Oh, I been thwarted in my quest

Daughter called to remind me that I did not update you on what happened. The man I needed to talk to went to Denver today and I missed him. So I left a message and we will see if I get a phone call on Monday. Sure hope so. Maybe it can be resolved with no hard feelings. Maybe not. I emailed him and I was very tactful which was not my first gut reaction. But a few days of me cooling off may be a ploy on his part. We will see.
In the meantime I went off to the Ghost Walk on Union tonight. Went at 5:30, but it was 8:30 when I got home. Kind of fun, but a lot of walking. So I hurried home to the geese and they were very happy to see me and marched right into thier house. Good geese.
But tonight we have the tiniest of Crescent moons and it is blood red. It was so beautiful it almost broke my heart. I do love the moon. When Bret was little and lived far away and missed me I used to tell him that all he had to do was look at the moon and he would always know that I was looking at the same moon. Now I do not think he knows there is a moon.
Ok, I shall go gaze at the moon and eat some peaches and then I am off to bed. Just wanted to let you know that I know nothing.

An ill wind that blows nobody good.

Remember your momma telling you that when you were small? Ever wonder what that means exactly? Well, I figured it out. The ill wind is just the gossip and innuendo that preceeds something. There is an ill wind blowing in my life right now and I intend to stop it this afternoon. For several days now I have been hearing rumors that are upsetting. I do not like that, so this afternoon I shall "beard the lion in his den", so to speak. When I know, you will know. That is a given. You all know I can not keep a secret. What bothers me right now and has for several days is the "He said, she said." When we were kids in school we played a game called "Gossip." (Please remember I grew up in the Bible Belt!) We would set in a row, side by side, the girls and the boys. The teacher would whisper something in the first students ear. This student would in turn whisper to the next student until at last the "secret" was told to the last student who announced what they heard to the class. "Melba is going to France to have a baby." May have started out as "Melvin is going to the dance with a lady", but that was sure not what it ended up. The fun part of this is not knowing who changed which word, only that as innocent as the game was we learned how words can be misconstrued and misinterperted and how those same words that were so innocent can be twisted into something that is very different. I can write a sentence, but since the inflection is not in my voice and you have no idea what I am doing, it will mean something different to whoever reads it. Like this. I say " I am cold." What do you take that to mean? "Lou is cold. She has no heart." or "Lou is cold. She did not pay the heat bill." or "Lou is setting naked in front of the window again." So, before I play the "he said/she said" game I want all the he's and she's in a row so I can look them in the eye. Something about looking people in the eye that makes them accountable. Letters are a piece of cake cause you do not have to hear a rebuttal. Phone is easy, kind of, cause you can slam it down and walk off, but the eye to eye, somebody is going to blink! So that is where I am right now. I will come home from this little meeting either happy or very, very sad and will need to deal with that. Either way, you will get an update this evening or in the morning at the very latest. And right now the cold wind is blowing here at my house and I can definitely feel the nip of fall in the air. After this hot,hot summer, I kind of look forward to the fall. So this is not an ill wind here. Side note here, Do not go to my AIDS Walk site at this time as I am changing something on there. Will let you know when! ;)

Dillon's and King Sooper's rule!

 
 
 
 

While I was in Hutch I needed some things from the local grocery, which is Dillon's. As you know, or at least I do, Dillon's in Kansas is run or owned by the same entity as King Sooper's in Colorado. I went through the self check out and apparently laid my rewards card on the machine and it neglected to jump back in my pocket, so it got left!
My cell phone is one number service which means if you call my home, it rings on my cell if the cell is turned on. So later that evening I received a phone call from a very nice man at Dillon's on 30th Street telling me I had left my card there. At the time I was busy and did not want to run back over so I told him to just toss it and I would get another when I got home. So I had been home 2 days and this came in the mail! What a wonderful man!
It seems these cards keep track of everything I buy and then I get a discount on gas and all kinds of good things. Had I forfeited that card and got a new one I would have lost my points. The man who put this in the mail to me knew that.
So, to the man at Dillon's who mailed this to me, I want to say a big "Thank You!" In my usual bumbling manner I did not even ask his name when he called and I am very sorry for that oversight. I am hoping that whoever runs the office there on 30th will trace the fellow down and give him a big "atta boy".
It is great to know that big corporations like Dillon/King Sooper are looking out for the little old ladies in Colorado. In this day and age so much of business is conducted in a selfish manner. By returning my card I get my rewards which costs them. They paid for the stamp. But they have made a friend for life!
Thank you to the Dillon's Store on 30th Street in Hutchinson, Kansas from loumercer3 in Pueblo, Colorado!

