Poor Little Neglected Blog

I didn't intend to neglect my blog, Froggy.  It's just been kind of crazy lately!

Otter's had a lot going on that she needed me to help with, Bill's been crazy busy (and he's just crazy!) with pachinko stuff which I have become conscripted labor for and work has been pretty busy.

Last Saturday, Bill and I spent most of the day looking at antique stores (I found cheap, vintage Fenton!) and then Sunday was when Otter, J and I went to the Tulsa State Fair.

The Fair was a lot of fun.  Yes, Froggy.  Quilt winner pictures are coming!

This is in the petting zoo at the fair.  Alpacas are about the softest things on earth.  It was like petting a cloud and the cloud liked it!  I commented to "him" that I could crochet him - and he responded by laying that soft head on my shoulder and batting those big eyes at me!  He (not sure of the gender) seemed to really enjoy the ear scratch as well.

The other thing that happened in the petting zoo is that I discovered that I am a sheep magnet!  I am really only allergic to one animal on the planet, as far as I know.  It's sheep.  I stepped inside the enclosure, and suddenly just about all the sheep were standing around me.  And grinning!  Sheep are evil, no doubt about that.  I wasn't able to stay inside the petting zoo very long, even without touching them (Otter petting them for me) I started having upper-respiratory issues pretty fast.

There were donkeys, ducks, assorted chicken, wallabies (one had a joey on board!), several alpacas, a few variety of deer, about a billion goats (of all ages) and probably a few other animals including a really sweet brahma calf!  Most of the other pictures have faces in them, so they are not going to be posted.

(Sorry this is sideways).  Froggy, look at the next picture.  It's a close-up of one of the deer at the bottom.

It's yo-yo's!

I think Mom and AJ would really have liked this one.

The butter cream sculpture!  This year, it was an angel and a lion.  Sorry it's sideways.  Also, there is a glare that I could not avoid.

This little critter is crocheted.  I'm not sure if it was a dinosaur or a dragon, but it is cute.

Look at the next picture.

The decorative edging is doilies!

The fair was fun and the weather was perfect.  We parked the car at one of the satellite locations and caught the shuttle bus to the fairgrounds.  We wound up with an extra ticket since Otter's friend had to cancel because of a family member's health issue but I was able to give it to someone at the entrance gate who hadn't bought a ticket yet.  We had ride tickets, which Otter and J used but we still had a few left so I gave those to a father with a young boy who were in line at a ride.  We didn't eat anything too outrageous, although there were some "interesting" food choices including bug pizza.  As in insects.  Not on my menu!

I did do one thing that is worth mentioning.  The prize-winning quilts, crochet, photography, etc., were in the same building as some of the kid exhibits - a giant sand box, blocks (which were being played with by adult emt officers), a few so-called odd animals and there was a small enclosure with an aldabra tortoise - on of the big babies.  I had noticed the tortoise when I was walking by, but then I saw a couple (boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife) who were looking at the tortoise.  The man was standing up, behind the woman.  She was squatting down and sticking her fingers through the fence, right in the tortoise's face.  Anybody who knows anything at all should know that was a very dangerous thing to do.  Tortoise was watching her fingers very intently and I could see that it's neck muscles were tensing up, which means that it was about to strike.  At that point, I went over to her and told her exactly why that was a very B.A.D. idea.  She had no idea that they bite!  All the tortoise was thinking was that it was time for a snack.  The woman pulled her hand back - to the very obvious disappointment of the man with her!  I honestly think he wanted her to get bit.  But it probably would not have been a gentle nip - it could have taken her finger off.  At the very least, she would have had a broken finger and it would have been very bloody.  I can't believe that an adult would have been so stupid!

Middle of the Week and Nothing Constructive Going On

Froggy, Otter sent me this picture.  I think it's absolutely adorable.  Also, I think some people just have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands!

The expression on the cat's face is priceless.  (I could so totally do this.  Fraiser?  Come here, boy!).

 

The honeysuckle looked good this morning when I watered them.  Hopefully, they'll make it.  The last ones did great, then we thought that they died but they came back very strong this spring.

 

We're watching M.A.S.H. reruns.  I always enjoyed it, it's still a funny show and the social commentary is still very biting.  The next show on the oldies station might be Gilligan's Island.  Not nearly as sarcastic but I'm enjoying the early episodes, we've forgotten most of them.

 

Otter only has two more days at the party store, she cleaned out her locker today.  She had a book and cough drops in it, but she didn't want to leave anything behind.  She works Friday at the new job, and then has to attend a training class on Monday.  She hopes to get her schedule at the new job on Friday.  We're just glad she got out of there before the Halloween rush.  And the midnights.  Nobody was looking for ward to that.

 

Wonder if I could get Frasier to be still long enough to measure him?  Here, boy!  Maybe I should just stick to something easy.  Anybody got any greased pigs that need to be wrestled?  It would probably be a cinch, compared to what I'd have to go through to get Frasier dressed in anything!

Yard Work

Well, I guess it's still yard work if it involves digging holes and placing posts!  Bill started building the new trellises for the honeysuckle we're going to plant along the back of the house.  Three trellises, two of them will be separated by our bedroom window.   On the opposite end, the end and middle trellis will be separated by a fan-shaped trellis which will eventually have something else on it.  Possibly a climbing rose, I'm not sure about that yet.

This is a old picture of the rock garden, I'm not sure if it was before it was redone and enlarged or not but the trellis is the one that Bill built for Jessie.  It has morning glories on it but the honeysuckle we planted 1 1/2 years ago is now really taking off and may take over the entire trellis.  The ones Bill is building now are similar to this one.  The iris plants are where the trellises are going to be, the iris will be relocated.  Probably to around the redbud tree and probably around one of the trees in the front yard as well.

