Otis weather

I am a little tired of this 

    70 one day, 50 the next and 40 by the time I grill supper.

    I wore a heavier coat at 5:30 than I did at 12;30 because I was freezing out in the garage.

    Yes, in the garage.

    I put the grill in the garage during the winter so I can grill is semi comfort.  I do have the garage door open, I am not totally stupid.

    But I was cold today, and the pork chops might have been cold when I took them off the grill.

    I was a little embarrassed today.  Again.

    Jackie was getting her hair done, so I have about an hour to do something.  I almost always go over to Acres Bistro and have a coffee and some cookies. 

    Well, they had cookies today, but hey also had a brownie in a Mason jar type goodie with whipped cream, raspberry filling, brownie and something else. It was super delish!

    I misread the bill.  I gave the waitress a $10, expecting $2.5o or so in change.  But the bill was not $7.50. but $9:50.  Now, I had a $20 bill, but did not want to break it for some unknown reason.  Which meant I did not have much to leave for a tip.

    And the lady was super nice to me.  She kept my coffee cup filled, talked to me for a couple of minutes, and made sure I was a happy camper.

    So on my way out I told her I shorted her on a tip, but would make up for it next time.  She laughed and said not to worry.

    But I do!  I don't want to be a cheap skate.

    I just hope she is working next time I go in.

    Also learned I will be gaining more weight starting in April.

    A new ice cream parlor is opening right across from the museum on 8th street.  They will have malts, shakes, sundaes and ice cream.  It will be a great addition to the downtown, but will probably shorten my life span by 7 years.

    All things in moderation, I know.  But ice cream?  

    When I order at Country School and have to wait, I always get a cone of moose tracks.  I can usually finish half of it before the order comes.  Again, I have no self control.

    As a matter of fact, cone or cup is the easiest decision I ever have to make in life.  Always, cone.

Peace and Love

fridge fair

 Talk about unusual meals

    We seem to have acquired some leftovers over the past 3 days.

    So tonight it was time to finish them.

    That made for some interesting meals.  

    I had some potato soup, half a ham and cheese sandwich, some cole slaw and a chicken finger.  Now, looking at the line up I can sense some questions about the gastronomical choices, and truthfully, I am having one of those myself right now.

    Julia had chicken and something.

    Jackie had a ham and Swiss on marble rye, with some cole slaw, chips and broccoli salad.

    At least the fridge looks a little better.

    Back when I was in college and living off campus, I would buy a pound of ground beef and a couple of boxes of Rice a Roni.  I would grill t the meat and mix the R and R and put it all together.  It was not unusual for me to have that 2 or 3 times a day until it was gone.

    I actually grew to like it.  But one. time after we had been married I made it and it just did not seem that good.  Maybe I should try it again.

    When I was a teenager, I did not always display good, ethical behavior when it came to food.

    I once worked in a food store deli.  One of my jobs was to close at night, making sure the chicken rotisserie was clean and ready to go the next day.

    That usually took me 15-20 minutes.

    At some point I discovered that if I put the last chicken (singular) on 40 minutes before then, I would have a left over chicken at closing time.

    Since we could not carry them over, I would price them to sell......usually 50 cents, and sometimes 25 cents.  

    And I would buy it.  I loved the chicken.  Still do.

    I realized later in life that I was wrong.  But I t think the statute of limitations has expired on my petty embezzlement career.

    I have my own roaster now, so I can make a chicken. whenever I want.  

    I just never seem to buy the bird.

Peace and Love

not again

 The mystery returns

    After 2 weeks of printing whatever I want, I can't print again.  I keep getting the message" printer not found".  Well, it hasn't moved since I printed last Friday!  Not found my foot.

    I don't get it.

    My next complaint.

    Dog Beth.

    Yes, I have been complaining about her a lot.

    Last night I took her out at about 9 and she stayed out for 15 minutes, spending 14 of those minutes staring at a bush.  She is convinced there is a rabbit or ground squirrel in the bush, or under the bush, or somewhere.  But we never see one.

    I brought her in and right before bed, about 11, I took her out again.  She sniffed around but did not go to the bathroom.  I did put her on a long leash, because sometimes she sits at the far end of the bushes and I won't walk in the grass at night.  Need I explain why?

    She came in and went to bed.  I went to bed.  

    I had a hard time getting to sleep. Maybe it was the 2 p.m. coffee, the 1 p.m. nap, the change in. time, or my perpetual worrying, but I could not sleep.

