day.....brrr......410

 All I can say is it is damn cold outside

    Because it is cold, and because I am out of words tonight, I am going to entertain you with some more mother pictures.

    I love old pictures.  The black and white images just seem neater that color prints in some cases.  Ansel Adams proved black and white landscape photos can be pretty damn good looking, too.

    This picture is labeled. Aunt Bee is standing, my mom is on the back of the pony, and Aunt Jeane is in front.  No date, but my mom was born in 1917 and she does not look very old in this shot.   I can actually tell it is my mother.  Jeane does not look happy.

    You may have seen this one before.  I think I was always filled with wonder at the world.  No year, but I am guessing Christmas 1948, maybe 1949.

    Again, no date.  My brother Dennis is on the left and Carl is  in the middle.  Funny story about Dennis.  He was Walter Dennis Dickow.  But all my life I knew him as Dennis or Denny.  

    He got a job as a substitue clerk carrier with the postal service.  One morning, about 5 a.m., the phone rang and my brother Carl answered.  Someone on the other end asked for Walter.  Carl told him no one named Walter lived there.  The guy called back and asked for Walter again.  I think that is when Carl realized they wanted Denny.

    I think I was a handsome kid.. but I seemed to have a head tilt in every picture.  Maybe I was thinking I would have aa career in movies and my head shots would be done with a tilted pose.

    The pictures seem to stop right about then.  I never found pictures of my brothers' grade school or high school graduations, or any of mine.  No birthday parties, no picnics at the cemetery.  There are a couple of pictures of relatives, but nothing that really tells about family.

    On the other hand, we have lots of pictures of Julia and Emily and things they did in life.  

    I guess taking pictures just got easier as technology advanced.  Jackie's folks didn't take any pictures either,  just a couple of snapshots now and then.

    Babies today have every move documented.  I see photos of youngsters on their monthly birthdates and their first days of school.  Every accomplishment seems to be captured in digital images, with great colors.

    I just wonder how the next generation will be documented.

    Stay happy.  Stay healthy.   Stay safe.

Peace and Love

day......almost done.....409

 I am almost through the last box of pictures

    Allow me to clarify.  The last box I know of of my mom's pictures.

    Here's something I suggest:  Date and label every picture you save.  Nothing is more frustrating than looking at a picture and wondering who the people are.

For instance:

    This is a picture of my mother and one of her sisters.  It is labeled 1923.  I assume my mother is the shorter of the two kids.  Maybe my brother would know, but I am not positive.  I do know that the taller girl is looking at the smaller girl out of the corner of her eye....and smiling.

    Some pictures bring back fond meories of the house at 1472 Belle Plaine.  My mother was not much of a gardener.....I don't think my dad was either.  But she loved climbing roses.  Someone had to nurture the plants!

    I vivdly remember these roses.  We moved into the house when I was in seventh or eighth grade.  An old Victorian, it had 4 bedrooms and one bathroom for the 5 of us.  The yard was about 10 feet by 30 feet and I had to hand  push-mow it!  There were three houses in a row, and all 3 were the same except the house on the corner was reversed.  All 3 were built in the 1890s.  Mom mom sold the house in 1977 for about $57,000.  A few years ago it was listed for close to $700,000 but it did not even look like the house I live in for much of my life.  And it had more than one bathroom.

    My mom had lots of family pictures.  I have tried to sort them, but it is a lot harder than I thought.  I did find one of my favorite pictures, and I am sad that it has faded so much.  I think Jackie and I have a similar one, also faded.

    I believe this was the first time we allowed Julia to hold her sister. It seems like yesterday, yet so long ago. 

    Stay healthy.  Stay safe.

Peace and Love

day.....family.......408

 We had some surprise visitors today

    Our niece Cindy came for a visit, and one of her daughters came also.

    We have not seen them since , well, a long time.  Not only did they come for a visit, they brought lunch, which is always a treat for me.

    They also brought their dog, Scout, which is a long haired German Shepherd, I think.

