Tulips, Doves, Stuff

(Blogger is having problems separating paragraphs again today. It does that a lot.)

These were all taken today.

Mama dove on her nest, she's been up there for several days so we're pretty sure that there are eggs. She flew off as soon as we took the picture, but she never stays away very long.

The tulips! They could stand to be weeded, but I haven't bothered. The useless sentricon system is being pulled out next week and one of the stations is in the middle of the tulip bed.

You can see my shadow! Or at least the shadow of my head. The Queen of the Night bulbs finally bloomed.

I don't know the name of this particular tulip variety, but there are a few of them and they are very pretty.

We have quite an assortment of tulips this year. My camera battery needs to be recharged, so I didn't get any bluebonnet pictures. But they are blooming! Small blooms, but I'm happy that I have them at all.

Otter is much better, but she stayed home from school again today. She still has stiffness, but she's been on the medication and she's been using heat on her neck, as well as her excercises. She should be able to go to school on Monday, but no karate. In fact, she might not be at karate at all next week.

I am feeling better, but not 100% yet. I have very little voice - my boss has found all sorts of reasons to get me to talk today. He thinks it's funny, because I squeek. But he went and bought me some mints when he went to lunch, so I am not complaining. Too much, anyway. I'm just glad that it was quiet and the phone hardly rang! When I have had to talk, I have to just about yell to be heard. But tomorrow is Saturday and our rest day, so I'm not going to talk if I don't have to. I have been drinking warm things, but I am trying to avoid becoming mega-caffienated again so it's mostly been herbal teas and I stopped for hot chocolate after work. I bought a package of decaf tea bags today, I'll probably have a lot of it tomorrow!

Otter's having email problems again, if anyone has tried to email her lately. I'm not sure what the problem is, but her computer has frequent problems with getting email. It's kind of frustrating, but Bill will eventually figure out what the problem is. Or he'll wipe the entire thing and start over!

I weighed when I took Otter to the doctor yesterday. I'm still where I was in December, which is what I was trying to do. My left knee was really bothering me for a while there, which I've noticed it does when I'm losing weight. I think it's because it has to constantly adjust, so periodically I have been stopping the weight loss and trying to maintain for a while to give my knee time to "catch up." But I think I'm about ready to get back into losing, I've still got more to go. I'm very happy with where I am now, since it's 50 pounds less than where I was just over a year ago. I'm just not there yet. But I will be!

There is a very fat beagle on the floor! She's on her back, she's managed to wiggle her way to where her belly is under Otter's foot but she peeks over at me once in a while. I think she is hoping that I'll stop what I'm doing and join the belly-rub brigade! Spoiled rotten! I think Frasier might be in the living room, he was headed that way a little while ago. Probably taking advantage of his chance to take all the dog toys outside!

So, Froggy - got your tickets yet?

Wednesday. Still Cold. Need any firewood?

'Cause we got plenty! And we are not anywhere near finished. There's still plenty more just waiting on Bill and the chainsaw. Bill's boss is out of firewood, so Bill told him to come on over but I don't know if he will or not. He said he was afraid that we'd run short, but I don't think he realizes just how much we will have when we're finished.

Bill went to work today. He'd been gone about 10 minutes when his boss called to tell him that they were closed. Fortunately, the cell phone worked so I could catch him and he came back home. After it got light, he headed over to the rent house to work on the tree. He said it's not as bad as he thought, the tree might survive. But it is badly damaged so it remains to be seen. The tree did miss the house, and the fence has a good sized dent where the tree limbs hit it. He brought home a van load of firewood and left some there, which he'll probably get in a few days.

Otter went to work with me today, Bill came by when he got finished at the rent house and we went to lunch. Then he headed on home and got back to work in the front yard.

After work, Otter and I were heading for WalMart but they were closed. They were open Monday, but they were closed today. Of course, we couldn't tell until we turned into the parking lot and saw the sign on the door - we didn't quite get to park so we didn't have to get out of the car to find out. We turned around and headed for another grocery store, and we were part of an unnofficial convoy of other cars that all went to the same place! I was able to get bread, eggs, milk and a few other things that they were out of the other day. But they were still very crowded and I did notice that they were out of or low on lots of things. There was only one variety of bread that had been delivered, fortunately it was a good wheat bread but I'd have bought it anyway! We also stopped at the gas station so I could fill the car.

