Wistful Wednesday: Chaucer 2002-2018

Chaucer was born sometime in 2002.  He had a best friend named Keats.   They were a rambunctious pair…they technically belonged to our Grandsons…Keats belonged to Adam and Chaucer to Noah.  The kittens spent some time with us here when the family moved from Mapleton to Hawley.  They were balls of energy and explorers…our house was not finished yet and they thought it was great fun to walk around in the heat ducts and race around like they were being chased by the devil himself.  Unfortunately Keats met an early death so Chaucer became an only cat.  Keats is buried on our property along side Keshia Grey another good kitty.

Chaucer our Grandcat

Chaucer loved us and would come running when he heard our voices…he liked to be scratched under his chin.

He was a guest blogger for me one time.  What does the cat say.

He was a good kitty.  A good friend to both of our Grandsons.  They learned all about pet ownership and repsonsibility with the kitty. Yesterday they learned all about the sad part of pet ownership. Chaucer had quit eating and drinking, at the Vets he was xrayed and they found a huge mass in his abdomen….so they said their goodbyes.

Nearly everytime we would visit I took a photo of Chaucer thinking it might be the last one…

Here he was getting some lovin from Far Guy.

Rest in peace Chaucer…we will miss you….you had a good family and a good life.

Fall stuff

I rescued the rain guages so they wouldn’t freeze and burst… but it hasn’t stopped raining since.  I have no idea how much it has rained…but it is a lot.

Today it may rain only a little.  I have a list, I have checked it twice.  The last things to do before winter arrives…

We still have two windows to wash the rest have been done.  Since they are upstairs windows that we hardly ever look out they are not high on the window washing list.

We defrosted the deep freeze.  That was an adventure…found some sweet corn we didn’t know we had.  We made a list of what is in there…no vegetable soup was found so later this week I will be making soup.  Our list is actually a map of the freezer…upper and lower left and right…as long as we keep the list current we should know what is in there at all times….maybe.

I am still working on Christmas Cards however I hope to finish them up this week.  My next project is to paint some of the flowers that Far Guy has woodcarved over the summer….after that I have some woodcarved bark houses to paint.

Far Guy is feeling a tad better, he had a Dr visit…he is still short of breath and has a cough…we are doing all the right things for now possibly another antibiotic can be started in a few days. We are in a wait and see mode.

We are ready for Trick or Treaters…the little bags of candy are ready to hand out!  I wonder how many ghosts and goblins we will have this year?

Murder Mystery Dinner

We attended a Murder Mystery Dinner.  Three actors/actresses made up the troupe from the cities.
Far Guy felt good enough to attend….we had purchased the tickets a long time ago.

Many people that attended wore 1930’s style clothing…we didn’t get that memo but probably wouldn’t have dressed up anyway…but some people were all decked out!

Other than the three main actors they picked people out of the audience to play the parts of suspects, they also gave them folders with scripts.   Far Guy played Mr Greenspan…a wealthy banker.  At one point someone came and got him to give him special instructions….he whispered to me “Don’t get excited with my antics.”

We were given bribe money and suggested questions to ask suspects with name tags throughout the room.   We also had pencil and paper to record motive and opportunity and crime scene photos.

Four course dinner…some kind of fancy salad with a very vinegary dressing, Cream of Tomato Bisque Soup (it was a little chunky for me) I ate the mostly liquid part and then got up to ask a suspect a question and when I came back my soup had been finished…I blamed Far Guy but he said nope he didn’t touch my soup.  The Third Course was a pasta dish with some kind of cream sauce…you could have steak, shrimp or philly cheese to accompany it.  Far Guy said he got three shrimp…I had steak and had to hunt for it.  Dessert was various cakes…I had chocolate with a cherry sauce…it was really good.

There was much comic relief as the plot unfolded.  Far Guy as Mr Greenspan was poisoned at one point…he slumped backwards in the chair…the Doctor came over and touched his nose and pronounced him cold and dead.  They carted him off wearing his glasses and hat and he returned the same old Far Guy.

We as a group…two other friends went with us…deduced that the murderer was a woman…lipstick and a wine glass at the crime scene…so we guessed the most likely suspect would be the Doctor…which was wrong.  But it was fun anyways…Far Guy got an award for “The Best Death Scene”
It was a fun evening.

Jeanne’s Book

I met a blogger a long time ago…she has a wicked sense of humor.  She has finally realized her dream of having a book published.  It is called The Demon Always Wins.

I bought the book from Amazon. It is a paranormal romance novel.

Finished the book a few days ago.  It was entertaining.  Not my usual kind of read but I enjoyed it none the less.

As soon as the book arrived I made a book cover for it…it is difficult to make a book cover when your eyes are closed.

Why a book cover?…those of you who know me well should have guessed by now.