 

We're going to plant trumpet vine at the trellises on the back fence.  The ones that had morning glories that were doing wonderfully well.  Until the builder moved the fence, that is.  Although they actually bloomed the last two days.  Even though they have been pulled up!  They don't seem to realize yet that they are dead.

 

Otter's gone over to her friend's house, they have their regularly scheduled Dungeons and Dragons game today.  It's once or twice a month, depending on everyone's work schedules.  Otter worked out an alternating Sunday off schedule with her boss, which means that she'll be working next Sunday which is Labor Day weekend.  Already.  It still seems like it should just now be Memorial Day.

 

Labor Day weekend is when I try to get my flu shot.  That way, I have three days to recover!  Sometimes I need all three days.  Otter has to work Saturday, but we're still planning on getting the shots Friday afternoon.  She doesn't usually have the reaction that I do, she did have a bad reaction one time.  But that was when the Tulsa City/County Health Department stored the flu shot serum improperly and it went bad.  Otter was very sick all that weekend, but we didn't realize what it was since she'd never had a reaction before.  A few months later, she got the flu and was very sick again - along with probably 90% of the Tulsa area!  The reaction was probably because of the improper storage situation.  The only other time she possibly had a reaction was a couple of years ago, she was fine but suddenly threw up on the Saturday night but she'd also had a lot of allergy issues and that could have been the problem as well.  She may have some arm soreness at the injection site.  Me?  Well, I have the arm soreness.  And I have mild flu symptoms for a couple of days.  Not enough to really say that it's the flu, but it is the way I react to the shot and I will feel cruddy.  But it's worth it, if it helps me avoid the flu.  I did get the flu in January, but that was probably because they don't always guess correctly which strains will be dominant and it was a fairly mild case.  So mild that I didn't realize at first that it was the flu.  Otter got the flu a couple of years ago, but it was the same situation - the dominant strain was not one that the shot covered and that is probably the one she got.  But usually, it's for the right strain.

 

I have been calling Walgreen's on a regular basis, their ad has been saying for about a month now that the flu shots are available but the local stores haven't had it yet.  Today, they do have it.  So we're going this coming Friday.  Yes, Froggy.  We will get ice cream!  And it may well be from Braum's.  We'll also pick something up for dinner on the way home.  My reaction can start anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour after the shot, usually it's within about 30 minutes.  So, I like to make it as easy an evening as I can.  We'll get the ice cream before Friday.  Then, we'll pick up whatever we decide on for dinner on the way home.

 

While we were working on the trellis, I found the cutest little thing in the yard.  She had a very long neck and a shell, and I already texted pictures to Froggy.  Otter took a couple of pictures on her camera, but we haven't uploaded the pictures yet.  I'll get one posted in the next day or so.  We relocated the tortoise to the field behind the houses behind us.  Frasier would possibly have killed her, and we don't allow anything to happen to our tortoises if we can possibly avoid it.  Froggy, I know you are not a fan.  But they are very important animals, they play a MAJOR part in protecting our ecosystem.

 

Bill did something else this morning.  He started burning what was left of the limb pile.  He got about half of it burned, but then it started to get windy so he quit adding limbs to the fire and let it go out.  He stayed out with it until it quit smoldering.  He's not sure when he's going to get the rest of it burned, it depends on the weather.  I don't think we're supposed to get rain for a few days, but wind is not a good thing when you are burning anything outdoors.

 

Now, if my arms aren't too sore from the work we did this morning, I might attempt to crochet.  I'm back to thinking that maybe I do want to sell stuff on etsy.  I set up a shop months ago, but then I decided against actually selling.  But now I'm thinking that maybe I should.  I'll figure it out eventually!

 

Time to go make dinner.  Sloppy Joes, I think.

Shark Tales and Ouchie Feet

We're on vacation this week.  We are staying home-ish.  Bill's been working on the pachinko storage project and I'm conscripted labor.  When we get through, the bulk of the machines will be stored neatly (!) in the garage, on a shelf system Bill came up with.  Which will be nice, but the process to get them there is hard work!

 

Otter and I did manage to escape for a few hours today.  Bill went to meet someone who wanted a machine fixed and we ran away while he was gone.  Actually, I told him the other day that we were going somewhere this morning.  We went to a neighboring town that has an aquarium.  They have a wonderful shark display, it has a walk-through area that makes it look like you are walking through an ocean of sharks.  They also have an otter exhibit, which was very popular with my Otter.  We've been before, but the otters are new since our last visit.  Next door to the otters are beavers, and there is also a raccoon.  Not quite sure how a raccoon fits in, but it apparently is happy because it's a fat one.  The aquarium is working on a sea turtle exhibit, which will be wonderful when it finally gets finished.  They do have turtles, lots and lots of turtles, as Froggy can attest because I texted her lots of pictures.  We petted the horseshoe crabs and stingrays.  There's a huge exhibit of assorted jellyfish and a couple of big happy frogs.  We spent a couple of hours there.  Otter took a bunch of pictures, which I will eventually get uploaded so I can post some here.

 

On the way home, we stopped at Domino's and got a pizza to bring home for lunch.  Otter's been having allergy issues so she ate inside, but Bill & I sat on the front porch and had a nice picnic style lunch.  We did that yesterday as well, but it was Braum's.

 

After lunch, I got out in the garage and helped Bill with his project.  It involved a lot of heavy lifting today.  I have ouchie feet, but I did get a decent pair of tennis shoes so they are not as bad as they could be.  I also have assorted ouchie muscles, which I'm going to blame on Bill!

 

Otter has to work tomorrow, but Bill & I are going to be back on the shelf project.  It's a lot of work, but it's going to be really good when it's finished up.  He's also working on shelving in the shed.

