Losing September

Fall Forest Refuge

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fall-forest-refuge-by-madonna/

Two more days and September will be over. Wow, is all I can say! We had a fairly nice September but not as good as last year's as far as weather goes. 

 

Did you watch the first Presidential Debate? Sounds like at least 84 million people did. I have to admit I really enjoyed it. And am looking forward to the next one.

 

Our old TV started acting up again last week. It didn't want to come on and the red light for the lamp kept coming on. Sometimes it took me a half hour to get it up and running, so we finally decided we were going to have to finally break down and buy a new one so we went to Costco (only place we will purchase electronic items) and couldn't find a parking place so we came home and I ordered it on line. When I told my husband we weren't going to get it for 10 days, he said to go ahead and buy the replacement lamp. We had to replace it several years ago. It was $248 from Sony and Amazon had it for $34. So I ordered it again and it was only $22.00  this time! We got it in 2 days, had the lamp in in 10 minutes and we had TV! We couldn't believe how bright it was. We knew it was getting darker and darker but when it happens so gradually you don't realize how bad it really is! 

 

Then we had to go to the Comcast store and get a box! It is totally ridiculous that you can't just plug the cable into the TV and get a picture. Our old TV had a cable card and it was a one time charge of $15 and that was it. The man at Comcast said we wouldn't have to pay extra each month for the box, BUT we shall see. We told him we weren't going to have a new tv set for awhile as we hadn't even looked yet. No problem, he said, "When you hook it up, call this number and they will activate it." But when we turned the old set on that night, it said we weren't authorized! He had unauthorized the cable card, so I had to call and get it reactivated. So I am wondering about that monthly fee.

The new TV is out for delivery right now but I don't think it will get here so I will have enough time to get everything set up. So I have that to look forward to tomorrow.

Then our hot water heater started acting up. Actually it has been for awhile but my husband always fixes everything and for the last 6 months I have complained every once in awhile because the water wasn't hot enough when I washed my hair, etc. It is strange because sometimes it is nice and hot and then if I don't use a lot of water that day, it won't stay hot. So, he finally called the people who installed it and they are supposed to come out and look at it. If we have to replace it I think we will go back to electric because we can install that, plus they are much cheaper than the propane. 

They say everything happens in threes so I wonder what will break next!

 

Jack and Black Cats

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jack-and-black-cats-by-madonna/

I have been working on some Halloween themes and they are so much fun to make. It seems a long time before Halloween but a lot of people collect a file of their favorite holiday designs so I don't want to put them all on at one time. I try to gradually submit them. 

Our 3 year old great grandson is staying with us this Sat. night. He has never stayed overnight but I am sure he will be find. He is such a fun little guy and we enjoy him so much. Makes you feel happy to be around a 3 year old.

Well I better get back to work. Everyone have a great week end and Go Hawks!

I am just hoping that Wilson's knee and ankle hold up!

 

September

Autumn Buck and Doe

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autumn-buck-and-doe-by-madonna/

September is here so I guess we all have to hunker down and get ready for winter. I put the fall door decoration on the back door this morning. And got out a fall arrangement for the dining room table. I guess I might as well brighten things up even if I can't brighten up my mindset. My husband took a great grandson grouse hunting this morning. He was afraid he wouldn't get to go out with great grandpa this year because school was starting, but he doesn't have to start until the day after Labor Day. He spent the night so they could get an early start. I feel so thankful that we get to spend time with our great grandkids.

I spent yesterday pickling with our daughter and granddaughter. We spent as much time laughing as we did making pickles. Got 80 pounds of cucumbers processed. And one bottle of wine gone!  Last year was the first year my granddaughter did pickles so I gave her the old family recipe. My Grandma Joe's dill pickle recipe..the recipe my grandmother, my Mom and myself used for years. The recipe has to be over 100 years old but that was the dill pickle that all of her friends liked best. She made several different recipes, marked them and blind tested. So I guess my Grandma Joe knew what she was doing. She didn't have a lot of recipes. She just did it! Her buttermilk biscuits couldn't be beat and she made them every morning, without a recipe. She would add stuff till the texture was right and rolled them out on the kitchen table to cut out. They were so good...with fresh honey. She had another recipe in her head that we tried to get her to write down...it was something our family called Hot Stuff! It was shredded cabbage and some kinds of hot chili peppers, etc. that she canned every year. It was a family favorite but not one of us could manage to copy it so Hot Stuff died when Grandma did. We all tried!