    About 1:30 Beth left her crate and went to the front door.  That is what she does when she wants to go out.

    I was not playing this game again.

    I  checked on her, then went back to bed.  I figured if she had to go, she would bark.

    At 4 a.m. she was still at the front door.  I know, because I got up to check. I did not want her in a spot where Julia could trip over her.

   Her tail started wagging and she stretched, which she always does before going out.  So I took her out.

    The little snot went to the end of the sidewalk, looked around, came back in and went right to her crate!

    I am convinced the whole operation was to tell me she was in charge! She won.  This time.

    Tonight I think I will latch her crate.  That way I will get a better sleep.

    I do think she is a smart dog and is starting to realize she can wrap me around her little paw.  

    Yes, she is training me.  Should be the other way around.

Peace and Love

dates

 My life is getting filled with dates

    No, not the  boy-girl dates.

    And not the dates you get off a tree and eat.

    But dates.

    Every 2 weeks clean the dog's ears, so I shoot for the 1st and 15th of the month.

    Every 11th of a month give the dog a heart worm med.

    Last day of the month give the dog a flea/tick preventative.

    First of the month clean my hearing aids by changing the ear wax filters.

    First of the month, clean the washer filter and drain the water.

    First Tuesday of the month, and the second Wednesday, second Thursday, and third Thursday....meetings.

    Then there are the dates when recycling comes, like tomorrow.  I still have a ton of boxes to get ready for the pickup.  By getting ready, I mean cutting down and packing them into something.  I write those dates  on the calendar so I don't forget.

    I tell you, not a day goes by that I don't seem to have something to do!  

    Sure, m lost of the stuff doesn't take very long, except the meetings.  Yet it seems like I am always in the middle of doing one thing or another.

    And some of the stuff is stuff I want to do.  In fact, I enjoy my involvement with community foundation and the museum.

    But I don't enjoy cleaning Beth's ears.  Last time I did it up on the couch and now she won't come on the couch when I am sitting there!  Next time I will clean them while she is on the floor.  

    And I do have time for coffee, naps, reading, doing this blog, working on my books, reading the Trib, checking Facebook and playing solitaire on line.

    I also realize I can't keep doing all the things I do.  

    But until that day comes, I will keep complaining and moaning about doing them.

    I gotta go.....cardboard is calling.

Peace and Love

snooooore

 I don't like the time change

    My body goes to bed about 11:30, which is now 12:30, which means I can't get to sleep.

    My body gets up at 9, which is now 10, which means I need a nap that I did not get today.

    My body also likes the extra hour of sun at the end of the day.  And when we change, it also likes the light time in the morning when kids are on their way to school.

    Maybe we should take that hour and split it in half and never change again!  How confusing could that be?

    Jackie and I went to church today but not for a regular worship service.  One of our church members died and today was the memorial service.

    We sat and visited with a lot of people who have not seen for a while.  It seems we make it to church Christmas Eve and maybe Easter.  We have supply priests and instead of doing 2 services on a Sunday, we only do one at 9:30.

    For most people that is not an issue, but for us it is. It takes a while to get Jackie up and ready for the day.  We figure if we want to make a 9:30 service, we'd have to get up at 6:30.  If you know us, you know that will never happen.

    We had our friend Sam coming over tonight to show me her critique sheets from her first ever speech meet.  That brought back memories.

    I enjoyed doing speech with the kids.  I always told them they were doing something most parents would bet afraid to do....getting up in front of strangers and performing.  

    Sam did verse and duet acting and she went through her. verse and duet parts for all of us.  I think she did pretty darn good.

    I realized how out of practice I was when I made notes on her performances and could not figure out what I wrote or why I wrote it.  

    My friend Human Beth and I had talked at one point in our lives of taking a summer and writing scripts for novice speech kids.  We would do about 15 of them, and put them in a book form, getting rich off the profits.  Well, we never did it.  Someday.

    And here's another small world item.  A sister of a former Rochelle friend died.  She has a daughter living in Lititz PA.  What makes it a small world is our nephew and his family also live in Lititz   If you have never heard of the town, you now have.  Twice.

    I have also been accused of intentionally mispronouncing the name of the town.

    By the way, it is about the same size as Rochelle.  

    By the way,  #2 , I am relaxing with a short stubby glass of red.....so please excuse any incomplete thoughts.

Peace and Love 

    

oh oh

 I am turning into one of "them"

    You know the type.

    Driving 30 in a 60 zone.

    Looking for change at the check out counter.

