No news is good news

 I am not sure what happened today

    The alarm went off at 8:15.  I fell back asleep.  Until 9:15.  By the time I got Jackie up and dressed, it was 11:30.

    I also realized I had forgotten to finish my weekly newspaper column, which is due Friday morning.  It finally got sent, but maybe not in time to run in the Sunday paper like it usually does.

    The fireplace guy came and replaced the igniter in our fireplace and now it seems to go on faster.  Maybe now it will not go off and on like it was doing.

    The rest of Chrstmas went downstairs.  Then I found more, which went downstairs.  Then I found more.......little things that were scatteered around the house.

    Yesterday I called the refuse people about my recycling cans.  I was confused by the message on their webpage.  The woman I talked to said if they were not here by 6 p.m., then  I got it out too late.

    I took the garbage out brought the recyling back in and today, our normal garbage day, they picked up the recycling.  I have a lot of recycling every week.  Now I will have twice as much as normal when they come in 2 weeks.

    I always wonder if we are being scammed.  Is the stuff really being recycled?  

    Went to getp pizza tonight.  Paid with my credit card.  Got home and Julia met me at the garage door.

    "You left your credit card at the pizza place."

    I asked why someone didn't call me.

    "I did, but you left your phone on the counter."

    That was 20 minutes I'll never get back.  But I did enjoy the radio, especially since Sirius was updating and no channels were available.

    Oh well.

Peace and Love

Breaking News!!!!!

 Space aliens have invaded!!!

    An entire quaint 1800s era village vanished today as alien space invaders beamed up the cottages and the inhabitants.

    "Oy, it was terrible," said eye witness Mike.  "We were all afraid for our lives."

    Among the buildings reported missing are the poultry shop and fire station.  "Unbelievable!" uttered Ms. Green, who was in the library of the building next door looking for a candlestick.  "A big beam of light and poof!  It's all gone!"

    Several local politicians also witnessed the mayhem, but said the space aliens were misunderstood and just looking for a way to protest probes being sent up Uranus to look for moisture in hopes of starting a colony on the gas giant.

    Warehouses and churches also vanished, along with Eddie Acorn, noted chestnut dealer who usually set up shop in front of the cocoa plant, which also is gone.

    "Me poor Eddie,"  Mrs. Acorn wailed when notified of the unexpected event.  "Now who is gonna provide for me poor family?  Little Donnie, Mitch, and baby Teddy will now have to go out into the world and earn a living instead of livin' off my dear Eddie's business."

    That is all the time for this news bulletin.  Stay tuned for more information.

Peace and Love

Proof of aliens!!!!!

Before aliens

After aliens...all that is left is some unknown packing material

small steps

 Another part of Christmas went away today

    We packed everything except the village.  That will be put away tomorrow.  I can only do so much and then I get irritated and bored.

    The going up and down the stairs does pain my legs a little.  I tell Julia not to go down emptyhanded, or come up without an empty container.  So far, that has worked well.

    Corki had a vet appointment today.  We are concerned about her hearing.  The doc said she has a slight yeast infection in both ears, so we have medication for that.  He also cleaned out some ear debris, but said on the whole, the ears did not look bad

    The nhe asked me how long she had the lump on her stomach.  It took me by surprise, because in all the time I have given her belly rubs, I had not noticed it.  Now I am aware of it and we are taking a wait and see approach.

    As  a reward for her good behavior, she got a Puppychino from Starbucks on the way home.  She loves those!

    The drive was not bad except for one or two stretches of road where the visibility was not good.  A sane person would have turned around at the first area, but I am not the most rational person in the world.  I slowed down, put my emergency flashers on, and continued on my way.

    In the end, it all worked out for the best.

    By the way,  24 more visits to 230,000!

Peace and Love

Numbers

 Numbers sometimes confuse me

    I have a home security system.  One of my window's sensors has a bad battery.  It says dining room window 2.....but I don't know which one is 2.  I have put new batteries in both sensors, but window 2 is still not working.

    I tried replacing one window's battery.....but the message remained.  So I replaced the other window's battery....but the message remained.  Which one is 1?  Wjich one is 2?

    In fact, message center said they had lost contact with window 2.  I looked, it was still there, so I know window 2 didn't wander off.  Good thing too, with the wind and freezing weather outside!

    My printer keeps printing 4 of everything.  I don't check the number of copies before I hit print, so evidently it prints whatever the previous number was.  I don't know when I printed 4 of anything, except the Christmas letter.

    I finally went to buy a couple of calendars today.  Who would think the selection would be so limited 4 days into the new year?  I want a weekly one that I can use to keep track of my miles on the bike and my weight.  I bought one, but I don't like it.  That's what procrastination gets you.

    I started this blog in 2014.  When I  sat down tonight, there had be 229,907 visits to the site.  So.....sometime in the next two nights it will pass the 230,000 mark.

