day........snow.......320

 We only had about 5 inches of snow

    As you know, it has snowed off and on during the day....a very pretty snowfall.  We did not get the 10 inch plus drop some forecasts predicted, which is fine with me.

    We have our driveway plowed, but the sidewalk needed to be shoveled for the dog.

    Let me explain.  Corki goes out, sees the white sidewalk and then squats and does her business on the porch or the walk.  Today she dropped a doobie on the sidewalk, then strolled out into the snow.  Jackie thinks she doesn't like her butt to get cold, so that's why she does her business on the sidewalk

    I, on the otherhand, think Corki is wacko.

    So I shovel.

    Today was a wet, heavy snow...heart attack snow....so I went slowly and carefully.

    As I was shoveling I kind of got a littly misty eyed about the good old days.  Making snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights, sledding down the hill at Montrose Beach....things I will probably never do again in life.  I really missed my youth today.

    Sure, I could have built a snowman....but I didn't.  A lost opportunity for sure, but sometimes it is not fun to build one by yourself.

    Anyway....worked on my puzzle and made some progress today, but I have a long way to go.  

    I still have a box of pictures in the dining room....been there since before my surgery in November.  Maybe, just maybe, this week I will try to go through them and empty the tub.  I have said that before.

    We also Skyped Julia, always good to talk to my daughters.  It has been snowy there, but temps are going into the 50s this week and they have had rain, so snow in the lower elevations is gone. 

    That's my life.......sometimes it just feels so much like Groundhog Day, which is coming up this week.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Watch for shadows.

Peace and Love

day......TMI.........319

 Here's another episode in eeewwww

    Actually doing this early tonight.  It is windy, rainy, freezing rain, with snow expected at some point.  A lot of snow.  Maybe 10 inches.  Or a little snow.  Maybe 2-3 inches.  Who knows.  But often we lose power under these conditions.  I have 2 gallon jugs filled with drinking water and a 5 gallon pail filled with flush the toilet water....which means power will not go out.

    Anyway, I had a slice of apple at lunch today.  Part of it got stuck  (so much for eating healthy) and I started to choke.  Not Heimlich level choking, but choking to the point I could not get the apple out of my windpipe.

    Eventually it cleared .... but something did not feel right.  My nose was feeling odd.  I blew my nose....nothing.  But it still felt odd.  So I got some nose spray and sprayed it in my nose and blew really hard.

    A piece of apple came out!!!!

    What the hell?!@

    What if that had been a seed?  Would I have an apple tree growing in my sinus cavity?

    Holy crap, it hurt too.

    And no, I did not eat the bit...I did toss it,

    Just prior to that I went out to get the mail.  

    I hit the driveway, which was solid ice.  I thought  the hurricane force winds were going to get blow me over.  The rain was pelting my face, the wind was going right through my lounge pants, (NO, these are NOT pajama bottoms.  Lounge pants!!  Damnit!!) and I wondered if I fell who would rescue me?

    That was at 3:30 and our driveway was already drifted over with about a foot of snow, but it was just blowing snow, nothing that was due to fall from the sky.

    The worst part is..... I don't think the mailman had come yet.  So I will make the trip again....shuffling very slowly and hoping to maintain balance.

    I am waiting for it to get good and slippery and dark because we all know that is when a 70 year old man should venture out.

    Be safe my friends.  Be smart.  Unlike me.

Peace and Love

day.....go figure.....318

 Sometimes I don't understand myself

    We ordered take out tonight.  The fast food place is about 10 minutes from the house.

    They said it would be ready in 10-15 minutes.

    I took Corki with because she likes to go for rides.  Grabbed my phone, keys, mask, and took off.

    I pulled up to the restaurant, got out of the car, reached for my wallet....not there.  I forgot it!  

    Got back in the car, drove home, got my wallet, drove back....now it has been 30 minutes since I ordered.

    When I got to the restaurant they were just about ready to call my number to see if I was coming.

    Otherwise today was a pretty good day.  I went to the rec center and walked, although I don't know how far I actually walked.  I play The Beatles on my phone and it plays through my hearing aids, so when I walk I sing along with the boys.

    Now, 6 laps is a mile.  Because I sing, I don't remember how many laps I have gone.  I either went 6, 7, or 8.  I know a youngster passed me four times, so I think I went 8.  From now on, I am taking a counter.

    I don't know how I did it, but I downloaded some albums twice.  So when I listen, I hear the same song twice.  In a row.  I don't know how to undo it.

    And the last puzzler of the day.  For the past two Thursdays I have slept very well....I only got up once last night and after a walk  through the house, went back to bed and right to sleep.  BTW...I  did not see any deer in the incredibly bright moonlight.

    But also for the last two Thursdays I have had a venti white chocolate mocha from Starbucks.  Venti.  And I slept well.   Go figure.

    Now, just going to sit back and wait for the snow......maybe a lot of it.

    Be safe.  Be careful.  Be Healthy

Peace and Love

day......uh,,,,,,,317

I am getting confused a lot 

    You may notice, without having to go to work, days just sort of blend together.  Monday becomes Wednesday before you know it.

    I went to Rockford today and really got a shock. 

    At the corner of Il 251 and 64 there is a restaurant.  It became temporarily famous when the tornado hit and buried 7 or 8 people in the basement.  All were rescued and miraculously none were seriously hurt.

    I pulled up to the intersection today and thought I was lost.  Two new buildings are going up, one looks like a strip mall type place and the other looks like an 8 car garage.  There are few houses around, so it just puzzles me.  But at that moment it also confused me because I was used to seeing just the restaurant.

    But I was not lost, just momentarily confused.