 

It's only Monday and I'm already exhausted.  I like hard work, fortunately.

Monday Stuff

It's Monday.  I'm going to follow Bill's philosophy:  Monday is just one day closer to Friday.  This is going to be one of those weeks where I'm living for Friday!

 

Today started out with a drive around the streets behind us.  The foundation was poured several days ago for the house that will be directly behind us.  We drove back there to check on it, and there were a bunch of workers and one very large truck which was loaded down with assorted lumber.  When we got home, the truck was gone and the lumber is all assembled and attached to the foundation.  It's still skeletal, but the houses back there go up in an unbelievable short amount of time.  The surveyor told me that it would be one story, but we can't tell for sure yet.  It's set farther up towards the street and not as close to the back fence (ours) as we feared  We'd just prefer that a house never be built there is all.

 

Anyway.  The next thing that happened is that we were on the road heading out of the neighborhood and saw one of these it in the street:

There was a car that came down the street but it saw her and avoided her.  (Yes, it was a female tortoise.)  I backed up a bit, stopped the car and got out to rescue her from the street.  How did she show her appreciation of being saved from being squished by a car?  She peed!

 

After leaving the neighborhood, we saw one of these:

 

It ran across the road, right in front of me but it managed to zigzag and get across the street.

 

I was beginning to wonder what was next!

 

(Bugs were next, by the way.)

 

I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings!  (I think).  

 

 

I'm sure these two clowns will make sure that we're entertained.

 

Otter and I went thrifting this afternoon after work.  She is looking for a couple of specific clothing items for a costume for something she's going to in August.  She's found some pieces but she's still looking for a couple of things.  She didn't find anything today, but we both found a couple of misc. items.  It was still fun.

 

That just means that we now have another excuse to go thrifting!  Like we need one. :)



1500! Alternate Title: Snappy Turtles

(Froggy, the title is a hint of what is to come!)

 

This is my 1500th post.  Wheeee!

Otter and I were heading off somewhere yesterday.  We have a route that we like to take when we have time.  It takes us by a miniature horse farm.  PONIES!! 

  

 

It also goes past a cow pasture that has a stock pond close enough to be seen from the road.  There are usually what we refer to as "floaters" in the pond - cattle of assorted age & size, and lots of them are calves.  Calves are generally a little too small to walk, they are obviously floating and they look like they are having a good time.

Anyway.  Yesterday, we were heading down our favorite 2-lane road and noticed an oncoming car suddenly stop.  Then the driver got out and he waved to make sure we saw him.  We slowed down in case he needed help (I would have called Bill but would not have gotten out of the car myself nor would I have given him a ride anywhere, safety first after all.)  But then we realized that he was actually getting something out of the middle of the road, in front of his car.

It was one of these:

A snapping turtle!

 

It wasn't huge, by my standards anyway.  But my standards might be different than most - it was at least as wide as a dinner plate.  A large plate.  He looked like he knew how to handle one, he was carefully and slowly grabbing it and grabbing it back far enough to hopefully not get nailed.  Turtle neck length varies, so it's always a good idea to grab as far back as you can.  Just in case.  He carried it over to the side of the road and gently tossed it far enough away from the street again, hopefully it was smart enough to keep on going the same direction which would have kept it away from the street again.

 

All turtles can and will bite, snapping turtles are among the worst by the way - they are grouchy from the moment they hatch!  They can be very nasty to deal with.

 

This is a Snappy Turtle:

It's a little nicer than the other kind!

And Froggy would probably like it better.

Sunday Mummies

Yes, mummies.  The dead people kind.  And also a couple of dog mummies.

Otter and I just got back from spending an hour or so at a local museum, which is hosting a travelling exhibit entitled "To Live Forever" which belongs to the Brooklyn Museum.  It is a fairly large exhibit, it's all Egyptian burial practices to simplify the explanation.  There are a few mummies, and two of them are dogs or some type of canine animal.  We really enjoyed it, it's amazing to be looking at artwork and other pieces - and realize that it's over 5000 years old.

There was also another exhibit that we really enjoyed.  It was books and things made from them.  One item on display looked like a menu from a Chinese restaurant.  Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be poetry and it was very well-done.  The bookworm known as Otter really enjoyed that exhibit.

We also hit a thrift store but didn't find too much.  I'm looking for vintage yarn and also vintage crocheted things to reclaim older, hard-to-find yarn.  I saw a few things last week that were made with yarn I liked, but most of them were just too small to get much yarn out of.  Except for one piece, it was a blanket and it was absolutely beautiful yarn.  But it was such a well-done piece that someone obviously put a lot of time and effort into, that I just couldn't justify taking it apart.  Since it wasn't anything I could use, I left it there so someone else could buy it and get some use out of it.

I've been doing a lot of crochet lately, which isn't on the craft blog yet but will be in a week or so.  When I get finished with it.  But I'm not posting pictures since I don't want to give away the surprise.  Any ideas, Froggy?  :)  I'm going to do a little more this afternoon.

It's going to be a busy week at work.  I actually have quite a bit planned over the next couple of weeks, so I might not post that often for the immediate future.

Turtle Update:  There was another one in the yard yesterday.  A small, female box turtle.  Frasier had been interested in something in the corner of the yard, so we walked over there to see what it was.  This one wasn't particularly aggressive, unlike the last one.  She was pretty calm, she didn't seem to mind being picked up and wasn't moving very fast when I put her down.  I dug out a spot under the fence and stuck her through, then she put ont he afterburners and just about flew!  Poor Frasier, I keep taking his turtle toys away!

I just realized that the end of the month is in just a few days.  I guess I'd better start getting my book list together.  I have read several books, but a lot of them have been quick reads.  I'll probably take Otter to the library towards the end of the week, and get more books than we can carry.  Again.

