Pray for Texas

My beautiful TEXAS is hurting.

So are we, even if we are 500 miles away - we are still and will always be TEXAN.  It's in our dna.  It's in our blood.  It's in our hearts and souls.

Now, TEXAS needs help.

Salvation Army

United Methodist Church Relief (UMCOR)

Odd Week

Yes, Froggy.  I know.  It's been over a week.

But it's been such an odd week.

The Boss (formerly known as Younger Boss) was out of town on vacation this week.  On Monday, his sister passed away unexpectedly.  He was able to get back in town on Tuesday.  The week has been spent dealing with all the fallout and most of the fallout concerns The Teenager's widow (she's the Boss's mother and that means that it was her daughter that died).  Miss Dorothy is 98 years old, nearly 99 and is very fragile.  Her health is good, considering her age, but she is diabetic and has some other issues.  And now, she is having to deal with the absolute worst nightmare of any parent - no matter what age.  Miss Dorothy was hospitalized on Wednesday, she is better but the doctor wants to keep her there for the next couple of days.  I have not spoken to her, but she is having to deal with the loss of her daughter and it's rough.  The funeral for the lady who died is next week.  At this point, we are all pretty much holding our breath and crossing our fingers that this horrible event is not what causes us to lose Miss Dorothy.  It's hard for me to even type those words.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Froggy's middle child and his fiance are now parents!  Their little boy was born Thursday.  There were some issues with the baby which resulted in expectant mom being hospitalized for a couple of weeks and then she had a c-section yesterday.  He's 3 weeks early, but he made it to the 5 # mark which was the milestone the doctors were hoping for.  His small, but he's perfect.  I am absolutely itching with anticipation and can NOT wait until I get to snuggle him!  She texted me several pictures, no sign of red hair unfortunately.  :)  Otter says he's an adorable little squishy, so I think that Squishy may well be his blog name.  The new dad's nickname was Skipper when he was little so I'm going to continue to call him Skipper but I haven't come up with a good blog name for his fiance, the new mommy.  I'll get there eventually.  For now, we're just all over the moon with happiness.

Memorial Day 2016

Let us not forget them.  Any of them.  And what they were willing to do for us.

Close. Way Too Close.

Last night, Tuesday, April 26, 2016, we unexpectedly had to play this.  We got over 15 spaces!

Including the one about circulation - and it sprouted right over our house.

It was an ugly night.

But let me start at the beginning.

We knew a few days ago that the conditions were going to be right for bad stuff on Tuesday afternoon, evening and night.  The forecast kept changing and by Tuesday morning, it looked like we would probably not have the bad stuff but still could get thunderstorms, hail and wind with a much slighter chance of bad stuff.  We had a thunderstorm with hail midday.  Then the sun came out and that is actually bad, because warm air was not a good thing to have.

About 7:30 or so, it was a little rainy and it was windy but not bad.  About 9:00, it was obvious that we were probably going to get some storms out of the system that was rapidly moving in from the west.  There had been a few rotating areas, but the one spot that could possibly cause us concern was going to far north to bother us at home or Otter at her apartment although we expected that she could get a harder storm because the southern edge of the storm track was going to be pretty close to her.  Shortly before 10:00, I texted her with that information since I had the tv on and was watching it.

Almost immediately, we heard the worst sound possible:  the sirens going off.  We went to the laundry room (our safe spot) and I called Otter.  I told her to head down to their basement immediately.  She said the sirens in her area were not sounding but she got her shoes on, grabbed her purse and her radio, locked her door and started heading down.  She texted me as soon as she got downstairs and said that their sirens had started almost as soon as she had locked her door.

