Recouperating

I am taking it easy.  I had the Oral Surgery on Tuesday.  It was rough even with the Nitrous Oxide and numerous shots of novocain…I had many pockets of infection…the Doctor said no wonder you were sick...   Yuck. 

Far Guy is taking real good care of me. He made the mistake of asking me what I would like to eat since I can only eat soft foods for a bit.  I said “Chicken and Noodles and Lemon Pudding.”  Both were accomplished, he can now make homemade noodles from scratch.  He was quite proud of his meringue too.

We walked outside for a bit yesterday.  Far Guy says “Where in the world did you get those pants?  Have you worn them before?  You are not going to wear them out in public are you?”  I have several pairs of colorful warm leggings that I wear in the winter…usually under a long nightgown.  I didn’t feel like wearing real clothes yesterday so I wore the leggings an old shirt and my raggedy old sweater that has holes in the elbows…comfort clothing.

Chance and I went out again after supper….we walked around in the yard and then sat for awhile.  It was crocs with socks weather.

June report…she is melting.

I am so glad the surgery is over. For the most part I am watching the Food Network and sleeping, using ice packs for the swelling and taking my antibiotics.  I still have a fair amount of pain but I hope everyday gets a bit better.

Wistful Wednesday: Baking with Grandma

This is a old photo from June 1983

Trica went with her Grandparents to Indiana that summer to visit Jan, Ron and Bethany.

Trica would have been 11 years old that summer, Bethany (Far Guy’s sister’s daughter) would have been about 3 years old and Grandma (Far Guy’s Mom) would have been 69 years old.  It looks like they were going to bake a cake.  The photo was taken at the house in Clarksville Indiana.

Spring has sprung

Far Guy put away his winter boots…mine are still out.  He carried out the patio table and commenced to woodcarving outside. 

We were down at the lake over the weekend.

The pussy willows are out.

We wonder if the ice will be off the lake for opening fishing.  Time will tell.

Yesterday the last of the snow left the farmers fields.  Soon we can watch for the first of the wildflowers…Marsh Marigolds.

Snowstick Contest Winners 2018

We finally have a couple of winners!  diane in northern wisc guessed April 18 and The Wykeham Observer guessed April 29. Congratulations!! diane please email captainconnie2001atyahoodotcom  your address and I will get a carving in the mail this week. The Wykeham Observer your carving is going to the Post Office today.

 

The snowstick became free of snow and ice last night April 22.

June may be gone soon if the warm weather stays to melt her.

I picked up sticks in the yard and raked a bunch of acorns they were making for a bumpy walk in parts of the yard.  I am always thankful in the spring for the hours I spend in the yard in the fall.

Trail Cam in April

We finally caught a deer on our Trail Cam!  It visited in the early morning….probably was at the bird feeders.  During April the Trail Cam photographed the UPS driver many times along with the mail man.  Odda came to visit four different days. Various other company was observed coming and going…lots of photos of Chance too.

Deer are a real nuisance this time of year, they are hungry and will have their young in a month…they are coming to the road ditches to graze night and day…and many end up as road kill.  I had a close call the other day luckily I wasn’t driving too fast and was able to give the deer a brake.

Melting

We had some significant melting yesterday. 

After we recycled we went by the Millpond.

It still looks wintery there.

The snowstick made some real progress yesterday.  I think it is at about 3 inches.

We will most likely have a winner in a few days if the melt keeps up.  It felt good to sit outside, but the breeze off the snow is still a bit chilly.

We cleaned up some bird seed and some doggie do…Far Guy got out the patio table which needs a good cleaning and the birds are looking for water in the birdbath…both are on my list of things to do today.

176th Day of Snow

It warmed up and we are melting!! 

Spring may be here after all.

There is still seven inches of snow at the snow stick but it is melting around the trees.

It was a busy day yesterday, it was Infusion Day and we had a small problem but we were able to solve it…and the Drug Company has been notified ( a sterile water bottle would not transfer to the mixing bottle).  We went one direction for prescriptions and another direction for Doctor’s appointments…a quick supper at a favorite place and then I took off to Bingo with my Dad …neither of us got to shout Bingo.  Such is life in the elderly fast lane.

If it isn’t one thing

it is another.  After a certain age your body falls apart.  

I knew I had an abscess…but I was not prepared to be told that I have two abscesses and will require extensive oral surgery.  YUCK.

It has been a week of appointments…I am waiting not so patiently for them to call with my appointment for surgery.  I finished a course of antibiotics but still have a big area of infection…if it gets worse I am supposed to call for a new prescription.  It was quite painful…keep you awake painful but for now it has settled down.

Far Guy said a Dairy Queen would make it all better and would also be lunch.