Sunday Turtles

To be strictly accurate, this should have been Saturday Turtles.  But it's Sunday and I'm posting now.  The turtle part, however, is from Saturday.  Frasier had another turtle toy that he found in the back yard.  He was very interested in something at the fence line and Bill could see that it was something dark.  He thought it was a turtle, but couldn't tell for sure that it wasn't actually a snake at first.  Frasier didn't have any better luck with this one than he usually does, he tried to pick it up but the shell was just too difficult for him to manage.  Also, this was a bigger one than he's had to deal with before.  It was a female and she was not happy!  I don't think I blame her, she was just trying to do turtle things and this large coyote dog was trying to play with her.  She has been liberated to the area behind the house, but she didn't particularly want to be.  The dogs had been doing some excavating and there was a spot that nearly went under the fence.  I scraped out a little more dirt, just big enough for her, and put her mostly through it.  She almost backed up, so I had to encourage her gently to go forward.  I thought she was about to turn around and come back under the fence, but fortunately she realized that she didn't really want to be in our yard.  Which is a good thing, because she was a fairly large turtle and I'd had a hard time picking her up - everytime I thought I had her, she would literally jump away from me.  Turtles have a defensive posture which includes opening their mouths wide and she was doing that every time I tried to pick her up.  She never did stick her head out of the shell, but it would have been the next thing she did.  Because turtle neck length varies between species and even between individual turtles, I really wasn't sure how far back on the shell to place my hands.  So I had to try to grab pretty far back and she would use her back legs to dislodge my hands.  They have long claws and very strong legs, so she was really hard to grab and then even harder to hold onto.  (Yes I know - tortoise not turtle!).

Otter and I did some thrifting this afternoon.  She found what she was looking for, she needed a blouse for a specific outfit and we found one that would work.  As well as a couple of other blouses and a skirt for her, plus we each found a couple of books.  No Fenton, which has been typical lately.  Also no yarn.

Speaking of yarn, I've given up on the crocheted dachsund project.  The pattern just wasn't workable.  I had attempted to make a couple of other things from that pattern book and had difficulties, and I finally just realized that it was pointless.  Crochet patterns are like any other patterns - if they aren't correct, then it doesn't matter what you do.  And this one wasn't correct.  I went over what I'd done so far and compared it to the pattern a couple of times and I didn't make any mistakes on it.  The book is now on Craigslist, and if it doesn't sell then I'll either donate it or let Otter turn it in for credit at the used book store we like.  I do have another book that I got out of the library, which is one that I'll probably buy.  It's fun, it is a pattern book for zombies, vampires, "aliens" and other creepy critters.  I started making something from it this morning and it was so nice to use a pattern that worked!  Otter has requested a few things out of it.

It's a cleaning & craft day today.  Sunday generally means laundry and misc. cleaning, and Otter's also got a craft project.  Which has taken over the kitchen table at the moment.  Bill's been working on pachinko machines and the dogs have probably been snoozing, which is 99% of their normal activity.

The hostas in front of the house are starting to bloom.  They have really spread out this year, which is what they are supposed to do and is what I wanted them to do.  The morning glories are doing great, there have been a couple of blooms but it's kind of early for that.  The vines are growing very well.

I heard a woodpecker this morning, I think it was in one of the trees in the back yard but I never saw it so I'm not sure.  I've seen a couple of hummers and two orioles.  And purple martins!  Someone down the street has a house, so we see them every year and they are enjoyable to watch.  Bill saw a bat the other evening, but I haven't seen any yet this summer.  Hope that the one he saw stays around and that it invites friends!  They eat a lot of mosquitos, so we always like to see them.

Besides, bats are just cool.

Some Sunday Stuff and Misc. Ramblings

First things first, Froggy this is for you!

I've been meaning to post that picture for ages but I kept forgetting. I think it was from Cute Overload. Funny site.

OK. Enough with the turtle stuff for Froggy. For the moment, anyway.

I'm not sure, but I think the hummingbirds have all gone south for the winter. I haven't seen one in days. I still have feeders out, but I think I'm going to take two of the three down. I'll leave one up for a while, because sometimes they stop on the way south for a pitstop. But it's going to be time very soon to get out my seed & suet feeders.

The bluebonnet that came up in the whiskey barrel is going strong. And it's not alone, there are about 10 plants coming up. I hope that they get to the blooming stage before we get our first freeze. But even if they don't, it's still really nice to know that they are there. But I am concerned that if they have come up now we might not have any more in the spring since they are naturalized now.

We went to the rent house this morning and mowed. I think we are going to have to replace the lawn mower sooner than we wanted to. It's been acting like it was on the verge of breaking beyond help for a while, Bill's been babying it along with the intention of replacing it next spring. But I'm not sure if it's going to make it that long! It smokes, sounds funny, quits a lot and is hard to start. At one point today, Bill thought it had finally quit but then he was able to get it started. We bought it 5 years ago and it's been used a lot, both at home and when we've had to mow at the rent house. And with all the rain we've had lately, the grass is growing fast & tall in short periods of time. We did look at Lowe's the other day when we had to go buy a new blade, and I think we're going to (try to) go with our original plan of replacing the mower next year. Along with the pool!

Otter got to stay home today. She did laundry and dishes for me, so she probably would have preferred going to the rent house to sweep. Such a mean mother, I make her do chores! :)

Fall doesn't officially start until next week, I think on Tuesday. We've had mild weather lately and it's been really nice, between rain storms that is! But tomorrow, Monday, is supposed to be in the mid-80's and we have a chance of SLS's. (Spring Like Storms). Tuesday is supposed to be in the same general temperature range but then it's back to 70's for the rest of the week. We've been seeing trees start to turn for a few weeks now, I'm wondering what kind of winter we are facing and how early it's going to hit. We've gotten quite a bit of firewood but not enough yet. Bill got some, but then the rent house took priority so he put firewood on the back burner. No that wasn't a deliberate pun, Toadly! Anyway, I think he's going to see about getting more firewood soon. We also have to get the fireplace & chimney checked, it's been 2 years and we're going to get the dryer vent cleaned out while we're at it. We have not had time to do anything else towards getting the roof at home replaced, but we'll get back on that soon. It does need to be taken care of, we just haven't had time.