Here is a link to Jeanne’s website

My review:  It was a entertaining, sexy, wildly descriptive good read.  I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Way to go Jeanne!  I am thrilled that you are published and look forward to the other books in this series.

Rain

It is dreary and rainy.  Has been for the past few days. 

Far Guy is still struggling with a bad cough and shortness of breath.  He is not any better but not any worse.  Hopefully I am taking good enough care of him that we can avoid the hospital.

I have been keeping busy with many projects.  One day I spent just doing odds and ends that had piled up…delivered a birthday gift, returned jars, returned egg cartons, mailed a package and washed the lawn mower in preparation for winter.

Finally said “enough is enough” and splurged on a new printer ($34).  Far Guy has been sending me emails saying “print this please” because our older printer kept forgetting his computer…it was a pain in the butt and he wasted time trying to fix it everytime he wanted to print something.

I repaired some solar lights…didyaknow you can replace the batteries in some solar lights…BUT you need rechargable SOLAR batteries.

I am still working on Christmas Cards.

 

Even the tree rats are wet.

Took my Dad to Bingo, good thing I took him along as he bingoed twice! 

Other Baby Brother

My other baby brother who lives next door is older today.

I recall very clearly the day he was born.   I was nine years old. My baby brother ( who was six years old) and I wanted a brother and we got one! ( We even named him…imagine my Mother’s surprise when the neighbor ladies went to the hospital to see the new baby who had such a perfect name…we told everyone what his name was…except our Mother and Father.)  He was the best baby ever…and as he grew older he spent a lot of time with me.  He listened to me without question …and I endured his “why” stage that seemed to last forever… he could talk to anyone about anything and still has that gift of gab that has served him well in his business.

My Dad and my other baby brother…he wanted to move dirt just like Dad…and he still does.

 

He also likes to fish and enjoys evenings out on the lake. 

I am blessed to have him live next door…he moves our snow and helps me gas up the lawnmowers etc…and if I should need some help he is just a phone call away.

Happy Birthday Jody!  58 years seem to have gone by just like that.  I think Mom wanted to name you Drew or Allan…but you sure didn’t look like a Drew or an Allan.

14

Chance woulda been 14 today.  As it is he has been gone a month now and we still miss him everyday.  He loved the extra jerky treats and french fries that he usually got on his birthday…and maybe even a piece of chicken, or spaghetti squash or baked carrots…all his favorite foods.

No birthday photos this year and no picture with the witch hat on Halloween…he hated that hat.

Last summer I had a photo made into a canvas.  When I got it I showed it to Chance…he was not impressed.  We didn’t know where to hang it so it ended up on the fireplace mantle.

 

 

Wistful Wednesday : October 1990

In October of 1990  Far Guy’s parents were married 50 years.

 

The gathering to celebrate their Golden Anniversary was held in what used to be a school/community center and now a vacation home for rent.

The fed each other cake.

And even shared a kiss for the camera.

Here they are with two of their three granddaughters. Trica was 18 years old ( in torquoise) and Jen was 15 years old (pink). Trica was incharge of serving the punch and Jen was incharge of the guest book.

Lunch and cake were served, many relatives, neighbors and old friends attended.  It was a good celebration of 50 years.

Yard and Far Guy

The leaf work is mostly done.

The snowstick is in place.  It is almost in the center of the photo.

The little garden has been cleaned up.

Solar lights are being worked on. 

Far Guy is ill.  He has a bad cough and is real short of breath.  He has started on antibiotics. I am keeping a close eye on him. 

Part Time Dog

We have a part time dog, we are her safe place.  She gets nervous when there is shooting in the area…hunting season is open for Partridge/Grouse, Rabbits, Squirrels, Fox, Turkey etc… when we are walking we usually hear some kind of shooting especially on the weekends. 

So Odda gets scared/or gets a wild hair and she comes to visit…she knows the routine…she comes to the window to announce her arrival by wagging her big old fluffy tail on the window.  We call her Mom and then go out and get some “Odda time.”  She is always happy when her Mom comes to get her.

Odda is a Berner..a Bernese Mountain Dog.  They don’t live a long life only 6-8 years so Odda is living on borrowed time…she is nine years old.

She and Chance were good pals…we cannot tell if she looks for him or not.  She is always  happy to see us.  If we are not home she waits for us. We have known her since she was a pup.  Sometimes I think she just misses us and comes for a visit.

Christmas Ornaments 2018

The ornaments are finished.  I was very happy to finish. The last 11 seemed to take forever.

 

The paints are put away on a shelf in the furnace room.

The satin embroidery floss that I use for the ornament hangers has been put away.

There are 104  ornaments, some have been sent on their way…others await pretty little boxes and bags and will be delivered in person or mailed.  I will be giving a few away here on the blog closer to Christmas.