We went to our favorite sundae eating spot in town.

We park here to watch the bike riders or the runners…their trail is covered with snow now.  Sometimes we see ducks here…not so much that day. (There is a river out there.)

The road home still shows our snow, little by little it is melting.

I managed to spring clean the downstairs bathroom….feels good to have one more room done.  My bum hand is tired now and needs a day maybe two of rest. 

I watched a movie called August Rush  I give it four out of five stars.  I was awake for most of it.

Wistful Wednesday: Birthdays

This is birthday week at our oldest daughter’s house.

She is 46 today.  Hardly seems possible that we have a child approaching 50 years old.

This was Trica when she was about 14 years old, it was the year of the orange hair.

It was Paige’s birthday last week …she was 19 that hardly seems possible either.

I decided to see if I could find a photo of  Miss Paige when she was 14.

I found one!  Happy Birthday Miss Paige!!  I have no recent photos of her…maybe soon.  We talk to her on the phone but have not seen her since November.

It was Maddies’s birthday yesterday.  She turned 20.

I found a photo of her when she was 14 also. Most of the photos I take of her have Mikey in them now…I will take a photo of her soon.

Happy Birthday girls!

173rd Day of Winter

Spring doesn’t magically appear.

The wind still blows and picks up its icy coldness from the snow.  It still snows. The lakes are still frozen and there is talk that there will still be ice on the lakes for Fishing Opener in May.  Someone said there is 28 –38 inches of ice on the lakes…that takes time and warmth to melt…more warmth than we have had.

My half way decent pair of snowboots (Uggs bought about 7 years ago) have a hole on the right side of the right foot…guess they are not half way decent anymore…Far Guy said throw them away…well duh…I will when winter is over. He said “Your not going to wear them to town are you?”  I did and no one even noticed. (town has no old snowboot police)  I have a brand new pair of winter boots bought on sale before winter  but to get them out now when we have mud would not be a good way to break those in even if they are brown.  My other pair of worn out boots (because I patched a hole with a leather patch)…have yak traks on them.  I have a perfect pair of red muck boots to wear but they are so cold…I shiver just thinking of it.  It isn’t even dry enough or warm enough for crocs with socks.

I want to put my full length parka away but I use it some mornings when Chance wants me to go outside with him.  I want to put away my Grinch stocking cap but people at Bingo might not recognize me without it.  I want to put away the snow shovel and the ice chisel. I just want winter to be over with.

Yes it snowed again on Sunday night not much but it is still snow.

Snowy Sunday

It snowed.  The “big” storm missed us and we got about an inch of new snow.

After the snow there were new tracks up on June. A squirrel.

We finally perfected the research and development of this years Christmas Ornament. One is completely done…all the kinks are worked out…and we both like it.  It involves a bit of painting.  We won’t begin to carve in earnest until the weather improves and we can carve outside in the afternoon. On days when it is too hot on the patio I will work on painting inside.

Being too hot might be a stretch of my imagination.  My Dad has predicted that it will be a cool summer.

Grey Day

It was a grey day yesterday, almost like it wanted to snow.

I did odds and ends all day long until it was time for my Netflix fix so I watched Benji.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars…my kind of movie.

Chance and I walked outside after supper, it was cold enough that the ground is frozen and not muddy.  Of course it was a no snow melting day.

Gaillardia seed heads

Here is another view of June.

I have many cousins and they have children…on Friday one of those children died from Breast Cancer that spread….Tammy was 49 years old.  It seems to me that the older generation should die before the younger generation. The only comfort there is in this situation…she was a woman of great faith in our Lord and Savior and heaven is now her home.

Spring Cleaning Update

Yeah me!!  The kitchen is all done…well except for the window, too cold to wash a window now.

No more dusting off dishes before you use them.

I am not sure which spring cleaning direction I will go next…laundry room or bathroom.  I may take a few days off…we have busy days coming up next week.

We still have enough snow, here is a view of some pretty “stuff” on the windowsill in the kitchen.  I have a hard time passing up paperweights and the pretty pink bird is one of my favorites and perfect for spring. The stained glass Lady Slipper was purchased at a garage sale.

11 inches of snow is at the snowstick.  The trees are starting to become little islands of no snow.  Spring progress is slow.

Skiff of new snow

We got a bit of new snow.  Enough to help cover up the dirty snow.

It melted quickly in the bare spots on the snow banks not so much.

I decided not to take a day off of spring cleaning but to switch things up a bit and tore the linen cabinet all apart in the downstairs bathroom…it is all put back together again.  When I get to that room it will go much faster.

I got a bit of summer in the mail! Made my day! I also heard the weather forecast and the big storm is supposed to go south of us…sorry southern Minnesota and Iowa.

