Blooms and Van Repairs

 I let Rusty out a couple days ago, and look what I saw!!!! I know, aren't they gorgeous?? I didn't think they would bloom this year, I hardly saw a sign of blossoms on them and then one day there they were!! I'm so excited!! Yes...spring really is here (finally)!

I looked out my big window and there were violets blooming, on our rocks below! Just another of God's miracles. I miss Tom at times like this, he used to take me down and get me outside so I could see them (up close and personal) and pick one or two for my pretty little vase that was my mothers. (When I was a child I would pick them for her and she would put them in her vase..funny what we remember, huh??)

Looking across the street, I see a beautiful white blossom tree, and there is a lot of purple in their yard. Not sure what it actually is, I think it's violets.. lol

 



Don't you love those skinny little legs... they do look like a drawing don't they?? To me they should be bigger..not sure how they hold them up...smile..

 

Well, now to let you know about my van! I had it towed to the dealership and it turned out to be the battery!!! It had a bad cell..who knew??? I probably should have listened to my guy--"way back when" and got a battery.  But...life is life and that is how it goes, I'm just glad it is finally fixed!!!!

 

I'm so excited!!! Tomorrow at this time I will be chatting with and lovin on my granddaughter Ashley!!! Prayers for a safe flight for her..please!!

 

Blessings.....

 



Life's Little Adventures

Last night as I was reading Susan Branch's new book when I saw this quote and thought how appropriate for me. I'm so fortunate to have such a beautiful window to see all those exciting things out there. I'm really addicted to her book, it's so hard to get anything else done..lol

 

Today Karen and I decided to go to the grocery store. It looked so nice out there, the sun was shining, we both thought it was warmer than it really was. The temps weren't that high, plus the wind was blowing just like it has been for the past few days..(sad) When we got to the store, we got my scooter out, (the battery for fully charged, thanks to Randy!). Later, when we came out, I pushed the button and the lift was coming down....then it stopped and wouldn't come down, (but would go back into the van). (darn) I called the company where I bought it. I told the mechanic, I was sitting in the grocery stores parking lot and what was going on. He suggested I bring the van to him as he was with a customer, and had another coming in, in about an hour. One of the stores employees came out and rode the scooter back in the store and kept it there for me. (wonderful people!!) It had to 'back' the van into their garage...he asked if I could do it...I said "I'd try"!  I could see why he asked me, there were cars parked on one side and their van on the other and only a small path between..but by golly! I did it and never scratched anything.. ha! ha! He said most people when I tell them that, they jump out and let me do it. I said, I did okay didn't I?? He smiled and said, 'yes you did'. Well, long story short...we got in his one hour window, he got it fixed and we picked up the scooter from the store and safely made it home!!! Oh, the adventures of ones life!!

 

When we got home I had a call from the lady I work with on our reunion we plan every year. It is late to plan for our dinner, (another long story short) I think they were waiting for me to help organize it. Of course I have not been back to a meeting since Tom got sick in September. Anyway, she called a new caterer and thank God they had the date open and will handle it for us!!!

 

God played a big part in my day and I am so thankful the this!!!

 

Good night....

Tears, Trials and Puppy's Love

"Sunrise one early morning"

It seems that a day doesn't go by that I don't shed a few or several tears. There are many things that remind me of Tom and how much I miss him. And so often it doesn't seem like he's really gone. Mixed emotions... I'm so thankful for all your wonderful comments, those of you who are praying for me, and those who have and are suffering a loss also. I'm trying my best to continue on with little things that I routinely do. And before I know it another day has gone by. I've started to read a little more, shutting the noise of the TV off and being whisked away into another world. But......those lonely thoughts creep into my mind anyway. I've been reading Susan Branch's The Fairytale Girl. She was writing about growing a garden, and putting this herb with that vegetable or planting flowers--and suddenly my thoughts turned to Tom. He loved his garden and bringing in his "first" tomato of the season...just for me to eat.. (tears) And for flowers he planted which will bloom for years to come.. 

Cardinal

Trials....oh yes, we all have them don't we?? The first of the week, I had a doctors appointment with a foot doctor. (I have a fungus laden toenail!!) So, I head out to the garage, go to get in the van and my battery is dead!!! UGGGG... So, I come back in the house and call Triple A and cancel my appointment. (I knew by the time they got here and I found out what was wrong, I'd never make it to see him.) Turned out, they jump started it and the dome lights were on. I let it run and the next day my son stopped by and it started 'no problem'.

