ON SATURDAY....

I met Sue and Sarah at one of the restaurants in the city.  Sue's friend, Kim, is in from San Francisco for the week to see her sister, Lisa.  She met us for breakfast.  We had a real nice visit and catch-up.  Coming home I noticed the car acting a little funny.  Since it has about 72k on it, I'm thinking...shocks or struts are needing replaced.  Stopped for the mail, none.  Said 'hey' to the post-mistress, MaryAnn, came home.  Parked car, got out, looked at right front tire..............going flat.  Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!  I know just where it happened, right at the top of ---- Hill.  Good thing it was a slow leak.  Funny thing is, on Friday night I had a dream that someone took all of the tires and wheels off of the car and left it in the lower yard on blocks.  Ha!  Anyhow, gotta take it over Sam's and see whats wrong.
Then when I was mowing, I hit the wood stack and all came tumbling down.  Later, that night, I put on my glasses and one of the nose pieces was missing.  OK, that's three now get on with it. 
Later................

Update....

Got the tire fixed, it was the valve, new one was $3, tire back on the car; got the wood re-stacked.  Today, went to the eye doctors and nose pieces replaced.  All is well.

GYPSYS........

were here on Thursday.  Two different ones.  The first guy showed up in the morning, pulled in my driveway and the passenger came to the door, knocked, setting the dogs in a frenzy.  First off, he called me 'sir'.  Wouldn't look me in the eye, showed the business card with a large ASPHALT printed on it.  I couldn't really hear the rest of what he was saying, so I told him I wasn't interested in paving the driveway, I just had it stoned last year.  To which he thanked me for my time and headed back to the truck.  The next 'gypsy' came in the afternoon, offering to sell me steaks and I'd get the chicken and fish free.  Virginia tags on the van!!!  Now, with the price of gas....how in the sam hill can they afford to drive around and sell this meat.  I was getting ready to tell him I was a vegaterian as I had to do that several years ago in order to get rid of the guy.  But this fellow wasn't that bad and when I told him I wasn't interested he said he was sorry for 'setting off the alarms' (the dogs) and left.  The only problem with these 'visitors' (last month, their was a young man in an old beater, pulled in the driveway and came up on the porch; asked me if this was 467 ------ road.  I told him "No, it would be up that way towards the village."  He left, but that's when I noticed there was no pizza dingy thingy on the roof of his car.  Hmmmmm), anyhow, like I said, the only problem is I have to open the door to talk to these goofs.  All three looked pass me at the dogs, but, they are gated off in the kitchen.  I really don't want to put a storm door on as the sun is wicked in the afternoon and would heat up the metal door to the point of warpage of the plastic around the glass.  I guess a wooden screen door will go back on, like before.  At least it will be a barrier.  Or, I suppose I could meet 'em at the door with a gun in my hand.  Ha!!

Later..............

IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE.........

but I'm sitting here on the 3rd of May, with the wood stove burning.  Temp is a balmy 52 outside, but it feels cold and damp.  Well, it IS damp, rained this morning before sun up.  In fact it was a fast-moving thunder storm.  Wasn't very nasty and sounded like it was over at the river.  At least the burning ban is off.  Suppose to rain on and off for the next couple of days, so, I think I'll burn tomorrow, or, maybe today.  Depends on what I get into over at dad's. 

He had his buddy Earl work on the JD620's and they are both running great.  Now he wants to keep one.  Both Farmall H's need their batteries charged and the JD60 needs a new battery.  When that is all taken care of, we can get into other stuff for this auction.

The lady down in the village, Cindy, is going in for an operation.  She told me the Doc will talk to her tomorrow and let her know how they are going to proceed.  She has another cancerous growth on her esophagus and this time they might go in thru the back of her neck.  Anyhow, she has a son in MD, about 30-40 minutes away, who would have to come up and feed her animals.  I live less than a mile up the road and I know she is going to ask me to do it.  6 Dogs, a passel of cats, two chickens, a duck and a goose.  I don't have a problem taking care of the critters, the problem is her goofy neighbor.  He yells at her and walks around her property.  Cusses at the four kids he has who have developmental problems.  My biggest concern is that he would poison the animals when she isn't there.  I'll know more after tomorrow.

