Calm Wednesday

I can't think of a title today.  It's been a calm week, mostly.

 

It's also been cold, although today was not so bad.  It's been in the 30's but today was in the 50's and sunny.

 

Otter and I went to the grocery store today.  She was off today so she hung around the house.  She was off yesterday, but she was running around with one of her friends (think shopping!) but today was a goof-off day for her.  She still had a few things she did for me, but she mostly just relaxed and played with the dogsters.  I'm sure the dogs didn't mind!

 

Bill's hammering pins back into the back of a pachinko machine at the moment.  The back is a fairly thick piece of wood and the picture is attached to it, then he has to replace all the little pins and that means he has to hammer each pin in individually.  Each pin has to be set at the right height or depth and it's tedious.  He has a wooden mallet he uses, he did briefly threaten to use my tack hammer but he thought better!  Smart boy, the tack hammer is off limits 200% for him.  :)  There are over 200 on the background he's working at the moment, which is probably about average.

 

Wooden mallets are not much quieter than a regular hammer, at least not when they are being repeatedly used right next to me!

Well Let's See If This Works

Here goes nothing!

 

Descriptions will be underneath the picture.

This is the area that is mostly my stuff, but there is a little bit of Otter's.  Since Otter took this picture, some of the things pictured have been sold.

Bill's part of the booth.  Between the shelves are two hooks with Otter's necklaces and above them is a stack of joke framed million dollar bills that Bill came up with.  I think the million dollar bills thing is dumb, but at least one of them has sold so somebody must like them.

 

Bill was able to transfer all my pictures onto a flash drive, then he deleted the corrupted files on the hard drive and reloaded the pictures back onto the computer.  I was afraid that I'd lost all my pictures.

This is not one I made, but I made one like this for Otter.  It's a character from a video game called a Creeper.

 

One more, because I loves me some Derpy!

BEEF!

It's what's (was) for dinner.

 

I don't think that is strictly a TEXAS thing, but it might be.

 

Anyway.  Today is our 29th Wedding Anniversary.  I stopped at a local butcher store the other day and got ribeyes.  Bill got out the grill this afternoon and they were, in the words of Otter, "cooked the right way, over an open flame."  And they were delicious!  The potatoes were baked in the microwave, but the way we do it they are good and not all squashy.  There were 4 steaks, so Bill will get steak for lunch tomorrow.  The dogs were so funny, they stayed outside next to Bill (and the grill) and sniffed the entire time he was cooking the steaks.  They got a tiny amount as a treat tonight and we kept back a tiny bit for them to have treats the next couple of nights.  Maggie Moo enjoyed hers so much that she kept licking her bowl and it slid nearly half of the length of the kitchen because she was so dedicated to getting the last drop!

 

We ate too much.  Not that anybody is complaining!  But the pie will have to wait, maybe until tomorrow afternoon.  Same thing for the ice cream to be served on top of the pie.

 

Otter recovered from the bug, it doesn't seem to last too long.  But that doesn't mean it was fun for her, it's a very intense bug but then it's gone quickly.  She did have a little fever Friday afternoon/evening, but not high and no other symptoms such as achiness or anything that could be flu.  I had a touch of it, but mine was lighter than hers.  We both woke up feeling pretty good yesterday, so we went ahead with our plan which was to go to the Tulsa Flea Market.  We have an occasional "excursion" on Saturday and we'd been planning this one for the first chance we got when she didn't have to work.  It was a fun trip, very crowded at the fairgrounds because (as usual) there is always something going on out there.  The flea market opens at 8:00 but we didn't get there until about 10:30 and that meant that it took us a while to find a parking space - which was in the Back 40!  But we still had fun.  Otter didn't buy anything, I found a specific Fenton piece that I'd been looking for.  It's a rose-bowl style vase, pink cased glass (white glass over a pink glass inside) in the silvercrest pattern.  I thought about a few other things but then decided against them, but I did enjoy talking crochet with an older lady who was selling her stuff and that's always fun.  I bought a couple of things from her.  We were only gone a couple of hours total, so we still got home in time to have an afternoon nap!

 

However, Bill decided to share in the fun and he started feeling icky last night.  I woke up a few times because he was so stuffy he snored loud enough to be heard in the next county.  At one point, I could hear him talking about being cold so I got him two blankets and went back to sleep.  When I got up this morning (before he did), I discovered that he already had a larger blanket folded over two or three times so he was well layered before he started feeing cold.  He slept in this morning but he felt much better by late morning so we went ahead with our day.

 

Today, we went to a nearby town for our semi-regular "last Sunday of the Month" fun day.  We actually went to an antique store that we like (Froggy, the one with the train caboose and next to the concrete place) but we don't get there very often.  About once a year, it seems like.  I found another Fenton piece, Froggy remember the rose colored small vase you got me at the Tulsa Flea Market a few years back?  This one is the same size but the top ruffle is slightly different and it's blue opalescent.  After that, we stopped by the store where our booth is and I finally gave in and bought a small pink hobnail Fenton vase that I've been lusting after for what feels like forever.  I finally decided that I'd better get it now, because eventually someone else would have realized what it was and it would be gone.  That's 3 pieces this weekend, but they are all fairly rare pieces and were good finds.