When we got home, Bill was still out in the front yard working on the trees. He'd gotten a lot done, but there was still plenty for me to do. He's gotten at least a rick of wood, probably a cord and there's still a lot.

We had a mini-Adventure in Bill Land on Monday! I forgot about it when I was posting the pictures. At one point, he was cutting a limb off that had partially broken off and it fell down to the ground. Then it bounced up and hit him in the face! He came inside when I was on the phone to Froggy, so she already knows this story. He had 3 or 4 small cuts, none deep but he did scare the heck out of Otter! And then I had my own adventure today when I was helping stack the wood he cut for firewood. I smacked myself in the mouth with a log! OUCH! I might have a bruise tomorrow. But it was on the side of my mouth where I have the partial denture on the bottom, so at least I don't have to worry about teeth! :) At that point, Bill sent me back to the front to start stacking twigs and smaller pieces for the city to pick up. He thought I might be safer! But I still wound up with a frozen nose & fingers! At least they felt frozen.

I ran the dishwasher twice last night, and I've done two loads of laundry today. I'm not waiting, we have a good chance of snow the next few days and I'd prefer not to run out of clean clothing!

When the power came on yesterday, there were several instances where it flickered last night. So we had another living room camp out, just in case. And I woke up with a beagle on my feet again this morning!

No school again tomorrow. They have now used all three of their built-in snow days, tomorrow will be made up on President's Day. At this rate, they might not go on Friday either. But we don't know yet. A lot of the districts have announced for tomorrow and Friday, but ours hasn't yet.

I really hope that we don't get the forecasted snow. It would not be a good thing right now. But I have been to the store and stocked up a little bit more, and I'm getting the laundry done. Just in case.

Bill's Dad was still without power when I talked to his step-mom this afternoon. They managed to get some of their food into a friend's freezer, but she said that they lost quite a bit. We were just lucky to save ours.

My friend Trina said that they did not lose power, which they usually do. They are in an apartment, but they have a paper route so they still had to deal with the weather. She said that they have a lot of elderly clients on their route, and they've been checking on them as they deliver. Trina, I think that is very nice of you and I know the people appreciate it as well. Just be careful yourself! Maybe we will get to go thrifting again sometime in the next few months? If the weather ever straightens out, that is!

Got a few more today!

Grey Hares. Get it?

I know I have more than I did this morning. I looked in the mirror. And it's true. And they are all Willie Boy's fault! But then, they usually are.

Today's Adventures in Bill Land involved a missed step while carrying a printer and walking down the stairs. He "only" fell a little bit, he has a few scrapes on his right arm & hand (and bandaids) and a larger scrape just below his right knee. And he's sore. But not seriously injured, which is a nice change from his usual adventures! It was at work, and they made him fill out an accident report. Which is a little extreme, until you consider that this is Bill we are dealing with here. He says he's a good boy, but we all know the truth. But, he did manage to save the printer!

I was expecting a phone call, but I thought it would be Otter because I sent her to school with a sore throat. But she was fine, however now it's smoky and I'm sure she'll react to that as well.

When I got home, after we unloaded a trunk load of groceries, Bill informed me that he thought there might be a grass fire in the field behind the house. Lovely! I went out and there was definite smoke, but no flames and the smoke was thinning out. We kept an eye on it for a while, but I've had a slight headache ever since.

Still no Christmas decorations up, but we did manage to move the sofa table and clean underneath it. I think we clogged the vacuum up, there was enough dog hair & dust bunnies (yes, grey ones) underneath it to make about 2 Frasiers! We dusted every square inch of the table, then we put it back but moved slightly so that we'll have room for the Christmas tree. I think tomorrow when I get home from work I'll get started on dragging it all down from the attic. I'll try to remember to take pictures after I get it all situated and post them on here. But the tree won't have any gifts underneath it, due to Frasier and Maggie!

Maggie has finally learned to dance without having to have her paws held! She started doing it last week, we have been working with her to redirect her from jumping up on people and I think that we are finally getting through to her. She's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but she is good natured and lots of fun. And absolutely devoted to Otter. She will start to jump up but then she remembers what to do and she will stand on her back paws, and dance. It's so cute! Frasier has never been bad about jumping up on people, which is a good thing because the couple of times he actually has started to jump up his head has been above mine! He's a big dog.