Now, I think I'm going to go play with a certain beagle who is snoozing on the floor beside my chair. She's been following Otter around for a while, but now I guess it's my turn to be graced with her beagle self!

Tired Tuesday

But the bathroom re-do is finished! Or at least I got new towels and a bathmat today. I haven't put up new switchplate covers, but I do have plain wooden ones to paint. It's just been kind of on the hot side in the garage, where my workshop is. Usually when it's hot out there, I can open the front and side doors and it cools down nicely. But there hasn't been much of a breeze lately, and since the mold count is starting to make my asthma think about showing up I decided to wait on spending much time in the garage. Of course, I could just bring in the paints & stuff! But that would be logical. Which doesn't seem to be my strong suit this week.

Anyway, back to the bathroom decor! I found a solid tan bathmat, which is slightly darker than the carpet and looks nice. It also looks like it was made better than the last one, and it's a little smaller. The previous one just barely fit in the tiled area between the shower and the carpet. The towels are a dark cream color with tan accents at the bottom. I'm thinking that I'm going to paint the switchplate covers in something close to the tan on the towels. IF I have paint in that color. Of course, if I don't have the right color paint then I get to go to Michael's! I got the towels and bathmat at Target this afternoon. But I can probably force myself to go to Michael's. :)

It was a very busy day at work today. It's going to be that way for a few days, which is normal for this time period. From about the 10th to the 15th, give or take a few days, is the busiest time. Then it goes back to being super slow. But even when it's the busiest, it's not usually extremely busy. There is just some extra stuff going on right now that I have to deal with, nothing major. Just extra. Could be worse, at least I have a job that has good part-time hours and really better than average pay for part-time.

I met Bill for lunch today. We were so bad. We had Mexican food. Big surprise, right?! It was good. It was very good in fact. And very bad for me. So for dinner I had a little low-fat pimento cheese on fat-free crackers. And water. If I get hungry for a snack tonight, it's going to be a fat-free rice cake and possibly with fat-free butter substitute on it. It's hard to be on a low-fat diet sometimes!

I've noticed that since I don't have a gall bladder anymore, there are things that I simply can not eat that never bothered me before. I'm not talking about foods with a high fat count. I'm talking about broccoli. And mushrooms. Stuff like that, which shouldn't be a problem at all! But I simply can not digest them now and it's not fun. So I guess I have to give them up. I think that I also am going to have to avoid things with cabbage. I don't eat much of it, but I do like it occasionally. It's not that the things are prepared with a sauce or fat in any way. I can't even eat steamed broccoli! Really frustrating. But I guess I have to deal with it. Now, if I ever get where I can't eat chocolate it is going to be a VERY BAD THING!

Heard from Otter this afternoon. She's having a good time, she has seen some of her cousins and has been swimming. And shopping. She sounded tired but I think she's enjoying her vacation. I told her to call us again in a few days, and that I'll see her next week.

Her return flight is direct. Which means that the plane stops in Dallas, but she doesn't get off for a plane change. She'll stay on the same plane, then it will continue on to Tulsa. I wonder if there really is any such thing as a real direct flight anymore? You know, the kind that doesn't stop in the middle. Besides overseas flights, that is. I think a little truth-in-advertising might be called for by the airlines. Just one of the things that's crossed my mind in the last couple of days!

No more turtle sightings in the back yard. Bill mowed it yesterday, he watched for her but never saw her. Or any of her friends, for that matter. I haven't seen any more tree frogs since Saturday evening but I have heard them. Also we've heard locusts. Just a few, it's just the beginning of their season. Because of all the rain we had, the lightning bug season was longer. Which we enjoyed. Maggie probably did as well - she could see the bugs she wanted to eat!

Otter, Maggie really misses you! She's very clingy, much more than normal. She does not want to let me out of her sight. And not just because she's hoping I'll drop food her way, either. Last night I glanced into Otter's room as I was heading to bed, and there was Maggie at the foot of Otter's bed. She had scrunched up her sleeping blanket until she was holding it between her front paws like she was hugging it. She looked so sad! This morning I noticed that she'd been sleeping on Otter's pillow. I think the dog misses her kid! She's going to be overjoyed next week when Otter comes home.

Froggy, has your hubby finished with his car project? Mine is still working on his. Actually, he is working on the Next Generation. The first one worked but not as well as he hoped, so he did what Engineers do: he changed all the specs and built another, totally different from the original plans. At the moment, he is next door as the neighbor is also building one of those critters. The neighbor is a good mechanic, but he doesn't have any experience with electronics and Bill has been helping him with that part of the process. They remind me of a couple of little boys, they seem to be having a good time with their toys. No explosions yet. Heavy on the "yet." I did tell Bill today that he's already had his one allowed ER visit this month and that since he's going to the doctor tomorrow to follow up on that, he's not allowed to hurt himself again this soon. He said I was a spoilsport.

On that note, I'm going to go raid my chocolate stash. It's in the freezer. But it won't be there long!

Busy Monday!

Froggy told me to stay busy. I think she must have also called my bosses and told them to keep me busy! I hardly had time to breathe today, it was one thing after another and they were all things that could have been dealt with without a big fuss. But when you are a 90 year old man, I guess everything is a big, major deal. Just being alive at that age can be a big, major deal! So I don't complain too much.