From then until 10:30, we texted back and forth with updates and the reports kept getting worse and worse.  The storm in her area was tracking north enough that it looked like her area would be safe.  She stayed in the basement with most of the other residents in her building until it was safely past them.  But by then, another "pop up" had happened and it was heading our direction.  It had produced at least one small tornado but it didn't stay.  However, the track was still coming towards us and we were waiting to run back to the laundry room if we needed to.  We weren't sure if we were going to get hit or not.  The wind was pretty strong at that point.  But it suddenly increased and it sounded odd - somewhat like the train sound associated with tornados but not exactly.  At that point, I commented to Bill that I did not like the sound of the wind and at that time the reporters started calling out street names and they were right where we live.  We hotfooted it back to the laundry room - and Maggie went right along with us.  We had taken her back every time we went to the laundry room, but animals frequently seem to sense things like that - maybe they hear them.  When she started heading to the laundry room pretty much ahead of us and on her own, we knew that something bad was happening.  The sound of the wind increased and it was very loud.  That was probably when it was sprouting.  It blew past us in a matter of a few minutes; it did actually develop into a tornado and it touched down probably less than a mile from our house.  I had been texting with Otter because she had heard the same reports we did and she knew we were in the firing line at that point.  When it passed us, I let her know that we were safe.  It was around 11:00 p.m. then.

Otter stayed in their basement for a while, there were a few dogs that were also their with their owners and they did what they always do - she's a magnet for them.  She was playing with a chihuahua that lives in the 1-bedroom that was originally her apartment before she and former roommate moved to the 2-bedroom unit.  Let's just say that she is very much my father's granddaughter!  She went back upstairs after a little while and let me know.

We were both exhausted by that point, but also Thankful.  It was after 11:30 before I managed to get to bed.  Bill was up for a couple more hours, he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep.  I was awake until well after midnight.  It was so hard to get up at 6:15 this morning when my alarm went off.

Otter had her 3rd of 4 dental appointments today, otherwise I think I would have just turned the alarm off and gone back to sleep.

But we are safe and their were no injuries associated with any of the storms.  There were several small tornados, in Tulsa as well as assorted surrounding areas.

WHEW! ALL DONE.

I have referred to a stressful situation a few times.  I also referred to last year being one of our worst for reasons I wasn't specifying.  At the time.

(It's actually been closer to 2 years, and it's been almost overwhelming at times.  Overwhelming to the point where it's affected both of us in terms of health and there were times when I seriously worried that Bill was possibly in danger of a stroke or heart attack.  It was that bad.  Soul crushing would be a good term to describe it.)

Today, I'm specifying.  An example of some of the issues.

Nearly 18 years ago, Bill changed jobs from the one he started with when we moved to Tulsa.  We moved out of Tulsa a few years back but are still somewhat close to Tulsa.  His job was actually in Tulsa and it was a fairly major Tulsa employer.

It started out good and had a pretty bright future.  But the last 2+ years have been beyond bad.  The bright future?  Well, it evaporated.  His department head retired and he (and the rest of the techs) were transferred to a different department head that had been in charge of their department in the past.  The department head wasn't very good then, but the situation was tolerable.  But then, just over 2 years ago, the department head started making changes which culminated in his hiring someone as a supervisor who is supremely unqualified for the job.  Basically, he put an unqualified bully in charge.  The bully started making life miserable for as many people as he could and the department head basically let him do it.  When anyone would complain, they were targeted for even worse treatment.  Apparently, the bully (and the department head) viewed anyone with any brains, experience, dignity, morals, etc., as a threat.  Bill was one of the first ones targeted.  He wasn't the only one, but he was the one getting the worst pressure.  We probably had grounds for a hostile workplace suit, among other things.  We were looking at options and considering what to do, it was pretty obvious that the supervisor was angling to fire Bill (and probably not just him) and he had (more than once) made up things or falsified things and even though Bill always proved that he (Bill) was not guilty of whatever he was accused of, the department head went along with whatever the supervisor said/did.  There is a lot that went on but I'm not going into those specifics.  We've prayed ourselves into near-exhaustion over what to do.

A couple of weeks ago, those prayers were answered.  In the form of a cost-cutting measure which basically was a contract buy-out offer to over 500 employees.  Bill was one of the eligible employees.

We realized that this was the answer we'd been praying for.  The timing was too perfect for it to be anything other than God's timing.  The buyout process was too perfect for it to be anything but God's timing.  The actual buyout offer was too perfect for it to be anything but God's timing.  He took the offer and turned the paperwork in this week.

