GOD'S GARDEN

THE GARDENER

*

God has shown me how to find

joys of the heart and peace of mind;

He has taught me how to grow

Loves of life, I pray to know.

Take a seed he said to me,

(of each joy you want to be)

And embody it to grow

(With the loves you pray to know)

Then, endear it with your care,

'Till I make it's vines to bear,

And divide its fruitful ends

with your neighbors and your friends.

by Micheal Dubina

*

I got up early, trying to beat the heat, and getting a little outside work done.  You just can't beat the heat and humidity in the Ohio River Valley.  I got a small amount done, but I was done in fairly quickly.  I came in and rested often.  I drank a lot of liquid.  Still, I could feel my B/P struggling.  By 9:30 I called it quits for most of the day.  I will go back out in the cool of the evening and play hostess to the mosquitoes.

I took a tepid shower right after I came in, trying to cool that Biccum(dare I say ) hot blood.  Mine was hot because I was hot.  It was already 73 degrees at 6:30 A. M. and and rose from there.

I have to go to the Pharmacy and pick up my other eye gtts.  I really don't want to go out, but I must.  Once I get my regular eye gtts., I will have spent just about $200.00 for medicine in just a week.  I also need B/P meds., but at least those are cheaper and I can handle that without too much grousing and fussing.  Those people that think that the elderly are getting rich on "entitlements" are in for a "rich" surprise when they retire.

I put old coffee grounds on my pepper plants.  I hope it doesn't keep them awake at night, and upon looking out the back door..they are not dancing a Green Pepper Irish jig.  I only planted three so they are a partner short.

Yesterday I made a pitcher of sun tea..or I should say , the sun made it for me.  I also made a potato salad.  I had been buying some salads from the Deli, but I can make it better.  I don't like chewy potatoes or chewy macaroni salad.   I can make both better and cheaper...and besides...my potatoes are getting soft and need to be used up.

I went back out into the yard as the sun went down, but I kept getting drilled by Moss-skeet-toes.  I felt like a Louisiana drilling rig, so I came back inside.  There is less heat, but plenty of humidity and those nasty little vampire bugs that live only for your blood.

I am posting early, going to bed early and getting up early.  So there.

END

Cinnamon Toast

When I was small my mother would fix me Cinnamon Toast on occasion.  I loved Cinnamon toast.  It was like having candy.  I still like Cinnamon toast and was reminded of it  as I was scarfing down Cinnamon buns this afternoon.  It goes well with bacon and eggs, cold or hot cereal or just an anytime snack.  It is good for you, too, as Cinnamon helps to regulate blood glucose levels.  It is so easy to fix.

Toast two slices of bread
2 tsp. of sugar
1 tsp of Cinnamon
butter for you bread
Mix the sugar and Cinnamon together
Sprinkle on the hot , buttered toast.

Now, wasn't that good?  You can use a sugar free ingredient if you wish, like Splenda.

I was thinking of my brothers this afternoon on Memorial Day.  All of them were in the service at one time or another.  I was esp. thinking of Johnny.  He joined the army at 16 and was on the front lines of Korea before he was 17.  He was a good soldier and they wanted to send him to officer's candidate school.  Had he gone his entire future might have been a lot different.  But, he was homesick and came home and became the Clark Gable of Port Jervis.  Or so all the girls thought.  Yes, he was that good looking.

I had things that I wanted to get done today, but I was was interrupted.  The fellow next door wants to trade me his pick up truck for my RV.  So he spent the afternoon looking it over and getting it started.  The trouble is I can't find the key to the gas cap.  Come help me look for it..it's around here somewhere.

Yes, it is hot.  We went from cold to steamy weather.  People are scrambling to get the fields planted and the gardens in,  BTW, Kansas is predicting at least a 40% loss of wheat production and the predictions are not all in yet.  Buy your bread now and put it in the freezer or buy bread making flour and store it.  The price of  bread will go up.  And you thought I was paranoid...

END

90-ninty

Ninty-90-what?  I got 90% of my yard work done; I am 90 % sure I don't want to do it tomorrow.  It is supposed to be in the 90's Tomorrow-Sunday.  And you thought summer would never get here. Well, here she comes doing 90 miles an hour. 

I really put in a good day's work and now my arm is killing me.  I think it will be as stiff as a board tomorrow, not that it isn't already pretty stiff.  I rubbed it down with Athricreme, but it is still pretty painful.  But, then that's life.

There is a few things I didn't get done such as pick other people's trash and some triming.  My yard may not look like an English Garden, but it looks OK to me. I tried to mow up close to the fence but DOG still wants to eat the wheels off the mower and is trying to get under the fence to do it.  Mowers are not good for the digestion.