    Writing a check at the check out counter, after standing in line for 3 minutes with your checkbook put away only to finally dig it out and start writing while the line grows behind you, and people start growling and throwing candy bars at the back of your head.

    Wandering around a parking lot looking for your car.  In the rain.  A heavy rain.  With a strong wind blowing in your face and you only in a thin sweatshirt because you did not believe it when  the forecast said rain at 4 p.m. and you went out at 3:59.

    Complaining about changing the clocks at 2 a.m. twice a year.

    You know, one of :then."

     I had 2 errands to run in DeKalb yesterday.  I needed  a new toilet seat and could not buy it locally.  I checked.

    Jackie wanted me to see if  a store had a flower patterned rugs to replace the one in our bathroom.  Incidentally, throw rugs are the largest cause of falls in homes for elderly people.  Keep that in mind.

    Since Julia was gone, I went to Portillo's for supper.

    Jackie gets a Chicago style hot dog 99 % of the time.  I, on the other hand, get bored with food.

    I decided to get a fish sandwich.  I like fish sandwiches.  I don't have to eat them, but I like them. 

     (When Jackie and I were dating there was a Burger King special on fish sandwiches during lent.  For 59 cents I could get a sandwich.  Throw in a pop and fries an I could eat for under $2. Since I lived off campus, that was great and I ate a fish sandwich at least 4 times a week.  All during  Lent.)

    Last year  Portillo's  had a really great walleye sandwich.  But I did not see any fish sandwich on the menu board.

    I was the only person in line.  I asked the sweet young thing (SWT)  what kind of fish they had and she said she did not know..  A co worker said it was a deep fried cod.  I asked the SWT  if she had tried it and did she like it?.  She said she did not eat fish, but it looked good. 

    I hemmed and hawed and finally said I would like the fish.  Then I stared at the board and thought about a dessert, or shake, or side, but finally said that was all.

    When I turned around there were at least 6 people behind me!

    I KNOW what they were thinking.

    Just order!  Stop asking questions!  Order the damn fish and move on.!

    So I did.

    And when I got my order, I actually checked to be sure it was all there before I left the store.  I have learned that lesson.

    I think it is Progressive Insurance commercials that show a guy teaching people how not to be like their parents.  It may be too late for me.....I should have had that lesson before complaining that the shopping cart did not roll straight.

Peace and Love

dog nab it

Dog Beth is training me 

    When Beth  sits by the door, I let her out.  When she scratches the door, I let her in.  Sometimes the door is not shut all the way and she pushes on it, opening it, and coming in on her own.  (And I also applies to Julia.)

    We have not taught her how to close the door, however.  This does present a problem when Julia and I have gone off to different parts of the house and the door is wide open with cold air coming inside.

    I do have an issue with night time outings.

    We put a  red flashing collar on her so we can see her in the darkness.  I put a coat on and go out with her because coyotes are in the area.

    Beth will stand and stare at a bush for minutes, while I often stand there shivering because the coat is too light or the wind too strong or the hat not on my head keeping my entire body warmer.

    After she does this for a while, I guide her into the house, where she proceeds to sit at the front door waiting for me to take her out.  Again.  

    I have been waiting for a while  now to  go out  again..

    Last night she went out, stared at the bush, I got her in and we all went to bed.

    Beth goes into a kennel, but I don't close the door.  We trust her, but I am afraid that if she doesn't have the crate she will be somewhere where I will step on her or fall over her.

    At 4 a.m. Jackie woke me up and said Beth was out.  Jackie can hear Beth's nails clicking across the floor.  But with my hearing loss, I don't hear. that.

    I got up and sure enough, she was sitting by the front door.

    I tried to herd her back to bed.  I stepped in front of her and prevented her from going to the door.  She moved right, I moved left.  She moved left, I moved right.  

    We danced like this for a couple of minutes and finally I gave in, put her flashing red collar on, got on a coat, opened the door and out she went.

    Instead of staring at the bush, she went into the yard and eliminated waste, in gentler terms.  Twice.  

    Then she came back to the door, I took off her collar, and she went straight back to bed.

    That was the second time I got up during the night.

    I was up about 2 when a very powerful flower scent woke me up.  I thought maybe Julia had a candle lit, but no.  Nothing smelled downstairs or in any other part of the house except around my bed.

    And it was a great smell.

    I was a little tired today, so I took an hour nap.,  I could have slept longer but I had some things to do.

    Sometimes my life is just weird.

Peace and Love