 

I got some crochet done yesterday and today on your "whatevers", Froggy.  I'm still not telling.  :)

 

Now, I think I'm going to sit on the couch with a glass of wine and enjoy my evening.  And the memory of the great meal we just had!

TEXAS Speak

Gotta post this!  I saw it on another site, there is no "Like" tab on this blog so that part doesn't apply - but the part about being proud to be a TEXAN does.  The rest of it is the important part.

I'd also like to add that we get just a mite testy when outsiders use our Words.

Carrier Monkeys

I like that phrase.  It's funny.

 

It's also appropriate.  Bill is home today, he still had tummy issues this morning so he stayed at home.  Otter was already off today, but her boss had asked her to call him this morning about extra hours today.  However, she woke up with really bad "allergy" symptoms this morning, so she was hoping that she wouldn't be needed.  Her boss wasn't in when she called, he is apparently still sick himself.  Otter isn't well, she is afraid that she might have the flu but she doesn't have the right symptoms.  She has something, but I don't think it's the flu and it's probably not "just" allergies either.  They didn't need her to go in, which is what she wanted, but she probably would have if she'd been asked.

 

And so do I!  I have had allergy issues for a while, but more the last couple of days.  I went to work this morning then realized that I had a sore throat - and had for a while.  I left shortly before noon, I did have a few errands and I decided to go ahead and get them done while I was still feeling decent enough.  I added in a stop at Sam's, and I bot several large cans of chicken broth because it is a chicken noodle soup day if there ever was one.  I went to the post office and to put a couple more things in the booth (didn't look like anything had been sold) and I stopped at the butcher shop for rib eye steaks for Sunday.

 

Otter and I were going to the flea market tomorrow, but we're thinking we will probably have to put that off until later.  We're still going to make monkey bread in the morning (appropriate now, don't you think?) but that was the planned breakfast for tomorrow before the comment about Carrier Monkeys.  We just won't head out the door after breakfast, but I won't be surprised if Otter goes back to bed and Bill takes a nap.  The dogs will probably nap as well, but that's a normal activity for them.

 

I had to go find Frasier just now.  Maggie Moo was happy to see me when I got home, but Frasier was nowhere to be seen.  After a couple of hours, I realized that I hadn't seen him at all.  Which got me concerned, he is an old dog and it is pretty cold.  He was ok, he was out in their yard - snoozing in a sunny spot.  He was quite happy to see me, he came inside and then he turned right back around and went back to his sunny spot!  He'll be in later, when he gets tired of napping in the sunshine.  Then he'll probably nap on their blankets.

 

Weather is the next subject.  It's cold.  It was 8 degrees when we got up this morning.  Eight!  Mighty cold.  But at least we don't have the ice & snow that Froggy has in the Austin area and that the San Antonio area has.  The news this morning showed reports from SA, people were abandoning their cars on the freeways because they were icy.  Texans ain't wimps, but we do know when it's smart not to do something.  But we are stubborn and sometimes it takes us a little bit to realize that maybe we shouldn't be attempting whatever it is!

 

Now, I'm going back to my migraine.  First one of the year.  I'd have preferred not to have to deal with it but it's not horrible.  I got Tylenol, aspirin and caffeine down as soon as the flashers started.  They didn't last long.  I have a bit of a headache but it's not that bad, considering that it is a migraine.

It's a Cold One

It's actually been cold since yesterday.  Or maybe the day before!  After a while, the days are all running together and all I know is that it is cold.  C.O.L.D.  And windy.

 

I read something on a Texas-related blog recently.  It's entirely correct.  The poster basically said that he'd take the normal (for us) 200+ degree summers, but "you" can keep the cold!  It's one of those Texan Rules (we have quite a few) that we can (and do) complain all we want about cold weather.  So, we do!  LOTS.

 

After all, incandescently high temperatures are our natural environment.  :)  And we like it that way.

 

Of course as I type this, Froggy (near Austin, TEXAS) has snow.  She reports that it's just a dusting, but it still counts.

 

Otter was sick yesterday, we thought she had allergies but apparently what she had was a short-term bug that she probably got from someone she works with.  Her boss offered her an extra few hours today, so she worked 5 hours that weren't on her schedule originally.  Apparently, a lot of people she works with have or had this bug and the boss said that they seem to have a carrier monkey among their employees.  Carrier Monkey.  I like that phrase, I'm going to use it whenever I can.  She also said that her boss was coming down with it today, in fact he even felt so bad that he was heading to the emergency room.  I think he was afraid of flu, but that is not what the bug is as far as we can tell.  He might have had something else, or maybe he really did have the flu.

 

Unfortunately, Otter carried it home with her and Bill came home from work about 12:30 with "tummy troubles" which is part of it.

 

Since Bill got home so early, and it is so cold, he got the fireplace going the minute he got home.  It was nice to walk into a toasty house when I got home - especially since it was probably in the teens!

 

I went to the booth yesterday after work.  No machines sold yet, but some of the smaller things have been sold.  I will probably go by tomorrow after work, I have a couple of small things to take but if I don't make it until Sunday it's ok.