Later...................

IT'S STILL ME...............

I just changed the look of the blog, for now.  Might change it again, who knows.  When we lived on the farm, my mom use to rearrange the furniture all of the time, .  She'd get a wild hair and before you know it, all of the rooms were different.  I always made sure I turned on the bedroom light to see if my bed was still where I left it.  I miss that place, never drive pass it as it looks a little sad now.  Most of the places my parents bought and sold have gone down hill after they left.  And, maybe that will be the meadow house's fate when I'm gone.  I hope not.  I told Sue and Sarah to sell everything and the Amish neighbor, Henry, has been salivating over this place for years.  The Amish are buying up all of the places around here.  They didn't use to bother with just houses, they wanted farms.  But  not now, I guess when you have such a large family of 10 or more kids, you gotta stick-em some where.  And, if they don't put family in these houses, they rent them out, charging terrible amounts.
Rain during the night, suppose to rain all week.  And, yes, I mowed yesterday.  Ha to old mother nature.
This will be good for the grass 'plugs' I put in yesterday.  Still need to transplant five little maple trees that came up too close to the house, finish picking up and raking the upper yard, and, do the big flower bed.  Been mulling over putting in a wild flower bed up there between the maples.  There roots are up and it's a bugger to mow, but, do I need another bed?  What-to-do, what-to-do.
Dad is doing a lot better.  He is finally taking the Tylenol for the pain.  I think this last episode scared the bejeebers outta him. 

Gotta go, fix breakfast..............later.

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN............

and more rain.  I am SSSOOO glad I mowed yesterday.  This should help with getting the burn ban off.  So, sitting here, having a second cuppa, with Elijah (20+ lb cat) on my lap, trying to type, trying to think about what to get into. 
Feeling a little better today except for the dizzy feeling.  And, NO I was never a blond, back in the day, I was a red head.  Went with my irish temper, Irish from my paternal, great grandmother, Agnes.  Although I don't remember her having a temper, just being a sweet and quiet lady.  And Irish from my maternal grandmother, Elzina, also a sweet, sweet lady.  Throw in a tad of German and the rest English and there you have ME.  AAHHH, I love genealogy.
Got an email from Mike, a lady I worked with.  She wanted to know if I was available sometime in May,  for a visit from her and Marie, my old boss.  Great gals, we have lunch once in a while.  Geesh, now I'll really have to clean house and get the rest of the yard done.  PRESSURE!!!!!  STRESS!!!!!
I'm 2/3's thru my bucket list for this spring.  Good thing it was a cool.

Later...............

WHAT THE...........

heck.  Now I'm down to 23 with a new follower, Craig.  At least I think you're new.  Who knows.  Anyhow, thanks for hitting the follow button no matter when you did.

Looks like Romney's gonna get the nod, doesn't it. 

Gotta email this morn, some people are still going after the fact that O is not a citizen.  Pulled his college loan records.  Good luck with all of that.  You won't hear about it from the MSM, for sure.  Such a mixed-up, crazy world this is.

Nasty cold this morn.  Temp shows 38 degrees.  I need to finish the yard work before we start with the hellish temps.  I don't do heat very well.

Took dad's GMC to the garage for a LOF yesterday.  $90!!  He insisted on Mobil Oil.  A case of six was $53 and change.  And, that was Sam's price.  They didn't even charge him to rotate the tires. 

Sam told me that a while back he called the dealership to make sure what kind of oil they used in my vehicles.  I had told Sam they always used Mobil.  They told him...Penzoil.  Lying bastards.  It's no wonder I quit going there.  However, I do wish they'd call to see why I stopped using their services.  Especially if I'm having a bad day. 

More coffee,
Later................

OOOPS!

now I'm back up to 24 followers.  Sometimes I think Blogger is haunted. 

Dogs are driving me bonkers.  In and Out every hour.  Don't know why.  Could leave them out but they bark and carry on at the Amish buggies. 