 

The next morning, I headed out to run an errand and guess what? Again, it wouldn't start. There was however, enough juice to open the back door to put my walker in.. Once again, I called Triple A and also my son. When we were talking I realized without a battery I couldn't open the back door, where my walker was..uggg So...bless his heart...he came over to help me out (literally..) He just pulled on the door and manually opened it. The dome light was on again, thus running the battery down. Still trying to figure out what is going on with it.

 

"Tubby Squirrel is Back"

Puppy love...that is the same as the name Rusty. He is such a good boy. Normally he has a schedule of what he eats and when he wants out etc. But the other day, he drove me crazy...lol Out, then In..again and again. Then yesterday, he was starving (I finally figured it out). He had 3 bowls of food!! Yikes..I know.. Then I thought...well some days I'm like that..just eat all day long. ha!

 

We think there was a kitty running around on our deck.

We woke up yesterday morning to this!!! Looked like a lot, but it was gone by today. Our temperatures have been so lovely. Tomorrow it's to be 64 degrees!! Whoo-Hoo!! What's your weather like??

 

Until I blog again....

 

Bird Bath with Pennies Alert and Much, Much More...

Pennies and Birdbath Alert!!

Theresa from The Run*Around*Ranch checked this out and it sounds like if you use pennies prior to 1962 is okay, but later ones contain some minerals that are not good for the birds. Darn...I didn't know this, I read about doing it in some magazine and have done it for years. So thankful for Theresa!

 What a day we had yesterday...First my friend was here to do some cleaning, etc. for us. Then I had my hair fixed.  During all of this I was talking to the insurance companies, mine and hers trying to make sure we get our van fixed properly!

 So when we took the van in to be repaired we had to go across town, only to be delayed by this long.......train. I took a picture two different directions so you can see how long it was. Anyway, we finally got there and dropped it off. Her insurance company got us a rental van. It's like ours only its 8 years newer. BUT it has clothe seats, not leather ones, which make it very difficult to get in and out of. And it has a push button start. (Put your foot on the brake, push the button and viola...its running.) No keys, just a "key phob (is that how you spell it??) Anyway, that was new to us, and we didn't realize it had to be in the van to start it. We came home, I got in the house with the key phob, Tom went back out to restart it and put it in the garage. And it wouldn't start:( I called the rental place and he said do you have the phob with you in the van??? Dahh..."no".. Hey.....we're old...don't know about all these new fangled gadgets.. smile...

 

We're off to the store, with the key phob in hand....

 

Have a wonderful day!!

Winter is still with us...

Tom was 'kind of' excited when he saw all that snow out there this morning...smile...Finally got to use his new snowblower again!!! Afterwards he took the van into the dealer..they found that the power steering reservoir was cracked, so they replaced it. And since it was under warranty it was a good day!!! smile....

The birds were busy hitting the feeders all day. Can you see the snow attached on the feeder??

And the papa cardinal was sitting in the tree nearby waiting his turn to get to the feeder. (You notice he let mama cardinal eat first..smile...)

And then the 'snow birds' were also waiting in the trees while the snowflakes were flying..smile....

Here is another picture of those famous Loess Hills I talked about in my last post... They are really pretty...and so unique..

Hope you had a good and busy day...and that tomorrow will be better than today...smile...

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"The Many Thoughts of Grace"

August 19, 1936:

When I woke up, what a surprise--Elaine was up. And there was Melvin, he kissed me goodbye.  Betty T. got her a perm. She met the Morey girls.Elaine and I walked in the rain every old man that went by waved at us. We chopped wood. Melvin brought me a souvenir. Mama canned 4 quarts apples and 4 quarts peaches.

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more as it happens.....

The Crash of 2000.....

Remember yesterday I told you I was going through some old pictures???...Well this is one of them that I found. It gave Tom goosebumbs remembering this day back in February of 2000.... Some of you remember this day too.. Tom had started the van to get it warmed up before I headed off to work..however the van took off and went through the back of the garage... What a difficult time this was in our lives...however we all did survive...smile...and we're thankful that we had front wheel drive...if it had been rear wheel he would have been on the deck...........

Just had to share this with you...Tom bought a new shovel and was trying it out yesterday when we got a dusting of new snow. He reminded me of a kid with a new toy... smile.......

Even though this was day 10 of being stuck in the house...I thought I'd step out to put the mail in the mailbox and this was the site I saw... Yes, fresh and crisp!! 