    With new fairly fresh snow, it is easy to see the deer tracks in the yard.  Yesterday we had none....but today, they were all over the yard. 

    When I get up in the middle of the night I often look out the windows, hoping to see some deer.  That has only happened once.  But it was obvious they were right up to the house last night because the snow was scraped away and the grass exposed.

    Maybe with the full moon tonight I will finally see them this winter.  By the way, this is the Wolf Moon.....and I have to Google that to find out why.

    Meanwhile, I have to go howl.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.

Peace and Love

day......Heereee's Johnny!...day 316

I used to always watch Johnny Carson 

    Deep down inside, I wanted to be him.  Late night tv show host, funny, meeting great people...... I truly envied him.  I always wondered why him and not me?  What sets us on our different paths?  Luck?  Fate?  Marriage?  Who you know?

    I tuned in one of his shows last night and was reminded of how funny he could be.  Jim Fowler brought some animals along, an up and coming comedian was on, and so was a "new face" in Hollywood.

    During his monologue he mentioned Kodak had just brought out a new product....the disposable camera.  Holy crap, that show was old!

    The  Mighty Carson  Art Players performed, with Carson and Teresa Ganzel, doing Tea Time Matinee.  She replaced Carol Wayne, who I remember vividly for her outstanding features. 

    I had no idea who Teresa Ganzel was, so I Googled her.  She has had a long career in movies and tv, mostly in shows I never watched, and in some cases never heard of.

    The comedian was Bob Nelson, who did a bit where he was a football team doing a commercial.  What I saw was pretty funny.

    But I had to Google him too because that name was unfamiliar to me.  He, too, has had a long career on stage, opening for acts and doing shows in Branson.  Unfortunately, Wikipedia noted he was diagnosed with colon cancer late in 2020.

    Jim Fowler brought out an Andes condor, and made the statement the California condor was on the verge of extinction.

    Again, thanks to Google I learned that in 1987 the last wild California condor was captured.  Their total poulation was 29, all in captivity.  Using a variety of zoos, the condors were bred and offspring were hatched.  In 2019 there were 519 of the birds. some still in captivity and some in the wild.  They have been reintroduced in California and other Western states.

    As a side note, we have a drawing Betsy Fowler did of four elephants.  It is titled "Family" and is a numbered print.  We bought it in a Chicago suburb when the kids were little.  I remember going to pick it up and the sidewalk crunching under us because there was a locust infestation year.  Good times.

    In a sense the show drove home the advancements, or at least changes, that have taken place.  Disposable cameras were new, now hardly anyone uses film.  Condors on the verge of extinction are once again flying the skies.  I wonder if they evere imagined that.

    But I still wonder why Johhny and not me.

    Stay healthy.  Stay safe.

Peace and Love

day.....boring......315

 Today was a pretty routine day

    No lost key.  No lost telephone.  Supper and dishes done early.

    It is about 7:30 and Corki is sitting on the floor whining.  Why?  Because it is her treat time!  If she does not get her treat at 7:30, we are in big trouble.

    Today she went out into the snow.  It was pretty deep for her.  Now, remember she is a dog from Alabama (with a banjo on her knee) but we have had her for 5 years now.  The first winter she seemed puzzled by snow.  This winter, she went outside, lay down and rolled it it.  Then she put her nose in the snow and "shoveled" it for a few inches.  

    She does not like it when I throw snow on her.  I used to toss snowballs at her, and    she would jump when they hit the ground.  She never chased them or investigated them, so I think things like that scare her.

    She has trained us well.

    As a digression, I finished the puzzle outline.  I took apart two sides and put them back together with alternate combinations and that seemed to work.  The pieces fit a lot better and I used all the pieces for the four sides.  Now for the hard part.

    I also shoveled he walk in case it rains and freezes again.  It was not much of an effort, because only about 6 feet had snow...the rest blew away.  But it is clean now.  We'll see what it looks like after the weekend storm rolls through.

    Hopefully an early bed time tonight...gotta get up earlier than I have been.

    Stay safe.  Stay healthy.

Peace and Love

Day.....aaargh!!!!.....314

I was so frustrated today 

        I was going to the store before the storm.  I thought I should fill up Jackie's car and get some milk and some other perishables we might need over the next two days.

    I could not find my car key.  Emily had our second key, but I could not find my car key.  I looked in my sweatshirts, coat pockets, under piles of paper, under the seat, between the seats.....literally everywhere it could be.

    Emily brought our second key over and she looked in the car, in my coat pockets, under piles of paper.....nada, nothing, nil, zilch.

    I spent almost an hour looking.  Under the bed, under the dresser, in cushions, under the washer.

    I know I had the key because I drove the car last Thursday.  It had to be in the house, right?  Or did I accidentally put it in the trash, or recycling?  

    I had a bag of plastic bags to recycle, I picked them up to take to WM.  But I also set them down and could not find them!  Walked around th egarage twice before I spied them.

    When I got home, I realized the only place I did not look was in the dirty clothes.  On the top of the basket was my Resist Alt National Park Service sweatshirt with Smokie on the front.  I put my hand in the pocket.....and  there it was.

    So for a few minutes, I was less frustrated.  But then I went to spend some calming time working on my puzzle and damn, I can't get the sides together yet!  Pieces that look like they fit, don't.  There are spaces on each side where it looks like 2 or 3 pieces are missing, but the ones I have don't fit.

    I have checked the pieces four times and can't find anymore edge pieces.  

    My calming time rapidly became another frustrating moment in life.

    Hopefully tomorrow I won't lose anything important, like my mind.

    Stay healthy.  Stay happy.  Stay safe.

Peace and Love