I just read a series of books I enjoyed very much. They were The Laramie Series by Karen J Hasley. They were so good. You can read them book by book but it is better if you start with Lily's Sister and read them in order. I am hoping there will be a 7th. I get all of my books from Amazon so I can read them on my tablet. And I get a lot/most of them free. I subscribed to Book Bub and they send you a list of books in categories you choose that are free or lower priced. I think I managed to get every one of them free over time. I just save it on the Amazon Cloud until I get the entire series. The author manages to bring members from prior books in the series to be the main character in the new one, so it is mainly all about a family. The first one starts right after the Civil War and the last one was early 1900's. 

Well, I should get back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day. And thanks for taking the time to read my silly blog. 

One Leaf Fallen

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/one-leaf-fallen-by-madonna/

First Blue Jay!

Just saw the first blue jay of the season today. It is very warm outside, which I love, BUT it is beginning to feel like fall in the mornings. If you read my blog at all, you know I do not like winter so fall is the beginning of the bad! For me, anyway. I love the fall colors and have made many, many fall designs so that is about the only good part of it as far as I am concerned.

Footprints in the Sand

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/footpints-in-the-sand-madonna/

We had a big garage sale last week so got rid of years of "stuff" but ended up and had to take a pick up load to Value Village.The weather was in the 90's so we didn't have near as many customers as we usually would have. What a job, though! Going up into the attic and finding boxes of stuff I had put away, lots of sewing laces, fabric, etc. that I can't use anymore. So it was nostalgic but cleansing. Luckily our daughter-in-law was here the whole time and really helped out. I can always depend on her and have for many, many years. So I consider myself a lucky mother-in-law! Our son fell in love with her when he was in the 6th grade! No kidding! He came home from school and all he could talk about was the girl that broke her arm (I think it was!) at school.

I just realized that I like a dark Persona theme. I tried a lighter color design but with my old eyes it was too bright so went back to a dark one so am using Footprints in the Sun! 

It is hard to believe that school's are starting. I think they just closed, didn't they? Halloween stuff is out at the stores! Oh, my, much too soon.

Going to sign off for the week. Hope you all have a great week end and the forest fires can all get under control. I hate to see all that forest land burn up. It helps the environment to have those trees standing and not burnt to black dust. And the fire fighters need to be home with their families.

Sunflower Beauty
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sunflower-beauty-by-madonna/

Class Reunions!

 

My 3rd Grade Class

(I am the far lower left)

I was listening to the radio today and the commentator was talking about the class reunion he had just attended. It brought back memories of my 50th class reunion. I got the invitation in the mail and realized my husband had a hunting trip planned for the same time. So I just figured I wouldn't go. But the more I thought about it, the more I really wanted to go since my class hadn't had a reunion for 25 years.  I grabbed the phone and called our oldest grandson, who was 27 at the time and asked if he would like to be my date for my class reunion! He is a people person so I knew he would be a great date! He drove us down to the reunion and everyone loved him. When we got there, I told everyone I had brought a younger man as my date! It was great fun for me and I think he had a good time, too.

If you have read any of my older blogs you may remember I talked about clamp on skates and how we wore skate keys around our neck. Well, in the photo I have one around my neck and a girlfriend also has one on. 

 

Have a great week end! And if you have a class reunion, enjoy it!

100 years ago an angel was born!

My Mother was born 100 years ago yesterday. So she has been on my mind more than usual. She passed away in 2002 from ovarian cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, it was too late to do anything except let her leave the hospital and pass on in the comfort of her own home. My brother and his wife, my sister, my husband and myself took care of her the last three months of her life. We each took turns staying with her. We would move in for 3 or 4 days. Hospice helped us so much. Someone would come every few days to check in on her and help us know how to take care of her.  Mom knew how much she was loved and died in peace. She said it was taking too long, though. I remember her saying that quite a bit toward the last and she wanted me to help her leave a little quicker and I told her I couldn't do that.

