Living in the Sticks

Landscaping Plan

2012-01-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

I have decided that my "Big" goal for the next couple months (or until it is finished) is to draw up a landscape plan that I love. Then I will be ready when spring arrives and I can start to execute it. I have two plans drawn to scale, one by a landscape company and another by a nursery. The first is more detailed and the second seems to just use what they have in their nursery. A friend of mine who is a Master Gardner has volunteered to put together a plan too. She does a great job of asking the right questions, like "When you plant things around your deck, do you want to see it while sitting on the deck or is it for the neighbor to see?" "How much maintenance to you want to do?" G says none but it will be my job I am sure. Today I am printing out pictures I have taken of all sides of the house to send to my friend. These will be my "before" pictures. My next job is to make a list of which specific shrubs, trees and perennials I like.

I love shredding and crepes

2012-01-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

Today my compost pile will increase in content. I have been shredding items from my files. I then mix the shredded paper with the food scraps and it makes great compost. Since we have no deciduous trees I never have leaves to add so this works. I hope I can keep up the momentum with the editing.

Gerry is attending his annual motorcycle riding planning meeting. They plan events and rides for the entire year. You can see what his passion is. So if your date with him is not already on the calendar you are out of luck.

For our brunch on Christmas morning, we requested that Andrew make his famous crepes. He has a wooden crepe tool which he twirls around on top of the batter to spread it. Somehow the handle did not make it in his suitcase to Ohio. So Gerry spent some time in the shop repairing it with a new handle. It turned out quite nice as did the crepes. We had fillings of a mushroom sauce, cheese sauce as well as Nutella. As an aside, Nutella has become such a favorite with the grandchildren that they both received a jar in their stocking!

There are two of these shelves

2012-01-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

A video store in the city where DH works went out of business. They were selling VHS videos for $ .20 and DVDs for $ .80. He brought home over 100. I had just cleaned off these shelves for my stuff in the basement, but could not bear the thought of just having bags of videos on the floor. Some day when I am bored I will put them in alphabetical order. He really likes foreign movies so if there was any mention of the Cannes Festival or Sundance he bought it. So come on over and join us - I have lots of pop corn.

2012-01-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

What goes up must come down. It took me about six days to put up all the Christmas decorations and now it is taking two days to take them down. I try to repeat what I did the previous year but always add some new area. I am also trying to mark all the boxes clearly and edit out what I did not use. I am still on the editing and "getting rid of" kick. Probably will be for all of 2012. Guess that should be my New Year's Resolution. Not an exciting post, but that is what is happening here today

Happy Anniversary to us

2011-12-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

I really must post today since it is our 42nd wedding anniversary. For dinner we are having grilled brats, a salad and leftover corn. Since my dear husband will be spending the evening working on something for work we will not be going out to any fancy place. I certainly am not complaining; I am grateful that he has a job. While he works on that, I will work on a project that need completing, namely the Christmas letter. I am planning to email it to everyone for whom I have an email address. We will see what the response is to that. But it will get to everyone faster and with less expense. I know, I should be supporting our postal service!

The parties are happening

2011-12-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

It seems that my life has centered around food for the last two weeks. We had two dinner parties at our house, the first for 12 (Gerry's group at work) and the second for 16 (the motorcycle riding group that we have dinner with at a restaurant every Monday). Gerry also rides with the guys and I have taken trips to New York City and Savannah with some of the women. This year I hired a 16 year old neighbor to help me. I kept my sanity thanks to her. Of course I was so preoccupied that I forgot to take pictures.

The AAUW group had a pot luck and for a speaker a women who is an "expert" in storytelling. She told stories of her life and culture and encouraged us to do the same, especially with our children and grandchildren. She said to do it even if they don't indicate interest. It is important. It doesn't matter if you don't have all the facts correct- it is your story.

One of the photography groups I attend had pizza and other goodies. The speaker was Ian Adams. Look at his work on his website: http://ianadamsphotography.com/ I bought his book, A Photographer's Guide to Ohio. That was a Christmas gift to myself.

Testing the smoke detectors

2011-12-03T05:28:00.001-08:00

Last night when G was taking a nap I decided to light our wood stove in the basement. First I placed paper, then small wood pieces, then larger. It started burning fine but the smoke came out into the room instead of going up the chimney. I worked frantically for a couple minutes, but to no avail. Soon there was smoke in the room, in the whole basement and going upstairs. The smoke detectors were screeching and I was running upstairs shouting, "I need help". Gerry rushed down and kept adding paper to the fire to get the draft to go up the chimney instead of the room. It took several minutes to get it reversed. Buy now our house was filled with smoke. He did get it reversed (smoke going up the chimney instead of into the house) and we opened windows and aired out the house. This morning I cannot smell any smoke, thankfully.

Then I asked my engineer/scientist husband what had happened. Aside: this is always dangerous because a lengthy explanation and perhaps drawings will follow. He said we had made our house too air tight. There was no supply of air coming into the house to replace the air that was to go up the chimney and the heat was not intense enough to force it up. He is now thinking about a plan to put in an air vent of some kind that we can open when we burn the stove. All I can say is that I learned a lesson and am glad I did not do it when we had a house full of guests. Of course if I had, that would have been a memorable night for them.

Dinner party season

2011-11-30T14:58:00.001-08:00

I decided I should post before things get really crazy here. I have scheduled my (our) first dinner party of the season for Saturday with 12 guests. The next one is a week later for 14 and then I am hoping to have one the Monday after Christmas for which RM has agreed to cook. The first is the craziest because I am putting up all the decorations, which includes three trees, cleaning the house and of course doing all the cooking for the dinner.

Yesterday I discovered I have a holiday dinner tomorrow where I am to bring a dish to share. It is to be one from my ethnicity. That is German and we did not do a lot of formal entertaining so I was at a loss. Finally I chose a German chocolate cake. If it is a hit,I will make another for the dinner here on Saturday. In looking up the background of the German chocolate cake I found that it is not even from Germany (is from Austria). But I am not telling anyone that. I will try to get a few pictures of the dinners at our house to share.

Great Coffee

2011-11-23T10:32:00.001-08:00

Living "in the sticks" as I do, I am very excited that a new coffee roasting enterprise is located about 10 miles from my house. Yesterday when I went to pick up the two pounds of beans I had ordered, he had not roasted them yet. So I hung around the 20 minutes it took to roast them. The owner does not sell any beans that were roasted more than 24 hours ago. He has a state of the art roaster which is connected to a laptop which monitors the process and controls the temp at which it is roasting. The temp actually varies with the type of bean. My Panama beans were roasted at about 415 degrees (F). He told me French Roast are actually about 25% char(burnt). So I will have wonderful coffee with the pies I am baking today: peach, pumpkin, and pecan. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Furniture "Musical Chairs"

2011-11-20T05:26:00.001-08:00

G and I spent several hours on Friday moving furniture: computer desk out of my office (will go to FreeCycle), desk from his room to my office, twin bed out of one room (to FreeCycle), reg size bed from one room to another, queen bed from one room to another, king bed to last bed room. It makes me tired just writing about it. We both were bushed. Today I posted items on FreeCycle so hope they will be out of my house quickly.

On Saturday we spent most of the day loading a "junk" car unto a trailer. G has heard that the price of steel is high, so he decided it was time to get rid of a car that has been setting in our yard for 5 years. The problem was that he could not get it into neutral, so the wheels would not turn. So he jacked it up a bit at a time and used a "come along" (chain and wench) to pull it unto the trailer. It was quite an adventure since it fell off the jacks a couple of times and by the end it was completely dark so we had a light with a long extension cord to the yard. I would have taken pictures, but was too busy moving away from the falling car. It wasn't as dangerous as it sounds. I just kept my distance and gave him moral support.

