Chapter One...The Ant Lion's Den

I am setting here looking at Chapter Two...The Ant Lion's Den,  the novel I started almost 2 years ago when Sherman was first diagnosed.  I had a good start on it, but at that time Sherman needed me more than the world needed another novel.  So I put it on hold.  Then he extracted a promise from me that I would write the story of Sherman and Lou had life been different.  He outlined it for me and in the book, we met, fell in love and lived happily ever after.  In real life he died shortly thereafter.
But a promise is a promise and I put the novel aside and began the perfect work of fiction and the world's greatest love story.  I failed in my mission and ended up writing a true story where we did indeed fall in love and he did propose 10 days before he died on Friday the 13th.  The book has been finished and forgotten now for over 8 months and I stare at the blank page of  Chapter Two and my mind is a complete blank..I reread what I have written hoping something of the brilliance I felt when I started it will resurface, but nothing happens.
What I am thinking of is a scene in my mind from 50 years ago when Debbie was a wee tyke and I found an old typewriter at a rummage sale for $2.00.  It was a small Royal and after I took the toothbrush and cleaned the letters and replaced the ribbon, it printed pretty legibly.  But there I sat, staring at the pure white paper that waited for me to fill up up with all the thoughts in my brilliant mind.   But it never happened.  I spent the next 50 years waiting for my stellar mind to unleash a torrent of words that would make the world fall at my feet.  But they never came.  The old Royal gave way to a nice aqua typewriter in a case.  That gave way to an electric, which was replaced by a word processor and that was traded for a computer.  And I went through a string of computers and different word programs before I poured my heart and soul into Chapter One...Loose Ends.  I was on a roll, but now I am back to staring at a blank sheet with a cursor blinking and calling me.
Someone told me I should unplug the phone, lock the door, turn off the ebay computer and concentrate and it will come.  Well, that ain't happening now, is it?  I do think I will take a nice long walk the next day that is decent.  May go up to Beulah for that.  Something about just me, God and the open sky above that inspires me.  Maybe I will not finish Chapter Two...The Ant Lion's Den, or maybe I will. Maybe I will come up with something else.  I do know that I love to write and it is a part of me that needs to be functioning.  I know this blog is writing, but I mean something that I can build out of my mind that is not real, but seems that way.  Know what I mean?
Just my thoughts tonight.

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February 22. 2014

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What is the second thing that happens before the book sale?

For over a year Ross and his cronies have been collecting books and putting them in my garage.  Just recently they began sorting them into subject matter and packing them in boxes that were labeled.  Now it is February 9 and the book sale starts tomorrow, so they have arrived at my garage and loaded the books into vehicles preparatory to transport to the Pueblo Community College.

So now they are gathered in my kitchen  to see just how many cinnamon rolls they can hold.  Charles only ate 2, but we managed to do away with 18.  The remainder I packed into plastic bags to ride to the site and be eaten by the workers that were unpacking the books and putting them out on the tables and racks. 

But first, Tere has to attempt to manipulate my 2 pound hula hoop!  Come on, Tere!  I know you can do it!

And we have lift off!!

So now the fun and games are over and the first truck is leaving the yard.  Now the work can really begin.  No, not really.  The whole last year has been a labor of love by a lot of people.  I am not going to throw names around because there are so many that made this sale possible.  Ross and Rebecca do most of the honchoing and are the two I deal with most often.  Course then there is Tere who can work the hula hoop, Charles who can eat the cinnamon rolls....see what I mean?  So they are all loaded (vehicles with books, I mean.) and  they are off to PCC for a fun time unloading.

Monday and Tuesday were sale days and I am happy to report that it was a fun time and we raised lots of money for the scholarship fund.  My back is almost returned to normal (and I did not even load or unload boxes) and the dishes are all done from the baking in the kitchen.

Life is good!

Welcome to my world!

So this is why I have no hot water this morning!  Better call Black Hills who has my service contract.  I know the water heater is on there.  That is why I have it.  Oh, wait while I am on hold let me just read my contract.  Yes the water heater is covered.  No, the tank on the water heater is not covered.  The tank leaking  caused the pilot light to go out which they will come and light, but it probably will not stay lit with water dripping on it from a tank that is not under warranty!  Ya think!

This is the sump pump Jesse put in for me several years back so if the water heater went south the sump pump would pump the water outside and I would not need to sop it up with this towel.

See how it is located right beside it?  To bad it does not work.  I used to pour a gallon of water in it and watch it empty just so I knew it would work.  Hmmm.  Guess it only works when you watch it.

Ater got clear over into the sewing room.  I feel so damn special!

Oh, wait a minute!  Today is Sunday!  Do plumbers work on Sunday?  Better yet do they work on SUPER BOWL SUNDAY?  Some how I think the Karma Gods have got me over a barrel here.  Ah, but there is hope.  I do not have to shower before church.  Or after church.  Or in the foreseeable future!

So those of you who have actual hot running water, enjoy!  And I will not say "Go Bronco's" because that would be like putting a curse on them.  What I will say is 

Enjoy the game!

Oh, Oh! Damn! Where does time go?

I looked at the calendar just now and January is almost gone.  3 days until the anniversary of my husband's demise.  This date coincides nicely with the Super Moon which I want to try to stay awake to see.  Then one
day to whip out the goodies for Addie's open house 90th birthday at the church, which is Saturday which is no longer January.  From here it is down hill through tax time, spring cleaning and garden planting, into the hot summer, through the fall and ito the freezing cold winter so I can start moaning about the lack of  Christ in  Christmas and then start the whole thing over again.
 