 

Sunday is our 29th Wedding Anniversary.  We're going to start celebrating on Saturday.  I'm making monkey bread for breakfast!  We're going to have steaks on Sunday and we're going to go to a local antique-ish store on Sunday.  Considering that one Anniversary was spent steam cleaning the carpet and another one was spent replacing a sewer line at our old house, I think this one is going to be 100% better spent.

Roller Coaster Week!

This week is what the forecasters refer to as a Roller Coaster.  Warm Monday.  Cold Tuesday.  Warm Wednesday.  Cold Thursday.  Warm Friday.

 

Today is Tuesday, so we're on the downward slide of the roller coaster and it's cold.  COLD!

 

However, it's still upswing as far as allergies are concerned!  Lovely Mountain Cedar, I'd like to burn it all up.

 

Sunday is our 29th Wedding Anniversary.  We don't have any big plans, it's the last Sunday of the month and we try to do something fun as a family on the last Sunday.  This time, we're probably going to hit a couple of antique stores in our small town or possibly in one of the close small towns.  For our Anniversary, we're having our "standard default meal" of steak and baked potatoes.  I already knew what the other two carnivores would want, but I asked them anyway - just to be nice.  Steak got all three votes, but nobody is surprised about that!  Bill's going to get out the grill for the steaks this time.  I'm going to the butcher shop on Friday and get them, Bill keeps reminding me that he wants 1" thick steaks (at least.)

 

Otter and I went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon.  Froggy - you already saw a picture of the yarn I bought for the "whatever" I'm making for you.  We noticed that the Easter stuff is out already.  It's still January and Easter is not until April 20!  Geesh.  Obviously, Easter is an important day to be observed.  The most important one, actually.  But the stuff that is on sale is all "fluff" for lack of a better word.

 

I'm going to go by the booth tomorrow after work.  I don't really expect anything to have been sold, although I hope that something has.  Mostly, pachinko machines!  But it's been a couple of days so I am going to go by and reorganize anything that might have been rearranged.  I might make a few more things for the booth, but I'm not inclined to at the moment.  Bill's probably got two more machines he's going to put in it.  I have been cleaning out misc. stuff but haven't come across anything else that I want to put in it.

 

Otter's been tossing a few ideas around for her next cosplay adventure.  She's going to the comic convention in Tulsa this summer, she will probably do what she did last summer and get a group of her girlfriends together.  They'll rent a room at the hotel that hosts the convention, and they'll spend the entire weekend there.  She thinks she's narrowed down her costume for the main one, which she'll wear on the Saturday.  She will probably have a less detailed costume for the Friday night but she's not sure if she'll plan anything for Sunday since it's mostly just in the morning and a lot of vendors/activities are done and gone by Sunday morning.  It's a pretty well-known con (con is short for convention) and it is attended by a lot of people who come from surrounding states.  But there is an even bigger one in the Fall.  She's definitely going to that one - and I don't blame her.  Stan Lee will be there!  No way she can skip out on that one.  Stan Lee!  Talk about the Big Dog.  He's about the biggest.  She'll probably rerun her main costume from the summer con for the Fall con.

 

No more mice lately, but we haven't replaced most of the traps yet.  The remaining one in our bathroom, behind the toilet, has no bait left so there is still at least one rodent.  Probably more.

 

Froggy, I'm still not telling.  No more details, but you might get a sneak peak later on.  Other than the one you got today, of three skeins of yarn in my basket at Hobby Lobby!

Stuff We've Been Up To Lately

Mousies, mostly.

 

The tally is 7.  Maybe 8, we may have forgotten one.  One was a male, the rest have been female.  We got the latest one in our bathroom yesterday, it was the trap behind the door in our bathroom.  Two have been in Otter's room, there are probably more there.  One has been in the dining room, it's probably the one that came in the dog door when I was in the kitchen.  The rest have all been in the back part of the house.  Otter has been rearranging her craft/sewing/fun supplies in her room in an effort to give the mice as few places as possible to hide/nest in.  I'm thinking that I need to take everything out of my closet and look for any access areas.  They are coming from somewhere!

 

A lot of it is probably because of all the construction behind us.  Speaking of the construction behind us, we were making breakfast yesterday morning and Bill noticed that he could see the lady who lives in the house behind us.  Specifically, he could see the top of her head and she was standing on her patio up near her door.  And she was very obviously trying to see over our fence into our windows!  We don't know if she could see in the window itself or not, but when I walked to the window she very suddenly turned away and acted like she'd been caught out at something.  Yes, we were dressed - but Bill said that he's very tempted to not be the next time he stands in front of the window in the dining room.  :)

 

This is a test to see if blogger will let me post a picture:

Obviously, it did.

 

I'm still having computer issues, I've found my pictures but only through blogger.  The computer itself still says that the drives/files/folders do not exist.  I have 3 or 4 pictures Otter took of our booth today that I've been trying to post.  But the computer won't let me save them because the drives/files/folders do not exist - except that they do!

 

I'll keep trying.

 

Anyway, Otter and I went to the booth today to add a few things.  Finally, something has sold.  Not a pachinko machine, however.  Bill had a marble statue of a bird that he got at an auction many years ago, he put it in the booth and it was gone today.  Also, two of Otter's crafted My Little Pony necklaces have sold.  Lots of things were moved around, so people are at least looking at our booth.  We are probably only going to keep it for the 3 months we are obligated to.