Beautiful, sun-shiny day.  Guess Mother Nature ran out of water.  We had almost 2 1/2" of rain in two days.  Not enuf, but, it helps.  Still have the burn ban on for the county.

Just went out and got another armload of wood.  Silly weather.

Gotta go vote and take dad's GMC to Sam's for LOF.

Later................

WELL, DANG..........

looks like I lost two followers.  Down to 22.  Now, I know some of you people have hundreds and two doesn't mean much.  But to my little blog, two is a lot.  Oh well, sorry to see you go.  Thanks for stopping by.

Not raining today but is darn cold.  Two weeks ago, it was so hot in the house that I turned off the two gas furnaces.  The next day it dropped 20 degrees.  Not to worry, got two wood stoves, however, will have to get the chain saw out to saw some for the stove in the bird room where I spend most of my time.  S'pose to be cold (for April) all week.  Best get busy, cats are all curled up into fur balls.   But, wait, got plenty of wood left in the wood box for the stove in the living room.  If I fire that one up, it'll take the chill of in no time.  Sounds like a plan.

Later.................

RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Started raining Saturday evening and has been raining ever since.  Knowing this rain was forcasted, I was busy Friday and Saturday with grass 'plugs'.  Got one more bed to do and it's the worse.  Part of the upper yard is done.  S'pose to be cool all week, but rain most of the week.  We sure do need it, burn ban in effect, or is it affect?, those two always confused me.  I told my friend, who lives in the next county, that when I do get to burn that trash pile, she will see the flames.

Not much else to tell, babies all doing well, took Coco to the vet for alergies and she has lost a total of 20 pounds.  Still having pain in my left leg, but the hip pain is gone. 

Dad is struggling with preparing for this sale.  He is just not into it, I think he's tired of the whole mess and we're not even getting close to getting ready. 

Need to pee the pups and go to bed............

Later............

THIS AND THAT........

First, a big 'Hi there' to    Frugal Canadian Hermit.   I've been following your blog for a long time, nice to see you've hit the 'follow' button.

So now, sitting here on this beautiful Saturday morning having my first cuppa.  Fred is coming down to do some more work.  If he gets the lattuce enclosures done today, then all I have to do is paint the big boards that go around the bottom of the porch, paint the Bilco door and pressure was the house.  Then the outside is done.  Still have two more flower bed to do and finish raking the upper yard.  Worse is done.  I bet we will go from this cold spring right into a hot summer.  Weather seems as screwed up as the rest of this country. 

Went to the doctors on Wednesday, seems all this hip pain is coming from my back.  He changed my anti-inflam meds and the hip pain is gone.  Knee pain is still there but not as bad.  X-rays showed old arthur in the knees, so it'll be something to put up with like the rest of my family.  What doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger, eh?

So, Santorum has bit the dust.  'They' must've threatened him with something, 'cause he sure quit in a hurry.  They're all a bunch of bananas, not a good one in the bunch, both parties.  Our forefathers must be rolling over in their graves.  All though some of them were kinda cheesy too.

Gotta go, get more coffee,
Later..............

HAPPY EASTER.........

Have spent the past two weeks working in the yard, taking advantage of this cool weather.  Spread about 50 bags of mulch, restored the stone walk where the propane guy dug the trench last fall for the gas line.  Then redid the stone walls, one more to go around the big flower bed, mulch it and then the bed on the north side of the barn.  Don't know about the south bed.  It's gonna take some time for sure.  Still need to rake the upper yard, but I'll do that next week.

Going to Sue and Sarah's mom's tomorrow, at the farm.  Friend Sheila is coming down, so we'll have a blast, no doubt. 

Had two more shootings in the city north of me.  The little store where I get the mulch was broken into, but they ran when the alarm sounded.  Dave, the owner, told me that through first twenty years he never had a problem.  In the last ten, he has lost count of the break ins.  They were probably after lottery tickets or cigs.  Can't imagine there be any money in the tills.  Glad I have these three mouthy dogs.