Mom was a keeper. Not a hoarder but she kept things that meant something to her. Letter, cards, etc. I spent many afternoons sitting by her bed reading old letters to her. She had all the letters my brother wrote to her when he was in the Army. I learned a lot about my brother's service years I didn't know. And how he met his beloved wife. There were some letters from my Dad and after I read them, she said, "I forgot how much he loved me." Even some old, old letters from her Mom. She cried after I had read a few and said she didn't realize how bad her Mom felt in her last years. My grandmother lived in IA on the farm her parents homesteaded. (I believe I wrote on this blog several years ago about how they homesteaded and started their farm)

Anyway yesterday was a day of memories for me. 

Have a good week and love!

Worry about loss

White Wolves Winter

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/white-wolves-winter-by-madonna/

Any of you that read my blog know that I have been married for a very long time. We will have our 60th wedding anniversary next year and have been together for 61 years! We still hug each other many times during the day and the last thing I say at night is "I love you!" If either one of us did not wake up in the morning, I want that to be the last thing I say or that he hears. I know that sounds silly, but that is what I have done for many, many years and will continue to do so. I honestly don't know how I could go through one day without him and I worry about that every once in awhile. I can't help it. It will just pop into my mind and I have to get it out of their so I get busy doing something! 

Enough!

Our summer, here in the North Sound has not been a very good summer. Anyway, I don't think so. Last year was a great summer. But this year we have had a lot of chilly days. May was super and I thought we were going to have another great summer but not so! I have noticed how much it is beginning to feel like fall in the mornings. I am not ready for fall!

Birds of Summer

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/birds-of-summer-by-madonna/

Are you watching the Olympics? We always do and last night we were like little kids we were so excited when the men's USA team won the swimming relay.I was yelling "Go, Go, Go" and clapping my hands. At lunch today my husband mentioned how much he was enjoying them.

Well, gonna sign off for now. Will get back later this week, hopefully!

Have a good week!

Two Fox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/two-fox-by-madonna/

 

Summer Drivel!

Lights of the North

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lights-of-the-north-by-madonna/

The conventions are over and now we begin getting telephone calls, fliers in the mail, television ads so we can make an educated vote for the next President of our wonderful country. I have already made up my mind so I don't need to hear anything more. I wish the FCC would make voter robo calls illegal. We have a land line and get 2 to 4 calls a day asking for our vote. I leave the answering machine on 24/7 so we don't answer them.

I have been trying to submit more themes a day because I have so many already made and keep working on more. If I live to be 100 I wouldn't have to make anymore. But I really do love working on them. And I love getting the wonderful comments you all leave on my themes. So, thank you to each and everyone of you.

We have had wonderful warm weather this week. I love it and my old body doesn't hurt when the weather is warm like this. So I feel bad when I tell our daughter how much I love it when she can't sleep at night in her too warm bedroom! And our boys have to work in it with their heavy work clothes.

Well, the phone just rang again! Another robo call! It is very disruptive.

Our County Council is making the final decision on our Comprehensive Plan next month. They have to do it every 5 or 6 years. Anyway, I am quite sure we won the battle again. We have been fighting a developer since 1991 and it gets a little tiring. They have been trying to develop the big farm across and down from us and put in several thousand houses and apartments. To do that, they would have to be annexed to the City and we do not want, nor can we afford to live in the City. So, I think we won again IF the final vote is what we think it will be. You never know until the vote is taken and in the books!

Two Fox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/two-fox-by-madonna/

I got stung twice by a yellow jacket the other evening when we were sitting out reading. It got me on the back and when I tried to swat it away, it went down my shirt and got me again. For some reason I  get a very bad reaction from them. So my back had two big red swollen spots for a couple days. It itched so badly and I couldn't reach the one. (Which was probably was a good thing)

My brother and his wife are at the big fire in California. They run the showers for the fire fighters. My brother is 75 and still going strong! My husband was a fire fighter for many years and he says were the best of times. He loved it. Our kids say they can still remember what his clothes smelled like when he got home after a week or so fighting forest fires. But it is sad to see the forests burning like they do. In California a lot of them aren't real forest fires, more dry shrub. 

Well, I am going to get back to work. Hope everyone is having a great summer. I couldn't believe it when we walked into a store a couple weeks ago and they had Back to School stuff. My gosh, they just got out it seemed like. Time goes way tooooo fast.