Page last updated on 3/17/24  

2024 ARCHIVE
JANUARY   FEBRUARY  MARCH  APRIL  MAY  JUNE   JULY  AUGUST  SEPTEMBER  OCTOBER  NOVEMBER  DECEMBER


2015 Ramblings

2016 Ramblings

2017 Ramblings

2018 Ramblings

2019 Ramblings

2020 Ramblings

2021 Ramblings

2022 Ramblings

2023 Ramblings

Way Back Machine
1999 Ramblings

2000 Ramblings

2001 Ramblings

2002 Ramblings

2003 Ramblings

2004 Ramblings

2005 Ramblings

January 1, 2024 - I had no intent to stay up or see the New Year come in - but I did, sort of...

Norm and I went to bed at about nine p.m. and I was sleeping quite well when suddenly, Norm ran off the bed, taking all the covers with him and when I opened my eyes, the whole interior of my house was ORANGE! The word "fire?" came out of my mouth and I opened a curtain. The whole WORLD was orange. Holy Crap! I went outside to see this phenomenon and turns out it was neighbors to the north west setting off weapon grade fireworks. I could hear geese and ducks and howling and various other critters making a fuss. I've lived here since 1985 and I've never seen a burst of color like that in all those years. I assume they did the 'finale' first for New Years and then they just went on with basic fireworks. Sigh.

I came in and tried to go back to sleep in my chair and Norm laid at my feet. We didn't go back to bed until two a.m. when it was quiet and safe. Sigh. Happy New Year? Terrorizing the local wildlife seems like a good way to bring in a new year...

January 7, 2024 - All my life I would get excited by snow. I assume it was from growing up with LOTS of snow in the winter and a kid/teen. The last few years, though, the thrill is gone. I do appreciate the fact that when it snows it is so quiet outside - the snow seems to absorb sound. We got about an inch last night and while standing in the dog pen with Norman, it was so so quiet and peaceful. (Except for the six minutes of urination sound from Norman.) I think we are supposed to get several more inches of snow this coming week. We'll see. So far I've not had to have my driveway plowed. This will change...

Yesterday evening I prepared all the stuff to assemble a spaghetti pie. The boys are coming over today to celebrate my youngest son's 31st Birthday with his favorite meal. (Spaghetti pie and Hot Fudge Cake.) I cooked the meat and spiced it up real good. I made the ricotta layer filling. I cooked the spaghetti. While I was waiting for the spaghetti to cool down so I could put in the egg and Parmesan cheese, I shoved all the bowls of prepared food back on the counter and came into the living room to catch up on some messages and email. Ten minutes later I see Norman had torn apart one of my hankies - he was throwing the pieces around and prancing like he was very happy. "No, Norm!" I scolded. I went back into the kitchen and there were a couple of chunks of hamburger on the counter and I thought "I must have dropped them when I put the meat in the fridge..." and then it dawned on me I DIDN'T PUT THE MEAT IN THE FRIDGE. The burger bowl was empty. NORMAN HAD CONSUMED THE HAMBURGER! I did not even notice this was happening. Norm has never taken food off the counter before. I had the meat pushed back!! He would have had to get up on the counter to pull the bowl forward. Ugh. Soon I will be making a trip in to town to get more burger to cook up for the pie. So much for my "prep early" strategy. I will never be able to leave anything on the counter again now that he knows I can be distracted...

I survived the dentist and no one lost a finger or body part! Yay me. Thank goodness the techniques for a filling have come so far over the years. The dentist is very aware of my need to close/open my mouth often and tries to go in and out a lot...but his one drill was making sounds like a yowling stranded kitty and it would make me chortle. He would pull stuff out of my mouth and asked in a concerned voice - "Are you OK?" and I had to explain to him that the sound was making me laugh. Going forward, he would say, "Ok, here comes the kitty..."