Many years ago I was into doing a lot of hand embroidery and made several cute little pictures that hung in the bathroom in little brown frames.  They were called Thumbprints and a little sheep looking thing said "Ewe's not fat, ewe's fluffy."  The little thumbprint then looked like a woman on top of a hill and said  "When you are over the hill. you pick up speed."  My favorite was the thumbprint with the confused look on it's face that said "Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most."  That little collection seemed to mirror my life so I threw the whole bunch in the Goodwill box and never looked back.  I am now rethinking all of that!

The wise saying about being fluffy still holds true, although the fluffs now have wrinkles in them.  The picking up speed is almost scary.  If there was a policeman in charge of time marching on, I am pretty sure I would be ticketed every day as time whizzes past me.  And as for the mind being gone, it is not so much gone as just out to lunch a lot of time.  Some one asked for my phone number the other day and I drew a complete blank.  "How in the hell do I know.  I never call it.  There is no one home."  I did, however, manage to recall the sequence of digits.  I have only had the same number for 31 years.

Most of my day is spent running either upstairs and wondering why I came up here, or going back down the stairs only to remember what I went up there for in the first place.  After a few of these marathons sprints, I usually set down in my recliner and the cat jumps up on me and holds me down.  Since I am captive at that point, I usually fall asleep.  How long I sleep is a matter of whether or not a car passes by up on the road causing the dogs to unleash a flurry of barking in an attempt to scare it away which always works, hence the term "car passes by."  God help them if they are heading for my house and come up the drive because they will be licked to death!  But barking is apparently very important to them.

Now I do not want to make you think that all I do all day is sleep, because that is far from the way it is.  I do have my little ebay business and it keeps me busy listing things to sell, making things to sell, photographing things to sell, selling things I sell, packaging the things I sold and then running to the post office with my parcels.  Anyone who is privy to my operation is amazed that I know where anything is.  Me too!  I have lost a coral and turquoise ring some where between the roof and the basement, I think.

And I do manage to do a little volunteer work sometimes.  And of course visiting.  Going to have lunch on Friday with my friends Renate and Val.  Have not decided where yet, but I am sure we will.  Oh, and I need to get the oil changed and the tires rotated.  I need to pick up a bale of straw so I can clean the goose house, but may put that off until  Spring.  I do need to get down in the basement and dig out that box of old Playboy's and get them listed.  Pretty sure I am not going to read them.  I am pretty sure the garden is going to be taken care of by my friend, Richard, this year.  He plants, weeds,  waters, and harvests and I eat it.  Well, some of it anyway.  I told him I have the dirt and that is all of my involvement in this little venture.

And now I have rambled on for a full page and said absolutely nothing.  This, dear friends, is the story of my life!

My little lunch time gathering!

Decided to have a few friends over the other day for lunch.  You know,  just to get together to jabber and catch up.  I do this a few times a year, just to keep people in my good graces.  

I made Chicken and Home made Noodles since I was hungry for comfort food and that is the best one I could think of at the time.  After eating the subject of puzzles or wood working or something like that came up jarring my memory of little 1" by 4 " puzzles Kenny had made.   I had three of them up on my desk so I brought them down and opened them up.

They very soon were engrossed in the job of putting them together.  I had shown them to them when they were in one piece so they knew it could be done.  I do not know who finished first, but it occupied them for about half an hour.

It was a fun little diversion and when they were all put together and back in the plastic bags, our conversation turned to more interesting topics, like Black Hills Energy and their outrageous charges and heartless acts.  We think we may get a little more active along those lines. 

I wish I could find me someone to use that $1200 scroll saw and I could sell these on ebay.  It was a very lovely lunch and I hated to see it come to an end, but such is life.  Faye was the first to leave because she had to go clear to Spring.  Then Sister Nancy and Sister Barbara.  That left Paul and Nancy.  I meant to send the noodles home with Paul, but I forgot.  A good time was had by all!

This has nothing to do with anything and was not the same day, but I took a picture of Ito, who lives next door and then when I got through moving it around I wound up with this!!!

 

Same picture, but  look at the snow actually falling!  How in the hell did I do that?  Ross just called and I was telling him about it and he thinks it might be something I smoked back in the 70's.  Do you see it to?  Anyone have any idea how this came out like this?  I do not have a moving picture camera.  Maybe something lives in my computer.  You do see it don't you?  If it is not there, please do not tell me!!!

 

 

Cinnamon rolls are ready!

I rolled out about 3:45 this morning so thought I would bake my cinnamon rolls.  I made the dough yesterday evening and panned them up before I went to bed, so they were ready to bake when I woke up.  You may have to just take my word for it since Google does not want me to upload to the blog.

There we go.  Now let me just get a cup of coffee here.

Well, the coffee is some where not wanting to have it's picture taken!  Now, Debbie, don't you wish you were here?  How long before that last pan is done?

Hey!  I can see myself in the reflection.  That is a change.  Usually the grunge is so thick on the stove that nothing shines.  Good fairy must have popped in and shined it up for me.

There.  All done.  Guess I will go put this on the blog and let them eat thier hearts out.  Let's see, I started this at 3:45.  I have ate a half loaf of monkey bread and drunk 3 cups of coffee and all the rest of the time was spent trying to get pictures posted here and on facebook.  It is now 7:00.  So I have basically jacked away over 3 hours of my life so you can read what it took me 15 minutes to bake.  And I wonder why I am never getting anything done.  Hell it is now almost 7 AM and I am ready for a nap!

All I can say at this point is I hope you have a good day.  At least better than mine is shaping up to be!