Today was his last day actually being there although he is still technically an employee.  He has some vacation time which he's taking next week so that he's still actually employed but that ends at 3:30 next Friday, April 1st.  There is no way that he will change his mind.  It's a done deal and he's done with it.

And we are not worried at all about what the future holds.  We know that God is still in control.

One Tired Ottermom!

It's been a tiring day, although I haven't done a whole lot to be tired from.

I did manage to go to a church yard sale, I found a few books but nothing else.  I looked at a sale that is put on in a local storage place, they have one every few months and I don't usually go but I had time today.  It is located in the same shopping center as Otter's store, she was just getting to work when I was about to park so I stopped and gave her coke money.  She was pleasantly surprised.

I also met Bill up at the booth.  The owner of the booth thought that if he would come by and actually play one of the pachinko machines it might lead to a sale.  We've actually sold several lately, but from our website and not from the booth.  Although the machines were at the booth so we had to go get them!  Anyway, he spent about half an hour playing pachinko and did get some attention but I don't really think it will help sales.  Neither does Bill, but he didn't want to tell the owner of the store that because she really is trying hard to make a go of the store.

Maggie Moo is a happy beagle.  She wore one of her beds out and she got a new one yesterday.  It came from Otter's store.  Maggie has spent quite a bit of her time snoozing in her new bed, I think she likes it.  She's sprawled out across it at the moment, she moves every so often but only to change position.  She doesn't actually want to get up!

One good thing did happen today:  KN3 got married!  That's Froggy's daughter, she's the third of Froggy's three kids so that's why she's called K(id)N(umber)3 on here.  For a couple of reasons, it turned out that I wasn't able to go after all but we're very happy for them.

Froggy - you better send me lots of pictures!

And The Stars Look Very Different Today

I have always loved music in (nearly) all it's forms.  I was an original Kiss Army member, the Bee Gees are way up there for me, I like a lot of country music and I really like all genres.  Prince has always been a favorite, mostly because he is very unique and somewhat ahead of the trends.  But through it all, there has always been one artist that I would call my absolute favorite.

From the first moment I heard is music in the early 1970's, there was no doubt.  He was so far beyond brilliant, there are simply not words to express the depth of his gift.

He wasn't simply a trendsetter.  He WAS the trend. 

Ziggy played guitar...

And he said goodbye to us with his last work.  That in itself is a special gift to all of us.

He succeeded wildly at it.

It certainly was never boring while he was here!

A look at the life of David Bowie

I've seen several different people that this quote it attributed to.  But it sums it up perfectly:

"If you're ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie."

Christmas 2015

 

Luke 2:10-11King James Version (KJV)

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

King James Version (KJV)

(Credit to the Author)

74 Years

Never Forget.

Amen

Pray for Paris

Veterans Day 2015

Thank you.  All of you.

Another Star Trek Loss

Lt. Kevin Riley

It's another sad day for Star Trek fans.  Even though Bruce Hyde was only in two episodes, the character of Lt. Riley was a fan favorite.

I think this is the 5th Star Trek related death this year.

Can't Think of Anything To Call This!

I've been fighting allergy symptoms for several days and today I don't feel the best.  So, cut me a little slack Froggy!  (You know you want to get on me because it's been a few days. :)  Do I know you or what!)

Last week had some interesting weather.  Wednesday was odd.  I don't think we even made it to 80!  It was so nice, it was a very pleasant change from the warm and icky weather we've been having.  It hasn't been "hot", but then I go by TEXAN standards so my version of warm might be someone else's version of meltingly hot.  But the point is, it was nice and I enjoyed it.  We've had a few days of rain, Yesterday was rainy for most of the morning and into early afternoon.  I had plans to go to two neighboring towns on an errand for Froggy, but I decided not to after seeing the radar and the storm prediction.  It wasn't bad in terms of tornado alley bad, but there was a lot of water and some localized street flooding.  So my plans changed.  When Otter got off work at 2:00, I picked her up and work and we went across the street to Hobby Lobby.  After we shopped, I took her back across the street and dropped her off at her car.  This morning, we were planning on visiting one of the other 2 churches we are interested in but then we woke up to a pretty loud thunderstorm and a lot of water!  The power went out for about 30 seconds, which was B.A.D. because the coffee pot was only about half way through!  It came back on quickly, so I pushed the "on" button on the coffee pot and it finished.  That was a good thing, because I desperately needed caffeine this morning.