    All I know is Corki did not like her visitor.  She barked, growled, barked....it was highly annoying.

    When Emily and John brought over their dog Becky, Corki was fine.  But Becky was not as big as Scout, so maybe Corki felt she needed to establish dominance.  It was a noisy day.

    After a couple of hours Corki finally got quiet, but you could tell she was not at ease with her company.

    We talked and laughed and went through pictures.  I think Cindy knows more about my family than I do. 

    I also covered my peas with a blanket tonight.  The little things are about an inch high and I hope the coming snow/rain/sleet/freeze/whatever the hell is forecast will not negatively impact them.

    I even raked my newest prairie garden section, but damn, it was chilly out there!  The section was tilled Friday.  Last year I waited a couple of weeks to rake it level and it was harder than hell because the ground had settled.  I learned my lesson.

    I also sat down and made a list of plants for the new garden and the landscape guy called to confirm I wanted the big rock in his rock pile.  It is starting to come together.

    Now I just have to find those missing planters.  

    I heard there was a world wide shortage of garden gnomes because the ship stuck in the Suez Canal was loaded with gnomes.  Ever since I heard that, I seem to have a yen to watch the movie Amelié and buy my own garden gnome.

    The power of suggestion always works well on me.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Stay warm.

Peace and Love

day....chicken dinner?.....407

 I can now tell you, I won big in the Mega Millions game

    I realize that is 12 words.  Should only be 10.

    As my friend Bethie says, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner."  I get the chicken dinner!

    I had checked he numbers before, but today I verified them at an officiial Illinois lottery satellite office.  

    I had thought about sharing the big prize with family and friends, but this was not the big prize, but it is significant to me.

    Jackie does not even know.  I want to see if she really reads the blog to learn about my good fortune.

    She is always saying I am wasting my money, that I can't win, that I never pick the right numbers.  Well, all I can say is "Nyah!  Nyah! Nyah!"  I won.  Big.

    I have not decided what to do with my winnings.  Invest in the stock market?  Buy some tax free bonds?  A new car?  All of those are within reach.

    This next week I will be in DeKalb for a doctor's appointment.  I think I will spend the bulk of my winnings at Starbucks.  I should have enough left over for another ticket in the game offering the most money as a prize this month.

    Meanwhile, my $7 is burning a hole in my pocket.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Stay liucky.

Peace and Love

day...normalcy?.....406

 We had a great Saturday night

    Long time friends Renee and Wendy came over and we had pizza, cake, and a lot of laughs.  It was almost like the olden days, you know, the ones before Covid when we Could visit with friends.

    Of course th discussion included who had shots and when, which I bet is a common conversation starter these days. But we talked and laughed about a lot of stuff, and it was a welcome, and overdue, get-together.

    It was a busy Saturday.

    We have had ants in the bathroom, so our exterminator friend Xav came and sprayed around the house.

    I took our electronics in for recycling.  I had a printer, still in the box, which was shipped to Emily's house when she lived in Sycamore.  That had to be 10 years ago, at least.  I never had need for the printer, so it just stayed in  the basement.  We moved it too.  Now it is gone.  So are the plug in the cigarette lighter chargers for our flip phones.  I think there were 5 or 6 of them.    

    My mower was returned, so tomorrow it will rain and I won't be able to mow.    And there is another word floating about that rhymes with mow that may prevent me from mowing a couple of days next week.

    I had a few hours to spare so I did some weeding and cursing of mustard grass, or mustard weed, or whatever it is.  The crap is taking over my yard!  I have never had it before, but this year it is everywhere and in patches, not just isolated plants.

    Maybe mowing will help the appearance.  But my grass just does not look good.  Is it the soil, or the seed, or the care?  Other lawns are thick and lush, mine is just thin and weedy looking.

    Oh well.....something else for me to ponder.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Look for a little normal in life.

Peace and Love

day....dreams......405

 I have had some pretty good nights of solid sleep

    I have not had a really weird dream for a while.  Then there was last night.

