Monday funday

 Today was a pretty good day

    Not only did I buy the winning lottery ticket, we made a new friend from Texas!

    She is the mother of a good friend we have known for years and was visiting. They joined us for supper and some wine and we had a great time talking about travel experiences, life in Texas, lots of little stuff, and Ranger.

    Now, Ranger has been here for just over a week.  We have not had a lot of people over during that time, but we have had two sets of company.  Ranger has not jumped up to snatch food or sat and begged off anyone.  All he wants is people to pet him.

    All of us enjoyed pizza, apple crisp, good wine, great conversation and making new friends.  Well, all of us except Ranger, who made new friends but did not have any food and did not join in on our conversation.

    Ran into an old friend at Cypress House.  She was buying something for a baby.  She then explained to me that (I am changing names to protect the innocent) George just had a baby boy.  George is Pete's son.  So I said to her, you are a great grandmother.

    She shook her head ans said no, Pete is her grandson.  George is her great grandson.  The baby is her great, great grandson.

    I told her she looked pretty good for a great great grandmother.

    I have been going to Cypress House for a while.  I like the people and the coffee.  But I got a little confused today when I could not get in!  I pushed and pushed but the door would not open.  Don't you think after all my visits there I would know it's a pull?

    Sigh.

Peace and Love

too late

 Sometimes life is like Dominoes

    You hit the first block, and if spaced properly, the rest will fall.

    That's why someone else bought the house I would have liked.

    The Dominos were not spaced right.

    Let me explain.

    I missed winning the last Powerball drawing by 6 numbers.  I saw a Steven Colbert bit about him having the winning ticket but some unknown forces changed the numbers so his ticket was not the winning one after all.  Frankly, the prize was stolen from him.

    I was going to do the same type of comment in my blog!  But I hesitated, and he did his, so I could not do mine because that would be copying his work.  I won't do that.

    But it was a great bit.

    And because I did not win, I won't meet Jimmy Buffett.

    Jimmy would have been the last Domino.  (I don't know if it should be capitalized or just the pizza company, but I'm not as smart as I used to be either.)

    I have been going to Buffett shows for the past few years with a much younger group of people.  We sometimes rent a boat on Lake Geneva, then go set up at the show and sit around and talk.  And drink, excpet I don't because I am not really able to handle alcohol well.

    But because I did not win the lottery, I did not buy the 12,289 sq. ft. house on Lake Geneva for $17 million.  It sits on 20 acres and has a beautiful front lawn creeping down to the lake.

    The house would have been perfect for our pre show get  togethers and would have been a great spot for a post show sleep over with Jimmy and the Coral Reefers.  We could sit and talk, and sing, and laugh.  Maybe have a drink or two.  With almost 1 billion dollars in my pocket, I think I could convince him to spend time with us.

    But no, the Domino did not fall and I did not win the 1.2 billion this drawing.  But they draw  again Monday night, and I will have my hands clutched around the winning ticket.

    So....Buffett group....be ready for an awesome experience in 2023!!

    Sure, the odds are 300 million to 1, but I could be that one!

Peace and Love

odds and ends

Just a few random thoughts for today

    Say this out loud:  Have you been sleeping?.

    Now, be honest.  Did you say "bin"  or "ben" or "bean"?

    I say bin, but I don't know why.

    The ee combination almost always says e.  Feet, sheet, meet, greet.....get my drift?  So why, in been, do most of us not use the long e sound?

    Had Ranger out in the very back of the yard today.  He was taking a dump, (he goes regularly now, thank you) and he was on the long leash.  We have been working on "come" and I thought we would try it today.

    So I dropped the leash and said, "Come."

    He took off on a trot, dragging the leash behind.  I ran after him, but to be honest. unless I am chasing a turtle there is little chance I could catch anything other than a cold.

    He ran straight to the front door and sat there, waiting for me.

    Future sessions will be done with me holding the long leash.

    Froze carrots today.  While putting them away I found an apple pie from 2021.  Gonna bake it this week, because I love apple pie.

    Just took Ranger outfor his nightly potty walk.  Deer in the field.  Let's just say we were both pretty excited by the time I got him back.  But he did not pee, so we will go out again later.  He does not like the dark.  By the way, I did have hold of his leash.  Briefly. Lesson learned by me.

    One and a half inches in my rain guage today.

    256,000 views of this blog.  You folks are amazing to put up with my drivel.

Peace and Love

    

    

    

picture day

 Not a lot to say tonight

    Hearing tomorrow's forecast, I took the patio furniture in this morning.  Julia said I should have asked her for help, but I didn't need help, so I didn't ask.  Jackie encouraged me to put it safely inside.

    Wind gusts of 60 possible.  Sounds like a fun day.

    Yesterday I dug carrots.  Today I scraped them.  Tomorrow we will cut and blanch them.  I thought I would get that done today, but for some reason I didn't.

    I did stop for a chocolate banana frappe at Cypress House.  I managed to dribble some down my shirt, so I wiped it off as soon as I  got home.  Then I dribbled again. I also dropped some baked beans from the CAN pork chop dinner on my shirt, so it is kind of a mess.