 

Bill and the neighbor got the issue with his Impala solved fairly easily.  Bill did some research online and discovered that the later models of the cars built on the Impala frame have an access panel that is underneath the rear seat.  He had to remove the seat, but that wasn't too difficult.  But it was dirty!  There was quite a bit of debris that was obviously from when I was driving that car - like candy that young Otter lost behind the seat, a couple of toy tags, a quarter, etc.  They got the access panel off and the tank was right underneath it, it was basically a "plug and play" operation after that.  Remove the old piece and replace it with the new sensor.  Then they just had to replace the access panel and the seat.  Bill went to fill the car up when they got it finished, the sensor obviously works now.  Otter's relieved, she was afraid of running out of gas when she was driving it.

 

Testing, again:

That about sums up my philosophy of life!

 

I'm going to make chili for dinner tonight.  We still have tamales in the freezer, I think I'm going to get a dozen out and we'll have them with the chili.  If Otter is lucky, we'll save her some tamales.  She's gone to meet J at a local game arcade that is across the street from where she works.

 

But we might just eat them all!

More Stuff I Didn't Get to Blog About

Last Sunday, Bill got out into the shed.  He took every single pachinko and aripachi machine out, put them on a large tarp that was on the grass and then he put them all back in the shed again.  This time, they are organized.  Sort-of, this is Bill we are talking about here!  I was going to help him, but the wind was blowing hard and just going outside was enough to send me into an immediate & severe allergy spell.

 

The mouse tally is now 6.  Otter got one today, it was in the trap behind the chest of drawers in her room.  It was another young female.  She needs to put another trap in there, but she hasn't had time yet.  The trap behind the toilet in our bathroom was still there, but the bait wasn't.  Otter re-baited it and put it back, the one behind the door to our bathroom was still baited so it was left alone.  We haven't had them this bad in years, I think the building going on behind us probably has a lot to do with it.

 

We checked the tulip bed this afternoon.  No sign of tulips yet, it's still a bit early.  But the confused daffodils are coming up in one spot.  They never seem to know what season it actually is, they just come up when they feel like it I guess!

 

The news has been talking about the fact that it's peak flu season right now.  It's also RSV season, it usually peaks in December but it's later this year.  RSV is very dangerous, I'm sure Froggy agrees with me on that.  It can be very serious.  I'm less "worried" about the flu this year, the cdc announced that they got the mix right on the flu shots.

 

Bill and the neighbor (he's a mechanic) are going to attempt to replace the fuel level sensor in his Impala tomorrow afternoon.  It's got less than 1/2 a gallon of gas in it.  Otter is very anxious for the repair to be finished, I don't blame her.  It's not any fun driving a car when you don't really know how much gas it has - if any!

Stupid Windows Updates

One of the things I don't like about my laptop is that Windows updates are done automatically and I can't tell them "No/Later", etc.  But that might not be the laptop, it is probably the Windows browser that came with it.  I've been having an issue signing in for about a month now, it finally just quit letting me do anything at all.  Bill said he'd look at it when he got a chance, he's been pretty busy and just tonight got a chance to see what he could do.  I had found some information and he found some more.

 

Turns out that I'm not alone.  It also turns out that Windows did one of it's automatic updates and screwed up a boatload of computers and access to blogger.  It's fixed now, and hopefully will stay that way.

 

As Bill says, other people making decisions for me...

 

It's been pretty frustrating.

 

OK, on to other things.  Since January 7, the last time I blogged, lots of stuff has happened.

 

We've had cold weather.  We had a couple of really cold days.  I was supposed to go back to work after vacation on the 6th.  We had record cold the night of the 5th, and there was already ice in areas.  On the 6th, I stepped out on the front porch to check for ice on the street and on the cars.  There was a touch of ice but not bad.  What was bad was that my lungs shut down.  As in, I took a breath and literally could not take another one.  Because of the cold.  I have cold-induced asthma, but it's never been that bad.  I was able to breathe as soon as I came inside, but I fought asthma all day long.  I didn't go in that day, it was just too difficult to breathe and it also hurt to breathe.  Otter had to work that day, she went in at noon and Bill took her since there was a slight amount of ice on the roads.  By the time she got off, which was 5:00 I think, I was feeling better so I went to get her.  It was still cold, but at least I could breathe!

 

The newest rain barrel froze over.  It was solid.  The first one freezes, but it has an "escape" hatch for overflow that the new one doesn't have.  The new one was mis-shapen slightly which is how we realized that it was solid.  The bottom of it was pooched out a bit and it was leaning backwards.  It does not seem to have ruptured, but it isn't sitting quite straight anymore.  Bill thinks the stand has settled slightly.  He's going to see about leveling it up.  But at least the rain barrel seems to be ok.

 

We're dealing with more mice.  A couple of weeks back, Otter thought she heard one in her room but never could find it or even definite signs that there was one.  Yesterday she heard something moving around under her bed, like paper being twisted up.  So, she found the spare traps in the garage and got one loaded with peanut butter.  She put it under her bed.  Yesterday evening, we were sitting on the couch and Otter suddenly flew past us with a trap in her hand - and a dead mouse attached to the trap.  This one was an adult female.  Since then, she has replaced the trap and also put another one underneath the chest of drawers.  No mousies trapped, but both traps have been emptied of bait.  We've also had to rebait the traps in our bathroom twice, they keep getting emptied.  Mice tend to be social animals, where there is one there are usually more.  Especially females, they group together much more than the males do but a female often means that a male is part of the "group" and that means more mousies in the future.  We are up to 5 that we've trapped, possibly 6 but I can't remember if there was a 6th one or not.