Tomorrow will be a "sit on the front porch" kind of day or better yet, sit in front of the A/C and drink iced tea.

In the AM the signal strenth for cable is very good, to good.  In the eve. it is very low and I keep losing my postings.  So..I will stop right here as I am having trouble with the cable even though I have a new router.

                                                                                                                                                       

GLOOM AND MORE GLOOM

It was supposed to be a cloudy day, not a gloomy day.  I need to get a lot of things done, but my pre-packaged box of ambition is out-dated and I need a new box.  Maybe if the sun starts to shine...I will, too.  Or maybe a shot of Miracle Grow in my morning coffee will get me up and started.   Yes, I have been lazy all day.

PERHAPS

***

Perhaps the rain will fall today

And spoil the plans we've made.

The clouds may chase the sun away

Or dampen our parade.

***

Perhaps today a tear will fall

As teardrops often do

When unforeseen the heartaches call

And take a toll on you.

***

Perhaps these things will come to pass

For life goes up and down,

But God shall send you greener grass

When yours has turned to brown.

***

For every drop of rain that falls

A flower somewhere grows

As seasons change and time recalls

The beauty of the rose.

***

Clay Harrison

I looked at the local papers and saw that there were three tornadoes spotted in the area, but most of the damage was caused by high winds and trees falling.  "There is a silver lining in every cloud"...or so it is said.

END

Sweet tatters and stuff

The new eye drops that I started burn like fire.  I hope they are worth the discomfort.

I went ahead and started some sweet potato slips today.  Time is getting short for getting them into the ground.. I don't know if the slips that I was told would be in, ever came in.  Since the south and the mid-west is so torn up it is hard to say if the slips will ever come in.  So hopfully, what I started will "take."

 It has been raining a lite rain off and on all day.  It is cool, but I did have the A/C on to help get rid of the high humidity.  Finally I had to turn it off because I was cold.

I got two collector plates back up on the wall.  I have pictures to go back up, too.  I am busy making new holes in fresh paint  All in good time.   Some today and some tomorrow.

Not much to write about unless I mention that we had a lot of wind and very heavy rain last night.  There were some tornados near that did not do much damage, but people just on the east side of town lost their lights  due to downed trees.  My lights flickerd a few times and that was it.

END

ARE YOU PREPARED?

If you have been keeping up with the weather and the news then you know that anything can happen to anyone anywhere.  Are you prepared?

Our local emergency preparedness workers think they-we are prepared.  They are scared and  should be.  You can go to anyone of several church basements for shelter.  They have no food, no blankets, pillows, cots, or extra water other than what comes from the tap.  Basically, if the shelters are needed, you would be in out of the rain or wind, jammed in with a lot of other people.  Not so great.

You should have at least three days of food, water, flashlights or candles on hand.  That would be the bare minimum.  I keep candles, kerosene lamps, canned food and box staples on hand.  Have a good can opener.  When I fractured my arm and elbow it took me three days to open a can of soup.  I literally butchered that can of soup.  It looked like canned shrapnel.

I know that I have mentioned all this before in previous blogs, but I stopped writing about it.  You know what you can and need to do.  So do it.

I picked up my new eye drops this morning.   My heart just about stopped.  $101.89 for a tiny little bottle.  I have two other eye drops to pick up at the price of $46.00 per bottle.  These bottles contain 0.5 mil.  which isn't much.

The Mississippi River breach in the levee that was blasted open to save one small town will cost you plenty in the future.  Over 200 miles of farmland and the Mississippi Delta will not be viable for farming for at least another generation.  The town could have been rebuilt, but the farm land will take years and years to become productive again.  I hope you planted your tatters 'n onions.  God Bless the government for their "foresight."

The sirens have been going off...on and off..all eve.  I think we maybe on the fringe of the bad storms, but there is supposed to be a second wave coming in later tonight.  So...I will shut down this tired, old Dell that doesn't have a working sound card or a bus for pictures.

END

P. S.  the storm is upon us.

"WAR IS FAILED DEPLOMACY"

"War is failed diplomacy"  Do you know this quote?  That is what it is...failed diplomacy...greed...corruption...failure to lead.

I don't know why Congress and the Senate isn't screaming from the mountain tops about American involvement in the war in Libya..The Afghan War and all the other little small battles going on, and incited in Africa and Asia that no one knows about. 

Congress has not authorized or declared war on Libia, but there we are, bombing the sandlots of East Africa and the stone mountains of Afghanistan.  Why, why?  You don't know and chances are you will never really know.  You only know what you are told.  I will go so far as to say that even Obama doesn't really know.  His strings are being yanked by Corporate America, the Unions, the Military Machine and the big banks of Europe.  The rich get richer and the poorer get poorer and ...or die.