The idea for this years carving came via another woodcarver.  I tweaked the design a bit and added my own ideas for painting…plaid…plaid takes time to paint.  I have no idea what we will carve next year….then again it may not be a carving afterall. 

Fall Projects

After several days of warmer weather I still have a Fall list that won’t quit.  Good thing we are supposed to have a warm spell (above freezing during the day) for the next week or so.

We mulched leaves again, Far Guy mulched the wild gardens.  I raked along the garages and mowed…it was a dusty job.  I got the little flower garden cleaned up and worked on some of the solar lights.  Car windows were washed and the car vacuumed out.  An attempt was made to clean up Far Guys garage…

In the evenings I work on Christmas cards, they are coming along nicely.

  Poison Ivy turns color in the Fall

Fall Flag

Put up a different flag.

Perhaps he will scare away the legions of Asian Lady Beetles that have showed up…the nasty biting smelly things.  Apparently all the soybeans have been harvested and low and behold one warm day and they show up.

I patrolled the outside of the house with a flyswatter for awhile…made it real smelly hoping it would discourage others from landing.  They like to use Far Guy’s head as a landing strip.

Less leaves

Most all of the leaves are out of the trees.  We mulched for the 8th or 9th time…I lost track.

Before

After… we are making progress

One more time and we may be done.

We are staying busy. We washed a couple of windows and did a bunch of small projects.  It snowed again Wednesday morning…enough to make the ground white it must be our 5th or 6th snow I have lost track of that too…the snow reminded me that I needed to give my winter boots a waterproof treatment.

It is supposed to be real nice and warm today 50 something degrees so the flower bed is on my list. Solar lights will replace dead flowers and leaves.

Wistful Wednesday: Far Guy’s Sister

Far Guy has one living sibling his older sister, he had twin siblings a brother and a sister who lived only a short time after their birth.  So technically he was born fourth….the baby of the family.  His parents were both 35 years old when he was born.

 

Far Guy and his sister…this photo was taken in 1982…so that was 36 years ago.  She had just nudged him with her shoulder.  I took this photo  at their parents home in Park Rapids Minnesota.  They are sitting on their father’s favorite red couch.  The couch was long enough that someone six feet tall could sleep there.  Black velvet pillows were on each end.  That wall paper was pretty wild…the red design was flocked. In the wintertime both of our grirls could easily sleep on the couch…their grandmother would make the couch up with a sheet and blankets with one little girl on each end.

Far Guy talks to his sister via Facetime a couple of times a week.  She lives in Indiana and is a retired third grade teacher. 

 

Yellow Lady’s Slipper Stamp

One day I had Far Guy’s phone, I was waiting in a parking lot for my sister in law…one thing led to another and I found a Yellow Lady’s Slipper stamp on the internet.  It seemed to be a good image…so I ordered it….a few days later it was here.

I know… I know I am supposed to be working on Christmas cards…BUT…

When you have a new stamp you must try it out to make sure it is going to be okay.  Once I had it all inked up…I might as well stamp a table full…then I figured I should color just one…it hasn’t been made into a card yet…but it could be.  I did stop at coloring just one…I do have some restraint.

Watercolor paper

Ink Color: Rich Cocoa

atyouSpica Markers that Twinkle like stars!

Dog people

We have some good friends whose 14 year old dog died about a year ago…they were miserable…they went out and got a puppy…a Blue Heeler named Buddy who has filled the void for them. They have cattle and Buddy has a job.  We had a lot of fun playing with and petting him the other night.  They mentioned that they knew of some Border Collie pups that were for sale.

We are not ready to fill the void left by Chance.  I am not sure we will every be ready…when we got Chance he/she was named before we got him/her we did not know if we would be getting a male or a female Border Collie.  Anyways we figured it was our last chance to have a dog and made arrangements should the dog out live us.

We are adjusting…some times not so well…as the loneliness and grief overwhelms us.  The last time we were without a dog…2001 when Captain died to 2004 when we got Chance…is the longest either of us has been without a dog our entire lives. 

We are dog people.  I think Chance was a once in a lifetime kinda dog.

Chance in the wildflowers Summer of 2017

Card Progress

I finished off some glittery fall cards…they are rubber stampings on watercolor paper, watercolored and glittered!

Then I made some sympathy cards.  

The photos before they were attached to cards.

Getting all this “card” stuff off my desk made room for me to work on Christmas cards…well it will be ongoing for quite some time as I picked a time consuming card design.

Most of our snow melted but it is still cold.  The leaves are blowing around in the yard drying out…one day soon I will mulch them. IF it doesn’t rain or snow again!    Almost all of the leaves are out of the trees.  Fall color is pretty much over for this year.