My cousin Chuckie still has a cart filled with flowers in his yard in the summertime.
I think the donkey and cart pattern was originally Uncle Wilberts.
My parents had two of these carts filled with flowers out in front of their house at the resort. My Mother used to plant Geraniums in hers too.
It was fun to see, I had almost forgotten about them.
Every bottle of regular soda we had in the house was flat…only the non sugar kind had any fizz. The pantry was cleaned out.
After X amount of time pancake syrup grows mold on the top even if it is stored in the fridge. Cleaning out the fridge is now on my list of things to do. One nasty discovery may lead to another and expiration dates will be checked.
The walk to the mailbox is getting slick. Especially the gradual decline to the actual mailbox…I discovered that the newly fallen snow at the edge of the road made a soft spot to land. Chance came over to see what was the matter and Far Guy wanted me to get up right away…well I needed just a moment to figure out if anything important was broken. Nothing was… but I am a tad stiff and sore.
Chance likes the black sunflower seeds and if left to his own devices will stand under the bird feeder and eat them…probably another source of his recent bout with pancretitis. He cannot be trusted alone outside. He knows he is not supposed to eat them…but apparently he has forgotten in his old age.
The phone rang. Far Guy said “It’s for you so you might as well answer it.” He cannot stand to let the machine get it…
It was a fellow with a foreign accent. He asked “You were having problems with Windows 10 how are you doing now ?” I replied “Fine” “So no problems?” “Nope I threw it in the garbage!” “What?” “ Garbage…G A R B A G E where it belonged.” “What did you do with it?” “I threw it in the trash TRASHH.” click
A fine howdy ya do that was…at least he could have thanked me for my time and said goodbye…but just click…where were his manners? I suppose he just wanted to fix my computer over the phone and charge my credit card. ( I still have Windows 7…and hope it lasts a bit longer…Far Guy has Windows 10.)
Far Guy was laughing the entire time…next time he is answering it. Since we don’t have caller id on our land line it is anybodies guess who is calling us…the next time the phone rang Far Guy answered it and it was my other baby brother.
Other than phone calls our biggest entertainment is the snow and old movies on TCM. I watched a really good one called The Search.
Seems we are stuck in a snow pattern. We got another four inches of snow. The last snow was fluffy and settled…we had 11 inches at the stick before snow #3
Now we are waiting for the next system to come through today which will be snow #4 this week.
We finally had to make a grocery/bank/post office run to town. Far Guy went along…it was his first venture out in a long time. His step count is improving everyday.
We are all set to stay home until it is time to go to town for a blood test sometime next week.
Our morning walk with Chance.
Yesterday a whole bunch of Wild Turkeys visited our feeders. I counted 14 of them…all females or young males cause they had no beards.
Several of them came real close to the window. The old Border Collie was sleeping so he didn’t even notice.
A very brave or hungry squirrel tried chasing them away…they ignored the interruption.
One thing we noticed the little Redpolls would not visit the feeders while the turkeys were here. The turkeys scratched around in the snow. I rapped on the window and scared all but one away…Far Guy finally hollered out the window…but that Turkey must have been deaf or mildly confused….he/she took its time wandering away.
Our days are quiet, every afternoon we all settle down for a nap…good thing too as we were up very late watching the USA vs Canada Women’s Olympic Hockey Wednesday Night/early Thursday morning…what an exciting game! If you saw the awards ceremony you couldn’t helped but be moved the way the whole team locked arms and swayed back and forth while singing The National Anthem. Impressive.
We got just about 5 1/2 inches of snow. It made everything look all pretty again.
We need the moisture but this was a real dry fluffy snow…you couldn’t make a snowball to save your life.
We walked outside and shoveled some snow. I made a path for Chance so he doesn’t have to drag his belly through the snow to do his duty. My nephew Josh was by to plow us out twice…I just had to finish up in front of the garages.
We worked on taxes and they are ready to go to the accountant.
I have been playing with beads and making more eyeglass holders. I enjoy making them.
Far Guy is working on his steps and getting stronger. Chance had a short bout of pancretitis again for about 24 hours…but he is all better now. Old dogs…a real challenge to keep healthy. This time it was a piece of chicken with breading that made him ill.
When I was growing up my brother and I had a rabbit, it was a gift from my Uncle Theron so it was appropriate that the rabbit was named Theron…we may have had more than one rabbit…two maybe.
Years later at the resort I may have taken leave of my senses and purchased two angora rabbits…they died…not sure why. The children visiting the resort loved the rabbits…the next spring I purchased two regular old rabbits…I was told they were the same sex. Either both boys or both girls. We named them Ebony and Ivory.