It's 99.9% about oil and access by land or sea, to oil, and the ultimate control of oil.  Oil is power. Big Oil wants to build a pipeline across Afghanistan to transport oil and give nothing for it.  No one(that counts) is really interested in the freedom and liberty for these countries.  You can't change thousands of years of culture and pound democracy into the sands or move the mountains of Afghanistan.  It can't be done.  Imperial England couldn't do it, the French couldn't do it, the Russians couldn't do it...and neither can we.  We will and have gone broke, trying..and we are fighting a proxy war for other powers not of our own.  All we can do is send our best and our brightest into the guns of the war machine.

Congress is not standing up...The Senate is not standing up...Obama is not standing up...and shouting from the roof tops...enough is enough!  Put our money and resources in America!  America first!

Aside from my little rant, I went to the Eye Dr. yesterday and he called this afternoon.  I guess my eye pressure is up and I have to take an new eye drop 5 times per day, along with what I am already taking.  As far as I know, no one else in the family has Glaucoma, so I wonder where I got it from.  I guess I will let up on my reading for a while.

I think I found a place to buy Sweet Potato slips.  They are supposed to have some in tomorrow.  If so, that will save some time on planting.

END

GONE IN 0 SECONDS

My post, half written, vanished.  I don't feel like starting over, so I won't.

I bought a large Sweet Potato today.  I will try to start some slips from it.  It is late in the season, but I will have June, July, August and most of September for it ...them...to grow.  The Sweet Potatoes take about 120 days to grow and mature.  I tried to find slips at the Nursery, but they didn't have any.

Yesterday we had wind, but only a little rain.  Today we have had black skies in the afternoon and eve., but only a little rain.

It makes me mad that everything I wrote went off into never land.  Even the draft was empty.  Other bloggers have complained of this and have moved over to Word Press, but they are not happy there, either. 

END

OK. I have a new router..  The Handy Dandy Wrecking Crew guys stepped on mine and broke the antenna off.  Insight came today and replaced it and re-programmed my computer.  If something is breakable..a man will break it.  LOA!

I am pretty tired tonight.  I have been out in the yard working with the trimmer.  The humidity takes the starch right out of you.  I was trimming some taller stuff and started getting choked up and coughing.  I had to stop and come in the house, away from the pollen.

Tomorrow I hope to get some gardening done.  I don't know how much I will done as it is so late in the season...and it may rain.

It seems like I just can't get my sleep in.  Too many weeks of stress and worry.  I managed to put up one  mirror yesterday.  There are several pictures to be re-hung.  That will take me a little time as I have to measure and put in some nails or hangers.  And try to stretch my arm.  I will get it done.

I am going to bed early after taking a nap.  I am just tired out.  Maybe on Monday I will be more verbose-wordy.

END

HEAT

Yes, I have heat now.  Those guys showed up this morning around 9 AM and did about two hours of work in about 4 hours of time, took frequent cigarette breaks and an early lunch...and before  I knew it, they were pulled to another job.  At least I can walk through the living room.  They marred my nice TV cabinet which is all real wood and broke the belt on my very, very expensive vacuum cleaner.  When I bought it I figured it would last a lifetime because of the titanium case and housing.  I have sent for a new belt and I hope it is the right size.  Let me tell you, Dyson can't compare to this vacuum cleaner and a Dyson cost only about half of what I paid out for the TriStar several years ago.  But... leave it to a man to break something that expensive and to mar up a TV cabinet.  Not funny, as I can not hope to replace some things on retirement "wealth."  

Oh, they are supposed to come back in the morning.

One good thing about having an indoor pool is that you get to de-clutter whether you want to or not.  I have been poking along on the de-clutter trail, but now I will have to put on my track shoes and move a little faster.  Lots of stuff to get rid of and re-evaluate as to whether I want to keep this or that.

  Yes, I use hyphens.  They are not used much anymore in spelling, but that is OK as most people are reading at a 6th or less, grade level.  After all, I had  good English teachers and reading a lot goes a long way in educating the brain.  America is pretty low on the education list of "smarts."  It isn't that Americans are dumb, but they are not taught or truely educated.  If we were "smart" we would not have voted for who was elected into the puppet office of strings and attachments.  No, I didn't vote for our little would-be-king.

Well, that is enough of me getting myself in trouble.  I have enough problems as it is.  Don't pick on a man who equates himself with Lincoln!!

"And that's all I'm going to say about that."