Weekend report

2011-11-15T07:49:00.001-08:00

On Saturday Shawn, Stacey and their two children spent the day at our house. This was the monthly "work day" that G and Shawn schedule. The project this time was to seal the back door of the shop. This is a door large enough for a semi truck to drive through. So Shawn had the opportunity to climb high on the ladder, which he loves doing. The door had fit so loosely that snow would actually make banks inside the shop. Well, no more. While they were working Stacey was trying to finish a Christmas stocking for B. Since the weather was cool and sunny I took both grandchildren for a ride through the woods on my four-wheeler. Shawn took B later. He said, "Grandma G drives slow, Daddy drives fast." And he is quite right. I did have both children on with me and I emphasize different things than his dad does. We stop and listen for birds, talk about how most of the leaves have fallen, find where the deer have eaten corn from the standing corn stalks in the field and look for bones of animals that were near the woods. K has a little four-wheeler (battery powered) that she rides so she and her dad rode together. He thought that was neat.

On Sunday, G and I spent several hours cutting wood. We are prepared for the Winter now. If the electricity should go out we should be toasty and we can just enjoy the wood burning stove too. Since we do not have a fire place, we got one with a window to see the fire.

Moving the tree

2011-11-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

I decided this tree is much too close to the house. We either needed to cut it down or try to move it.

Gerry is happy that he is going to get lots of exercise by digging out this tree.

That thought was short lived - let's borrow a tractor and backhoe from a neighbor.

A new hole is dug much further away from the house.
We still got our exercise by shoveling the dirt around the tree once it was in place.

It was dark by the time we were finished and had returned the tractor.

Printer "fixed"

2011-11-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have been having the most difficult time getting my printer to work. We rebooted the router, I completely shut down the computer and printer. I ran the trouble shooting program on the printer and it said it was working - but it was not. Hubby is not much help with this so I kept working on it. He did hook to printer up with USB instead of wireless, but still no go. Then I noticed that the "destination" was on another printer. One clink and fixed. There always is an answer to computer problems, the trick is finding it. Well, a pat on my back, or maybe a slap on the side of the head would be more appropriate. I am sure my computer guru (son) is just shaking his head.

Deja vu

2011-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

I recall once years ago that I had to spend time talking with the IRS and having a root canal done in the same day. Well today I am experiencing deja vu. I am getting a crown put on (no root canal this time thankfully) and not talking with the IRS, but I have started filling out a 19 page application for tax exempt status for the women's club. As President this task has fallen to me. Actually I think I am just less intimidated by it than others. The funny part is that they ask about activities for the last three years. That is about how long I have been a member. They ask for budgets, statements of revenue and expenses and a balance sheet. All we have is the check register. We do have a budget of sorts, but I will be putting the rest together myself. The "one size fits all" form is a pain. Enough complaining - Tomorrow I will write a positive post.

Trick or Treat

2011-10-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Dad and Granddad ready to take B & K Trick or Treating.

Waiting for friends to come join them.

K and B with their friends from next door.

Cutting Wood

2011-10-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

As you may know the Emerald Ash Bore is causing the death of Ash trees across the US. There is an estimate that 7.5 billion trees will die. Just in our small woods, we will be cutting up a lot of the dead trees. Here is the first, which fell across the path.

G uses an electric chain saw to cut the branches. He has a generator (which is out of the picture) and an extension cord.

The small branches are piled up as a habitat for animals.

I then load the wood.

G made a ramp to slide the wood down so he wouldn't have to carry armloads down. His mantra is " Never do anything yourself if you can make a 'machine" to do it for you."

The wood is stacked in our basement where it can dry and be enjoyed in our wood burning stove this Winter.

Visit to State Capital

2011-10-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

This last week I traveled to Columbus, Ohio (our state's capitol) with a women's club. We toured the State House and the Governor's mansion. I found the mansion more interesting. First Ladies over the years have all contributed to making it what it is now. The gardens have native flowers and trees from the various types of areas in the state. This link is actually from a previous administration but gives a good overview.
http://www.governorsresidence.ohio.gov/garden/gardentour.aspx Look at the Heritage Garden Tour.

We visited the mansion which you can see here: http://www.governorsresidence.ohio.gov/residence/overviewtour.aspx

The mansion has furniture and art from the period and style of the house which is a Jacobethan Revival-style mansion build in the 1920s. I am including these links since I did not take any pictures.

G and I then rushed up to Play House Square in Cleveland to attend the Million Dollar Quartet. It doesn't look like the same group as in New Your City but was great. Look at a few YouTube clips.

A Sigh of Relief

2011-10-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Today both the cat and I are happy. Yesterday I spent 10 hours staining the deck because rain was coming. I finished at 7:30 pm and when we awoke this morning it was raining. I have the floor all completed and half of the railings. The cat is happy because she had to spend her time locked in the garage while I stained. Otherwise she would have been up there walking in it. To get her in the garage I would offer her treats there and then close the door. She kept falling for it. Today it is catch-up doing laundry and cleaning.

Both of us having fun

2011-10-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

Gerry and several friends took their trip to Hatfield McCoy trails in West Virginia on Thursday through Sunday. For Christmas last year he had requested a helmet camera which he used this time. He got some great footage of the trails. It made my heart stop to see the steep slopes on the sides of the trails. There was only one minor glitch: the settings were wrong and it recorded it all upside down. Here he is watching the movies with the monitor upside down. It was the only solution we could come up with.

While he was out having fun, I was at home having fun (Ha). Each morning I check the weather forcast to determine my activity for the day - a lot like a farmer. I need no rain for 12 hours and tempatures between 45 and 95. If all is well, I put on my oldest, stained clothes and start the work for the day. This picture shows the progress. The picture shows a bit dark, but it does look almost new. My friend asked why I did not hire one of the Amish in our community who work for $8 and hour. I had not even considered that. But the cost would add up as I have been working on this for nearly a month. And I know the quality of the work (only I know where I have made mistakes). At least no one had better point them out!!

More rain

2011-09-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Today I put on my old clothes, winter coat, hat and gloves to go outside to mow the lawn. It is about 50 degrees out but the grass really needs mowing. Before I could start, the rain started coming down and it has been raining since. Guess I will postpone this task until next week. So instead, I am working through the pile of papers on my desk. Tonight G and I are attending a concert of Gershwin music by two piano players and a women't trio - music like it would have sounded in New York in the 30s

New sofa and recliner

2011-09-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Out with the old, in with the new. From this picture, the old doesn't look too bad. But the cloth cushions are faded and have lost their support. The sofa and love seat are about 35 years old. I found the new sofa and recliner on Craig's List. It is six months old and fits DH really well. The sofa has recliners on each side.

A local church has rented a large truck and asked for furniture to take to Joplin, Missouri where the devastating tornados hit. I had already given them a dresser, chest of drawers and a crib. Then I found the sofa and chair so they are taking the old sofa, love seat and end tables. Of course now that I have the furniture, I can start thinking flooring and paint for the walls. But at least I know what I have to work with.

Hard at work

2011-09-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

My goal today was to finish stripping the old stain from the deck. The weather is cooperating for the next two days to stain. But, alas, UPS damaged one box of supplies (the stripper) and it was sent back to the supplier so I could not do what I planned. Here is a picture of me working on it last week. If you are sick of me talking about this project - I am ready to be finished too.

The pictures give an idea of the before and after. So there is hope.

S's birthday

2011-09-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we helped son celebrate his birthday. He is not too old to still blow out the candles.

Book club

2011-09-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

I usually read non fiction or novels, but the book discussion group I have joined reads more variety. This month's choice was a biography of Abraham Lincoln, titled" One Man Great Enough" by John C. Waugh. It is his life from birth until he was elected president. It talks about him as a person not about the Civil War, although there is a lot about politics of the time. I found it a fascinating book, certainly one I would recommend. He was such a logical thinker and speaker, was a very moral person. Anyway I really enjoyed the book and the discussion.