 

Bill and I decided to try a booth at a local antique/craft market.  We checked out a few places, then went with the one that we usually shop at.  It's been around for years, it was sold to a new owner several months ago and it seems to be going strong.  We started our booth last week.  Mostly pachinko machines, but Otter and I also have several things in it.  It's a 3-month contract, after 3 months it goes to month-to-month.  We don't really expect it to be successful, the machines we have in the booth are restored and they are not exactly cheap but they are not the priciest we've seen/had/sold/bought before.  But it was worth a try, and the booth rent is fairly cheap so if it doesn't work we won't be out a whole lot.  We had been planning on taking it effective 2/1/14 but there was a good one (on a strong wall and in a good spot) available so we decided not to wait.  The only problem with not waiting is that I didn't have much crochet ready because my plan was to spend a lot of time in January building up stock.

 

Speaking of Bill, specifically his car - the low fuel light has been coming on for a very long time when it actually had fuel.  Even when it was just filled up.  Bill's been watching the odometer and he knew when he needed to fill up.  Otter drives his car when she needs a vehicle, so Bill decided it was time to fix the fuel sensor.  This is one of those things that Bill can do himself, the part was $39.00 but he needed to get the fuel tank empty or close to empty.  Today's plan was that he was going to drive the Impala and park it in the driveway until he has time in a couple of days.  Otter was off work today, but she was feeling housebound and wanted to run errands with me after work.  I came home and got her, we got the first errand done (post office) and Bill calls me because he guessed wrong and ran out of gas.  He was less than a mile from the house and we were pretty close, so we came home and got one of the gas cans Bill keeps with the lawn mower.  We had to go back the opposite way, again less than half a mile, and fill the can up then take it back to Bill.  We waited until he got the Impala started, just to be sure that the problem was that he was out of gas and not something else.  He got home and the car is parked until he can work on it which will probably be Thursday.  Otter works tomorrow but I'll take her this time.  She'll have to get there early, but I will drop her off at the McDonald's across the street from her store and she'll just have breakfast there.

 

I guess that is it for now.  I'm just glad that I can blog again!  Froggy probably is, too.

Computer Issues

I'm apparently having problems with my computer, or at least Blogger thinks I am.  It's possible, given that it tried to eat my picture files recently.  I'm borrowing Bill's computer at the moment, until we can figure out what the problem is with mine.

I think I can still post comments if I receive them, I'm able to sign in but then I can't get to the page to post.  So, if I don't have anything up for a few days that is why.  (Froggy, you don't have to get on me).

Warm Feet

A beagle makes a wonderful foot warmer.  I highly recommend it!  Of course, they like blankets so you might need to have one over your feet to attract a furry warmer.  Frasier is snoozing on their blankets at the moment, but he's been clingy today.  I think he'd prefer to go outside, but he's not inclined to go get cold.

 

The forecasters got it right this time, they almost got it last time but it missed us.  This time, it didn't miss.  It's been snowing since sometime in the night, I think we probably have anywhere from 1 to 2" but there is very little ice with it.  There is a small amount of ice, so we aren't going anywhere today but mostly it is "just" snow.  It has been coming down all day, it's just after 1:00 now and it's tapering off.  I have 4 seed feeders out and a lot of bird seed tossed around the yard.  The 2 suet feeders are still up, they last a long time although they have had plenty of visitors of the feathered variety.  Including 2 male cardinals and at least one female.

 

I did get a little crochet done, I started a cotton washcloth.  But now that I'm about 1/4 of the way through I'm not sure if I'll have enough of that particular yarn color.  I'll keep working on it, when I get to about 1/2 way done I'll look at it again and decide then.  If I don't have enough of that yarn, I have plenty of other cotton yarn in colors that will work with it.

 

I'm feeling housebound.  Otter doesn't work today, so we're all hanging around the house.  In front of the fireplace, mostly.  Bill's been taking a pachinko machine apart to restore it.

 

It's a chili day, as well as a chilly day.  Chili is on the menu for dinner tonight.

Cold Friday Morning

I think I'm out of the "zone" that I was in yesterday.  I feel 100% better today.  I'm still having allergy issues, but Froggy mentioned how the Mountain Cedar is bothering her and I think that's probably my issue as well.  Hate the stuff!

 

We loaded up the car with recycling and dropped it off this morning.  It was nearly all cardboard this time, but there was a little bit of plastic and glass as well.  Still filled up the trunk and back seat of the car!  Most of the cardboard was Bill's, he cleaned out a lot of stuff during the last couple of weeks while he's been off work.

 

Otter enjoyed the movie yesterday.  She said that it was good but that it did skip a few things that should have been included and will matter in the next movie.

 

Otter is at work this morning, I took her today and she helped me with the recycling.  We are going to go to the Hog Trough for lunch today, so it was easier for me to take her and then we'll pick her up when she gets off.