END

ASSMOSIS ALL AROUND

I'm tired.
I'm cold.
I'm tired of trying to live out of the kitchen.
I'm tired of trying to snake my way through moved furniture.
I'm tired of being put on the back burner.  I am tired of trying to stay civil.

I called the handyman' painter on Friday.
I called the handy man today.

"Your cold?  Why can't your turn the heat up?"  Because the TV is sitting on top of the furnace, as he well knows.  "Oh, we'll try to be there in a couple of days."  The temperature will be down in the 40's overnight.

Not good enough.  Absolutely not good enough.

Do people still do an "honest day's work for an honest day's pay?  Some may, but our culture of  integrity and the work ethic has been eroding for years.  It is the "trickle down" effect born of a corrupt government peopled by so many corrupt politicians. 

As I have been only cooking about one meal a day, I really cooked up a good supper this eve.  I cooked a large rib eye, a couple of potatoes with green beans in canned tomatoes(mine)  I ate that whole rib eye.  I have potatoes, beans and tomatoes left over for another meal that can be heated in the micro wave.  I hate to be dipping into my stores like this, but I do have to eat.  I still need to go to the store.

I looked carefully at the grocery ads today.  I didn't find much of interest.  Coffee has come down a little. as has TP in some instances.  Charcoal has come down a little, also.  The ads are pushing a lot of the none essentials, such as cleaning products of all kinds and brands, and junk stuff like collectibles and some clothing.  I am sure everyone is seeing the same ads.  Meat is becoming a luxury, but the cost of bacon may have come down very slightly.  I wish gas would come down very slightly , too.

I finished off all the books; I have nothing to read.  I went back to bed around 6 PM just so I could stay warm.  How did the pioneers survive?  Alice, forget about homesteading.  You will freeze your toes.  True homesteading is a very hard, difficult life.  It might be nice and cozy around a wood stove, the rest of your house will be like a cold storage meat locker, but those trips to the outhouse in the dead of winter...ahem...you will freeze your..."assmosis" off.  Believe me, I speak from a bit of experience...knowledge.

IN THE END YOU WILL FREEZE YOUR END.

"It was a dark and stormy night"....or day.  It has been raining on and off all day..just a natural, spring-like rain.  I got up early, got dressed, unlocked the doors, and waited...and waited...and waited.  The no show guys were "no show."  What else is new?  Come Monday, if they don't show, the fat in the frying pan will start to sizzle.  In other words, my temperature is rising.

I am on my third book this week.  The title is "FIRE IN THE SKY"  and fits my slowly flaring mood exactly.  Actually, it is a fiction by  two anthropologist that have written a series of fiction novels about early Mezzo and American natives.  If it were not for my reading right now I believe my flame would have flared some time ago.  It has kept me semi-sane for right now.


I tried to clean a little in the "living room," but it is kind of hard to vacuum around those big, heavy tarps, esp. when you vacuum up a nail that blends into the carpet.  The more I can vacuum up, the less I wheeze and cough, and that is good, even with nails and screws pulled up into the vacuum.

Very little going on right now.  Tomorrow, Sunday, I will not get up early.  I hope to get out in the afternoon and get a few items...such as milk and creamer and visit the local nursery.

END

CANNED CHICKEN

I broke down and opened up a qt. jar of the chicken that I canned, only to find that it is...super good..."wunner full, wunner full," as Lawrence Welk used to say.  I had canned it so that in the coming winter of 2011-2012 I would not need to go out and do a lot of shopping.  Because my cooking has been limited right now due to "house work," have had to got for at least my my main meal of the day, several times this past week.  So, I relented on self discipline and opened up a jar that kept beckoning me.  Oh Man, yum, yum, yum!  I am sort of sorry that I delved into my jars...but not too sorry.

Better than store bought canned chicken in a tin, no additives, no unknown ingredients, chemicals or creeping crud...just good, home  cooked and preserved fare.  I have another 30 lbs of chicken in the freezer that needs to be canned, if I ever get this home mess restored. The last meal out cost me $12.00 and a tip, so it was penny wise, as well, to dip into my stores.

Again, another day sitting and waiting; time lost, wasted.  Basally, the repairs of this house should have taken about two days to complete, but it has been over a week now of being confined to less space and freedom of movement.  Those boys(men?) need to get off the dime and finish up here!

GOOGLE BUNGLE

Hey Google bungle, You goofed by being absent without leave for about about 36 hours.  In the military that is known as being AWAL and you could be shot in some circumstances, esp. during wartime.  And besides that you have lost my...and other bloogers, blogs.  I had a post ready to go out Wed. eve.  It went out all right.  "Lost in Space."   Good going Google.