Mowing and corn

2011-08-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday G spent the whole day being a farmer (at least the part that a farmer has to spend a lot of time repairing equipment). He has an old Ferguson tractor with a sickle mower. Both are quite elderly. He spent many hours on the mower then did some mowing on our geothermal bed and the ditches by the road.

I spent the first few hours with a half day flu, but recovered nicely. I then picked and froze about five dozen ears of corn. I may have mentioned that the man who farms our few acres, plants sweet corn for us. Well, it gets ripe all at once so in a weeks time I must harvest and freeze the corn. I am not complaining because it is a wonderful treat.

Pig Roast 2011

2011-08-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

We had 85 guests for our pig roast this year. These are the four who manned the roaster for the 8 hours (plus prep and cut up time). On the invitation Gerry encouraged anyone who rides a motorcycle to ride it. This is one half of the lineup.

I think I have been running on adrenaline for a month so it has taken me a few days to recover. But today I am feeling more energetic.

Life is crazy right now

2011-08-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy here. Since the trip to Minnesota, we took a whirlwind motorcycle trip with 13 other people on a four day drive in Ontario, Canada. Since my laptop (only computer I now have) is in the basement sitting on a stack of plastic tubs (the only connection to the internet is there and the wireless router bit the dust) it is a bit hard to use. In a week or two we will have it up and running in a more convenient way. This week is preparations for the pig roast. We have about 80 people who have said they are coming at this point. This may sound like I am frazzled, but I feel like things are under control.

Road trip

2011-07-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today I drove 400 miles-am currently at a Super 8 Hotel for the night. All went well, but driving through Illinois, (Chicago and north) was a bear. On the Skyway it was about 10 mph for an hour and then there was construction north of there. Fortunately it was early afternoon so I was not overly tired. The disappointing part is that I seem to miss the scenery because I am concentrating on the lane I am driving in. I have never used my computer away from home before so had to set up the wireless, but got it to work here. For most of you reading this, it is old hat for you. Tomorrow I have about 5 hours driving. I should mention that I am driving to Minnesota for my Mother's 90th birthday party on Saturday.

Staying home where it is cool

2011-07-22T10:26:00.001-07:00

We too are enjoying the heat wave that is covering most of the US. I mowed the lawn first thing this morning, the main part that is. The trimming will be for another day. Gerry is spending three days at a motorcycle show. I was invited, but 90+ degrees and no shade did not appeal to me. I did tell him it did not mean I do not love him. Instead I am trying to wear out my clothes washer by washing several throw rugs. I will buy a new washer and dryer in the next week. I think the research is completed. I am going with a "bottom" of the line" instead of "top of the line". All I want it to do is wash and dry the clothes.

Picture

2011-07-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

My blogger daughter has told me that if I don't have any words to blog, just post a picture. So that is what I am doing. Usually these two say "cheese" when I want to take a picture and it looks so artificial. This time, something was really funny to them.

Outdoor movie

2011-07-19T08:03:00.001-07:00

The Cleveland Orchestra has their summer concerts at the Blossom Music Center which is an outdoor amphitheater. It seats 6,000 in the pavilion and 13,000 on the lawn. On Saturday we were part of the 13,000. The movie, Pirates of the Caribbean (first one I think), was shown on large screens while the Orchestra played the music and a choral group sang. I enjoyed it, but had not seen the movie so was concentrating on the story so often missed the music part. Since this was such a popular movie, there were a lot of people there. A few were dressed like Johnny Depp.

We will have sweet corn

2011-07-08T05:13:00.000-07:00

When we returned from our vacation in June, I noticed that our renter had worked up a strip along our driveway. Since it was just one strip, I assumed it was too wet and he did not continue working the whole field. About a week later I noticed rows of sweet corn coming up that he had planted for us. So now it is up to me to keep it weeded. I spent a couple hours yesterday tilling between the rows. We have the hardest clay like soil I have ever seen. But it is great to have the equipment to use instead of hoeing. I am trying to work in the yard and garden in the mornings before it is too hot. Since DH is still working and gets home late, these duties are mine ( and he really does not like yard work).

Night visitor

2011-06-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight when I turned on the light on the back deck to say goodnight to our cat, there was a raccoon looking in the patio door. He was helping himself to the cat's water and the bird seed from the bird feeder. I had noticed the seed being eaten rather quickly. I had taken Mollie to the vet for her required rabies shot this week; now I know why. She does have to interact with wild life. I chased him away, but he was in no hurry-just ambled along.

Strawberries

2011-06-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

This week I bought 16 quarts of strawberries at a bargain price of $2 a quart. I bought them from one of my Amish neighbors who lives less that 2 miles from my house. I have made two pies (one for another neighbor who feeds our cat when we are gone), froze about three gallons of berries and made 10 jars of frozen jam. I have about 3 quarts left to deal with. I am running out of ideas. Do you think I bought too much?

Today I spent most of the day at a city wide garage sale. I spent less that $20 and came home with an electric pasta maker (new price on the box was $200 ) two DVDs, a bulldozer type toy for grandson to play in the sand, a bike helmet for him when he rides the four-wheeler at our house and two origami kits for children.

Stiff muscles

2011-06-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Today when I went to my massage therapist, there were serious sore spots all over, from my neck to bottom of my feet. Not sure if it is from my hike up Devil's Lake in Wisconsin, from the hours (about 20 total) sitting on the motorcycle there and back or from helping carry my cedar chest from the living room to the garage. The hike was well worth it. I haven't downloaded G's pictures yet so cannot show what it was like. I put the chest on FreeCycle and someone is scheduled to pick it up tonight. I am just picking away at getting rid of things I no longer use.

Found: cash and candy

2011-06-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

You hear stories of little old ladies who die and their family find money and valuables hidden in their house. Well, dear son and daughter, you may have your work cut out for you. Yesterday and today while taking out summer clothes and putting the cold weather clothes away, I found an envelope with cash and a box of chocolate covered cherries that I bought as a Christmas gift for Gerry in my sock drawer. (I have a reputation for remembering a gift that I have hidden and forgotten to wrap when we are opening our gifts at Christmas.) The reason this project has taken two days is that I make a decision on each item. If it was not worn the past season, maybe it should go to the thrift store. And everything must fit. No keeping something with the thought that I will loose a few pounds and it will again fit. If I loose the few pounds, I will just buy new if I need it.

Readers: are there things you have hidden, forgotten and then found later?

Princess in family

2011-05-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a few garage sales. Since I too am on a serious editing mode, I am careful about what I buy. I found a purple velvet "princess" dress for my granddaughter since she has outgrown the two I previously bought. Not only outgrown, but also worn out since she puts them over her clothes many times when visiting.

Later in the day I spent three hours at the wholesale produce auction which is held three times a week four miles from my house. For forty dollars I brought home eight perennials and a few parsley plants. I cannot put them where I want the perennial garden to be since I need to plant background shrubs first. So my vegetable garden has become the perennial nursery. I already have several planted there waiting for the right spot in the perennial gardens.

In case you have noticed a lack of photos recently it is because my desktop computer is dead. My computer person, (son) was able to save the contents from the hard drive but the rest is toast. We are now getting an external hard drive for the pictures and just use my laptop. I have done a good job putting all my pictures on CDs or DVDs so would have had them if they would have been toast too.

Guests head north and a dinner for me

2011-05-27T06:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Andrew and his parents set off for Toronto to visit relatives. BUT not until a new rental car was delivered and the old one taken away. Seems the trip needed another event in it. Andrew noticed the tire was loosing air. Upon inspection he saw a bulge in the sidewall. They asked if he could drive it and he declined. So a tow truck was sent out. I was able to visit with them an additional three hours and they help with the left over food we had accumulated.