Otter came over to do her laundry this morning, Maggie Moo didn't get a walk yesterday because of the rain or Friday because it was just rainy enough that she wouldn't go outside (she might melt, you know!), so she was raring to go this morning.  When Otter got here, Maggie Moo was overjoyed and then she was even happier when she got to go on a walk with her Otter.  (Maggie made a new friend on her walk today, a young female pittie mix puppy who is just the sweetest, goofy baby!)  I wanted to get something at Wallyworld, so Otter and I ran up there after she got her laundry going.  When we got back, we went through the fabric boxes that Otter left here.  She cleaned out a small amount and got a few things to take home with her, but most of the boxes will go back to the closet.  Which is fine with me, they are not in the way and she doesn't really have that much room at the moment.  She may get some or all of the fabric later on, but it's fine if they stay here.  She gave me one of the picnic baskets - the original one that I had and gave to her, and some of the stuff in the boxes was mine so it's now in the picnic basket.  She left the large plastic tub full of her silk flowers and another box of misc. stuff that she'll get in the next few days or we'll take to her if we happen to be heading in the direction of her apartment.  We also stopped at Subway to get lunch to bring home after we went to Wallyworld, we all got foot long sandwiches with the idea of getting two meals out of them.  Bill's having his 2nd half for dinner at the moment, I'll get to mine eventually.

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but we're closing our booth at the antique mall.  We're paid through the end of this month, next weekend we'll bring the machines home.  I told Otter that we might want to borrow her car, since these are restored machines and could be damaged if they are tossed in the back of the El Camino.  I also might need to borrow her car one day to get myself to work, since we're probably going to put new tires on my car this week.  She's agreeable, we buy her gasoline when we borrow her car!

In the news this week, former President Jimmy Carter has cancer and it's spread to his brain.  He probably doesn't have a lot of time left.  I have never made a secret of the fact that I think he is the worst President in recent history.  I'm not too impressed with some of his actions/statements after he left office,specifically his comments about Israel.  But as a human being, I do feel for him and I wish him the best with his treatment.  I also think that he is a genuine Christian and not a "show Christian."  He needs our prayers as he faces what is probably the final battle of his life.

I rearranged some of the kitchen decor.  Actually, the dining room.  I have a triangular plant stand, it's tall (5 or 6 shelves) and is designed to fit in a corner.  I moved it from where it was to the other side of the dining room, it's now beside the china cabinet and the trash can is moved to where the plant stand was.  I'm going to hang the 5 ceramic and 1 metal pie plates on the wall that was formerly covered up by the plants stand.  It makes the dining room look better, less cluttered and all I did was move two things to the opposite side of where they'd been!

Tired. Blessed.

The Teenager's funeral was this afternoon.  The church was pretty full, he knew just about everybody and it's a tribute to him and an indication of the immense respect people had for him.  He was one of the happiest people I've ever known and he wanted everyone else to be happy.  He enjoyed his life and always tried to find the fun in things and the good in people.  There is going to be a huge hole in the lives of a lot of people, mine included.

Otter obviously went with us, and so did J.  J never met the Teenager, but he wanted to support Otter and also to show respect to someone who was so important to her - and we really appreciated his obvious concern and care for Otter.

The office will be closed tomorrow as well.  The Teenager would probably be unhappy with us for that - there wasn't much that could keep him out of the office.  :)

Since I have an unplanned day off tomorrow, I'm taking the Magginator in to get her rear parts squished and her pedicure.  But mostly, I'm just going to take it easy and do stuff around the house.  I may get some crochet time in and I am partially through with cleaning pins on a pachinko machine for Willy.  But I desperately need some down time and I'm going to get it tomorrow.