Right now we are having a good, steady drenching with some thunder and lightning.  That is why I wanted to get as much yard work done as possible.  I got a little trimming done, but much more needs to be trimmed.  I spent too much time trying to corral the silly dog from next door.  She got her head under the fence and lifted it up and got into the yard.  She forgot all about trying to eat the wheels of my mower and took off down the street.  I tried to call her back, but she had a taste of freedom.  The next thing I knew the cops were following her up the back alley.

"Is this your dog?  Nope, not mine, but I know where she lives.  I just couldn't catch her."  They helped me call her in and get her into her own yard, which is something they didn't have to do.  In just a short time she had escaped again.  She knew how to get out, but not how to get back in.  Finally, the kid next door came over, picked her up in his arms like a baby and took her in the house.  By that time she had run herself silly and was a tuckered out dog.  I think she was glad to go home.

There must have been a power surge in the wee hours and my clock didn't go off.  Didn't matter because the yo yo boys didn't show either.  I am really getting perturbed...aggravated...ticked off.  I would like to be able to use my living room again.  I am tired of camping out...in.

The temperatures were not all that high today, but the humidity was.  I think it is supposed to get a little cooler for a few days.  Out of the ice box and soon into the frying pan.  It is just about the middle of May and I don't have a garden in.  If the yo yo boys don't show up tomorrow I will "mud" one in, or at least get some tomatoes in the ground.

As I am pretty tired from yard work and trying to be a dog knapper in this high humidity, I am going to re-set my clock and go to bed.

END

P. S

Somewhere in the upper stratosphere floats my Wed. blog.

Another P. S.

The lost post showed up arong 6 P. M.

Hurry up and wait.

I am waiting for the Wrecking Crew to come back and finish their work.  There isn't all that much to do now; put up the molding, finish the painting and move the furniture back into place.  Hurry up and wait.  I am tired of generally living out of the kitchen.

I read a book by sitting on the bed.  I don't have a good place to read.  I can't find anything.  I couldn't find my cell phone.  It was underneath a tarp.  I want to do some more canning, but am waiting until my kitchen is more conducive to the work.  Everything is such a mess.  Hurry up and wait.  Get up early , dress, unlock the doors...and no one showes up  Construction workers...a little too independent.  Hurry up and wait.

I am going to bed pretty early, because I am tired from all the waiting.   And that's all I wrote.

END

"What we have here is a failure to communicate...."

I spent a good day or two trying to rive my lap top and breath new life into it.  I guess it has finally croaked for good.  "Breath, dang you, Breath!"  I guess the hard drive had a crash attack.  I dearly loved my little lap top.

I am posting from an older model Dell.  I had to tweak it a little and it doesn't have a slot for a photo disk and the sound card doesn't seem to have a note, whistle or bell.  It does have lot of memory with more than 90 % of free space.  However old it is,  it works; it doesn't do any of the weird stuff that the lap tops did/do if you just looked at it the wrong way.  The cursor is not jumping all over and pulling up junk and ads that I don't want.  I did have to reload some of my favorite web sights.

I told the construction guys not to come today as I wanted to be somewhere else.  I went across the bridge to E'ville to a reception for the Sister that are being transferred out.  You wouldn't think that an 80 year old nun would be uprooted from what should be her last home on earth.  Several other older Sisters are being uprooted from the home, as well.  Now they are about to go through the X-Ray screening and or grouping at the airport.  How right is that?

I, also, have turned on the A/C as the temperatures are suddenly 88 F. and the humidity has shot up as well.  We have complained about the rain and cold...now see what Mother Nature is about to throw in this direction.

I am practically living in my kitchen right now.  It will take forever to get back to normal.  I am not doing the cooking that I want to do, but I am not starving.  Since there is no one in the house I did cook a thick steak, med. rare and bloody darn good.  It would have been even better on the grill, but you can't have everything, esp. as we have severe storm warnings up and cooking out would probably mean cooking in, anyway.

I guess I will get up early and hope those  workers show up at a reasonable hour and get the furniture moved back into place.  It took eons of time to get everything where I wanted it, now it will take eons of time to redo it.

Have you noticed that you don't see a lot of nickles anymore?  When was the last time you saw a fifty cent piece?  The survivalist are collecting and hoarding them in case of a paper money crash.  Today gas shot up 27 cent in an hour and everyone was converging at the gas stations.  I have not seen anything like this since the every early '70's.  Remember...I told everyone to stock up...because here it come...double digit inflation and more scarcity in the stores and for food items.  Do you believe me now?  No?  Too bad for you.

THE END OF THE END?