I spent the evening at a dinner with my AAUW friends. It really does take time to get to know people. This group is very welcoming and friendly. Part of our program was meeting the three "nontraditional" students who received scholarships from the organization. These were three women whose ages ranged from 35 to 50 and have returned to college. A couple also are single parents, work full time and still are involved in volunteering in the community. Hopefully our scholarships encourage them.

UK visitors

2011-05-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, which was the last full day that Andrew and his parents were here (they came to the US for his commencement at U of MD and then drove to our house). We started out the day by taking a rather large trailer to get mulch for me. Gerry was set on going to this place about 20 miles away because he heard they gave you 1 1/2 yards for the price of one. Always looking for a bargain. They loaded it, but we had to cover it, which took 30 minutes or so. He put on several tarps and lots of tie-downs. Fortunately I can use it directly from the trailer.

We then drove an hour to visit the Escher exhibition. My favorite is The Puddle:

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddle_(M._C._Escher)"

There are three elements: water, sky and earth. Of interest is the moon and trees which are reflected in the water, the water and the various tracks on the mud.

In the evening we met Shawn and his family for dinner where Andrew's parents had their first Mexican food. We suggested rather mild entrées which they enjoyed. We all stayed an extra hour at the restaurant as there was a rather fierce storm (with tornado warnings) outside. But we all arrived safely home in the end.

Rain

2011-05-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

For the last two months it has rained 8 out of every 10 days. I have managed to mow the lawn two times which is more than some people have been able to do. But it has been impossible to plant in the garden or to do any landscaping projects. I have been able to spray thistles and do some weeding and G helped me put some edging around my garden shed where I have a perennial garden. I should not complain however, since my livelihood is not being threatened as it is for all the farmers. They are weeks behind in getting crops planted.

2011-05-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today I had three projects to complete. The first was tire related. Yesterday G drove over a rock/piece of concrete which cut the sidewall on his tire. Guess what? He found a tire of the same size in his stash. My job was to take it in to be mounted. They said it was 10 years old, but in good enough condition to mount and use. He left me with very little gas so I put a small gas can in the car, but made it to the gas station where I put in over 19 gallons.

Secondly I spent an hour at the County Recorder's office. The buzz around here is everyone being approached by a company to sign an oil and gas lease. The is happening in New York, PA, and Ohio. We have attended some seminars to learn about our rights. The first is to find if there is an old lease on your property. The company which is coming into our area can buy it without even telling you. So you must void it. I found one from 1980 but I think it has expired. Next we have to decide how much we want to get involved. I won't go into details but it is complicated and not a big get rich proposition. One can make some money, but your property could be messed up.

Thirdly, I mowed for the second time. It has rained for 8 out of every 10 days for about two months. So the lawn is really long and muddy. Gardening and farming is out of the question at this time But I am being optimistic and making a landscaping plan for the year.

Thanks to Savannah Getaways House rentals

2011-04-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

When visiting Savannah, I left behind at the house we were renting, my camera worth several hundred dollars. It has been returned to me having gone through the hands of housekeeping and the rental agency. I had quite calmly resigned myself to not seeing it again. This will be a reminder to me that there are honest people in our world and motivate me to do the same for others. It is interesting that daughter had posted on a similar theme this week. Let's keep the trend going.

President's work

2011-04-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

As I have previous mentioned, I am President of a local women's club. There are about 50 members. It has been in existence for maybe 25 years and many of the women have been officers or been on committees. This year when it came time to get a roster for election, I could not even get volunteers for the nominating committee. So I took it upon myself to contact every member and ask if they would take a job. The result is that I have filled every position except one.

The reason they said no when I called was 1)I have held jobs for many years or 2)I spend most of the winter months in a warmer climate. The majority of the members are retired and have been in the club a long time so it seems valid. It was interesting to call them because I have been in the club about two years and don't know many of them well. I learned about their health, family commitments and travel plans. I actually took notes for myself to know them better.

Second Doctor in the family

2011-04-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday G and I attended our son-in-laws Doctoral Defense. The Title was "The Response of Molecular Gases and Modulated Plasmas to Short Intense Laser Pulses". Through no fault of the presenter most of it sounded like a foreign language to me. G seemed to understand more than me. The good news is that he did great; they only asked for minor revisions. We are proud of him and so happy we could be there.

After a day of celebrating with him and his lovely wife, we drove to Pittsburgh where we visited friends and learned about the city. We spend a few hours touring the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. It is 42 stories tall and has about 30 "Nationality" rooms which are class rooms decorated by various countries. During the week they have classes in the rooms, but the public can tour when there are no classes. We discovered there are many more interesting things to do in Pittsburgh, which is a bit over two hours drive from our home.

Still alive and well

2011-03-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today we had our 105 gallon hot water heater installed It hooks into our geothermal furnace It took several evenings of work on Gerry's part to get the plumbing right. Previously there were two smaller heaters so he had to redo the plumbing so everything was hooked to the new one. Even after all his work, it took five hours to get in installed. Now we have an used furnace, used air conditioner and two water heaters to dispose of.

I have over-scheduled myself for the next two weeks, but all the activities should be fun. Thursday I leave for Savannah, GA for six days, am home part of one day then leave for MD for Andrew's defense. The day after returning home, I am hosting my book club at my house. Instead of reading a book, in April we each read a favorite poem, which I haven't chosen yet. So life is busy for me.

Weather changes

2011-03-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

We had rain for a week, which caused all the snow to be gone. There was a lot of flooding around us, water over roads, and such. Our house stayed dry except for where it seeped in by the window wells in the basement. Gerry has covered then since. But, last night the snow returned: about 4 inches so it is all white again. Thankfully, we will not need to use the snow blower.

Today is clean the house and cook ahead meals day since tomorrow Shawn and a friend of Gerry's are coming over to help Gerry put together a tractor that has been apart for over a year. We really need to get it out of the shop (so other things can go in!!!).

Back from vacation

2011-03-07T06:39:00.000-08:00

It has been over a month since I posted. The time was spent in Miami (at Renee Michelle and Andrew's house), Miami Beach (with both children and their families), the Bahamas and Key West (with sister Marge from MN). She, by the way was on the last flight out of Minneapolis before they closed the airport due to a blizzard. I returned Thursday and have not even downloaded my pictures. I will post some when I get to that. First I need to make sure there are no overdue bills. I won't even go into the difference in weather. All I can hope for is that Spring comes soon.

Vacation planning

2011-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

This last week I have been preoccupied with planning events and trips. Our immediate family is planning a week together in Miami where Renee Michelle resides. Her brother and family will join Gerry and I for our first vacation together. We get to get the summer clothes out. Yea!! I will stay for about 10 days longer and vacation with my sister.

I have finalized several things for my trip to Savannah with three friends. Then there is my mother's 90th birthday party sometime this summer. Don't have all the details on that worked out. How did we do these things in the past without the internet?

Gerry is outside at this moment charging the battery of the tractor so he can plow snow. He will be ready for the sun and warmth.

Monday update

2011-01-31T08:55:00.000-08:00

Today I am taking 8 boxes of things I have "edited" to the thrift store. So far I have not had any second thoughts about the things I have let go. I have sorted flower vases, candle holders, dishes and Christmas stuff. When I am in the basement, I say to myself, "What was I thinking when I bought this?" A lot was from garage sales, but still what was I thinking?

Gerry has pretty much recovered from his trip to China. He really did have his days and nights mixed up, not unlike what a baby does at times. Ha! He talked a lot about the food there: fish heads, eyes, cow stomach, and chicken feet. He is willing to try almost everything. I am sure my cooking is quite boring in contrast.

Computer savvy - not!

2011-01-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think I know just enough about computers to be dangerous. At least enough to be very frustrated at times. Daughter helped me start an photo book for my mother for a Christmas gift. Today I spent several hours finishing it. If you were in my house you would have heard a few screeches of frustration. But I did it. The hardest part was uploading the pictures from the computer to Snapfish.