 

Cleaning Ovens

This could be a new sport.  Yes I know my oven is self cleaning BUT the last time I cleaned it the darn thing locked and Mr Fixit had to come and unlock it for me and I think he charged well over 100 dollars to do so.  SO I clean it myself…and save 100 dollars.

I don’t use smelly caustic oven cleaners either…I use baking soda and a green 3 M scratch pad thingy and lots of elbow grease…and some super duper athletic moves.

I practically have to do an arabesque to get close enough to clean the sides of the oven.  I was wishing that my kitchen was a true galley kitchen that way I could have put one leg up on a cupboard for support! A modified yoga move called a Downward – facing dog will get me to the back wall of the oven.  At one point I got dizzy…too much blood up there in my head.  When I broke into a sweat Far Guy took over for a bit…it was nice to have a break.  Too bad they don’t design an oven with a removable door so you could get closer to scour…you have to be careful too…one false arabesque or doggie move will take out that oven door that you have been cussing. Luckily that did not happen.  The oven racks were scrubbed and scrubbed until they looked like new and I will be protective of them for a few weeks anyway.  I laid on the floor to clean under the stove…I was almost long armed enough to reach all the way to the wall…I had to use Far Guy’s Mom’s old picker upper with a rag on the end of it to reach the far wall. Everything that could be taken apart was taken apart.  I cleaned as far down in the downdraft vent as my hand would let me without getting stuck.

The first part of the day was spent moving the fridge out of it’s spot.  I had cleaned it inside a few weeks ago…yeah me!

Yes I know none of the appliances match…who wants to be all matchy matchy anyways.  Some day this 20 year old Amana refrigerator will bite the dust and I can get a black one…or one of those fancy smancy silver ones.  I hope my Jenn-Air never bites the dust as they are pretty expensive now …it was one thing that I splurged on when we built the house.

The kitchen has been holding me hostage this week.  I am happy to be almost done…so happy I am taking today off…the open cupboards above the sink is all that is left and I hear there is a snowstorm coming so I will clean all those dishes and shelves during the snowstorm.

It feels really good to be almost done with this spring cleaning project.  In case you were wondering, all the cabinets by the fridge were custom built by a local craftsman….when I needed the rest of the cabinets for the kitchen he was too busy to do them so he gave Far Guy lessons and Far Guy and I built them piece by piece.  We designed them and built them.  The drawers were the pits to make…but I love them.

Wistful Wednesday : The girls and dogs

This is most likely 1991 or 1992.  About 26-27 years ago.

 

Jen and Trica posing on a snowy day with our three Sheltand Sheepdogs/Shelties.  This was taken at  our resort out back by a spruce tree.  Trica would have been going to college at Moorhead State University and Jen was most likely in 9th or 10th grade.  Those teenage years would not be real high on my list of years to repeat.

Trica on the right is holding onto Misty and Moses…they are the Mother and Father of G’Day Mate who Jen is holding. Misty was really well behaved, she had been to Dog Obedience and Moses had been to puppy classes…and Mate well she had a mind of her own and a real stubborn streak.   She was really Far Guy’s dog…I gave her to him…so I wouldn’t have to sell her.  There were four puppies in that litter, when the puppies were little we would get them out on a blanket in the living room and watch what we called puppy tv.  Those were fun evenings….when we were all home safe and sound being entertained by puppies.

166th day of winter

Not much melting yesterday.  What isn’t snow is mud.  The rutts will go away when we get a rain.

This first photo gives you a good view of June our resident snowbank.  Maybe we should guess when June will be all gone?  What do you think?  If you want to guess when June will be all gone leave me a guess …what day in April, May or June? The best guess will get a woodcarving of some sort.

Chance was laying in a snowbank.

Washing his chin….back and forth back and forth…keeps his white somewhat clean.

I got the dreaded silverware drawer cleaned out yesterday. Now all the drawers are done…I have 17 drawers in the kitchen…love drawers versus cabinets. 2 cabinets left I can almost taste the victory of a completed project.

Meal planning for this week was a chore I gave Far Guy, he did great and supplies were purchased.
More Thistle Seed was purchased because the little Redpolls brought all their cousins to visit and feast.


June the Snowbank will be gone by:
April 22 Diane Daines
April 27 Tired Teacher
May 1 diane   Terry and Linda    Jo Annes Ramblings
May 5 Rita
May 6 diane in wis
May 8 zooperson
May 9 Wendy Danielson
May 10 Jean
May 13 Sandy B
May 15 Sam
May 16 KCD
May 22 Kathy
May 25 Cathrin Morgan
May 28 linda m
June 1 Lady Fi
June 3 Bonnie
June 6 Mildred