Oversleeping

I did.  I overslept.  I set my clock radio for 7 AM and it didn't go off.  I forgot that the main breaker had been shut off several times yesterday.  The alarm didn't kick in.  Everything needs to be reset.  I didn't wake up until 9:20 AM.  No big problem as no one showed up until 12 noon.

I was tired.  I needed the rest.  My regular routine and lifestyle has been disrupted.  I haven't done anything physical, but this week has  worn me down.

The painting is 3/4 done, but needs a second coat.  The laun paneling and strand board has really soaked up the paint.  The painter is a woman who is trying to hold her family together.  Her husband is disabled and has had several spinal surgeries.  They are both in their early 40's. She is a good, careful painter.  Her husband was a construction worker until he got hit in the neck by an I beam.  She is doing what good wives do in bad situations and in bad times; trying to make both ends meet.

I made a pot of Barley Soup.  Maybe I should call it stew because it is thick and hearty.  I didn't use a recipe.  I used leftovers from the refrigerator.  I had some leftover BBQ'd chicken strips, leftover cooked cabbage, chopped up half an onion, added a half qt. of tomatoes that I had canned, 1 cup of barley, salt and pepper and 4 cups of water.  Tossed it all together and put it into the electric pressure cooker and it was good to go...or cook.  For leftovers, it turned out very good.  I could have used another cup of water, but it was pretty tasty.

Barley has a nut like flavor and is kind of chewy.  It isn't always easy to find, but I kept nagging Wal-Mart and they finally started stocking it.  It isn't very expensive and is cheaper than canned soup. esp. if you use leftovers...and you know what is in it.  No kown chemicals, hormones, rat droppings or insects are in my meals.  Barley is good for you, having fiber, low cholesterol, low fat and low salt.  I did a little cheating, though.  I bought a better frozen pizza and baked it myself.  One $5.49 pizza as opposed to a carry out or delivered pizza...no tip for the pizza guy, either.  And some left over...for breakfast!!

Tomorrow, Sunday, is Mother's day.  I wish all Mothers a good and happy day.  You never know what you are missing until your Mothers are gone.

I think I will go to bed early and sleep late.

END

INTERIOR ESCAPADES AND SUCH

Well, the roof is repaired, the new insulation is in, the ceiling is up and the one wall is has been replaced.  Now, only the trim needs to be applied and the painting done.  Oh,yes, clean up and move the furniture back into place...add that.  I think it will take a while to get things back in order.  Just imagine what the poor people that have lost their whole homes are going through, not to mention family and friends.  How terrible that must be...I count my blessings.

Tomorrow the painter is supposed to come and paint.  When I first moved into this little house I painted the dark walls a coral rose color and the ceiling off white.  I can't do that stuff now.  It isn't the age, but the limited arm movement and extension.  However, as long as I can get a spoon or fork up to my mouth I can't complain.  Good food makes me happy!

I read a complete novel today as there wasn't much else I could do with all the stuff going on in the house and with the in and out traffic.  My yard is full of contractor bags  full of  wet, moldy insulation, old sheet rock, ruined paneling and general trash.  I bet the nieghbors think I am rich and am remodeling.  Ha!  Let them think so!

As I am not cooking right now, so I have had to eat out every afternoon.  I don't mind eating out, but I hate to spend the money right now.  My money tree got hit with Roundup and Thereitgoes, shriveled up and died.  One sad, dead looking tree, with a bit of mold.  Now, all joking aside, the little Cherry tree I planted did get infected with some type of mold at the base and has a big clump of blue mold in the branches.  It died and is awaiting for a Cherry, Cherry funeral.  I need to remove it.

While I was looking out the back door I spied a big, fat rabbit.  Yesterday I saw some little rabbits, so this one must be the big Momma.  I have a planter on a bench on the patio that filled up with rain and now the birds are using it for a bird bath.  I need to get that new disk for the camera...after I count my pinnies, maybe.

There isn't much to add and I am tired..  Those guys said they would be here at 7 AM, so I got up at 5 AM.  They showed up after 9AM.  At least they are showing up, not like that roofing co. I called before.

So...I am going to bed soon.  After all, I will be 70...next year and I get tired.  LOL!!

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WHAT A MESS

You never know what you will find until you start pulling down ceilings.  What a mess, what a mess, oh, what a mess.  Under the regular ceiling was old sheet rock, then old insulation, then the loose insulation I had blown in some time ago.  All of it completely saturated, wet, wet, wet, and black and moldy.  Yes, I had an instant asthma event.  I had to get out of the house, as did the two men that were here doing the work.  I went off to the library to get into better air.  The two guys opened up windows and went out on the porch often to breath(or smoke) fresh air.  But, they did get the roof repaired just in time as more rain is in the forecast.  Everything in the living room is covered with tarp and most of the mess bagged.  Also, they got two strand 4x8's up.  They will be back tomorrow to finish putting up more strand board and start pulling off the paneling.  I don't know what is under the paneling, but it can't be half as bad as the ceiling...I hope.