I got myself a Dyson V8. It's small and seems like it wouldn't be good at sucking up anything, but I adore it. So handy and fast! I would drag out the sweeper three times a week or so prior to this, and in between would walk on Norman's treat crumbs like legos. Now I just quick like a bunny suck up that stuff and think to myself, "Why did I wait so long to get this thing?!!" You have to empty the collection bin every six seconds or so - it doesn't hold much, but the ease of use is so worth it. Norman doesn't seem to be as bothered by that as much as he is the 'big' vacuum. He has only tried to attack it once. It doesn't sound as dangerous, apparently, as a normal vacuum. Win Win.

Oh, and I fell AGAIN. Duh. I was letting Norman out of the pen and slipped in the mud. There was a squirrel he wanted and I was 'rushing' to open the gate so he could chase said victim, and I was NOT paying attention to the fact that the gate area was all mud. I had on old 'outdoor' shoes with no traction left on the soles. Down I went. I ended up in the perfect position for sliding in to home had I been playing softball. Thank goodness for the fence so I could get up relatively quickly, which was good because Norman assumed I was down there to play with him. He was no help at all. My youngest son said I need to do exercises that help in 'getting up' since I insist on being gravitationally challenged and going down isn't the issue - it is the recovery afterwards. My BFF scolded me for wearing my crappy shoes, (They are now in the garbage.) Sigh. This is my life now, I fear, watching life go by from floor level...

January 15. 2024 -  This has been a day. I will vent here while I sip on a beer.

It has be very cold. Wind chill of -23 last night. I lost the water to the laundry room due to freezing. No worries, right? There is always the laundromat. Last night I left the water running in the tub, a nice wee stream. (What I've always done to prevent freezing pipes.) Norman is having fits because he hates the cold, and will attempt to poop and pee standing on two legs.

This morning I woke up and there was no water. The stream had stopped. I let work know I was working from home today and then went out to check the pump house. The heat light was on, but the pressure pressure gauge was at zero. Ugh. I let work know I was running in to get a portable heater. Got two, actually, in case - put one in the bathroom and one out there in the pump house. I plugged in the old heat tape on the pipe upstairs. I waited. Oh, and when I walked in to the house after plugging in the heater in the pump house, the door handle fell apart. I called my youngest son to come fix that...

The pressure gauge never came up past 20 lbs. My neighbor came over and tried to mess with it - but this was beyond his knowledge. We decided I needed to call the local Well/Plumber guys.  (They will be here in the morning.) I had to call them again, since when my son left, there was water spraying all over the place out there. Sigh. Fried the new little heater... I came in and turned off the pump switch in the power panel. It finally stopped spraying all over. He unplug the rest of the stuff and there we stood, shaking our heads. Sigh. He hugged me an left, I came in and cried a little and then I knocked off the mirror I use to pluck my chin hairs and it busted all over. I decided to call it a day.

My handy man up and died on me, so I will get through this myself, but I tell ya - sometimes I just want to GIVE UP. It's always something, as Roseanne Rossana Danna used to say. I will run in and do a load of laundry tomorrow and bring it home and dry it. I got extra water so I could do dishes and I am saving old water to flush the toilet with. You watch, though - my luck tomorrow I get diarrhea...

January 20, 2024 - So........Update on the water crisis of 2024.

I had a professional place come out and quote a fix for my lack of water. They quoted me to re-route the water lines from the well to the house - move all of the stuff into a corner of my bedroom so it won't freeze and explode anymore. It was a hefty price. My neighbor heard this and texted me and said, "You never call them! They over charge - here - call this guy!" So I looked up the info on the 'guy' and he seemed very legit and well liked. I called him. He was out that same day, looked things over and said, "I can repair the busted pipe and get you water. (He even brought a small heater with him to put in the pump house to thaw things out.) I highly suggest you don't do digging work until spring. All this walking across the area here would have pushed the frost line down. It would be a terrible job right now.." He came the next day and fixed the pipe out there. Totally redid it. He said the pump house was set up well. (Kudos to my husband - as he's the one who rigged that up 20 years ago.) Once he fixed all of that I had water. I cried. I did a small load of wash. I was so relieved until the washer stopped spewing forth water. There was no water at the sinks. I called over my neighbor to ask him his opinion, and it was decided something was blocking the inbound line.