    I have said it before and I will say it again:  Thank you for reading this.  Maybe you don't read it every night, maybe you do.  In either case, I am glad we have connected.

Peace and Love

Coooookie monster

 I think I may have overdone it

    I always buy butter cookies after Christmas because they are cheap.  Instead of $1.99, you can find them for half that and even less than half.

    I always go hunting for them.  Sometimes other people help.

    Like Emily.

    She bought some for me.

    You decide if I have enough or not.

    I usually go through a pack every two weeks.  I make a tea, sit on the porch during the summer or on the patio, and have two or three cookies.

    Jackie likes them too.

    I think I have enough.  I had bought 12 packs and I think Emily got me 40 something.  So this summer, stop by for tea and a cookie.  Or stop by  this winter for hot chocolate and a cookie.  Or coffee and a cookie.  Or tea and a cookie.

    You get the idea.

    Today I started packing them in freezer bags.  Then they will go downstairs in the freezer until I start craving them.  And yes, they do freeze nicely.

    Munching them in July always brings back fond memories of Christmas.  A tasty reminder, if you will.

    I just wish they would not contribute to my weight!

Peace and Love

going, going

 We took the tree down today

    Jackie packed ornaments, Julia and I got the tree out the door ,and the first nail in Christmas 2021 has been pounded down.

    We usually don't take stuff down until Jan. 6, Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas.  I think today was maids a milking day, but I get so confused.

    Anyway, because I left the heating vent under the tree open, old Tannebaum may have dried out prematurely....like me.

    Needles were falling all over the place.  I was afraid it was becoming a fire hazard.

    So, down it came.

    After taking the tree down I went out to clear my driveway. Well, half my drive way.

    There was only snow on half of it because it just was blowing so much.  I guess the guy who plows my drive either forgot me or figured it wasn't enough to bother with.

    So I went outside when it was 12 degrees and took care of the snow.  I also filled bird feeders since I was already out and frozen.

    I do enjoy watching the birds.  I think we had a cardinal this week, but I am not sure.  We do get lots of finches and sparrows.  I imagine the snowbirds will show up in the next week or two and I love watching them.

    Such is my life.

    Here's a few pictures to round out the night.

Peace and Love

These were needles on the floor......a whole bunch of them!  And I am holding a bottom branch!!

Rebecca, I hope you read this blog!  I still have it, at least I did until this weekend.

I saw this before New Year's.  Seriously?

2022? Eh.........

Well, so far it has been anything but exciting 

    The tree is still up, the pictures not hung, and the desk is still a mess.  The two closets have not been organized, still.  Those were last year's tasks.

    But, I did manage a nap.  And I read the paper.  I also watched the second half of a football game of which I had no interest.  I also shoveled the porch off a couple of times.

    Now, Corki is weird.  When there is snow on the ground she often does her duty on the snow covered porch.  So,being smarter than an average dog,  I go out with her and shovel the snow off the porch before she has a chance to squat.

    I have to clear the snow off anyway, so it is no big deal.  And it saves me work, because it is not easy geting frozen pee off the cement.

    At the end of the first day of the New Year, I feel I have not accomplished anything.

    Plus, no celebration last night.  No special celebration today.

    Years ago, before I met Jackie, I had a crush on a girl in one of my journalism classes.  We would walk to class together, help each other with assignments, have coffee in the j-lab together.  Classic crush behavior.  One day I asked her to go see Blow Up, a movie about a photographer who captrues a murder on his camera, but he does not know it.  

    She said yes, and that her boyfriend would love to see it.  So, the 3 of us went to see the movie and that cemented what would be a long time friendship.

    Little Lynn was like a sister to me.  When I was dating Jackie, we would often end up at Lynn's apartment, which was right across the street from the NIU health center.

    We went to her wedding to Chuck, she was godmother to Julia, and we spent nearly every New Year's Day at their house in Western Springs, having dinner, catching up, laughing, and enjoying a friendship.

    This does not have a happy ending.  She and Chuck got divorced, she remarried (to a guy named Chuck!  And he remarried a girl named Lynn!  At least they didn't have to change monograms.)

    We must not have set a good impression at her  second wedding, because we drifted apart.  I tried getting in contact with her, but we had forgotten her new last name.  By the time I finally screwed up the courage to ask Chuck one, it was too late.  She had died a few years before I asked.

    Like with so many people in my life now, I regret not being a better friend and calling her more or seeing her more. 

    New Year's Day has just never seemed the same, even though it has probably been 30 years.  

    Funny thing, when I would travel to the zoo I would pass her street.  I would always smile, because she was that type of person.

    I really don't know why I digressed into such a dark space.  But there is a lesson in it, for all of us. 

    I just hope I learn.

Peace and Love