A quick report on hubby. He has returned from his two week trip to China. The jet lag is giving him fits. At 10:30 at night he is just starting to go strong and I want to go to sleep. I will ask him to give a report that I can post on the blog.

New Hat- Tour Guide

2011-01-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I finished my painting in the basement. It seems as if I need to finish one large project that is hanging over my head before I can concentrate on another. So today I have spent several hours planning a trip to Savannah, Georgia for the beginning of April. There will probably be 8 women going. I am trying to schedule it for when the flowers are in prime, but that is pretty hard to predict. This is the time that on average the flowers are in bloom. There are so many things to do in Savannah that I don't think I will have trouble filling our days.

Soup and Wine

2011-01-14T18:38:00.000-08:00

Today our women's club (of which I am President) had their annual soup and wine luncheon. Twenty-seven attended. We had five soups, great bread, dessert and of course wine. The Chicken Tortilla soup I made was a hit.

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/10/chicken-tortilla-soup.html

The lady who hosted had to set up her house to accommodate us, which I am sure took some time, but it took me at least three hours to make the soup and then the cleanup. What makes these events great is that everyone does their part and the whole is great. I am encouraged with how everyone volunteers. We had our Holiday House Tour in December where we went through five homes and had a luncheon too. We made about $3000 which will be used for scholarships for local students who are going to college.

Snowed In

2011-01-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Today I will stay home, snowed in by choice. It has been snowing for 24 hours with a steady wind and will continue to do so for another day or so. I could start the snow blower and blow out the drive way but will wait until the wind stops since it will just blow it closed again.

Instead I am working on the basement painting. No excuses now.

I am grateful for heat. DH is staying in a four star hotel where they do not turn on the heat until it gets to 12 C (54 F) in the rooms. He is very cold blooded so is probably sleeping in his winter coat.

Clouds of dust

2011-01-09T10:02:00.001-08:00

Remember Pigpen in the Snoopy comics? He walked around with a cloud of dust surrounding him. That is how I look these days. The mudding, sanding and cleanup of dry wall dust on the walls to be painted is almost complete. I need to sand two spots yet, then am ready to start the painting. I hope to do the primer today.

Gerry is in China for two weeks for business. I did not envy his 15 hour trip there. He was awake for 27 hours traveling. I don't know how much "tourist" activity he will be able to fit in. Hopefully some.

New room in basement

2011-01-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

During the week Andrew and Renee Michelle were here, Gerry and Andrew started building walls to make a room in the basement. As you can see, we had to move stuff around to make room for them to work. I am happy to report it all has drywall on it and is ready for me to paint next week. It was hard to get a good picture to show the hard work they did.

Editing

2010-12-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

I am on a serious "editing" kick now. But editing of things in your life has many different looks. This is a trailer of tires we found in our woods. G suggested just leaving them there, but that made me cringe. So he spent several hours loading them with the front end loader of the tractor. Yesterday I took them to our local waste management site. As you may know, one must pay to dispose of tires but this only cost $85 so I was very happy. There were 40 tires on the trailer. We a have few left that are still on the rims (they would not take those) so must find a solution to disposing of them. But what a start.

On a lighter scale , I have spent an hour a day editing one drawer of the filing cabinet. A picture of that is not so dramatic.

Thanksgiving with grandchildren

2010-12-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

After our turkey dinner the three cousins were given the task of making a gingerbread house. As you can see, they all took it very seriously. Afterwards, Bryce wanted to "help" as he puts it, by cleaning the floor. It seems that he loves machines already.

First Holiday dinner a success

2010-12-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Dinner for 14! That was last night. It was a simple meal: pork tenderloin, roasted root vegetables, a salad of romaine with pears and pecans and for dessert a purchased chocolate lava cake with ice cream. I had to push myself a bit because I had a cold all week, but everyone seemed to have a great time. Next Friday I have another dinner for 12. I am using the same menu.

Tonight I plan to paint two walls in the basement. We had moved all the shelves to the center of the basement to put insulation and dry wall on the walls. So, since a new furnace will be installed in a week, the walls need to be finished and the shelves moved back. For those who have seen our basement, you understand the magnitude of this project. But a deadline is great to get things finished. I would post pictures but it would be too embarrassing.

Geothermal is actually happening

2010-11-23T19:10:00.000-08:00

There are no pictures to show what G and I did tonight unless I scan the rather large check I wrote. We actually made a decision on which geothermal contractor to use and placed the order. It should be installed in three weeks. We have been studying about it, talking about it, and getting bids for three years. Now in three weeks it will be in.

Our job now is to complete the insulating and painting of the basement walls. We have them all insulated with polystyrene which we have glued to the concrete walls and have dry wall up on all but half of one wall. G will be finished the mudding so I can paint. It will take primer (one coat I think) then the paint (two coats).

I have two dinner parties scheduled (Dec 3 and Dec 10) so either I will need to be really organized or you can come visit me at the "funny farm".

44th Kent State Folk Festival

2010-11-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

Gerry and and I spent a total of 10 hours on Friday and Saturday listening to various folk performers. Friday there were 35 venues at various stores, bars, churches or galleries. You can listen for a few minutes and then go to another or stay for the entire concert. Some of the categories were folk rock, hammered dulcimer, bluegrass, tribute bands, blues, and blend of world music. We met a music professor from Kent who was a great source of info. His special area is far eastern music. He led a Chinese gong and drum group on Saturday.

We stayed at a motel on Friday so we would be raring to go on Saturday, when there were 36 "workshops" as they call them, over six hours. Again you can come and go as you wish. Some we attended were: Dulcimer lesson, Jug Band music, Slow Jam, Songwriting, Bawdy tunes (adults only), and Shape note singing. In many of these you learn a lot about the culture that produced the music. The Professor told us of a local church that does the shape note singing. (look it up on youtube)

Halloween

2010-11-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

OK, OK, I am planning Thanksgiving dinner, my house is mostly decorated for Christmas (more on that later), but I am finally posting pictures from Halloween. Granddaughter made an apple costume for a program the children gave at her preschool. The next picture is her brother and their cousin. Sorry about the first picture being so big. I don't know how to reduce the size.

I love the web site Ted.com

2010-11-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Today I spend a couple hours listening to speakers on Ted.com. Check it out. It's amazing how ideas I hear are applicable to situations in my life. Amy Tan was speaking about creativity and talked about how ideas or information comes to you when you need it. She didn't try to explain how or why. She also talked about a person doing something and it not turning out as you thought it might. You are to just look at your intention. (I am simplifying here)

So, here is my story. On Election Day my job as a judge was to look at everyone's ID, which in most cases was their Ohio driver's license. When I looked at one I noticed that it had expired so I mentioned it to the man. He turned red and said he had lost his job so didn't have the money. He said maybe one of his roommates could help him out. As it turns out he is a neighbor who lives four houses from me. I felt bad that I had caused him embarrassment. So today I went to his house to apologize. I was going to offer to help if he would accept. He was gracious and said it had been taken care of.

In looking at my intention I was reminded of this which I had recently read - Gloria Steinem's story, "Ask the Turtle".

http://www.yuni.com/library/docs/217.html

Post election rant

2010-11-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I did my civic duty by working as a poll judge again. All 14 1/2 hours. Don't know where I will spend the $100 I earned. That is for the entire time. We had a high turn out. (40 to 50 %) That is sad when I type it. High should be 99%.

My biggest rant on our local elections is that we have the most archaic, convoluted methods of funding our public schools in Ohio. It comes down to a local voted levee. But of course the schools are mandated by law to provide the education but in many cases do not receive the funds because the levies do not pass. It is the only place people can have control of the taxes they pay. It is real mess.