The water around these parts is 1% water and 99% iron/rust. Obviously all the jostling of the pipes broke crap loose and now said crap was blocking the flow. I had changed the filter upstairs and it was gobbed up with tons of sludge and rusty blobs of goo. That still didn't help. No water was coming in. I texted the nice man back and explained. He came back to the house and checked things out. Technically he's a well man, not a plumber. He said he's not allowed to mess with pipes per say. But he felt bad. I felt bad. He told me he would be back this morning, but he showed up last night with a portable air compressor. He hooked it up to the cold line to the washer and went out doors and put a hose on the hose fixture and he blew. OMG - so much crap came out. The snow out there is now orange and brown chunks of crap. Once he blew out the line, he hooked stuff back up and BAM - WATER. He told me to run the water for a while in the tub (as it was just as gross as gross could be) and change my filter again. I will do the filter change right after I post this. After running the water for a while, I did the dishes, I did two loads of laundry last night, and I TOOK A FRICKEN SHOWER. A NICE HOT SHOWER. My youngest son said, 'Yah, Ma - there was a week worth of Norman drool encasing you, no doubt..." hahahaha.

There was still water this morning, praise be, and I did one last load of laundry. I tested all the faucets. I sent a text of happiness to the man who fixed this. He left the heater out there for me, and told me to use that instead of a heat lamp because obviously the heat lamp wasn't working in such cold weather.

I looked at the weather forecast and saw how cold it was down in North Carolina at my BFF's house - 4!!! We're at -2. Winter finally came and kicked our butts. Kudos, Winter.

I wanted to thank Ron for hauling over flushing water for me. He brought me a total of 30 gallons of water and even bought new buckets to do so!! He also blew out around the shed for me so the repair guy could open the doors and walk back and forth from his truck without walking through drifts. I want to thank Justin for running over to check stuff out and calming me down. I have the best neighbors and friends. Sigh. Yes, I had no water for a week, but I am still blessed.

Did you know asking for help is hard? It is! But you can, apparently....

My daughter has been sending me updates on my Grand baby boy and I adore those updates and pictures. I get to help them in February, weather permitting so I will get bonding time with the wee one! I keep a picture of Irving on my desktop so that is what I see all day and it melts my heart and it's kind of hard to stay upset when such a cute face is staring at you.

The birds have been eating A TON of seed. They were all so puffed up during the coldest of the weather and looked kind of cute that way. The Blue Jays looked like they were wearing pimp coats, they were so puffed up. My local hawk will show up because the bird feeding area is like a Country Buffet for him, but then my family of crows show up and chase him off, which I am grateful for, so I will let them eat what they want from the seeds, too.

I will be running in to town soon to get provisions, and will have to buy more seed, for sure.

Tonight - I AM TAKING A HOT BATH!! I deserve it.

Have a good weekend Stay warm. Know you are loved!

February 4, 2024 - The neighbors to the north a bit have their daughter staying with them, and she has two dogs. One is a pretty pit looking doggie named Luna. She seems sweet. There is also a tiny little puff ball one who is 10 years old, but when ever he's outside he is yipping. When I had Norman out a bit ago, there was the wee dog yipping and the other neighbor's roosters doing call and response. It was quite entertaining.

I got a double dose of my grandson this weekend!!  YAY!!  The kids came over on Friday. I had taken a vacation day so I could prep supper for them. The boys were here, too. I made spaghetti pie and then made the cheese biscuits into waffles. They seemed very happy about that. I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH IRVING. Considering he is just 8 weeks old (almost) he did a fantastic job in my small little house with us large people talking. He seemed perfectly happy being where he was. (Except when he had a poopie diaper, of course - even I would get upset by that.) I had a long conversation with him, and he would coo to me and I would respond and he would respond....so much fun. I got to hold him when he needed a nap. I got to read him a book. It was fantastic. For some reason it is fun to have a baby around when it's now your own baby. You know it will leave and you don't have to be up with it six times a night to feed the little guy. Smile. My boys were not as impressed as I was - but they are adult males and, well, it was a baby. My son in law Pat is being such a good daddy. I was so proud of all three of them. My daughter had a hoot with her brothers. Yesterday they had a baby shower to go to on his side of the family. Irving slept through the whole thing. Then they came again today for beef and noodles before heading back to Chicago. (Request were made by my daughter ... she had a hankerin' to have spaghetti pie and beef and noodles. As she said, "Nursing makes you very hungry!") 