 

20 degrees this morning.  It is supposed to be in the 40's today and tomorrow.  Then it's supposed to get really cold tomorrow night and we might get a snow storm on Sunday.  Bill's going to make sure that there is a lot of firewood inside, just in case.  I'm going to make sure that the marshmallows and chocolate are in easy reach!

 

Frasier is getting to be as goofy as Maggie Moo is.  This morning, I went outside to check on their outdoor water dish.  It was frozen over, so I dumped it over and popped the ice block out.  It's a rubber dish pan so it was easy to pop the ice out.  While I was doing that, I heard what I thought was a woodpecker.  I looked around and couldn't spot it, then I realized that the sound was constant and that it was coming from behind me.  I turned around, and there was Frasier - with loudly chattering teeth!  I had to make him go inside, but he went back out again almost immediately.  Silly boy.  Well, at least he didn't get stuck under a blanket and unable to find his way out like Maggie Moo did yesterday!

In The Zone

It's my turn to be in the Twilight Zone today.  I think I have what Otter had yesterday.  Mild, but it's still there.  I wasn't feeling the best last night, but I thought I was just tired.  I had a slight headache when I got up this morning and felt a little icky.  After a while, I felt better and we had breakfast.  I took motrin, which helped.  I had a couple of errands and I wanted to go to a thrift store, so I did that.  I left about 11:00 and it took a little over an hour.  Before my last stop, I started to feel cruddy.  So, I got my last stop over quickly and then came home.  Mostly, I've been parked on the couch.  With a blanket, which also comes with the required foot-warming beagle!  I've eaten a little, my stomach is feeling better than it did earlier but I don't want to push it.  Bill built a nice fire this morning and he's kept it going all day.  It's actually quite warm in the living room, it looks warm outside but it isn't.

 

We didn't get much in the way of snow overnight, just a dusting.  A very small dust at that.  Otter is recovered from the bug, she went to her friend's house.  They were going somewhere for lunch and then to the movies.  Since the weather was good (just cold!), she borrowed Bill's car.  They were going to see the new Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire.  Hopefully, it's as good as we've heard.

 

Tomorrow is our last day of vacation/holidays.  It's been a good vacation, we wanted a slow & quiet vacation and it's been that.  I hate it when vacations zip by, but this one hasn't and we've enjoyed it.  But it's going to be hard to get up and go to work come Monday morning.  For one thing, it's going to be even colder next week!

Tales From the Twilight Zone

Today is New Year's Day and the ScyFy channel has their traditional Twilight Zone marathon on.  We've watched several episodes, we've seen a lot of our favorites.  At the moment, Otter's favorite episode is on.  Number 12 Looks Just Like You is the title.

 

She's kind of been in the Twilight Zone herself today.  She hasn't felt the best for the last couple of years, she felt really tired and not-so-good last night.  She was supposed to go to work at 9:00 this morning and get off at 5:00, but she woke up with a tremendous headache this morning (it started last night, actually) so she slept in a little later than the 7:00 she intended to get up.  She was going to get up a little late and then still go in, but about 8:00 she started throwing up and did that a few times off and on during the day.  She called in, this is the first time she's missed a day so I think that her boss understood.  Otter was afraid that they might think she partied too hard last night, but she doesn't have anything to worry about.  Her New Year's Eve celebration consisted of two tamales, a few chips with some salsa and about half a glass of champagne.  And that was about 8:00, she went to bed around 10:00.

 

Bill's been working on his toys, he got most of the sanding box put together yesterday and he finished assembling it this morning.  He also cut some wood that he needed for pachinko cabinets.  We had to go to Ace Hardware this afternoon, he ran out of the specific screws he needed and a few other parts.  While we were out, we got Subway to bring home.  Otter's is in the fridge, she might eat part of it later on since her stomach seems to have calmed down.  Subway had a $5.00/footlong special which was a surprise.  It might just be for today, I don't know.  I didn't know that they had it until I went to pay for our sandwiches.  Other than that outing, we've been home all day.

 

We brought firewood in this afternoon.  Today was cool but not cold, but it could get very cold tonight.  We have a chance of snow, although it's not certain and probably won't be deep if it does actually hit.  But it will probably be cold enough for a fire in the morning.  Otter was originally going to go to a friend's house and then they were going to the movies, but she's going to see how she feels tomorrow and then decide.  If they do go, she said she might want me to drive them.

 

Bill got the mini blinds hung in the kitchen window yesterday.  They fit perfectly.  I put all the stuff back in the windowsill, the venus flytrap and a few things Texas related.  I thought about putting my curtains back in their, but I think I'm going to leave them in my quilt/curtain pile.  Although I don't know when I'm going to work on the curtains, that was my original plan for this vacation but things keep getting in the way.  Like pachinko related work and Bill needing help assembling the sandblasting box!

 

I did manage to get a bit of crochet done to start the new year.  Of course, it got frogged out immediately because I miscounted stitches!  But, at least I got some done.  Have to start the year out the right way!

2013 Review. It Was a Busy Year!

It was a very busy year, for all of us.  So, here goes:

January

I had the flu.  Even after a flu shot!  It was so light that I didn't realize it in time to get a prescription for Tamiflu.  It still wasn't fun.