Tonight is going to be spent sitting on the couch with a beagle at my feet and the tv remote in my hand.  Possibly a drink as well.  But that's about the extent of my activities for the evening.

But I do think we gave the Teenager a good send-off.  He was special and he deserves every bit of respect possible.  I truly feel Blessed to have had him in my life for the last 21+ years.

Stress Tuesday

Yesterday was awful.  I went in to work early and Younger Boss was ahead of me.  It was so hard, we both just kind of hugged & cried for a while - and we don't normally hug, but this time we did.  He was pretty well overwhelmed, there is so much to do normally when you lose a parent but when the parent was the owner of the business it seems like the stuff to be done was quadrupled.  I ran a couple of errands for Younger Boss in the afternoon.  On Sunday, after he called me and let me know, I went into the office and worked on the obituary.  Younger Boss and his sister had put a lot of things down on paper, but I "professionalized" it and added a few things that they'd forgotten - it's hard to remember everything in that situation but I think that between the three of us it's pretty good.  We hit the highlights anyway.

He left after a couple of hours, to go meet with the Pastor about the service for the Teenager, a couple of meetings with banks, the cpa, etc., and he also spent a couple of hours with his mom.  She's doing pretty well, considering the circumstances.  I talked to her for a while and she was trying to be strong.  She's so precious to all of us.  But she's 97 herself and has had some rough health issues.

Today was better.  Most of the day has been spent in dealing with various banks, the Teenager set everything up a few years back so that the business would continue to run but the banks need specific paperwork, which is understandable.  That's been the bulk of today.

The obituary was supposed to run today, but it got to the paper too late so it will run in tomorrow's edition.  The phone has still been ringing non-stop with condolence calls.  The Teenager pretty much knew everyone, and he would be so flattered to realize the high regard he was held in.  Everyone needs someone like him in their life.  He was special.  He was one in a million, that's for sure.

The funeral is Thursday afternoon.  Otter is getting off work a little early, I'm off obviously and Bill is taking the day off.  It's going to be a very emotional service and I anticipate a large crowd.  The Teenager deserves every accolade he can get and he's getting a lot of them.

98 Years and 9 Months

The Teenager left us this morning at 8:05.  He was 98 years and 9 months young.  He was a spectacular person and I will miss him forever.

Warm. Saturday. Drowsy.

It's Summer, and it feels like it.  It's not particularly hot, it's just that it is hot enough to notice but the humidity makes it worse.  Humidity is a big asthma trigger for me, so I'm spending a lot of time indoors.  Which I don't like!  I need my outside time.

I got a little bit of outside time this morning.  I walked Maggie Moo, she was very happy about that - she sniffed every single thing she could and I don't think either of us got much exercise because it was a "stop and sniff" walk with a great deal of stopping.  But she was happy about it.

I followed yard sale signs today.  I was going to the post office to drop some stuff off to mail and I saw a sign not too far from my neighborhood.  So, I followed it.  Nothing I was interested in, but I decided to just follow signs for a while.  I only drove around for about an hour but I saw several sales.  I stopped at a few and drove by a few more.  Didn't buy a thing, except for when I stopped to get a coke (which was a real coke and not a Texas Coke a/k/a any flavor/variety/brand I wanted at the time) but I still enjoyed getting out.

As of about 4:00 this afternoon, the Teenager is still with us.  Younger Boss says that it's very hard to see him linger like that.  I know how he feels, it was that way with Dad.  It is very tough.  But he is as comfortable as possible and his family is with him.  I guess that all we can do is pray.

Stressful Friday

As of now, 6:30 p.m. the Teenager is still with us.  He was able to be moved to the hospice/nursing home section of their community and his wife and family have been able to spend the day with him.  Younger Boss said that the Teenager seemed to relax a lot once his wife started talking to him and holding his hand.  He is on morphine and is not showing any signs of the discomfort and possible pain he had yesterday, but he is not medicated enough to be unconscious however he has not awakened and probably won't.  But he is more comfortable and seems to understand on some level that he is home and surrounded by his family.  How long he has left in this life is up to God, but now that he's at home where he wanted to be it is possible that he might be able to let himself go.

