It has been awhile

I haven't written much lately - all work all the time, but that is going to change. I have found if I just do a few little things for me - I feel so much better. I am eating better and less, reading, singing and of course playing with my pup. I am hooked on Mahjong and try a play a game or two on my breaks at work and a night when I get home - it really relaxes me and is good for the brain too! My goal is to get financially where I do not have to work full time and I have a 50 hour work week with my commute and it is wear and tear on my body, mind and spirit. Sooo...I keep plugging away at my goals and I know that I will accomplish them soon!

A Beautiful Fall Weekend

I want to thank my daughter for the beautiful pic on my blog page. It depicts what it looks like right now in our beautiful Illinois Valley. We have had a great weekend! Pine needles raked - I could help thinking I could make some money on those if I were in North Carolina!!! Gathered some wood to take to Chicken when we visit in a few weeks. Umbrellas and patio furniture put away, plants moved, some repairs made. Got the laundry done and a couple of shelves cleaned and organized. Angel went to the shot clinic yesterday and got the last of her puppy shots. We did not know if she had any as she was given to me, although he said she had some. We just started from scratch to make sure she is protected. So she is good for a year, then her rabies booster and she will be good for 3 years. Dex will make an appointment for her to be spayed this week if possible. I want to get her done before her next Estrus as otherwise we will be waiting another 6 weeks. She should be good to go on our trip to Shorty's & Bill's. I am looking forward to cooking for them and maybe a trip out to Savvy Island. This is my favorite time of the year to visit - it must be because this is my absolute favorite time of the year. Mild days and cool nights - we sleep so good! Thanks again Mishka darling for the fantastic pic of Fall.

Dog Day!

My little "Angel" was smelling pretty "doggy" so I thought it time to give her a bath and nail clip. My niece Mickey gave me some good doggy soap (her mom and sister work for a groomer) and it doesn't hurt their eyes and it smells so good. I had purchased one of those rotary nail filers as seen on TV, but she was terrified by it, so I gave up on that and took her to Pet Smart 4 weeks ago and they did her nails for free. Not being the sort of person to give in too easily, I bought a muzzle and a pair of nail clippers that have a safety device so you do not clip in the nail quick. Today was the day! She did not like getting into the sink, but she did like the scrub she got. Then we got her rinsed and toweled. Next, came the nail clip and I needed Dex's help for this. We had the hardest time getting the muzzle on her snout, but we finally succeeded, You would think that would be the end of the battle, right? Uh...know not quite. Can you imagine how squirmy a Chua Chua Dog can be? Very! We ended up wrapping her in a big towel, Dex putting her on her back in his lap, her snorting away in the muzzle and me drawing those hind legs out, so I could push her toenails out and clip, clip, clip. She was no worse for wear and neither were we. I just kept telling her how beautiful she is and I think she felt pretty proud of herself. I have marked the calendar and we will do this again in 4 weeks. I can hardly wait!!!

Time Flies and I am not having any fun!

Where is it going? School will start soon, it has just went by so fast. There are not enough hours in the day to get done and the things I need to do. I know, I know, one thing at a time. That is okay for some, but us Type A personalities want it all done now, all the time! My list keeps getting longer and longer, so I am breaking it out according to the season. All the things that need to get done to the house inside, will have to wait for Fall/Winter. All the yard work is to get done now. Dex is building me a super duper cart so I can take my yard debris in one or two loads. A co-worker is giving me a used composter, it needs some TLC, but I have always wanted one - leaves and garbage turned into good soil - Hurrah! I want to get the school bus moved so I can work on fencing off garden space so I can grow my own - vegetables that is. I dream of picking my own tomatoes, but right now they would go to the deer - they love them too! My maple tree is just now recovering from them eating all the leaves last spring! Well, I guess I better get my butt in gear as there is still plenty left to do today! Onward!

Hotter than Hades

Summer is here! 100 degrees today and promises of 106 by weeks end. I can handle it pretty well as long as there is no humidity and fortunately it is low right now. The routine is get up really early, get watering done outside and get indoors before high noon. I work in an air conditioned office, where I do have to wear my hoody now and then as it gets so cold. It is the ride home that kills me. Directly in the sun all the way home and my little car that has 187,000 miles on it holds up bravely, but I try not to use the AC as it is hard on the small engine and eats gas like a billy goat on a willow tree farm! We keep the house darkened and the little window air conditioner on about 75 and it is pretty comfortable, especially if you are sitting right in front of it like I am right now. Other news - the building has been signed off by the inspectors - finally! I will make Dex and me a batch of strawberry maggies to celebrate and we will pretend we are on a sandy beach somewhere! Now we can start putting stuff away and get organized. Stay cool everyone!!!

What's happening???

Let's see, shop building is up, steps on one door are finished. Dex will be ready to install the big door soon - he made all the hinges himself and it will be like trying to break into Fort Knox when he is done. We got the backyard mowed and umbrella's up, chairs dusted off and cushions placed, hammock and hammock swing are up. It is raining today, so all will be refreshed. We went to town and got the brick to finish the foundation where are hugh compressor will be housed. I looked at some draperie panels that I might buy and tomorrow I am ripping out the carpet so we can get new flooring in. I really do not like carpet and have had wood floors most of my life, I think that is why my children were not sickiy while growing up. I am a little phobic when it comes to germs, especially in carpet. I do like rugs though and will look forward to purchasing one for the living room. Oh, and we go to the dump tomorrow, they now have some recycling too! That's all for now - Oh, I just wish I could hear a chicken bawk, don't you?

Scary Computer Revealed!!!