Otter decided not to continue with college at this time.  She almost didn't go back in the summer of 2012, but decided to give it one more semester to be sure.  She made the decision on her own and we supported it, given her reasons.  She decided it was time to start looking for a job.

I reorganized my stash closet.  Which has now outgrown the closet!

First flat tire of the year.  Caused by a WOOD SCREW.

I crocheted a lot.

Second flat tire.  SAME REASON AS THE FIRST ONE.

We celebrated our 28th Wedding Anniversary.

I discovered (the hard way!) that I'm allergic to Acai.

Bill followed by lead by coming down with the flu himself. But he never got the flu shot, so it wasn't a surprise.

February

It was a short month, but it was busy.

The daffodils came up and brought a few tulips along for company.

Otter got a job!  At a party store, where she discovered that she absolutely hates to inflate helium balloons.  :)

I made a few scarves for the local yarn store which was collecting them for Tulsa police officers.

I discovered that a bird's nest from last year had an interesting construction supply:  YARN!

It snowed, a couple of times.

The last book by the great Maeve Binchey was released.  I got my copy immediately.  I didn't want it to end.

We had a snow/thunderstorm and also sleet and hail - all in one storm.

It was the 20th year of our move from TEXAS.

March

Otter got her first paycheck!  She bought me candy and bought dinner for Bill at Dairy Queen to celebrate.

Bill discovered his driver's license had expired - several days after the fact.

Otter was sick, we thought it was strep but that was ruled out after the test for it.  Although the doctor thought it was, until he got the results back.

I got my new glasses.

I got a lot done on the afghan.

Bill got tires on the El Camino.

He also got 16 pachinko machines in a single transaction, a local-ish collector sold his entire collection.

Otter saw her allergist, she got a terrific report.

I got my driver's license renewed, but I was on time with mine.

We had a severe rain storm. It was B.A.D. and I was on the road at the time, Otter worked late and I picked her up.  We should NOT have been on the road, but nobody knew it would be as bad as it was until it happened.

Otter turned 21!  We had a small party with her local grandparents, which was exactly what she wanted and it was a lot of fun.  She celebrated with her first official "legal" drink:  Champagne!

Easter. Which also as Otter's birthday.

April

I got a dishwasher!  It was one that Sweetie didn't need any longer, as she was re-doing her kitchen.  It works and we are glad.  Especially Otter!

We got the first hint from Bill in SA that he might be thinking of selling out his (huge) pachinko collection.

The bluebonnets showed up!  And they kept coming up.

I made two scarf/hat combos for a lady Bill works with.

The first of the Spring Storms, this one went north of us.

But the storm the next morning was tornadic! And it was also just a couple of miles from us.  It took out the roof of a house but nobody was hurt.

I accidentally gave myself a mild concussion, by hitting my head on the corner of the washing machine when I was attempting to get something out of the dryer.

Finally, after 21 years, I got to take the traditional Texas "child in the bluebonnets" picture!  Of course, the child in question had just turned 21 and the bluebonnets were in my front yard in Oklahoma!

We ordered new computers.

May

We had sleet.  In May!

We found out some unpleasant facts about Frasier's life before he came to us, and how badly he was taken care of by the so-called rescue group that had him.  A lot of their dogs didn't live.

Mother's Day.

Nana came to see us for Mother's Day weekend. :)

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(the dashes are courtesy of a very large, furry dog who leaned on the keyboard).

The first spoilers were released about a certain movie that made the BorgQueen (and most of the drones across the UNIVERSE) very unhappy.

On the 20th, we all got a reminder of what exactly "tornado alley" really means.  It was not good, the worst was in Moore and the OK City area but we got a series of bad storms.  Many deaths, including many precious children at an elementary school that was destroyed.

On the 30th, the storms were even closer but the Tulsa area was spared.  At first.  At 8:45 that evening, the sirens went off and they were for our area.  It was very close, but not directly in our area although it was within just a few miles.  No injuries, but lots of damage.

June

Bill turned 52!  We celebrated by having dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then by coming home and trimming tree limbs that were in our yard courtesy of a storm with lots of wind.

More bluebonnets!

I nearly got speared by a dive-bombing hummingbird!

Froggy's sweet doggie, Cookie, went to the Rainbow Bridge. :(

We saw the Memphis Belle!

Construction started on the house directly behind us.

There was a water main break in our small town.  We had enough warning to get water into every available container so we were ok, but it lasted a few days and wasn't pleasant.

Father's Day!  We made a pineapple upside down cake for Billyboy.

Hailstorm, tree damage.

The rain barrel overflowed.

Bill started working on shelf plans for the pachinko machines.

July

Vacation!

We mostly spent the week off working on the shelves Bill came up with for the pachinko machines.

Otter and I did escape a bit, we went to a local acquarium and to a nearby town for shopping.

July 4th was celebrated with burgers and dogs grilled by Billyboy.  They were good.

Spectacular news at work, I got a humoungous raise.  I was very surprised.

We had another storm, lots of wind and lots of tree damage.  Our gate was blown open and part of it broke off - which we didn't find out until after the dogs had been out in the back for a long time.  We were without power for a few hours, but parts of Tulsa were in the ark for a day or so.