Looks like there is another house being built in the area behind us, formerly known as the front cow pasture. This one is not directly behind us, but it is more behind us than the first two are. The privacy was nice, but I guess it was just a matter of time. Sigh.

Otter, Magginator wants you to come home! She's been like a shadow ever since I came home without Otter yesterday. When I was heading for bed last night, I glanced into Otter's room and the beagle was up in the middle of the bed. Maggie had the blanket that she normally sleeps on, she had it between her front paws and it looked like she was hugging it. She looked so sad! And she's hardly let me out of her sight this afternoon.

Bill was able to get into the pool yesterday. He hasn't been in it yet this summer, because of the spot on his leg where the skin cancer was removed. It's still not totally healed, but it's close. So he decided to chance the pool and it doesn't seem to have bothered the spot. We had a nice swim, and Maggie sat on the deck and stared at the pool the entire time we were in it!

We had another turtle in the yard on Saturday. Otter and I were about to get in the pool when Frasier suddenly got very interested in an area by the back fence, so we figured that it was either a turtle, frog or possibly snake. It was a small, female box turtle. She was not a timid turtle! She wasn't aggressive, but she wasn't afraid either. We decided to leave her in the yard. One of these days, Frasier is probably going to get the lesson about turtles and he'll learn exactly what that long neck is good for! I think that is the 3rd one we've found this year, but it might be the 4th. Still lots of frogs also, but I haven't seen any snakes this year.

We also had a stowaway tree frog. I brought my cactus plants in Saturday evening since it was about to rain. And there was a tiny, grey tree frog on one of the pots. It jumped onto another plant after I brought the cactus inside, and we caught it in Otter's bug jar so we could take it back outside. Otter has always liked insect life - she is her mother's daughter, after all - and when she was little she bought an insect collection kit. She always let the bugs go after she caught them, and she still has the jar. It comes in very handy when we have spiders we need to relocate so Maggie won't eat them. It also works for tree frogs!

Froggy, before I forget: When I told Otter that your new dog's name is Lucky, she reminded me of the joke about a dog being named Lucky usually being the one that is constantly getting hurt. Just thought you should know. Although naming it Bill would probably be a really bad omen! :)

Thursday's Promised Second Post

I spoke too soon. I should have known that this would happen, it always does. Yesterday, we were discussing whose turn it was for the next medical malady. I said that it was nobody's turn. Every time I say that, somebody ALWAYS gets sick.

But let me back up a bit! I don't want to get ahead of myself too much, after all.

We had a nice morning, we sat and talked. Then we left to take Froggy to the airport. On the way, we stopped at the post office so I could mail the third box of Froggy's stuff and then we went to Braum's for lunch. It was very good, but we were still way early. So we stopped at the library so Otter could restock. Then we went on to the airport, we got there about 1:00 which was about an hour earlier than Froggy figured she needed to be there. We dropped her off, then Otter and I drove by the rent house since we were close to it. (It looks fine).

We went to Lowe's for Bill, then to Wallyworld for groceries. We got home about 3:15 or thereabouts. And that's when Bill told me that he was sick, he thought he might have another bladder infection. This one seemed to be pretty serious - there was blood involved, and lots of it. So I called the doctor. At 3:30 on the day before a holiday, I knew that they would not have any openings. But since it was so serious, she told me to take him to the ER right away. So that's what we did. The doctor was afraid that maybe he had a kidney stone. But the tests at the hospital revealed that he in fact has a urinary tract infection, and he is now on antibiotics. He's not a happy camper! We stopped to get his prescription filled on the way home, then he had dinner and a pill. Now he's gone to bed. He has a slight fever, which is not unexpected.

So, the next time somebody asks me about who is next in line for something medical I'm not even going to answer! I'm just not.

On another note: it rained this morning and we had some thunder. Not a lot of rain, but it was nice and the plants liked it. Tonight, we've had thunder off & on but no rain.

And Froggy got to relive part of her childhood. The important memories. The ones involving me and a turtle. I moved some of my plants out into the rain, when I was moving them back I found a turtle on the edge of the deck. She was just sitting there, and I picked her up then called Otter. I also yelled out that I'd found a turtle, and what does Froggy do? She comes to see it! We took it around to the place we let them go at, on the way to take Froggy. I put it in a large brown paper sack so that Froggy wouldn't have to listen to the sound of turtle claws on the bottom of a cardboard box - which apparently bothers her, due to more than one trip home from Oklahoma with boxes in the floorboard of the car. The boxes contained turtles for me. However, we then discovered that a paper sack is worse than a cardboard box! Otter released the turtle into the cow pasture, so Froggy only was subjected to it for a few minutes. However, it must be noted that this time I was not chasing her!

Turtle Toys & Springtime Stuff

We just found the first turtle of the season. It was in the back yard. Frasier actually found it. He was walking around the yard and suddenly made a detour, I thought he was about to roll on something but then realized that he was actually licking something. It turned out to be a small female box turtle. Otter and I just relocated her to the cow pasture. Frasier keeps going back to the area where he found it, he wants his turtle toy back! Maybe he just wanted me to keep it to show to Froggy. And before anybody gets on me about it, I know that it was actually a tortoise! Turtles are the water variety, tortoises are the land version.

I also discovered that we have a volunteer sunflower growing in the back yard. It just appeared, behind the iris plants and might be from the birdseed we had out for our feathered friends. It's not a giant one, it's a couple of feet tall. But I'm thinking that two or three of the weeds I pulled in the last few days might also have been sunflowers. I hope not. But at least I'll have one, I really like sunflowers. I'll take a picture of it in the next few days, the bud isn't quite to the blooming stage yet.

And we have another dove family! Same spot. I don't think it's the same mamma dove, because this one flew off every time we went out the front door for the first few days and the previous one was used to us. We always enjoy our dove families.