I vacumed the entire office, neatened the Teenager's office and his desk and cleaned out a lot of old medications such as peroxide that was so old it didn't have an expiration date and so forth.  I've also spent a lot of the day getting checks done and other things that need signatures situated so that Younger Boss doesn't have to worry about things at the office next week.  I spent a while working on a list of things that Younger Boss is going to need to do once his dad is gone, things like calling the insurance company, medicaid, social security - all the miniscule things that have to be dealt with in this situation.

I'm very tired, I have been all week.  But as tired as I am, I'm sure that it doesn't even begin to compare to what the Teenager's family is dealing with.  I remember how hard it was after Mom and then later on after Dad died.  I didn't think I'd ever get to sleep again.  They are dealing with so much, and I would like to request prayers for them as well as for easing the Teenager's transition from this life.

But life goes on around my house, and we discovered this when we were in the back yard after we both got home from work:

I think we know what has Maggie's attention under the shed.

That's a raccoon track.

They are not an animal we want her to tangle with.  She's up to date on her shots, but they can be very mean animals and we don't want her hurt.  We don't want a raccoon to be hurt, either, but Maggie Moo is our first consideration.  We thought we maybe had a possum, but I'm thinking that the raccoon that left these tracks is what she's been chasing under the shed.

I'm going to have a drink and vegetate on the couch for a while.  It's been very stressful and will be for a while yet.  The Younger Boss will update me over the weekend on his father's status.  As Froggy said, the Teenager is very like our Dad.  In a lot of ways, and Otter considers him to be one of her grandfathers.  It's going to be rough, even though we do see it as a release for him and have absolutely zero doubt as to where he's going next.

Prayer Request

It's been a tough few days.  And it's going to be tough for the next several.

You probably have seen me refer to the Teenager on here.  He's my 98-year old boss and he is wonderful.  Everyone should have someone like him in their life.  I'm blessed that he's been a part of mine for the last 21+ years, and that also includes his delightful wife.  He's one of Otter's favorite people.

One day last week, he was hospitalized with what the doctor described as extremely low sodium levels and possibly potassium as well.  He was getting better and getting stronger.  A couple of days ago, he didn't really wake up in the morning and the doctor was concerned about a stroke.  The plan was to give him an MRI but they would have had to anesthetize him which is the last thing anyone wants to do when the patient is 98 years old.  So, a ct scan was performed instead.  The probably diagnosis is that he did have a stroke, but it was probably while he was asleep and he probably never knew it.  His son talked to him and thought he was trying to wake up, but he never really did.  Since then, he's been getting worse.  We pretty much all expected to hear what the doctor said today.

This morning, the doctor said that he's dying.  It is just a matter of days, and probably not very many days at that.  The plan was to transfer him back to the retirement community he lives in, to their nursing home division so that his wife can spend as much time with him as possible.  Her son has taken her to the hospital several times, but she's pretty frail too.  But the hospice nurse is concerned that he might not survive the transfer process.  He isn't in pain, but he did seem to be having some discomfort when he was moved for the ct scan so the nurse wants to give him a little morphine and then possibly he may be transferred tomorrow.  Younger Boss (the son) has been spending a lot of time at the hospital and I suggested he take his mom to the hospital this afternoon, in case the Teenager isn't able to be transferred and also because they time is very short.

Please pray for his family, his wife and that he has a peaceful transition from this earthly life.

Day 9

Last day of my 9 day weekend.  Back to work tomorrow.