We saw bats!

I had a few asthma issues, due to the wind.

August

Otter went off for a weekend, she went to a cosplay convention and had a great time.  She worked on her costumes for days beforehand.ma

The annual sales-tax free weekend occurred.  Now that I don't have to buy school clothes, I didn't need all that much.

Otter decided it was time to look for a better job.  One where she wasn't obviously, extremely taken advantage of because she is a hard worker and dependable.

Mosquitos!  We eventually figured out that we were growing our own, in a plant that we were rooting in water.

We got a 2nd rain barrel.

The builder behind us realized that the fence was in the wrong spot. They decided that it had to be moved a couple of feet into our yard.  We didn't protest, it wasn't a big deal.

Bill (finally, after literally months of arguing, resisting, threats, etc.) decided it was time to see the dermatologist about the spot on his nose.  The first attempt did not get it all.

We got the trellises put in place behind the house and the 2nd rain barrel hooked up.

The dermatologist had (another!) lesson in the care of Redheads.  Specifically, the part about how much we bleed!  Bill had several days of sleeping sitting up on the couch, not being able to do much of anything and being grouchy!  But I would have been grouchy, too - 18 stitches!

September

We got our flu shots.  Well, Bill didn't.  But I did and so did Otter.

Otter was offered a new job and she took it.  Much better environment, better pay, better hours, better future...

For a week, she worked both jobs.

I made several baby caps for a local charity.

Dead battery in my car.  It was still under the warranty so we got a break on the price.

The world had a Star Trek Moment!  V'Ger left the solar system.

We got new cell phones and switched companies.

We wore out the Ice Tea Maker we'd had since before Otter was born!

The bats were back, they hung out on the front porch around the light.  They were happy bats, but I don't think the bugs were happy!

Bill is SA finally decided to sell his entire inventory of pachinko machines.

October

Bill went to SA to get the inventory from Bill in SA.  Well over 100 machines.  The shed is packed to the gills and beyond.

I finally finished the afghan!  The one I started a few years back.

Bill got the first of several truck loads of firewood.  And several more.

TEXAS BEAT THE STUFFING OUT OF ou.  36 - 20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a bug that I thought might be the flu at first, but I don't think it actually was.

The cars were frosted for the first time one morning.

Found a coffee table at a local "garage sale" store.

The driver's side window in the El Camino messed up.  Bill had to block it in place.  It's still blocked as of 1/1/14 because he can't find the replacement part anywhere.  For a 1976 vehicle.

I had another screw in a tire.

November

I had to get a new ATM card, the bank notified me in October that my card might have been among a group that was hacked.  Nothing funny in our account.

First of several mice in the house.

We got the tulip bed planted.  Around 100 bulbs.

I went to Otter's store and bought a magnetic tool to use in the driveway.  I found lots of screws, nails, misc. metal pieces that have more than a passing resemblance to pachinko parts!  Bill claims to have no knowledge about how it all got there.

We got the first freeze of the season.

Bill got a chain saw sharpener!  No injuries, though.  Which is a very good thing, with Bill it's almost a given that he'll hurt himself.

The vet put Frasier on antibiotics, they did seem to help his deadly breath issue.

Otter got good news at work.

We had our first winter storm, the roads were ok but it was very cold.

Chevy diagnosed a minor oil leak in my car.

For the third or fourth time this year, the phone company had to come out and fix our phone lines.

December

I had another "flu-like" bug, but it was not the flu.  Just a bug!

It turned out that it was a very good thing that we spent a week in July working on a shelf system for the pachinko machines in the garage.  Because our hot water heater failed!  Major leak, water all over the place.  But the bulk of the machines were up out of the way.

The first ice storm of the month started the afternoon of the day we had to get a new hot water heater.

Snow.  Ice.  Cold.  We were very glad that Bill got so much firewood.

My (new) debit card was used at Target during the period of time that they were hacked.  I got another one issued at the bank.  Infuriating.

The neighbor behind us has two dogs.  We think that they might be doxies.  Frasier and Maggie seem happy to have friends to talk to!

More rain and sleet!  The ground is very soft from all the moles we have to deal with, the rain didn't help.  I stepped through the ground up to my ankle!

Because of the soft ground, the shed settled a bit.  I'm sure the overload of pachinko machines had a lot to do with it.  Maggie Boo got stuck under the shed!

Vacation!

Christmas!  We had a nice day, Grandpa and Sweetie came over for the annual Bill Breakfast.

Motorcycle Day!  I turned 52.  We went shopping.  All day long.  I found a few Fenton pieces.

Maggie Moo got out of the back yard.  There is a small spot where the gate had a gap which is from the storm in the summer when it was blown open.  We didn't realize it was there.  But Maggie did!  She didn't go far and she came back when I called her.

 

2013 was a busy year.  I managed to get quite a few crochet projects done.  I acquired a few Fenton pieces, some of them fairly rare.  Otter turned 21.  We didn't take any trips, other than a couple of nearby towns for a few hours of shopping.  We had visits from family and that is always enjoyable.  I had 4 migraines this year, some of them were stress-related and happened around the time of Billyboy's skin cancer surgery.

 

Happy New Year to everybody, and may 2014 be a good year!