We do not want to know!

How the Harry Potter series turns out until we read the books for ourselves. I'm speaking for the Otter here, as well as myself. So, if you think you are doing us a favor by repeating anything you've read/seen/heard/been told, etc. - PLEASE KEEP IT TO YOURSELF! Otter and I are on an official news blackout, and we won't get the book until Sunday so we are going to have to be even more careful about what we read/see/hear than we were the last couple of times.

No more turtle tales, but I did have to empty out my fountain this morning because it had wrigglers. We have enough adult mosquitos to deal with, I really didn't want to breed my own! But since we've had so many frogs in the yard, I have noticed that there are a few less skeeters to deal with. Since I put the bricks in the dog's outside water dish, I have not seen any frogs that couldn't get out. So I guess it's working.

I want to give my friend Sharra a quick shout-out. I'm anxiously awaiting my goodie box, I know it will be special. THANKS! (She might not want to know the end of the Harry Potter series either, so don't post any comments with spoilers on here please).

One of these days I might learn how to post pictures on here. I've tried a few times, and even when I follow the directions it doesn't work. And being the Borg Queen I have to follow the directions! I'll figure it out eventually.

We haven't had rain in about a week. It's been nice. I was beginning to think that we were going to skip summer entirely and just go straight to fall.

3 more weeks until school starts! Then I'll be the mother of a high school student. Urgh. Where have the last 15 years gone?

Saturday and more turtle tales!

Otter and I are fine, we have had no pain whatsoever. If there had been the slightest discomfort, we would have gone to the doctor and Bill would have been on the phone tearing the cop a new one. It was a hard enough bump that I wanted to wait until today to decide, although the bumper of the car is only scratched. And the right blinker isn't working right. The bumper will probably stay scratched, the blinker will get fixed.

Frasier was barking at something, he was laying on the ground in the corner of the yard and really seemed to be interested in something. So I went out there, and he had another turtle in his sights. This one was what I've always called a box turtle, round and has yellow markings. It was a female. She has now been relocated to the cow pasture. I think that Frasier had been trying to pick her up in his mouth, the back of her shell had dog drool. She was a lively one. Poor puppy, I keep taking his toys away from him! Of course, if one of those toys should happen to flip that head back and bite him he might not feel the same way!

No rain today! Wow! The jalepeno plants are doing well, they are still very short but they have quite a bit of fruit on them. The bell peppers are producing, they won't be big or have many bells but at least we'll get a few. The cherry tomato plant has 4 more on it and possibly another bud starting. So I'm happy. Not a lot of produce, but at least we got something out of the plants.

Movie tomorrow! And yes, Froggy, we will have popcorn.

Tuesday's Installment & Froggy Report!

Yesterday, Monday, was a great day for Otter. She got her wish! We found a turtle in the yard and Froggy was still here! Froggy and I were sitting out on the deck, and Otter found a turtle crawling around the back yard. I picked it up and held it in my hand from a long distance away from Froggy and asked her if it brought back any memories. Of course it did, but this time I was not chasing her with it. The dogs had been barking at something in the weeds near the fence the day before and we were actually thinking they found a snake but now I think they must have seen the turtle. Otter took the turtle back to the cow field and let her go. That is the 4th one in about a month.

We had a nice dinner at Golden Corral, I think everyone ate too much. I actually had dessert this time, something I have not done since before my illness. But since that was probably the last time I'll eat out or eat big for a while, I decided it was a good time for dessert. It was banana pudding! Wonderful stuff.

After we got home, it was time to torture (bathe) Maggie Beagle. She had apparently rolled in something out in the yard and she was a very fragrant doggie. She was not a happy doggie, as soon as she saw the hose in my hand and the soap in the other she knew what she was in for. Otter and I both got soaked, but Maggie at least got clean! Frasier was not getting a bath, but he didn't take any chances and he stayed way out of reach for a long time. He wouldn't even come to Otter when she offered him his favorite treat - he actually ran away from a treat! Crazy dog.

This morning we got up early and had breakfast, then we took Froggy to the airport. Traffic was bad, there was a major accident on the highway and it delayed us but we still got there in plenty of time. We left Froggy and her heavy suitcase at the airport about 7:30, then Otter went to work with me for the day. She made $16.00, all from my bosses & one of their wives! Guess they were still in a generous mood, since yesterday they gave me a raise.

It's been rainy off & on this afternoon but not bad. At least not in our area, but there are flood watches all over NE Oklahoma and will be for the next few days. But we had mostly good weather for Froggy's visit and I am glad of that.

Froggy, I hope you meant it when you said you want to come back next year! I'm holding you to that by the way. And I hope you enjoyed your vacation as much as we did, it was so much fun. Hopefully your house wasn't too much of a disaster area when you got home!

Dad-isms!

Froggy reminded me of these few:

"Possesion is nine tenths of the law." He said that just about anytime he had something someone else wanted - and it was generally about food! He had a huge sweet tooth. He loved peanut M & M's, or blues & greens as he called them.

His favorite thing about presents was getting the receipt and returning them for the money. (I remember buying him something in the Atlanta airport on the way home to Texas from Florida, just so he couldn't return it! Remember that, Froggy?)

Watermelons: Dad would always find an excuse to eat the heart of the melon first, before anybody else could get to it. Then he'd usually grin at us. And the seed fights! He could shoot watermelon seeds pretty far, and he would bean anybody within reach, then try to look innocent.

I remembered these on my own:

I have my own watermelon memory of Dad. One time he brought home several melons, probably about 3. It was hot summer, and our pool was up so he put the watermelons in the pool to cool them off. Or at least that is the story he told us. In reality, I think he put them in there because he knew how hard they would be to grab and then we got to be the ones to go fish them out. The expression "greased hog" comes to mind!