The other thing (rant continues) I would say is "Good Luck Republicans in fixing the mess we are in!"

Sunset

2010-10-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

I always wished for a home where I could see the sunsets. Our deck faces the west so my wish has come true. Since I am not an expert photographer, this was the best I could do. But I am working on it. Yesterday we had part of the storm that was covering the Midwest with winds gusting to 60 mph. Our gusts were not as bad as further west. But it rained hard and then there was this fabulous sunset.

Out door work

2010-10-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

The former owners of our property used various kinds of stones as mulch. They put plastic under it. Not the best growing conditions for plants. So we have started removing it. Yesterday Gerry and I loaded two half barrels with stones and put them in the woods to prevent erosion. Good exercise. There is still more to do, but I am encouraged with the start.

Today I tilled the second half of my garden. I had done the first half a month or so ago. I planted seven kinds of hybrid day lilies there. It is a "nursery" for the plants. I will move them in the spring to a prepared bed.

To answer the question about the quote, that was for my dear husband. Just wanted to bring it to his attention that he cannot take his large collections with him. He actually thought it was funny.

Vacation not happening

2010-10-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

Gerry and I have been planning a vacation to view the Fall colors in the Northeast states. This started as a two week trip, then one week. But I am sorry to report it now is a zero day vacation. He has some heavy ( important to be present for) things happening at work. So we are back to the drawing board. Don't weep for us, as we are not. We will be thinking about how to spend his vacation days. There should be other fun things we can do, just in smaller increments.

Quote for the day: "Have you ever seen a hearse with a luggage rack?"

Deck needs staining

2010-09-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

My next big project is to stain the deck. I have spend several hours doing research on what is the best product to use and how to actually do it. One site lists eleven (yes 11) steps and it warns that you should not rush any of them. It seems that I will need to strip the stain on the part of the deck that still has stain on it as it has the roof over it. The remainder is quite weather bleached, but should be stripped so it all looks the same. The railings will also get stripped. After stripping, you put on something that neutralizes the stripper, then stain. And of course you have to completely rinse it after each step. When I am working close to the house siding I will need to cover it with plastic or the stripper may splash up and remove paint from the house.

The next part is what will make Gerry's jaw drop. Since labor is such a big part of this, one should get the best stain available, which translates into $$. I am guessing between $200 and $300. But I am sure that if I hired someone it would be more than that, given the amount of labor involved. Guess I will sleep on it tonight and decide if it really needs it. But I already know the answer to that. It really does. So, words of encouragement are requested.

Why did a son disown his Mother at his birthday party

2010-09-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

I have a story to tell. A mother invited her son (who will be 33 years old tomorrow), his wife and their two children, ages 1 and 4, to dinner. It was a special dinner to celebrate his upcoming birthday. She slaved in the kitchen all day making a special dinner of baked pork chops, mashed potatoes, fresh corn on the cob, and tomatoes that she had raised in her own garden. The children were put to bed by their mother in the bedrooms that the grandmother had carefully set up for them. At this time a conversation was ensuing downstairs in the living room between the mother and her son. She asked him to look something up on his Blackberry. He shouted upstairs to his wife, "Get the children, we are leaving." What had the mother done to deserved this treatment?

The answer to this question is: She insulted his Google Android by calling it a Blackberry. So mothers around the world take note. There are certain things that are sacred and you had better know what they are.

Happy Birthday Son! :)

Pig Roast 2010 - Part One

2010-09-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Pig Roast was a couple weeks ago. The last of the tables, paper plates and games have been put away. I decided to post pictures of just the pig roasting saga in this post. Pictures of the people attending will be the next post.

This is the "Pig in a Blanket". That is a bit of a play on words since "Pig in a Blanket" is a small hot dog rolled in a batter and baked. But this pig was rolled in ice, then plastic, and then in blankets so he stayed really cool all night.

The roaster is being prepared and moved close to the house. This took place at about 7:00 am. Helpers at this point did not include Andrew since he had a good excuse. He had arrived after midnight and needed his rest so he could preform his duties later in the day.

We learned in the past to get the coals hot while putting the pig on the spit. The trick here was to use compressed air to get it going.

Here we have men from three states up at the crack of dawn. Jonathan came from Pennsylvania, Harry from Illinois and of course Gerry from Ohio.

The cutting crew doing their thing. Hungry guests are standing around patiently waiting.

Ladies Luncheon

2010-08-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

Today I had a planning meeting with officers and committee chairs of the Cloverleaf Women's Club of which I am President for the next two years. I decided to invite the ten women over for lunch and have the meeting at my house. I made a salad (recipe was on Epicourious) of greens, cooked chicken, peaches, caramelized onions and purchased poppy seed dressing. It was a success. We planned most of the scheduled meetings for the year. Our big fundraiser will be in December. We are planning a Holiday House tour. The next challenge is to find five or six people who are willing to have strangers walk through their house. I did not find any volunteer to chair the committee so have to give some thought as to how to handle that situation.

As an aside, it was great planning to have them here because it forced me to get the house cleaned, which would have been necessary by next weekend, which is the Annual Pig Roast/Pot Luck. We have only 100 reservations this year. Last year 140 came, but I did not keep good records as to how many did not RSVP and just showed up. This year I have this information recorded on an Spread Sheet. So next year I may not invite people who did not RSVP at all this year.

Needless to say, the next week will be a busy one. I am excited about seeing everyone who is coming.

Show and Tell

2010-08-06T05:49:00.000-07:00

Today there is some kind of "show and tell" at Invacare. G decided to ride the KLR motorcycle that he rode on the Continental Divide ride and to Moab this year. We have a small digital picture frame that Shawn and Stacey gave us years ago. So we put about 200 pictures from these two trips on the picture frame. G then rigged up a car battery with an inverter so show the pictures since the event will be outside in the parking lot. He tried to make the KLR look somewhat like it did on the trip. He put extra tires on the sides and duffel bags on top.

My week

2010-07-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Gerry flew to Oshkosh Wisconsin for the EAA Air show. It is now called AirVenture. It is a week long event with up to 800,000 people attending and 12,000 airplanes. A neighbor has a small plane and asked him to go along. The flight is about two hours. Many years ago he flew his ultralight from Kankakee, Illinois to Oshkosh with a group of other ultralights. He spends the days looking at planes, attending seminars and watching the daily air show. As an aside, I think my son in law would love this event. We will get him there some day.

So what do I do when he is gone for several days? I went on a Garden Walk with a friend where we toured 8 gardens and got lots of ideas for landscaping.

One evening I went to a picnic with biker friends. Here is a picture of the bikes, not the friends.

I also mow the lawn, trim, weed in the garden and flower beds. Today I washed the windows and screens on one side of the house.

Invitations are ready to go

2010-07-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have just spent two days getting the invitations out for our annual Pig Roast/Pot Luck (third annual). This year I am trying to organized and to be able to use the lists for next year. I put all 115 people on an excel spread sheet and put together a group to email the 80 of the 115 who have given me their email addresses. The others will be hand delivered or sent by snail mail. I went through all of our lists from the last two years so that I would not skip anyone who was previously invited and especially those who did come. For those of you who are more computer savvy that I am, this probably would not have taken that long. I have to remind myself that I do better on the computer that a lot of my peers.

It is August 21, so you will probably hear a few moans and groans between now and then.

Involved in my community

2010-07-11T05:56:00.000-07:00

Gerry and I joined a local organization, Ruritans. Yesterday I worked at their flea market serving food. This is a service, good will community organization. It is a great way to meet people in the area, many who have lived here their entire life. I had been talking with one man for a while when a young Amish man walked by. I spoke with him about the Corn Hole game he had been playing. The man I had been talking with asked if I knew the Amish man. When I said no, he made a comment about me as a "lady" talking with someone I did not know, like he thought it was not safe. I should have told him of the homes I went into as a Social Worker. And those were people who were not happy to have me there. Interesting.