Norman was NOT sure about Irving. When the baby would cry, Norman would get upset and run up to investigate. When I was paying attention to Irving and not him, he was upset. He has a long way to go with baby etiquette. The boys played with him both days and I do so appreciate that. Norman at least got to hang with his "brothers".

Everyone is gone now - off to their own lives. I got to get in major baby snuggles. All is merry and bright in my little world.

There has been a BLUEBIRD coming to my bird feeder!! I'm 63 years old and I've never seen a bluebird at my feeders. NEVER. I hardly ever see bluebirds, to be honest. I don't put out meal worms, which is like their take out McDonald's. The robins are back in force already, too. We had one week of God awful winter and my pipes exploded, now it feels like pre-spring. Sunshine - Mud - Birds.

My right ear has been blocked/full of something for three weeks. I have tried heat and my friend Linda gave me a high impact body massager to help shake things up. Still clogged. I am not a heavy 'waxer' so I know it's not wax. Back 20 years ago I let my left ear go like 6 months like this because I thought adults didn't get ear infections. I was very wrong. I had to get a tube back then. I am wondering if I am headed down that road again. I had trouble hearing this weekend with all the kid talking. Sigh. It was blocked back in November, too, but steroids took care of it back then. I will call in to my doctor's tomorrow morning, but getting in to any doctor since covid is like booking a cruise three years ahead of time... What?

I changed my water filter upstairs. It's an old set up, done by my husband who knows when. I had gone up to change it and noticed it was leaking just a tad. I ran down and got a new O ring to put in. It still leaked. I was frustrated. When my boys got here today, I had my youngest go up with me to check it. We took it all apart and cleaned it again and he shoved the O ring in nice and secure, and so far so good. I have been checking it a lot. I don't need the upstairs to collapse into the kitchen from a water leak!!

February 24, 2024
- Cripes - I have not updated in 20 days!  This just goes to show you how boring my life is.

I decided to get a new set of pots and pans. Good ones. Expensive ones. (Well, not THAT expensive - they were way more than I have ever paid for a set of pots and pans, but there are tons more sets out there that cost WAY more...) I got a 13 pc. Cuisinart stainless steel set. Dishwasher safe. Can go into the oven. Probably could have done my taxes had I waited to file them until now. They are so shiny. My BFF and I were talking about life, and she said I needed to be good to myself and when I was doing dishes the other day, I thought - GOOD TO MYSELF WOULD BE HAVING A HIGH QUALITY SET OF POTS AND PANS. The old ones are in Herby Curby. They were way past the stage where I could have donated them to anyone. I unpacked my new ones, and it took quite a long time. They were packed to survive a nuclear blast and falling from the space station. So Much Cardboard. (Whoever came up with the design for packing those best have gotten some kind of award!!)  Norman was thrilled about the cardboard since that was cardboard he could rip up when my attention was on the other cardboard I was wrestling off the new pots. I was telling my friend Sue about the new pots and pans and was saying, really, that was the only thing I could get myself at this point in my life that would stay 'nice' - can't paint the walls because I own a Great Dane and I can't put in new carpet because I own a Great Dane and Danes have a tendency to cover everything is excessive drool blobs and muddy giant foot prints. I can, however, have nice pots and pans and Norman will not bother those...Sue decided when I was spewing forth these facts of life that there is a country song in there somewhere... hahahaha

Let's see, what has happened to me in the last 20 days.....

Work just got 'real' on Friday. We sat through a meeting online for our new software/upgrade and afterwards it felt like I was standing on the edge of the door on a plane and got pushed out...So it begins. Sigh. I already heard rumors of how 'bad' out choice was on the cloud package we picked - but you know what? Any package you get - anytime you try something new - there will be people complaining. I just have to live through the next year and a half or so. That is all I'm asking of myself. It may end up being 20 days between updates on the blog. I apologize ahead of time.