Dex finally burned out the cd burner! He is an itunes cowboy junkie, like someone else in our family, and I knew it was just a matter of time. So...I go to staples and buy a dvd burner. I was told cd's sound much better burned on the dvd burner. Great, found one and next step is to install. Well, foolish me, for some reason I thought there would be instructions on "HOW TO" and guess what??? NOT!!! You see they expect you to either already know what you are doing or you are buying the part to have your IT savvy friend put it in or you just take the CPU in and let the pro's do it. Step #1. Google the job you are trying to do, before you unhook everything. Of course, you will not cover all the obstacles that you may incur, but at least you will have something to go by. Step #2. Make sure you have a backup support system, I have several, but could not reach them, Uh Oh.
Here is a 57 year old women, at the kitchen table standing on a rubber mat (I am very static),with screw drivers,canned air and flashlight ready to take this on. I finally figured out how to get the cover off, woohoo, then my first mistake, blowing the inside out with the canned air. I created one of the biggest dust storms in history. I had to wait 15 minutes for the dust to settled before making my next attempt. I was surprised at how simple everything looked inside. Lots of empty space! It took me a minute to realize the burner had to be pushed from the inside to the outside, started to do that, but this large "ribbon thing" seemed to be attached to it. Was there just a holder strap with the ribbon through it or was it hooked to this burner box. I made my frantic calls to everyone to no avail. Well I wasn't going to pull on it, or poke it, might damage something. Thought maybe if I pulled the burner out I would be able to see what the issue was. I tried looking with the flashlight, but it was still to dark in there to see. Finally I pushed some more and the strap thing(I thought was a holder),which was a bar with pins that plugged in, pulled out and it was finally free! I installed the new one in reverse and away we went, back to itunes and making great cd's for our friends and Dex's fellow musicians. I have to tell you, I had a great sense of accomplishment after doing this and will be putting in some more memory and a new VGA card soon! That computer is not so scary after all!

Spring????

Well, we thought spring had sprung, but I guess we were all wrong! We had some pretty wild weather the last few days. Wind, rain, snow, sleet hail and some cold temps to go with it. Our pear crops will suffer in the lower elevations as they were already in full bloom and now those flowers lie on the valley floor. The birds loved the weather and surprising they were extremely active, flitting around in the snow and rain from feeder to feeder. They were a delight to watch. I am hoping for a mild summer like last year, so our water holds out and we get the grass planted in front of our porch area. I am anxious to put up the umbrellas and get the solar lights out on the walk, put out new table cloths on the tables and get the chairs clean and the hammocks hung up, so I can spend some lazy afternoons ready my latest book. Go away old man winter, spring is here!

It is 81 degrees!!!

Dex and I got up early to hit the three yard sales in town. Found a nice bracelet for a buck and Dex got a couple of microphones for his studio. We moved a bunch of stuff off the porch today, and washed it down. Raked some leaves and ate our lunch outside at the picnic table - that was so nice. I have washed and sealed the birdbath and need to go put one more coat on it and hopefully it will stay bright for my birdies...speaking of birdies, we discovered a wood pecker family nesting in one of the birdhouses I have on the top of my hammock pole. That is the first time we have had any birds nest in any of our houses. I think I will just let them finish up all the suet cakes before I take the feeders down and give the a good scrubbing and filling with seed. We have fed birds all winter, but I am looking forward to seeing the ones that migrated coming back. Our fawns were out this morning and the squirrels were frolicking in the woodpile...Ah Mother Nature isn't she GRAND!

Weekend Sickies

Dex hurt his back on Friday, while he lifted a ladder he tried to slide a brace under it with his foot, shifting all the weight on one side of his body and thus tweeking a muscle. On top of it he developed a cold too. My weekend was spent nursing him back to health. I was feeling like a cold was coming on myself, so it was Zicam for the both of us all weekend. We did manage to get a few things done, but I now know what the term "stir crazy" means. I have been cooped up in our house for at least three weeks now, due to snow and sickness. I am determined to go into town this coming weekend and visit my parents, check on my daughter's rental and do some shopping! There is a car show at the expo and I will try to fit that in as well. I am a social being and being away from people for a long time, it is not good for me or my psyche. Hopefully the week will go by fast.....

Taxes - At the last minute of course!

Well, I spent all day Sunday, getting all the stuff ready so I could do our taxes. I do not have an organized system like I should have. We just throw all the stuff in a box and then go through it when the time comes. I use Turbo Tax which is a big help and so I finished about 9:00pm Sunday night. I efiled and got a confirmation from the feds right away. That was cool as we owed them a little, but even this morning when I checked for confirmation from the state I could not get one. So I ended up printing out our return, signing and sending Dex to the PO to get it posted with today's postmark. I did put a post-it note on it telling them that I did try to efile and could not get a confirmation just to make sure they did not deposit what they owe us in our account and send us a check in the mail also. We will see how this scenario plays out and I will keep you posted.

Patio Furniture Find

Well, the little well we use either has a pump problem or finally dried up and so we had to switch to the other well, which is deeper, but recovery is slower and water has more iron in it, even though we have it filtered. That means going to the laundromat to wash clothes. I take them home to dry them. As in most cases something good always comes from the little inconveniences in life. Because we had to go into town about 28 miles away, we stopped at a yard sale on the way. We picked up a glass patio table, four chairs and a really cool umbrella. The umbrella is about 8 feet across, muslim color and wooden framed. The whole thing cost $15.00. My backyard is ready for a party.

Labor Day - Labors

I decided to take the Friday before Labor Day weekend and the following Tuesday off. This gives me and D 5 days to get some serious projects done, before fall and winter set in. The major project is to put in a new bedroom window. Although it sounds difficult, we have got it down to a science. Once installed this will allow us to sheet rock this room and finish the siding outside. I am hoping for some quiet in our room once this project is complete. I will try and put up a photo on this site when we are done. I haven't tried doing that yet, so it will be a new thing to learn.