As I looked to the right this is what I saw...don't you just love the 'pink' for Breast Cancer recycle bin? And 'no' Tom wouldn't get a pink one for us..:( 

As you can see by the flag blowing in the wind it was about 8 degree's F.above zero, which meant the wind chills were below zero..so when I stepped back into the warmth of the house I was really glad I had 'cabin fever'...smile... Speaking of cabin fever...my cousin wrote to me last night and said maybe I should try having a cup of tea while listening to some soothing music to help..and yes it does!!!

We will be trying to get out again tomorrow.........I have Drs. appointments and several other things to do. I found out today we have to get a new router. So that will be one of our stops...so we will see how the day goes tomorrow....wish me luck!!!

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"The Many Thoughts of Grace"

July 15, 1936:

I didn't help Grandma as Hazel came. I did go over and help her wash the dishes as Hazel went home. A guy came and sold us "The Country Gentleman" . He said he wouldn't take the risk of putting it in my house as my name would be changed in five years. Melvin came  this afternoon. Gave him a piece of pie. Had 1 quart of ice cream tonight.

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"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3

more as it happens...............

Crazy Day...Now I have a headache!!!

We got up early this morning and headed out shopping. I told Tom there was a store that was giving a 15% Senior Discount today, so...we walked around the store then headed to the video equipment! Tom's been wanting a Blu Ray DVD player, they were on sale and had one that was wireless, so we'd be able to stream our NetFlix movies right to our TV without ordering the DVD. The salesman said "just hook up this wire to it and your TV and viola, you'll be all set up." We were all excited!! Then it was check out time......... and we had 3, remember that number 3 items. The store has a discount card that we have and have it on our key ring, so we handed her our car keys so she could scan it. Well, I look up and she has charged us for a back pack (?) and I said "we didn't get a back pack"...she's like, well where did that come from?? We really didn't care, we just didn't want to pay for something we didn't get or want!!! She just kept saying "I wonder how that happened....etc..." Then she was going to Void it all out and start over! Well, she couldn't do that without help...finally a supervisor came over and she said to her 'I don't know where that came from'.....and she said it doesn't matter, we'll just start over! Then she re-enters it and the supervisor had left.....and then she needed her again. So finally all is well and she said I need your card...here she had our keys (with the card) in her hands!! YIKES!! At this point Tom is about to loose his cool:) So I wrote the check...then she called the supervisor back over and wanted to know if she needed ID etc... ha FINALLY...we head out to the van and we were both frizzled...I got in and Tom put my scooter in the back. He got in and said "I'm still pretty strong...I lifted that whole thing with the battery in it, into the back of the van." Normally, he takes the battery out and puts it and the scooter in separately.

Then we headed to the Farmers Market, Tom grabbed our bags out of the back and he said "Oh my gosh I must have left your basket on the ground when I put your scooter in the van!" We just knew someone had either ran over it or took it!!! Well...at this point we decided we might as well do our shopping. We got some meat (farm raised and oh so good.) She also had some jalapeno jelly! I tried it and to me it was HOT, so tried the raspberry/jalapeno and I really liked that one. We also got a few fingerling potatoes and a muskmelon! We saw a few doggies there again today. Cute isn't she??

Good looking yellow lab too..........

Saw this bird sitting on a light as we headed back to the store, I called and asked if anyone had turned in a basket from a scooter and she laughed and said 'yes I have it right here'. Whew.......that was a relief. lol

And here is my Tom coming out of the store with my basket!!

Tom continued to have a busy day, as he and his cousin moved some of Aunt Pearl's stuff from her apartment to the nursing home. Then later in the afternoon he hooked up the new BluRay DVD player and "I tried to get it up and running" with no luck. I finally called Sony and had them on the phone for over 2 hours....finally I gave up, I told them this is enough." I talked to 3 different people, almost an hour with each one. So now you know why I have a 'killer headache.'

"For as he thinks in his heart so is he." Proverbs 23:7

more as it happens..........

Hot day again today........

What a hectic, busy, fun day! As the morning began...Tom headed to the heart doctor for his annual check up. As it turned out..all is well and he is to stay on his current medication and go back in a year. So our day began with great news and thankfulness!! We then headed downtown for lunch and decided to try out a new hot dog stand. We walked over there, I got a hot dog and Tom got a brat. As we headed back to the van I realized I was missing my pinkie ring. Tom went back to where we had just walked:( And finally to no avail...he returned, he felt so bad. I told him I would continue to look around..in my purse, van etc. We than headed to get my hair done. Yes, it was perm time again!! My friend always does such a wonderful job. We all had a nice visit..her sister in law joined us too. Everything was discussed from the soaps that were on the TV to the latest food spots to eat! Afterwards we headed back to town and stopped at McDonalds for a 'free' Caramel Frappe! Yes, we finally had a Frappe..it was really good, but was so 'cold' it gave me a head ache!! ha Tom said..how about taking smaller bites (or sips I should say..) And of course he was right and it worked...