Dad would also get the first bite of Mom's peach cobbler, usually from a corner. Dad loved to try to steal food from our plates, he usually managed but I recall more than a few times that we tried to protect our meals with our forks. And when I was a kid, if I had a candy bar or anything sweet Dad would tell me that he'd have to taste it first, to make sure it was safe for me to eat. Then he would try to convince me that it wasn't good enough for me to eat, and that he would have to eat it instead.

And then there was the time he taught me to eat cherry tomatoes. The way you eat cherry tomatoes is to hold one between your palms. Then he slapped my hands together! It was a mess, but it was fun at the time. He tried to talk me into holding a cherry tomato between my front teeth, with the idea of squishing my cheeks together and smashing the tomato but I didn't fall for that one, as it was after the holding lesson!

And he frequently would tell me that he would give me all the money I could catch, but I had to hold my thumb and forfinger out and catch the dollar bills as he dropped them. Try it, it's nearly impossible! I don't think I ever managed to catch one.

Dad had more fun than just about anybody I've ever known. He enjoyed life to the fullest. I really miss him.

And he taught my then about 3-year old daughter to say a special word, while they were sitting out on the tailgate of his El Camino - he told her to say her new word to me, she grinned and said "FART" as loud as she could. He cackled so hard I really didn't think he could breathe! I must admit, I laughed along with him. I'm sure he had something else that he taught Froggy's kids and probably the Monkey's Aunt's daughter.

He brought me turtles. Most trips to Oklahoma, we went along. And sometimes the turtles came home with us. But one time I remember that he and Mom went to Oklahoma and we stayed home with Aunt Jessie. When they got home, the were two boxes in the floor board of the back seat of the car. And they were full of turtles! He built a raised area in one corner of the back yard, it had short wooden sides but the sides were tall enough so that the turtles couldn't get over them. They had access to water, food and places to dig. I think he liked the turtles as much as I did. Froggy, I know you don't particularly care for turtles and that I am the reason for that because I used to chase you. But to me, turtles mean Dad and some really good memories. (But all you had to do was stop running, then the fun would have been gone and I wouldn't have chased you with them!)

Friday the 15th will be 3 years since we lost him. And I still find myself waiting for his Wednesday evening phone call, reaching for the phone on Sunday evenings to call him & mom, and when the phone rings and we are eating dinner I still expect it to be him. "What do you know" was his catchphrase when I answered the phone. Wish I could hear it now!

Busy Sunday! And yet another tortoise rescued!

The tortoise was actually outside the fence, but Frasier & Maggie were barking at it and Frasier was trying to get to it. So Otter went out through the gate and brought her back in, then we drove around to take her out to the cow field where we let the last one go. This one might possibly have been the same one Bill moved out of the back yard a couple of weeks back. It was not the same one that I relocated that same day, though. Otter really hopes to find one in the yard when Froggy is here!

Otter is home from camp. She got back yesterday, we carried her stuff in, she went straight to the shower and then even though it was only about 4:00 she got ready for bed. She said she was tired! She didn't actually go to bed until around 9:00 or so, but she didn't do much of anything beyond park on the couch and watch a movie on tv. She had a great time at camp. Wednesday morning is the next summer trip! We will probably leave the house about 5:30 in the morning to get her to the airport by 6:15. We have to be there one hour before her flight. I'm thinking we'll just run her through McDonalds or somewhere for breakfast, or possibly we'll hit a donut place for her. She wants to get her stuff packed tonight so that it's done and we don't have to do it tomorrow. I think waiting until the last minute for camp packing taught her a lesson about procrastinating - that it's better not to!

I'm still thinking about Dad-isms to post here. If anybody has any, please email me! I'll have more in the next few days.

Busy Sunday

We've been running almost from the moment we got up this morning! We've gotten a lot done though, so I'm not complaining.

Bill mowed the yard, he cut a bunch of wood for some stuff he needs to do at the rent house, aired up the tires on our bikes and then he decided it was time to paint the porch swing. Otter got to learn how to sandpaper & prep for painting! She was not amused. But she did a good job.

I ran several errands, took a trunk load to the recycling center, hit 2 yard sales (rare on Sunday), the grocery store, finished painting the shelf Bill made me for Mother's Day, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, finished cleaning out and re-organizing my desk and took a long bike ride with Otter. She still had energy, but I ran out. Oh, I also gave her another driving lesson. She did pretty good, we worked on turning today.

We also relocated two turtles this afternoon or possibly the same one twice. Bill found one in the back yard when he was mowing, he put it out of the yard behind the fence. Then I saw Frasier nosing something that didn't quite look like a rock, so I figured I'd better go save it before one of the dogs decided it might be food. Frasier lost interest in it pretty quickly, but Maggie was mystified by it. She followed it around the yard for a few minutes and looked confused. Maggie frequently looks confused! I picked it up, we discovered that it was a she turtle then we found a box to put her in so we could drive back to the cow field and let her go there. Otter enjoyed playing with her in the car, she's her mother's daughter so turtles & related animals are not something to be scared of - right, Froggy?!?!?! The only reason the turtle was in a box is because they have 2 defenses: one is that long neck and the other one involves leaking bodily fluid! I had no desire to get the car or Otter baptised by a turtle. Anyway, the turtle got released and she was happily booking it away from us into the field the last time we saw her. The cows were nowhere to be seen, otherwise they would have had to come see what we were up to. They are about the nosiest animals on the planet! (And yes, I know that tortoise is the correct term - turtles are the water version!)

I was wrong about the last day of school. It's actually May 30, not the 31st. So Otter will have two days to be lazy before she goes to camp. But the rest of the June/early July schedule has not changed and is still crazy.