Here I thought I was almost "debt free" and only owed Discover card about $15.00.  Now I am thinking that I may need a new couch.  I was also thinking that I would get new tires on the van in the fall, using my card.  Ding Dang, the plans are dead, along with the Wicked Witches of the North, South, and West, that sent all that rain.  They are some bad Mommas.

We seldom get storms out of the east, but when we do, they are usually epic.  Most of the rain we have been having have come up from the south and south west, stalling out over the mid-western states.  The radio's agriculture guy says that local farmers usually have the crops in the ground by now.  The paper shows photos of corn that came up, drowning in the flooded fields.  Some of the water is going down here and there, but there are still many roads and schools closed.  One good thing about my little house is that I am well above the "water line."  The water doesn't come in, it just comes down...on my head.

I have been trying to move things around so that I can get through the house without tripping.  I already almost fell this morning by tripping over the tarp, but one of the guys caught me.  If you remember, that is how I broke my widdle arm and elbow in the first place; tripping over a cord when I was cleaning the living room.  Now I am ever fearful of falling like that again.  Surgery and a month in a nursing home is just not appealing...nope, no fun at all.

The good thing about having to get out of this moldy house today is that I got to the library and even found a place to park.  I have books!

It is getting cold again and I can't turn the heat on because it(heater) is all covered up with tarp.  Such strange, strange weather.  I will get into my "warmies" early.  I have to get up early and hate getting up in a cold house, but you do what you gotta.

I still haven't got a new disk for my camera and I didn't want to take photos with the disk that I have because it would mean re-loading all the old stuff back into the computer.  I spent a lot of time the other night doing a super duper system clean up and the purging of clutter from the hard drive.  I want  to keep it as free as much as I can.  I regained 65% of memory and I am happy to keep this laptop going a little longer.  If you don't have a system machinec or similar program, try to get one.  They are worth the money you pay for them and it beats going to a tech. for repairs or buying a new computer.  And you get to keep it and use it as often as necessary.

Do you find my little blog boring?  Let me know what interests you.

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SUCK 'UM UP GO POWER

My crowning achievement for the day was that I got up at 6 AM so that I would be dressed and awake for the arrival of the handy man and his death on a stick helper.  Well...you know the story.  No show until 11:30 when Handy Man came and told me he wasn't able to cash the one check I gave him and would I please go and cash it, which I did.  I had no trouble cashing that paltry amt. of $300.00.  I don't know why he couldn't get it cashed. No work done today.

I managed to pull the couch out a little and use the "suckumup" vacuum behind said couch.  Things slid a little easier on wet carpet..Ah Ha!

I got the trash out and have been cleaning my Bessel vacuum cleaner.  I have mentioned this before; it comes apart so that you can wash out the tank, the foam filter and the paper filter.  It does take a couple of days for the paper filter to dry out.  The cleaner you can keep your appliances, the longer they last and clean the house for you.  While I was at it I cleaned out the trash bin.  No dirt or crud there.  Now, I need to empty out the "suckumup" and clean the filter on that, too.  Washed two loads of cloths, also.  I think those new super duper vitamins are having a bad effect on my "gitty up go" glands, because I am just puttering away and getting things done.

Speaking of vacuum cleaners reminds me that my mother  had a very good GE tank vacuum cleaner with a cloth bag.  A cloth bag is supposed to be emptied and then put back into the vacuum cleaner.  One day my sister Betty Jean...yes, Patsy, your mother...was cleaning the living room(which she probably didn't want to do)ran the vacuum cleaner without the bag inside.  It never ran again..no more...LOL's, except it wasn't too funny at the time.

Since I had to go to the bank I tried to go to the library, as well.  I couldn't get near it.  It being a sunny day, everyone had the same idea.  I need books!  Though it was sunny, it was and is, cold and windy.  The temperature is in the low 50's now and is to drop into the upper 30's overnight.  At least it isn't raining.  We have had over 28 inches of rain thus far-15 inches of it above normal and more to come in a day or two.

Gas has hit the $4.00 mark and higher.  I need gas for the mower.  Do I dare spend money for gas?  I guess I will have to, Thank You, Mr. Obama.

As I am tired, I guess I will go to bed soon...early.

END

SUN AT LAST!