One morning Far Guy hollered for me, something was wrong with Ivory she had blood all over her. Well I could see nothing visibly wrong with her…then I checked the nest box. Screamed and slammed the top closed. Baby bunnies…Ivory was a Mom…which meant that Ebony was the Dad..and they were not the same sex. Ebony needed to go in his own cage…male rabbits will eat baby bunnies. Ivory was keeping him at bay…or entertaining him…who really knows what rabbits think.
We went to town and got stuff to build a new hutch…one with an insulated nesting box so the babies would have a chance. One died…as I recall there were 12 little bunnies, they are born hairless or nearly so and look all wrinkled and funny.
We moved the hutches to a spot under the low hanging branches of the Spruce trees where they would be protected by the branches and out of the north wind. I would have to feed everyone all winter.
Do you know that a rabbits gestation peroid is about 31 days?
Seems that while Ivory was keeping Ebony away from her babies…she had been entertaining him…in 31 days we had another batch of rabbits…14 this time if I recall correctly. We had to modify Ebony’s hutch to give him space on one half of the hutch and moved the month old baby rabbits to the other half of his hutch until they could be moved back in with Ivory after the new babies were old enough.
I fed rabbits all winter and took them fresh water three times a day. They were tame rabbits and loved to be petted.
At that time we had four Shelties, Misty, Moses, Captain and G’Day Mate. I taught them not to chase rabbits. “No chasing bunnies” Oh they wanted too…but they wanted to please me more….and hated being scolded.
G’Day Mate, Ebony, Me and Miss Misty watching from outside of the fence.
The dogs were curious about the bunnies but left them alone. You see my plan was to release some of the bunnies and find homes for some…my sister Julie took quite a few.
The release went well. My husband had done the math…once he told me how many rabbits I would have to take care of the next winter I knew I had to release them.
We had bunnies all colors, black, white, and every shade of brown. I fed them morning and night…they would come running out of the woods when I hollered for them. A few found the way into the neighbors gardens. Arvilla once said “Funny we have never had problems with rabbits eating our gardens but now we do.” Rabbits were everywhere that summer, the tourists thought it was great and little kids would run after them…some of the retired guests would see how many bunnies they could count in a day.
A number of years later when we moved back here just about a half a mile from the old resort we drove in the driveway and there was a bunny that greeted us. Far Guy said “I bet that is a relative of one of your bunnies.” I got out of the vehicle and just talked to the bunny, it stood up on its haunches and listened. (Perhaps I am a rabbit whisperer)
So you see the rabbits that feed under the bird feeders in our yard probably look like regular domestic rabbits…because they are relatives of the rabbits I accidently raised.
To this day I cannot understand why rabbits are not raised in poor countries for food. I found rabbits really easy to raise.
I had no idea that a little rubber ink roller was called a brayer.
Last Fall at the scrapbooking retreat one of the gals had a whole box of “stuff” that she was giving away. My daughter Jen grabbed the little roller thingy and said “Here Mom you need this.” She explained that it works well to ink larger stamps.
Last week in Far Guys birthday package there were several gifts for me and a note saying “Dad’s birthday but you got gifts. How does that work?” The sunflower stamp was large enough that I could try out the brayer to ink the larger stamp. (The cling stamp gets mounted on an acrylic block prior to stamping.) Remember my word for 2018 is explore.
So I stamped a bunch of sunflowers on water color paper and will have fun coloring them…they are in my work play box on my desk.
I did get a wild hair…looking for a particular stamp…found one and ordered it…the brayer may come in handy on that one too. Many hours can be spent just exploring new stamps...
It snowed here…about 5 inches. More snow is forecast. Right now we have 9 inches at the snow stick. With more to come today.
Far Guy is getting a little stronger everyday. Yesterday he fed the birds and walked Chance outside and then walked around and around indoors.
I finished off one of those “explore” projects, stitch markers made from little charms and “stuff” that was hanging around in my beading supplies. I will never make them again…at least not without taking lessons in how to close jump rings. Nope no photos.
Then I decided I better explore that Shiny Brite tree upstairs before I have to dust it.
Far Guy helped for awhile I conned him into thinking that back and forth was worth a few steps.
It snowed most of the day…not sure how much we got 4 maybe 5 inches.
It was a good day to put all the Shiny Brites away. I bought a new storage container for some of the most collectable ornaments. I still have to place some notes in that new storage container about the ornaments…what they are and why they are special.
Better late than never.
We finally had the chance to get in the trail cam and download the photos.
We had some weird tracks in the yard one day…never found out what it was.
I did notice some larger than Chance tracks and some turkey tracks.
Odda came to visit one day while Far Guy was in the hospital.