I went to Chicago to hang out with my daughter and grandson for five days! Her husband was going to Nashville, so I went over to be nanny. I worked remotely when I was there, but IT WAS HARD - I just wanted to hang out with Irving. He is the cutest little baby EVER. I'm not being biased - he just is. He will 'talk' to you now, and coo and such and gives you the biggest smiles. He is also very active (arms/legs) and boy howdy, can that kid poop!! He watches everything and turns his head to follow voices and movement. I swear he grew an inch just in the time I was there. I honestly wish they lived closer, but hey - Chicago isn't that far away, right? When I left to come home, the way out that I took wasn't bad - traffic flowed well, but the northbound side going in was four car wide and jammed packed and backed up for MILES. Literally. How can people stand that?!?!? Isn't everyone LATE FOR WORK CONSTANTLY IN CHICAGO? How do people get anywhere? Sigh. This baffles me. No sir, I don't like it.

When I was at my daughters house, we watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies (extended version) and with interruptions and such, that took us two or three days (I forget). I am a bit weird about stuff like that - if I see two, I have to see the third. I watched it the night I got home. Also weird about me - once I watch movies based on books I love - I HAVE TO REREAD THE BOOKS!! I went to get the first book 'Fellowship of the Ring' then I remembered Norman ate it when he was a puppy. Sigh. The new set of Tolkien books arrived today. I am on page 50 of the first book already. I see they are releasing the second part of the Dune movie with
Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atredies and he is NO PAUL! So after I'm done with the Lord of the Rings book, I will no doubt have to read my Dune books AGAIN - even though I've read them SO MUCH I am starting to notice typos in the publisher's print...

I did go to the doctor for my blocked ear. He put me on antibiotics and steroids. We know I'll probably end up going to an ENT to get tubes, but we had to try this first. I saw him for a follow up Thursday. He asked that I wait one more week before we try the ENT route. He said my right ear (which was way bad when I went originally) was still fluid filled, but not as explodey like before. Friday I got so excited because I COULD HEAR FOR SEVERAL HOURS of out my right ear. It blocked back up - but there is light at the end of the

Eustachian tube!!

I had a girls night out on Thursday night with my high school girlfriends. I love doing that. Sometimes I just don't want to go, but when I get home I feel so 'lifted' and happy. I went to breakfast this morning with another friend. I love making her laugh. I got to breakfast with my boys tomorrow morning then my sister in law is coming up for lunch.

So, to summarize - I'm not dead yet. I am staying social to a degree, and I am going to go blind from power reading a bunch of books...

February 26, 2024 - I forgot to mention the chipmunk condo I have in my back yard. I had the old huge willow tree cut down (as far as they could) a year or so ago. It was falling apart. On third of it fell and thanks to the neighbors, they got it all cleaned up back then. The when the second third fell, I decided to end it all. Willow trees are very hardy and since it was cut, it has been generating new growth on it's top so it looks like it has an Afro. I've let it do that, since it is so pretty. There is a huge piece of the tree pushed up next to the remaining tall stump of the original tree. The chipmunks created holes all through that and have started moving up the tall 'stump' of it. Now there are holes everywhere. I assume the chipmunks at the top have to pay more for penthouse fees...Norman will see the various chipmunks when he goes out and he 'trees' them in the walnut trees next door or chases them back to the 'condos' as it were. He is upset that he cannot get to them. The neighbor dog, Gertie, climbed right up there into the remaining tree part once when she was after a ball. My neighbor got up on the fallen tree part to fetch said ball, and his dog Lucy went up there too, investigating the penthouse chipmunk holes. It was pretty funny. I wonder what the HOA fees are out there?

The red-winged black birds are back en force and will clean out my bird seed daily. Ugh. There are SO MANY ROBINS around, too! The turkeys are out and about to participate in speed dating. The sandhill cranes are all flying back in. The amount of herons are increasing daily that fly over. (They have that rookery down the road.) It's a noisy cacophony of bird song out there. I love my yard. 

I read last night until I literally couldn't see the letters anymore. I do that - read until I'm blind. Sigh. I should have gotten the large print version. I do have stronger reading glasses just for reading - but those even failed me.