Happy late birthday, Amy! You are now 18. You know what that means, right? YOU DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR MOM NOW! Froggy, have fun! Yeah, I know - Otter's not too far behind Amy and my turn is coming.

Happy late birthday to Carolyn, also. For both of your birthdays! She's the only person I know who actually has two official birthdays.

It's Tuesday and I'm Sick

I was hoping to avoid it, I was hoping that yesterday was just an allergy but it was actually the cold that Otter had over the weekend. I felt pretty cruddy last night but I slept well, I woke up feeling sort of good so I went in to work. But then I started to feel bad, and at 9:00 my boss told me to get my behind home, so I did just that. I've spent most of the day sleeping, I don't really feel a whole lot better so I might not go in tomorrow but I'll decide in the morning. I'm pretty much always caught up at work anyway. And I really do not want to pass this bug on to anyone, especially my 92 year old boss or his wife.

The first half of my day was spent asleep in bed. Then I got up and moved to the couch, and Frasier slept beside the couch. I woke up every once in a while and the dog was still there. Maggie was curled up in the middle of Otter's bed where she seems to have spent the day. Such energetic puppies!

Day two of Bill's vacation and so far, no injuries or illnesses for him. This is a good thing, considering the fact that he's either gotten injured or sick on nearly all of his vacations lately! He went to the gun range with Don today, I kept expecting to get a call to meet him at the ER! Fortunately, that did not happen.

Bill's been cleaning out a lot of stuff, he's found all sorts of old photographs and things we didn't even know we still had. Like the check book from our business in Texas, from 20 years ago. I think I'm probably safe to shred those, I don't really think we'll be writing anymore checks for Lewis Line Striping!

It's been warm, in the 70's the last couple of days. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40's and rainy. Then the 40's the next few days, and starting tomorrow night we should have a few nights of hard freezes. I probably should remind Bill to bring the jalepeno plants back inside. The cactus plants have been inside for a few weeks, but the jalepenos were still blooming so they survived the end of summer plant dumping.

The tulip bed is still not planted! But definetely by this weekend, now that we will have had cold enough weather. Tulips like cold dirt, if it's too warm they might start sprouting now and that would be bad.

I have a message for a friend. Shara, hang in there. You are an excellent mother and the Bean is a great kid. The principal/teachers can just go jump in a lake, as my late mother used to say.

Where God guides, He will provide

I saw that on a church sign the other day and it really hit home for me. We've had such a hard year, my illness & surgery and related medical bills; Bill's accident with his ankle; the rent house has sat empty for two months - but we still have to make mortgage payments on it. Stuff like that. Normal life I guess, but just a lot of it at once.

And then I realized that God has guided us AND He has provided for us. I think I needed to realize that yes, we have been able to afford both mortgage payments and the medical bills have all been set up with payment plans for the big ones and the small ones have been paid off. Bill was hurt bad enough, but it could have been worse - the achilles tendon could have been cut and that would have been catastrophic. Otter's healthy, she's had fewer and fewer asthma episodes as time goes by. We paid off my car 6 months early. We have food on the table, a roof over said table and clothes to wear. And we have quite a few extras as well. We have been blessed, we just don't always realize it. One of the biggest blessings is our family - all sides of it and every member of it.

So I've quit feeling sorry for myself and complaining. However, I have not totally put my soapbox away and I can drag it out to stand on at any moment! So expect me to be spouting off about something of the other at any time - you can't say you weren't warned! :)

I don't think I posted this after Tuesday, but maybe I did. So it might be a rerun. Well, it's rerun season on tv so I'm not going to worry about it! Anyway, at karate on Tuesday Otter earned her next belt test. It's on Saturday the 22nd. She will test for the brown belt. After the brown belt there is only one left - THE BIG ONE! There is a mid-step belt, black with a red stripe which is the intermediate step and nearly all of the kids have to go to the striped one before earing the actual Black Belt, but she's nearly there. It's still going to take several months, they don't rush the kids on the belts and they especially take time when they are close to earning the Black Belt. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this one, and it's shining very brightly. She is really good at karate. So any boys who express an interest in dating her (and there have been several already, but she's not allowed yet) won't only have to be worried about dealing with her father if they get out of line with her! Maybe I should insist that she wear the Black Belt when she goes on dates! Yeah, that's a good idea. I think I'll suggest it to her - you'll probably hear her yelling at me!

The rent house is rented. I just heard from our agent, it's a done deal. That is also a blessing, by the way.