Bill and the mechanic neighbor looked at the car seat and determined that the part that broke is not the seat itself, but it is the frame that holds the seat in place.  Bill made a few calls on Friday but apparently a lot of places were also closed on Friday.  So he's going to check on it tomorrow.  Chevy was open but it was somewhere close to $700.00 just for the part (no labor!) from them and we are NOT doing that unless we absolutely have to.  Bill did consider getting a replacement from a salvage yard, but since it is a fairly important structural piece he's decided against that option.  I'll ride with him in the morning, he has to be in at 7:00 but leaves the house earlier to beat the traffic.  I'll get myself to work in the El Camino and then I'll pick him up after work.  Hopefully, we can go pick up the part right then and get home in time for him to install it.  The seat should just come out and go right back in.  We are probably getting rain mid week, starting Tuesday, so Bill's kind of in a hurry.  Me too!

Otter came over Friday morning.  She got her laundry done and then we went shopping.  We hit a few yard sales, drove past a few more and went to a few stores.  We got lunch at Long John Silver's to bring home and share with William.  Then we went to the booth store and another similar store.  We had a good time but didn't really buy much.  We did get to Big Lots, which is probably the only place I really bought anything at and that was mostly household stuff.  I bought her a little gasoline to replace what we used.  She and Roomie are still discussing their options but I think that they are leaning towards a 2-bedroom unit.

We had a fairly quiet 4th.  We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then to Hobby Lobby to get some sinew-type thread/string to repair Bill's houseshoes with.  While there, I did cruise the yarn aisles.  The summer colors are out and are everywhere, but the fall colors are beginning to be stocked.  I saw a few I really liked but I didn't buy any.  Yet!  Bill actually had the "unsmartness" to tell me that I have too much yarn - which is when I asked him to tell me again exactly how many pachinko machines he has!?  I also reminded just how much room his machines take up vs the corner of the craft/guest/YARN room that holds my stash.  He stammered out that he meant I had a lot of $$ invested in yarn and then I reminded him how much a skein of yarn is vs the $30 - $several hundred he's spent on machines.  At that point, he saw the light and shut up. :)  Which is good, because I was going to take no prisoners on that one!

Speaking of yarn, I finished the mink scarf yesterday.  I had it about where I wanted it when I realized that I'd made a mistake several rows back and had to frog out several inches.  It wasn't a mistake I could leave in and ignore, it changed the stitch per row count and the shape.  Mink yarn is harder to frog than regular yarn, I'm thinking it might felt very easily.  I used less than one ball of yarn so I still have plenty left.  I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, it is fairly expensive ($33. per skein 2 years ago) but I'm sure I'll find something.  (No, Bill.  It's still cheaper than your machine stash!)  I started a new scarf for Otter, we got the yarn for it a while back but I hadn't gotten a chance to work on it it yet.  I started it and did a few rows because I wanted to see if she likes the pattern I made the mink scarf it - which she does.  I will get back to it soon, I just wanted to get it started so I could show it to her.  She had two sets ordered from different yarns.  I had one scarf made already and made the matching hat this morning but I have to wait for her to come over again so I can check the size before I call tie it off and call it done.  But I'm going to get back on her poncho soon so her 2nd scarf/hat combination may wait a while - but they go fast.

I have some sort-of TEXAS flag printed wall border, the kind that a teacher would have used years ago over the blackboard.  I got it at a thrift store for about a buck many years ago and it's just been stuck in the closet.  I took two pieces of it, it's long, and taped them together.  Then I took one of my many yard sticks and marked it off in 1" increments with smaller marks at the half inch marks.  No, I would not have done that if it was actually the TEXAS flag!  It's now hanging on the wall, attached with pushpins at the top and bottom.  Now, when I'm making a scarf or one of many other projects that need to be measured I don't have to drag out the measuring tape or yard sticks, and then fight to get it flattened out on the floor.

We had homemade cheeseburgers for our July 4th meal.  We were going to grill steaks but it as supposed to rain so we decided against that.  Of course, it didn't rain.  There were quite a few neighbors that had fireworks, including some of the really big ones, so we stood outside and watched the show for a while last night.  There were several lightning bugs, I always wonder if they get confused on July 4th?  The mosquitos eventually showed up, so we came inside but it was fun.  Otter took her sparklers left from last year when she came over on Friday.

I have a prayer request:  The Teenager was hospitalized Friday for low potassium and general weakness.  He's a tough old bird, but the key word is old - he is 98, after all.