We went to WalMart as I wanted to get an I Pod Touch! They were on sale (as I have been watching the sales...) I hope it will work for me, as I've had a Palm for years and wanted to upgrade. I have a computer guru coming tomorrow to help me with this and also to take care of some computer issues I've been having.

As soon as we got home I headed for my ring holder to see if just maybe I hadn't put my pinkie ring on this morning..I looked and it wasn't there. My heart just dropped...so I dumped the little tray around the ring holder and viola there it was.. I was so excited!!! All I could do was say "thank you Jesus"!!! Tom could hear me screaming with joy and thankful!!!

Tomorrow I will finally go to the therapist and have her work on my hip!!

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy"

more as it happens.....

16th Birthday!!

Today is our grandson's 16th birthday. That brought back memories of my own 16th birthday! ( I had a friend ask "you mean you remember your 16th birthday??") Oh... I could not wait, as that meant I got to go and get my drivers license!! We lived on a farm (in Iowa) so I had lots of practice ahead of time driving Dad's old Studebaker pickup up and down the back roads. One of those first trips I remember......I had to pull into the field to turn around as I couldn't find 'reverse'!! (ha) Anyway, Mom came by school and picked me up and away we went!! We decided to go to a small town south of us instead of coming into the 'big city'. Once we got there and they checked everything out (my age etc.) they said my Dad had to sign also!!!! So back home we went to get Dad and back down so I could finally take my test and maybe get my license!!! Well, I passed the written with no problems and then it was the driving test with the Highway Patrolman, that was scary in itself. You know--no more being alone with only myself to correct my errors--as I had driving up and down the dirt road, but to have a Patrolman sitting in the front seat beside me--oh my gosh I was soooooooo nervous!! Well, after driving, stopping, turning, parking etc. we finally returned and he told me I had passed BUT to stay off the highways for awhile and keep on the back roads and gravel roads until I got a little more confident!! Well, I think once he was out of the car...my confidence just soared!!!

So here we are 50 years later and I'm still driving (all the roads--back roads and highways!!)...

more as it happens........

Can you hear me now??

It was finally time for Tom to get his new ears! We headed out to get them fit! The day was foggy as you can see.

As Tom was being fitted with his new ears, I went next door to visit our friends. We had such fun conversing about all the trips they have taken over the years and the bloopers they have experienced! They were telling about going to the Worlds Fair in Canada and had to ride the subway to get there. As they said they had never been on a subway and weren't sure which one to take, the directions etc. were all written in French which they couldn't read or speak. He got on the subway and she was just sure he was on the wrong one, as they were arguing about it, the doors closed! She was absolutely panicing! What to do??? Her husband had just sped away and she had no idea what to do. The people around her only spoke French and were no help...finally a man who spoke some broken english told her to just get on the next train and that her husband would be waiting at the next stop. She wasn't so sure he would be there, but to her surprise there he was!! And she latched on to him like glue and didn't let him out of her site from then on!! [ha] There were many more stories and we so enjoyed hearing them all. Tom joined us with his new ears and got to hear these stories too! I was watching the birds out their patio window and quickly asked Tom to get my camera!! These are the one birds we seldom see out our window! The yellow finch! I was so excited! They are slowly turning yellow (anyone know why they change to bright yellow in the spring/summer? And are drab in the fall/winter!)

After we got back in town, we realized just how foggy it had gotten! We couldn't believe it! As we were traveling along this one street, there was a center dump truck beside us, we pulled up to a stop light and 'swish' a huge amount of water, mud and gravel spilled out of the truck onto our van!! It was just like a big wave of muddy water! We were so shocked and the truck pulled away headed down the street. After a couple of green lights he finally hit a red one. We pulled up and Tom jumped out and opened his door and told him what he had just done!!! And that he should have had the tarp covering his load.. all he said was "sorry"!! We headed to the car wash, which was closed--then went looking for one that Tom could spray wash the "mud" off the van!! The next day I contacted the owner of the trucking company and they finally got back to me today to say they would send us $20.00 to get the van properly washed! Something to think about "what if we had had a window down when this happened??"

Back to the hearing aids--you'd never know Tom had any would you?? Well, they are working really well for him, the TV is at a normal level and he can turn them up or down or off! So depending on where he is he can adjust them!

more as it happens..............