The turkeys must have thought it was easy pickins when Chance was away.
We had a busy week. Three health care appointments, some house cleaning and shopping for groceries was accomplished. We are staying to ourselves for a few more weeks. Far Guy walked outside yesterday for the first time in almost a month.
I am feeling much better, I am still a little tired but my cough is completely gone…knock on wood. It took just about a month to get rid of it…I first got sick January 18…so figure a month. That was one long lasting siege. Far Guy still has nine days to go before his month is up. I hope his cough is completely gone by then.
Our youngest Grandson Adam is headed with his Vex Robotics team the Arctic Knights to The World’s!!! The competition will take place in Louisville Kentucky in late April. It is quite an accomplishment for this young team from a little town in Minnesota. The team is mostly 10th graders.
Four young men and two young ladies.
Adam the tall kid with the shades.
Last week our youngest daughter Jennifer was the recipient of the NISOD award. (National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development) She was nominated by her peers because of her contribution to student learning and success.
Congratulation to Adam and Jennifer on your accomplishments. We are very proud of you!!
Here you can see how focused Jen is…her “boys” not so much. But it is a photo that makes me smile.
Far Guy continues to improve everyday and he is getting stronger. He is walking about 3,000 steps a day. (He was at 6,000 before he got sick.)
Just like that!
Far Guy was just little back in 1952, he was two years old…I can see both Savannah and Mikey in that expression.
A few weeks ago we did not know if Far Guy would make it to his 68th birthday…but he did and I took some photos to mark the day.
My fellas
Happy 68th birthday…glad you made it!
Happy Valentines Day!
At our home we celebrate love just about everyday… a hug, a kiss, a wink, a kiss thrown in the air with a smacking noise…or just a knowing glance exchanged…I try not to roll my eyes too often….he knows what that means too. Many times we will be thinking the same thing…this is our 50th Valentine’s Day together. ( We dated for 2 plus years before we got married.)
Has our love changed over the years…yes…it is less demanding and more accepting, thankful instead of taken for granted…we are most happy to be spending this Valentine’s Day togther.
When Far Guy was in the hospital I was going to run some errands…he told me to walk down the card aisle and pick out my valentine card…I said “Well I will read lots of them and then stroll down the chocolate aisle and then go by all the flowers.” He thought that was a grand idea!
Well Far Guy and I had to play Doctor as no one returned the lab results to us as they were supposed to. So what do you do…omit a dose of rat poison… or guess?? Well we guessed that the dose would be the same as the past two days. ( I wonder if the lab will ever call?) Good Golly I waited all afternoon to get the results…but I did get the kitchen disinfected again and the downstairs bathroom cleaned. Far Guy had a nap and so did Chance.
Our weather was really cold –22F or –30C eh! Monday morning. I tried to stave off the brisk mailbox walk as long as I could until the Border Collie could not stand it anymore and barked at me…he never barks. Far Guy got lots of get well cards in the mail! I fed the little Redpolls more Niger Thistle seed they are really hungry.
I did some laundry and then fixed Adobo chicken, baked potato and corn for supper. I fell asleep during the Evening News…so I have no idea what is happening out there, nor do I care very much.
Chance not cooperating for a photo.
I am kept busy taking care of Far Guy and Chance.
Yesterday Chance and I started our day with a brisk walk to the mailbox, even though it was Sunday and there is no mail. It was too cold to take him along to town…so he pouted as we left him behind.
We decided that we would have breakfast in town before Far Guys Coumadin test and chat with the Doctor. Burger King’s biscuits with bacon egg and cheese…we haven’t had that in years. We dined in the car at the old beach in town.
Far Guy is slowly regaining some strength. SLOWLY. Nothing seems to move fast enough for him. When I dropped him off at the Clinic doors he took a wheel chair and began to walk over to the hospital…I practically had to run to catch up with him and insist that he ride not walk.
I stopped at a local farm store for a big sack of Thistle Seed, the checkout lady said “You must have Redpolls too, they will eat you out of house and home.” Far Guy waits in the car and listens to tunes.
On the way home I decided that I would make a big pan of lasagna since Far Guy hasn’t much of an appetite and he likes lasagna. I got it all put together and in the fridge ready to put in the oven after a long nap. It made enough for four meals for us, one for later this week and two freezer meals.
I hope we can all stay out of the hospital this week. I am not sure what the week will bring other than blood tests and doctors appointments…and maybe a bit of house cleaning.
We are still here at home. Still tired but we keep on keeping on. Had to wait outside the ER yesterday for an hour before the Doc came out with the coumadin numbers.
We are able to take care of our own selves. At times it is touch and go…we wish it was more going but that would be TMI.