Emily Carter Event

Ok, this is what I did yesterday. I will not go into a lot of detail as this slide show has all the information on each picture and you can pause it and I made it big. Oh, I am so good!! I do want to say up front that these pictures were taken at Sprinkle Sewing Center in Pueblo, Colorado. It is located at 1740 Eagleridge Blvd. #120. You will be met at the door by Cosmo, the actual ruler of the domain. Lovely little white dog who would be most appreciative if you would bring him a small treat. Course Jerry does not appreciate that much as Cosmo may lose his waistline! For years and years I thought a serger was only good for finishing the edges of material, but I have been brought kicking and screaming into the new age of sergers. Emily Carter has lived in Pueblo for many years. She was actually the first person to work for Jerry when he opened Sprinkles God only knows how long ago. (Side note here. The mark of a good journalist is that she will have all her facts at hand before she begins to write. She will not call upon God as a resource!) That being said Emily is the Babylock Representative and Educator. Did you get a good look at that stuff she made on her serger! Until I set down to this serger in this class with Emily at the helm I had not a clue. And the very saddest part is that I own 3 sergers. And one of them is the evolve which is air thread and does everything the newest one does except the Wave Stitch. 5 needle capabilities. Cover stitch. Everything! And I use it to serger around the edge of seed catchers. Paid over $1000 for it and use it like a $100 piece of crap! I should be horse whipped. So any way, Emily is one of the most knowledgeable people I have come across and she taught me a lot, which people have been trying to do for years, and with no luck. See, most of it I think I already know. But, then here came Emily to wake me up. And note the little lady named Wyna. She was right across from me and such a delight. Well, everyone was, but her and I clicked. She used to live in New York and I just love people from the East...Well, Back East, I should say. They tend to be a little more refined than me. So Wyna, here is my email. Keep in touch! loumercer3@aol.com Now, enjoy the show!

I just want to tell you about the Pecan Tree.

We are on the final two weeks here! Click here to donate to the AIDS Walk!

At my sister Donna's house in her back yard is a very tall Pecan tree.  Every year the squirrels slither in and pick all the Pecans and hide them all over the North end of town.  If you look very closely at that last picture you can see one of the little fellows looking back at you.  They do not like to have their pictures taken so they sort of hid.

I made this picture extra large so you can see that beady little eye in the upper left hand corner, kind of .  Do you know these things spit at you?  Well, for the record, they do.  And they also chatter away and Lord only

knows what they are saying.

 Now this is a Pecan that is not ready.  I understand that had I picked this a few days earlier the inside would have been liquid.  That is very weird.  And do you see those brown fingers I got for my effort?  You may be interested to know that I still have those brown fingers and will no doubt die with them.  That is the thanks I get.

Now comes the weird part.  Karen had noticed the leaves seem to fall suddenly and completely.  Upon investigation, she was told that the tree is "self grooming".  That means that it will loose all it's leaf clusters when it decides the time is right.  And what do you think finally happened?  The tree, Karen and the video camera all had the same "aha moment".   It was a very still day; not a breeze stirring.  Karen glanced out the back window and noticed a few leaf clusters on the ground.  Then a couple fell and a light clicked on in her memory bank.  She ran for the video camera which by some sort of miracle in itself was charged and ready.  She took three video's and when she was done, so was the tree.  Bare as bare could be.  She showed me the video's and I asked for copies to be emailed to me.  But there you go.  I know how to upload to Youtube and download to my computer, but I do not know how to tell someone else how to do it.  So sad.
So this is all I wanted to tell you about the Pecan tree, the tree with a mind of it's own.  Someday we will have the video's on this computer and when we do then I can figure out how to get them on the blog for you.  It seems like most of my life is spent "figuring things out"  and not always coming to a good end on them.  But what is life if not a learning experience?
As Paul Harvey, or some one would say.  "Good Day."

Who is paying who off in this deal?

Time to donate is running out!!

Now you all know I just went to Kansas and you know good and well that I had lunch with my favorite Republican.  That happens every time I cross that state line, so this is no surprise to any one.  Now, I know this picture may look just a little bit suspicious to some, but there is a good explanation for this.  See Joe agreed to sponsor me on the AIDS Walk in the Garden so when I met him he pulled out the money.  I thought there should be a picture to commemorate the big event so I handed the camera to someone at  our table.  When this picture came up it looked a lot like there was a payoff being made and it was from me to him.  So, I decided we should go public with this one right away and not wait for the New York Times to dig it out of the archives and then paint me as the other woman or some such nonsense.

See, I found out a lot of things on this trip.  I found that Joe has "aspirations".  Now what exactly does that mean?  I do not know, but it sounds like he is aspiring to be something higher than the position he now holds.  Representative or Senator to the big house in Washington, D.C.?  Governor?  President?  Who knows.  Pretty sure of one thing, and that is what ever he decides to do he is going to do it well.  We were discussing a bit of political positions and I find him to be just enough Liberal that I can like him and he still maintains his Republican beliefs.  And he is working on some sort of Energy & Utilities Committee.  We discussed the wind energy that is in place at Spearville, Kansas.  I clocked the wind farm and found it to be 6 miles long.  Joe says there are 100 of the turbines there and when I asked him how many homes that would power he said about 30.  I was astounded as I thought they were more powerful than that.  He did say they have a lot of work to do to make them more effiecient.