    I have not lived in my parents' home for over 50 years.  What posessed me to have a dream about that house just baffles me.

    But there I was.  Sleeping in my old bedroom.  I smelled cigarette smoke.  That's the weird thing.  I swear, I smelled cigarette smoke!  It was so strong, it woke me up in real life!  I wandered around our today house, checking doors and smelling the air ...... but nothing.

    I went back to sleep.  I dreamt I was back in my old bedroom, again.  This time I heard a noise and looked out the back window.  My parents had a small back yard.  I would guess there was less than 10 feet between the back of the house and the apartment building behind us.

    In my dream, I looked out and saw a huge animal.

    I went downstairs and there was  female lion at the back window, clawing at the screen on the kitchen window.  The lion belonged to the people next door and was named Brutus.  I knew that, but I don't know how.  I closed the window and then double latched the back door, sliding the huge golden latches in place at the top and bottom.

    Then I was outside, it was daylight, and I was walking down the street.  Two cars stopped and the male drivers got out and started yelling at each other.  I told them to behave and calm down, but they started to fight.  As they started punching at each other, I again yelled to cut it out because their kids were watching. 

    But they didn't.  And at that point, Brutus came strolling out from between my folks' house and the house next door and let out a roar.

    The men took off in different directions and I don't remember any dreams after that.

    The smell of smoke was so strong, and the imagry of Brutus at the window, which his big maneless head, scratching at the screen, and the golen latches, still all stick with me.  

    So my question is:  What the hell is wrong with me??  I actually believe I woke up twice in this dream, only to go back to it once I was asleep.  I know the smell of smoke was before the fight, 

    Do any of you smell things in your dreams?  I am just kind of curious. 

    And do your dreams continue after you wake up and go  back to sleep?

    In the meantime, stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Say hi to Brutus if he shows up in your dreams.

Peace and Love

day...odds and ends.......404

 These will be a very odd couple of days

    You know I have a problem with numbers and names.

    Corki and I got up at 6:15 so we could get to the vet's in plenty of time for her 7;30 check in.  In fact, we got there at 7:20.

    Problem is, we were supposed to be there at 7:45.  So we sat in the parking lot for 35 minutes and I scared an employee.  She had pulled into the clinic's lot and parked on the side.  I started my car and drove over to where she was parked.  

    She waited in the car with the door and windows shut.  I rolled down my window and she rolled hers down and I told her I was here for a 7:30 appointment.  She said they don't make them for any earlier than 7:45.  

    She stayed in the car until I left and parked again in front. 

    I dropped Corki off and she did fine. One tooth was bad, so it was pulled and 4 skin tags were removed.  She is doing great.

    Meanwhile, during the day I dropped off some clothing at a local thrift shop.  A young girl took the donation and I said, "I know you."  She was clueless.  I asked her a couple of questions and then asked if  _______ was her mother, and she said yes.  I told her I knew her mother.

    I got to thinking that maybe this youngin' might have been concerned that an old man that she did not know knew so much about her.  So I contacted her mother and explained what I had done.  I did not want the youngster to be worried she was being stalked.  Mom said all was good, daughter said I seemed like a nice man.  

    Both incidents reminded me to always be aware of what I say and do around women and girls who do not know me.  For instance, I was in a grocery store and I wanted an item in a cooler.  A young lady was stocking the cooler just feet away from where I was.  So I said, "Don't back up I am right behind you looking for humus."  She said she appreciated the warning.

    That being said, tomorrow I am getting more prairie garden space tilled and I now have a plan for next year for the area.  Also, at 8 a.m. a pest control man is coming because we have ants in the bathroom and kitchen, especially in Corki's food bowl.

    Then I have a grants meeting for a group I am in, and that will be the last meeting for that group this year.  

    It just seems it has been a busy week, yet I have done nothing.  I did not even get a  nap in today!

    Such is life.

    Stay healthy.  Stay safe.

Peace and Love