The only thing I bought were 3 pints of fresh raspberries from an Amish vendor. At $2 a pint it was a good deal.

Gerry is spending 3 days at a motorcycle race, swap meet. He actually took three bikes to try to sell them. Those of you who know him, realize what a historical moment this is. You also know it is one down and how many more to go?

NYC visit

2010-06-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

I just returned from spending four days in New York City. A friend organized the trip for me and eight other women. I had met two of them before this. Where to start? Maybe with my three favorite events. I saw the production of "Wicked". I thought it was on par with "Phantom of the Opera" Loved it, especially the surprise ending. Loved the story itself, the actors voices, the special effects, etc. Secondly we had a three hour food tasting and cultural walking tour of Chelsea Market and the Meatpacking district. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the area. Thirdly was my walk in Central Park. Stopped in "Strawberry Fields" and listened to a group playing Beatles songs. Strawberry Fields is a part of the park dedicated to John Lennon. It is just across the street from the place he was killed.

Of course we were in the midst of the waves of people on the streets, unending streams of yellow cabs, and persistent street vendors. It was Gay Pride Week and the soccer games were going on so that added interest to everything. It all was such a contrast to "the sticks" but I loved it.

Some pictures will follow, I promise.

Guests at a birthday party

2010-06-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we attended a birthday party of a two year old (Kyla's cousin). Kyla and Bryce were both in attendance. Bryce showed everyone how to enjoy a cupcake.

The uninvited guests were these ducks. The mother duck made her nest just outside the front door of the house were the party was. The ducks hatched as we watched. What a treat.

I let this one go

2010-06-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

When our children were young their father told them that as parents we were like a big ship in the ocean. They were like a small boat being towed behind us. We would occasionally throw "care packages" to them. The packages were the advice for living that we were giving them. Sometimes they would let the package drift away and other times they would grab it.

I was reminded of this today when working on a project. I am screwing down the subflooring in the bathroom and two closets. I had watched Gerry so I knew how to adjust the torque, charge the batteries and figure out where the joists were under the subflooring that I needed to screw into. However, I did not pay attention to how he removed the bit from the drill. I wore one down and could not figure out how to put a new one in. Guess I let that "care package" drift by.

Two weeks without Hubby

2010-06-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been both relaxing and exhausting for me. Gerry has been in Utah and Colorado on a motorcycle adventure. I do enjoy my time alone because I can do things on my own schedule. For example, if I want to paint for a few hours from 9 to 11 pm I do. Meal time is not on a regular schedule. I have gone out for dinner with friends, watched a movie (The Blind Side), and done some excruciating hard yard work.

On the subject of painting, I thought I was finished with all but the accent walls, but decided to add a third coat to the bed room walls because if a couple irregularities. Yesterday I purchased plants to put together several planters. The problem is that I cannot move them once they are filled, so have to put them in the final location before filling. See I do need Gerry around. Seriously, it is good for us to have time apart, but I do miss him. In my next blog I will try to post some pictures of his trip.

It's strawberry time

2010-06-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

I was able to make the most perfect jam from the most perfect strawberries. Tonight I will freeze four more quarts (whole or with sugar) and on Wednesday make a strawberry pie. Yum!

My family visit

2010-06-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

In the middle of May I flew to Minnesota to visit my Mom and siblings. I took a few pictures that may be of interest to some of my readers.

Bryon (nephew), Shelby, Wanda, Ethan

Maxine (sis), Kelly, Patrick (nephew)

Sue (sis-in law), Ed (Bro), Shelby (their granddaughter)

Khris, George (bro), David (his son) and David's sister

Siblings and Mom: Maxine, Marge, Mom, Ruth, me, Harry

Waking with the birds

2010-05-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

We have a very vocal Mockingbird living near us this year. I don't recall every having one around before. These particular birds like to perch on the top of the roof and start their chorus before 6:00 am every morning. Other than waking earlier that I would like, it is fun trying to identify each bird call he makes. I have heard the calls of crow, blue jay, robin, wren, and a few I don't recognize.

Lacey and Danny have a boy

2010-05-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, May 18, Lacey and Danny welcomed another boy into their lives. Haydn, now has a little brother, William Grant. He was 21 inches and weighed 10#, 3 oz. He has reddish brown hair. This information came from his proud Grandmother, Linda.

Dan was there for the birth but had to return to Iraq the next day.

If anyone wants their current address, send me an email.

Cool Youtube video

2010-05-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine posted the link to this on Facebook. It is called "Don't honk at Old People".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr8KrF8vNPM

MN trip

2010-05-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

Monday I returned from my week long visit in Minnesota. This year I decided to fly instead of driving two days coming and going. I spent time almost every day with my Mom who is 89. She still lives alone in a senior apartment. My sister Marge and I made chicken noodle soup and lasagna for her. We froze it into one meal portions. Time was also spent with all of my brothers and sisters. My three sisters and brother's significant other, together with Mom, spent a day at one sisters apartment in Sioux Falls, SD. We helped her empty boxes, sort and organize and decorate (put up pictures). It was fun doing a project together. I told them next year we should do this at my house.

I have returned to my painting project. The ceilings about did in my neck, but I survived. It is not quite ready to post pictures (a bit of a problem since my NEW camera died, but it is on warranty so I am not crying). I will be dealing with that today.

Fun painting and mowing

2010-05-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't posted for a long time. On Wednesday I mowed all day. The grass was so long and thick that I had to go slow. I did some trimming too. The "big deal" was that I changed the oil in the riding mower. Whenever I checked it, it was so black, but DH never got around to it. I was proud of myself. It never hurts to have a new skill.

Then I spent a day painting: ceilings in the walk in closets and bathroom and walls in the closets (this was primer). Wow, was I stiff this morning. Next is the ceiling in the bedroom. I may go buy an extender so I don't have to keep moving the ladder. I spent all morning reading on how to actually paint (techniques on cutting in and such) so when I get the actual top coat I know what I am doing. There is a lot to learn. Thank goodness for the Internet! All this so I can save some money on the decorating budget. The money is being spent on nice faucets.

Have paint

2010-04-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Master Bedroom and bath project is moving forward slowly but surely. Yesterday I spent $350 on paint. This did include primer for the basement walls. Today I am shopping for the light fixtures so Gerry can have the electrical in and the walls repaired ready for me to start painting. I will post pictures of the progress. I am hoping to have the painting finished by the end of May. There will be a week trip to Minnesota during that time. I have had only one person volunteer to help with the painting. Thanks Stacey.

Appliance rebate program

2010-04-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

What would I do with out a computer and internet? There is a cash for clunkers rebate program for appliances in Ohio. It was extended today because there was some money left. We will need a new washer and dryer soon so I started researching the best ones to buy. It appears you cannot buy online but have to buy with a store that is participating in the program. The rebate is $150 for a washer. Dryers are not in the program. What I found is that I can save more than the $150 by just ordering it on line. And the shipping is free. Go figure. I also saved time and gas money by looking on line instead of driving all around. I know many of you tech people already know this.

Book Sale

2010-04-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

The AAUW chapter that I belong to has an annual used book sale as their major fundraiser. The money is given as scholarships for "non-traditional" women students. For example an older women going back to school or a Mom seeking a degree. I donated two boxes of books. Tonight was the kickoff of the sale. Members could buy for the first hour before the public arrived. I only bought 8 books, six for my grandchildren and two for me, a very technical book that explains how a digital camera works and a cook book of "secret" recipes from famous restaurants. It appears I am going the right direction with the editing of my stuff

Tax day again

2010-04-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Taxes gave me fits this year. First of all my desk top computer wouldn't work the program. Computer guru (Shawn) thinks it is because of the virus we got. So I did it on the laptop. All went well until I tried to E file. IRS rejected it and I did not have enough time refile electronically (and get verification they received it) so I decided to print it and send it by snail mail. That was a great plan until the printer died. Gerry was able to get my photo printer hooked to the laptop and I printed the forms on that. I was up until 2:30 AM. A note here: Please do not feel too sorry for me. After all I was the one who procrastinated. :(

I am going to celebrate today by getting my tires rotated and an oil change in my car.