Dad is starting to sort stuff for the sale.  He is really not into this one.  I think his 'keep' pile is bigger than his 'sell' pile.  And, getting bigger.  Oh well, what he doesn't sell this time, I'll have to sell after he's gone.  Doesn't much matter and no use fussin' with him about it.

Gotta go, put air in the wheelbarrel tire, again.

Later..................

SWIMMING EAGLE OF BATON ROUGE, LA

Been watching the baby eaglets hatching via the Decorah Eagle Cam.  Too cool.  Then, my friend Sarah sends me this video.  Gotta love them eagles!  And, I ain't talking about the football team. YUK.

Later............

TRIP

Just got back from meeting my cousin for the very first time.  We met thru Ancestry.Com.  What a hoot.  She brought her sister-in-law and we met at the historical society, then had lunch at an irish pub.  We are the same age, have the same haircut, wear the same watch and have similiar glasses.  I'm a little heavier and have white hair, she has salt 'n pepper grey.  Had a great time.  We have the same great-great-great-great-great grandfather.  Even when her sister-in-law wanted to take a second pic of just a 'head shot', we both said, at the same time, ''all jeeze!!''
Started out extremely foggy this morning.  Sun came out for about 3 minutes.  Spose to rain all weekend.  I should mow the yard but what-the-heck.  I'm beat, that hour's drive and all the traffic has wore me out.  Definitely not use to it.  Back when I was working, I wouldn't have given it a second thought.  Guess I'm getting lax and laid back, finally.

Later...............

SOLVING HEALTH PROBLEM MYSTERY............

Took Archie to the vets last Monday.  Little brat wouldn't stop licking his front left paw, checked it and he had it raw.  She shaved the hair away and it looked worse.  Treatment of hydro-perox and some special, anti-biotic powder.  Took about 4 days and it is starting to look better.
Had my own doctor's appointment on Wednesday.  Now he wants x-rays of my knees and hips.  Cut back my one med, as I eventually want off of it.  Put me on a new med for my vertigo.  Too soon to tell if it's working.  What doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger.
Thursday the auctioneer came down to see Dad's tractors.  He moved the date to the next Saturday.  Got a lot to do  now, make sure all are running smooth, and, wax-on, wax-off.
Had breakfast on Friday with the gang.  Dad and Sara finally joined us!  Everyone was thrilled to finally meet him.  The food was outstanding, and, as usual, the 10 of us had a great time.
This coming Thursday I'm meeting my cousin for the first time.  We hooked up thru ancestry.com and she lives in New Jersey.  We seem to have a lot in common and email each other everyday.

Later..............

BUSY BUT BEAUTIFUL DAY.......

today had to go to town for blood work and a boob-a-gram.  Haven't had one of those in 15 or more years.  The last time was at one of the hospitals in town.  The tech and I started talking and she had 3 mo old twins, her husband had just left her and the more she talked about him, the tighter that machine squeezed.  YEOW!!  I told the doctor when I went in and he poo-pood it and said ''Oh, that can't hurt ya that bad!"  To which I said to him something about 'let's put your balls in one and see how it feels'.

Then, stopped for breakfast.   Mmmmmmm, dried beef gravy on toast and a POT of coffee.  Did I mention it was 'fasting' blood work?  I was extremely hungery.  So, I skipped lunch and had supper tonight with the gang.  Wednesday is Chicken-Pot-Pie night.  I sure do eat good.  If I didn't go out to eat, I wouldn't have anything to write about, huh.

Stopped at Dad's and he's still fussing about the neighbor logging out the woods behind his house.  I keep telling him, 'It's not our woods, dad.'

Archie has been licking his left front paw all week. So, today, Dad held him and I finally got a look at it.  He has it raw between his toes.  So, left dad's and stopped at the vet's to make an appointment.  She and her assistant were in the middle of a spay on a 9 year old Rotty, with 2 dead, deformed puppies inside.  So, after we all trashed the Amish for how they treat their animals, I stayed and watched the procedure.  The dog came thru great and I'm sure she'll feel a lot better.  Wish I had that mammo machine for about 10 minutes, I know whose balls would go in it.  I am amazed he spent the money to save the dog.  Creep.

Later.............