Ah, super was good.  Not a Chief Ramsey kind of meal and just put on a big plate, nothing fancy, but good.  I cooked a nice steak and onions in butter and had fried cabbage.  I am a happy camper.

I have been trying to move things a little and box-protect- some collectible ceramics and figurines.  Most are valuable, some not.  I have signed, numbered prints that I have to put somewhere.  One print has some water damage and that makes me sad.  All of what I have was hard to come by.  As the Bible says, "Lay up(not)your treasures in heaven," or close to that without looking it up.((there are slightly various translations, but they all mean the same))

I believe my nice sleeper sofa is permanently stained.  I will need to save my nickles and dimes for a while and see if it can be shampooed later on. I have had the heat on all day and a fan blowing on it and all around.  The ceiling is still leaking because the insulation is wicking the moisture downward.  I seem like I am complaining, but I don't mean to be, esp. when you think of all the victims of the tornadoes.  At least I have a roof over my head, even if it leaks, and for that much I am grateful.

The men/man is supposed to start on the roof tomorrow.  I hope he shows up and gets it done so I can get back to normal((whatever that is)). 

I have looked very carefully at the sale bills that came out today.  Very few items are really on sale, not that I will be buying much, henceforth.  One item that I will get is the canned Cowboy's Baked Beans at .50 cents a can.  I happen to like the flavor.  Wal-Mart has Pork 'n Beans for the same price, but I don't want to drive there and then get stampeded over by a herd of rude heifers and/or shoppers.

I guess I will be staying home anyway until the house is repaired.  I need to stay in the house as at one time an installer for the cable made off with a box of old coins and silver that I had been saving.  You know what RR said, "Trust, but verify,"  If you can't prove what you absolutely know, your up a creek without a paddle.

That reminds me.  Big brother Harry called Sunday.  He sounds kind of tired and lonesome.  He can't get very far away from his wife and she "needs" him there constantly.  I think that even though she is not well, she is very insecure and has been all along.  She can't help it, I am sure, but that makes Harry without any time of his own.

The guy next door left his trimmer out in the rain for the past several weeks and couldn't get it started.  He got a new trimmer and has left it out in the rain for the past few days, also.  Hmmm.  See Alice?  Now that-is stupid-dumb, lack of IQ, or common sense.  LOL'S!

I have eaten a good portion of my cake and and I am about to eat some more.  Yum for the tum!

Google is going to make some changes for blogspots this month.

END

FOR SALE...CHEAP SWAMPLAND.

Yes, my house is a swampland Ecosystem of wet carpet, black mold and some white lacy mold for decoration.  I went to Low's and bought a wet/dry vacuum and have been sucking up juicy juice, made by Mother Nature and not by Minute Maid.  The couch is soaking wet, as is the carpet and chair.   But..but, I finally have someone coming to repair the roof, tear out the ceiling and the rain ruined insulation and replace the walls that have buckled.  With that said, I think I need to take up a collection.  What, no givers?  Hmmm, that's what I expected.  I guess its time to roll that jar of pennies that I was saving for my old age.  Oh, I forgot, this is my old age.

I tried to rent a wet/dry vacuum, but none of the rental stores have any to rent out...they are all in use by others.  I didn't want to have to buy one, but in the long run it is cheaper and I get to keep it.  It was $31.00 plus and taxes.  Now I have three vacuums and I am "vacuum poor."  One thing I will add is this: that little "sucker" is very powerful and pulls the carpet right up from the floor.

By the way, the man that is going to do the repairs is an older man, a handy man, and has a helper who looks like death on a stick.  Sad looking fellow with no teeth and really not so old, but looks REALLY old.

I didn't get my pictures done because I haven't been where I can get a new disk for the camera, but I will get it done...sometime.  I stopped at the Good Will Store and found some brand new high quality looking joggers for $3.00.  I don't really know if they are or not, but they look pretty good.

It's a good thing I have plenty of food in the pantry and in the freezer because it looks like I will have to depend on what I have in store for some time.  I busted the piggy bank and then some.

I did want something good to eat so I baked a Lemon-Chocolate Swirl Cake.  I didn't make frosting for it because I don't have any eggs-egg whites(on my short list).  I poured honey all over it and it was so good!  Honey and lemon go together!

It is cold.  It is going down into the forties tonight and I can't turn the heat up because of all the "wet" in the house.  It has an electric blower and the cord runs into a socket where all the rain ran down the wall.  So it is sweater weather.  And damp...as it has rained most of the night and all day.  We will probably have a June "bake off." However, for now, "Rain Keeps Pouring On My Head."

END

hickory dickory dock

the rain just doesn't stop

down the walls

like Niagara Falls

hickory should be shot

by Dock...and I'll help.