Pictures again

2010-04-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our Car club group played Whirly ball. These men all drive British cars, so the size of these cars didn't bother them much. Gerry really gets into this type of thing. Guess he has a competitive nature.

One of the cars was not going fast enough so a "time out" was called for repairs.

Another bit of news. My blog readers may notice I am again including pictures. That is because I now have a new camera. I got a Canon Rebel dSLR. So far I love it. It has a lot of potential. I just need to study the instruction manual and understand all it can do.

Why actual books are necessary

2010-03-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have been "editing" my stash of books for a fundraiser book sale for AAUW. Luckily I did not get rid of my dictionary. Today I was looking for the spelling of a work and could not get close enough to find in on line so just browsed the actually dictionary and found it. I keep keep getting rid of cook books because I can find wonderful recipes on line. But yesterday a virus did a number on our computer and I had to use a physical cookbook. What to do? (A separate problem is that I am trying so hard to edit stuff in my house but as members of AAUW we have first dibs on the books that are for sale. I will be strong!)

Regarding the computer, it is great to have a computer guru in the family. We just made a quick visit to Shawn and it is up and running. When I got it back home I ran the antivirus program and did locate a virus.

Saying no hurts

2010-03-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Without going into specific reasons, I (and Gerry on one) decided to say no to three commitments we had previously made. One was just a monthly meeting that I will not attend tonight, another was monthly lunches (Red Hat Ladies) and lastly G and I will not be going on a two week vacation we were planning with friends. I guess you could say "life happens" which I take to mean a person is over-committed. But it was not life that made these choices; we did and now have to make hard choices about them.

I need to do some serious soul searching because I tend to say yes to everything that comes along. I know I will enjoy them but don't think of how it puts stress on me. (You would think by now I would have this figured out? Do I need at life coach at age 65?) :)

Evening of detours

2010-03-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I planned to go out to a nice restaurant with Gerry. But he noticed that a local church (which usually hosts bluegrass music) had a jam session from 6-11pm. They also usually have hot dogs and such to eat. Gerry and I decided to attend. When we arrived we soon realized it was not bluegrass but many local bands from high schools which meant rock music. So we decided to go to Medina for dinner and come back and check them out. Since Gerry is trying to diet, it was hard to find a suitable restaurant. We finally went to a sandwich shop I love called Dagwoods (named after their famous Dagwood sandwich). But as we were walking to the door at 7:00 pm they were closing. Then I discovered tickets in my wallet for a musical (good for any performance) which started at 8 pm. We decided to attend, but needed a now quick dinner. So we ended up at KFC for chicken. The musical, Big River, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was by a local theater group. It was great. It is based on a book by William Hauptman, adapted from the novel. Actors ranged from middle school age to adults. So our plans made many detours in short order, but the evening turned out great. I thought it was quite funny each step of the way as things made a detour.

Weekend update

2010-03-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Gerry and Shawn had a work day at Shawn's house. They "plumbed" up his air compressor in the garage. The tank is in the attic part and the hoses on a reel in the garage. My job was to play with the grandchildren and talk with Stacey. Today I had a doctor's appointment in the morning (regular physical) and now have a lump on my arm from receiving a pneumonia vaccination (you get these at age 65 so most of you have this to look forward to).

Snow is all melted, but it is 40 degrees and raining. I forget what Spring weather is like here.

Update on our lives

2010-03-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Gerry and I work almost every night gluing the dry wall to the polystyrene on the basement walls. This gets a bid involved since we need to move shelves and the contents around to get to the walls. I have started a pile of things to donate and today Gerry went through it and gave his approval. Sometimes there are items that he thinks he can use in the shop and that is fine with me. Just get it out of the basement. This week I will take a trip to the thrift shop. Yea!!

I have visited two different camera clubs but haven't decided which to join. Maybe both. I need something to fill my time. From those meetings and my reading, I am quite sure that my next camera will be a dSLR. I could take pictures on the automatic settings, but it would encourage me to learn more about photography and hopefully take great pictures.

Muscle aches and faucets

2010-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I had a massage from a Massage therapist. My greatest tension spot is my neck and between my shoulders so she worked on that. My range of motion increased noticeable but there was some pain the next day! It was not the pleasurable massage you get at a spa. I really need to work on flexibility of my whole body.

The redecorating project (Master bed and bath) is moving forward, albeit slowly. The last few days I have been on line looking at faucets . One site has thousands. I have narrowed it down to type (one handle) and style (contemporary or modern) and chrome as the material. Still there are a lot to choose from. What is cool is that I am learning how to navigate my way around on the net. And this is a great project to work on as the snow is falling and blowing in the wind.

Fundraiser frenzy

2010-02-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

When I attend fundraisers, I love to bid on the silent auction items. Faith in Action had their Soup and Jazz fundraiser on Tuesday. It was held in a local party center. Area restaurants (12) each brought their signature soup and there was a three piece jazz group playing. It was great fun to see many people I had worked with or volunteered with in the past. I bid on several things and was the highest bidder on three. The first is a free consult with a Chiropractor, a 30 minute massage and two bottles of wine (worth $285 total. I bid $50). The second is a decorator who comes to your home and decorates it for the holidays. I assume she uses what I have, but I haven't talked to her yet. This was valued at $150 and I bid $50. The third was two ticket to a local theater, an oil change for the car, 4 tickets to the Akron Zoo, $20 worth of dry cleaning and $15 for a purchase at a ceramic shop. I bid $40 on this. Gerry was rolling his eyes when I wrote out the check for $140. It is for a great cause and I will get a lot of enjoyment out of all of these things (well maybe not the dry cleaning.)

Great turkey dinner and date chosen for Pig Roast

2010-02-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

The dinner went well. This is the second turkey DH has cooked in hot oil and it turned out a lot better than the first. I made mashed potatoes which I reheated in a crock pot and a killer cranberry relish. We had four couple plus us. These neighbors live within a mile of each other but some had never met. I know I need to use DH's camera to document the event, but I was too busy to think of it. On the topic of cameras I still have not completed my research to get a new one. We are already planning another dinner, hoping to invite four couples. That seems to be a workable number.

And speaking of entertaining, we have a tentative date for the third annual pig roast - August 21. Anyone who reads this is invited. Out of town guests need to get their RSVP in early to have a room reserved for them at our house.

Entertaining again

2010-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

This Saturday we have invited 8 people over for dinner. Gerry is going to try cooking a turkey in oil again. I say " try" because when he made his first one, it was quite overcooked. Fortunately it was only family here. I just realized this means I need to clean the house and plan a menu for the rest of the meal. I also told everyone to come at 4 for appetizers with dinner at 5. So I need appetizers too.

Now I need to go outside and retrieve the mailbox which is in the ditch, thanks to the snow plow.

Joined a book club and rec center

2010-02-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

I know you cannot be just a little bit pregnant, but can you have just a little bit of the flu? For three days I just do not enjoy food. Sometimes I enjoy what I am eating, but don't feel so hot an hour afterwards. Go figure. So much for the complaining. In the whole scheme of things I am in great health.

This week I read the book, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. The help are the black maids who worked for white families in Jackson, Mississippi in 1964. The novel is written as if the maids are telling the story. Good read. I will be discussing it with a book club I am joining. Joining the book club is one of the goals I set for myself on my "retreat". Another goal was to get more exercise so today I also joined a Recreation Center. My health insurance actually pays for the membership fee so there is no excuse! I guess they want me to stay healthy.