But that is not the worst of what I learned that Friday.  It seems that I am supposed to address him as Honorable Joe Seiwert.  Now rest assured, this is one of the most honorable men I have ever come across and I have come across a lot of men in my time.  He does not even cuss!  It is just that I never thought of Joe in this context.  He won his election with 72% of the vote so I am not alone in this.  Just how do I seperate Joe the friend from Joe the politician?

State legislators

The Honorable Joe Seiwert Address goes here

See, I copied it from the place I looked it up.   So now this throws a whole new slant on this friendship.  See, I thought he was just a farmer down in Pretty Prairie.  But,  now that I know I am supposed to call him Honorable it rather scares me.  See, he is my friend.  Now, I am having to rethink the whole thing.  Not only is he Honorable, he is  aspiring.  And what if this Honorable little fellow were to wind up Governor or something like that?  Now, you people know how much class I have.  If you don't then let me tell you....Uh, not a drop. I do have acquaintances in high places, but this is a friend.  I have never seen this man in anything but jeans and a Harley tee shirt, with straw stuck in his hair.  Look at him up there!  He just looks like a ornery little boy there.  Who would know he may one day be President of this great country.  And a very fine President he will be! 
Oh, the twists and turns life hands us. 

Time to go home, I guess.

Well, look here, I got lonely for you people.  I am on day number 5 and have been having a pretty good time, as good times go, but this morning I heard a goose honk.  Now mind you my bed is in the basement and the house is in a residential area and there are no geese around for many miles.  So methinks it is purely psychological.  I have talked to the boy child only once since I have been here and that was when he called me to tell me he thought someone had broken into the house and stolen the fried chicken he had left in the refrigerator.  Should he call the police?  I told him not to for the simple reason that I have a coded lock and only a few people have the combination.  Well they actually have there own set of numbers.  So when I get home I will just change the code.  I would let him do it, but I might not be able to get in when I get home.
I have known for sometime that some one is creeping around my house, but no one seemed to be alarmed until the chicken disappeared, so go figure.
So Saturday, I worked in the kitchen at  Skaets all day.  That was fun and it brought back a lot of old memories.  Also brought a back ache on and a memory of why I do not want to get back into the resturant business.  That is one of the jobs that shall remain in my past when I was a lot younger.  I seen Vi, Evie, Kay, the house where I used live which is now a vacant lot, the Red Carpet resturant, cousin Sandy and Daryle, but not Stephen.  Do not know when I will see him.  Seems he was out rather late Saturday night and coming home he made a left hand turn into a telephone pole while catching a quick nap.  Luckily the only damage was to his car and thumb. Seems that little thing is now shattered and would like to be put back together.  Oh, the tricks life plays on us!
Now, this evening I am going to sister Dorothy's house and making Green Chile and Burritoes.  Michele is buying what I need, so all I have to do is cook it.  Oh, I have to buy the chiles because they have no idea about that sort of thing.  She got me 2 cans of coffee cause there was a really good sale on it here last week.  Donna and Karen do not eat spicy stuff so they are not dining with us tonight.  Mary is in Wichita and we were going over today, but her son is planning on spending the day with her so I will catch her next time.  I may see if Donna wants to run over to Nickerson this morning and complete my old home week.  Oh, and I have to visit my dad and brother out at Peace Creek.  Mom is just west of town and I will run out there pretty soon.
I looked up the numbers of a couple old boyfriends, but did not write them down.  That one would be really old and the other probably does not even have a guitar any more.  Water under the bridge.  I have been gone from this town for over 30 years and after that much time, people tend to forget.  Well, some of us do anyway.  Apparently , I am not one who forgets easily!  It is kind of sad to drive around town and see all the houses that need painting and upkeep.  Hutch is getting so run down that city council just passed a resolution that the houses that are in bad need of paint and upkeep must be brought up to code or torn down.  City will condemn them if no action is taken.  Sounds like a gestapo action to me, but who am I to say.
I just took a quick peek at AOL to see how many emails I have and I should have not done that.  That is a task I do not even want to undertake when I get home.  But, tomorrow I will.  I plan on leaving here early and stopping in Lakin on my way through for lunch.  So, if you contacted me, I will answer you tomorrow evening.  Wednesday I will get up and go have breakfast with Kay and then be right back in the grind I left.  Sometimes I think I want to move back here.  All my family is here.  My roots are here, but my friends and my heart are in Colorado.  So what to do remains the dilemma.   So until I come to a cross roads, the Ford throws a rod, or God quits giving me choices I guess I will continue to run back and forth and have the best of both worlds.  This way everyone on this end is tickled when "Lou is in town!"  Momma always said that Familiarity breeds contempt and I think there is probably a lot to be said for that statement!