    Normal people would have changed their shirt.

    Johanna dropped off a mug from the Christmas market in Chicago last year.  I did not make it down, but now I have a mug.

    Finished Lincoln Highway last night.  Great story, highly recommend it.  Towles is the author.

    Now for some pictures that have no particular bearing on anything.

Peace and Love

Saw this in DeKalb by the dog treat store.

What a great idea!

Bib butt carrot

Weirdness comes in all shapes

Just how do you lose a drum?

Feel free to stop over and help cut

gender fluid?

Ranger may not know it, but he is gender fluid 

    I call him a her or  she way too often.  He is a boy dog.  He is not a bitch.

    There.  Maybe that will clarify it in my mind, but I doubt it.

    I have also called him Corki a couple of times.  Jackie may have also.  We still miss her terribly.

    Luckily he responds to his name.

    He actually has had some training.  He can sit on command.  Today we were in the yard and he was on his long leash and I just let him go.  When he got far enough, I called his name and said come and he did. 

    But the next time we did that, he did not come.

    Stay is also a tough one.  I guess I shouldn't say that, it has only been a couple of days.

    He seems very smart.  He knows we go out the front door and come in the front door.

    I bought the winning lottery ticket tonight.  I know my odds are something like 229 million to 1 I will win, but a person can dream, can't they?

    I dug carrots today.  Tomorrow I will skin them, slice them, blanch and freeze this year's crop.  Last year's was not so good but tomatoes were great.  This year, not to many tomatoes but a lot of carrots.  Go figure.

    Normally I do not drink beer.  But I had one at the cast party and am having one tonight.  I did not like the party one, but the Spotted Cow is pretty nice.  I still prefer wine.

    And that' the way it is.

Peace and Love

darn it

 Sometimes my brain misfires

    Jackie had a doctor appointment in Sycamore and afterwards I stopped at a near by grocery store,

    First off, they have Christmas decorations up...even a tree!  Christmas music is playing on the in store radio.  It's Nov.2.

    Anyway, they had 1 pound packs of little carrots for 99 cents.  They had 2 pound packs for 99 cents with a coupon.

I asked the nice young man (and former student way back when) where I could get a coupon.

    He said they must be in the store magazine.  So he walked to the front of the store and got a magazine....no coupon.  So he went to the service desk and they had a smaller magazine with weekly coupons, and there was the coupon for the carrots.

    I did the rest of my shopping, which was not much, went to the only person working checkout line, unloaded my first two items and gave her the coupon, realizing I never picked up a pack of carrots!

    So, she voided the transaction and I went back and got carrots.

    I went back the her line and as I was getting ready to pay, a huge red spot formed on my shirt.

What the heck, I said out loud.

    Oh, she laughed, that is the price reader pointed at your shirt.  Did you think you were being targeted with a lazer, she asked.

   No, I told her.  I thought I was bleeding out.

    She thought that was very funny.

    I walk back to our car and discover a stranger sitting in the front seat.

    I will say, there are an awful lot of black Pacificas in this world.  I was parked two rows over.

    Ranger went all day without the belly band, AKA diaper, and did very well.  He even went tentatively to Jackie to get a treat or two, but still won't get up onto her lap.

    Meanwhile, I tried to fold towels and she laid in the middle of the pile.  Makes it hard to get work done when she keeps giving me kisses.

    Also today, she went into her bag and got out a toy and played with it.  We throw it, she gets it and brings it back and drops it at our feet.  Except when Jackie throws it.

    Maybe tomorrow.

Peace and Love

day 2..... touchdown!

 We had a long day today

    Jackie had a doctor appointment in Rolling Meadows.  Usually we call sister Judy, but we wanted to get home as soon as possible.  Good thing too, because Jackie did not feel well once we got home.  

    Ranger spent the day with Julia.  He was excited to see us get home. The big news is I took him  around the yard and he dropped a huge load!  Julia suggested puttng him on the 30 foot leash and letting him explore, which I did and he sniffed and sniffed and ...... kaboom!!!!

    I know....no one wants to read about a dog pooping.  But I was getting worried.

    I am sitting at my desk typing this.  Last night I posted and played a game of spider solitare and this is what happened.

    I don't even know how hegot up there, and then he was licking me like crazy!  I had to eventually put him down on the floor. Julia was laughing at us and took the picture.

    Now  to get Ranger to go up by Jackie.  Still not a connection.  We'll see what happens later this week when I go out for a while and Jackie is alone with him.

    My gosh, this was a beautiful day!  I hope we get another week of this weather.  I keep saying I am going to get on my bike, but I don't.  Maybe tomorrow.

    If you can, Tom Skilling of WGN is doing a series on climate change.

    One of the experts he had on Monday night in episode one said that while we have experienced hot and cold cycles in the past, these usually occur over thousands of years.  What we are experiencing now is much more rapid and much more threatening to our way of life.

    I just hope positive change is not too late.

Peace and Love