw the box out if I had not opened it. So I opened each one, peeked inside, and wrote a new date on the box. So that was no real solution.

Ok, when I get home today, I am going to set every thing in the other end of the closet and then start putting it back in an orderly fashion. I am really going to do that. You will see. No more will Lyn be able to say "Shall I put the vacuum cleaner in the closet out of your way? Oh, no! It is full and the vacuum won't fit!" I wonder what her closets look like?

I will be back Monday to report on how this is progressing. I am not a hoarder; you will see. This is all good stuff it just needs to be sorted through and organized. Monday I will post a picture of the progress I have made. You will be so proud of me! 

Do you remember the show on the radio called "Fibber McGee and Molly." No Fibber McGee here. You will see Monday.

Here is the hot pink blanket!

Well, I finally got the hot pink blanket finished! As with anything that is handmade, this one has several mistakes. The mistakes are not readily visible, but I know they are in there and I can find them if I need to. Course that is the beauty of anything hand made, it is different. You always know that nowhere in the whole world is there another blanket exactly like this one. So there you have this one. Hope you enjoyed the peek at my latest handwoven project. I think I am going to auction this one off on eBay! Can not list it for a few days though.

This is made with 8/2 cotton, which is the white part and some kind of wool that I bought from Joanne. I love this pattern and that is the reason I also wove a blue and white one right before I wove this one. They are both 51" x 41" which is smaller than I like, but it is a little bit late to be worrying about what size they should have been. I just did the pattern 2 across and 2 long. Will do something different next time.

Think I will go downstairs and see what other ornery stuff I can get into today! If you are thinking of starting a new hobby and weaving looks fun to you, contact me. If I can weave, anyone can weave!!

The first crocus of the year at my house!

It is the first sign I have seen of Spring except for the 2 Robins building their nest in the middle of the snow storm a couple weeks ago. It is a lovely yellow Crocus! Only one out there, but it is there. Now as soon as I say I have a Crocus blooming everyone in town will have lots of them, and also Daffodils, Narcissus, and Hyacinths all over the place. But this one is mine and I just wanted to let you know.

I am sure we are not through with the snow since Indian Lore shows we have 13 more to go, but I am also sure that Spring is on the way! I for one shall be very glad to see it. We have had a fairly mild Winter here in Pueblo, but anything below 60 degrees is enough to send me into culture shock! I shall now go rake around my little Crocus and perhaps give it a little drink of water. If the dogs would be good they could go out front with me, but alas, Elvira runs away and does not listen.

Happy Birthday to the little 1 year old!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

TO MY PRECIOUS GREAT GRANDSON!

(Name withheld for obvious reasons!)

Babysitting with the little baby!

 

Well, here we are taking care on the little Jayvan. Why this is called "babysitting" is beyond me, because there is not a lot of the sitting going on. Course it is much easier when I have Daisy and Elvira to help me. See how fast Elvira and Daisy's tails go! Just looks like a shadow back there.

Little Jayvan likes to mostly eat and laugh, but he is getting teeth right now and that is a lot of work for a little kid. Makes him pretty mad, too. So he went home to Daddy pretty soon after dad got home!

Hi sister Mary! Do you recognize this cup!

When sister Mary went home, her goal was to count her Skaets Steak Shop cups. She thought perhaps I had more then her, thus making me the favored sister of Donna, co-owner of Skaets. So her and Donna had coffee in the NEW cups at Skaets and very blatantly sent me a picture of them hoisting their cups.

So I cast my eyes around and found this cup, which belongs to Mary, but she forgot and left it here! So, now who gets the last laugh? I am not going to drink out of this, but will be holding it hostage until such time when I receive a NEW cup from Skaets Steak Shop, 2300 North Main, Hutchinson, Kansas, which is run by Karen Leshure and Donna Bartholomew.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, you sisters of mine!!

Where exactly is the pink Llama?

I had Kiadan over the other day. He is 5 years old. Very impressionable age, I might add. I took him out to see the Llama's in the field by my house. He commented that they were very furry, but he did not want to get close enough to be spit on by them.  I saw a learning experience here!

I took him inside and down to the weaving room where I also have a spinning wheel  (exactly like the one in the link over there!) and raw wool. I showed him the wheel and then explained to him how it was made into spun thread after combing and that. He wanted to know what it looked like when it was done, so I showed him a cone of pink wool since that is what I had out. He was facinated!

But then he wanted to go back out and look at the Llama's some more because he wanted to see the pink one! Makes me wonder if we ever actually get kids taught all they need to know before they enter the world of video games and Mountain Dew?

Our Weavers Guild does a thing at El Pueblo Museum covers all of the process from shearing, dyeing, spinning and then weaving on little wooden looms. Kids are fascinated with this process. Want to know what else? We do the drop spindle and the boys catch on to that much quicker than the girls! Boys do a very good job. That surprised me!

High energy power drinks and their likelihood of success!

Happened to pop in the boy's room last evening and found him sipping on a high energy power drink. I do not approve of those, but in all fairness, I do not drink any pop. Water and tea for me. So my question to the son was "What is that!" He of course, filled me in to all the virtues of this drink. It would give him lots of energy.

Now here is my conundrum: Why does he need a burst of energy on a Thursday night at bedtime? Is he going to scurry around picking up all the trash, dirty clothes, books and such off his floor? Is he perhaps going to rig up a drop cord and shine a light on the yard he is raking? How much energy does a couch potato need?

I realize he works all day. Maybe his boss would appreciate a burst of energy there. Maybe I should drink one. My thought on that is that if I gave this old body a shot of energy it would probably shatter every bone I have. So for now, I will just marvel at the wisdom of youth and be very glad that I am old!

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!!