3 dry months

Hello, after more than 3 months. Am I going to keep this up? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm gonna try. Have I said that before? ;-)

Here's a pic of our newest pet ~ this is Gracie, and she's wearing her OSU shirt. Another miniature "weenie". Not a very good pic, but it's hard to catch her standing still. She's from the Parkersburg, WV, puppy mill that had over 1,000 dogs is very poor conditions. Our Capital Area humane Society got 25 of them, and since these are purebred dogs, they held a lottery to see who got them. Over 100 people put in applications, and we were one of the lucky 25. She's 3 years old, and very small. Our other 2 dogs are supposed to be miniatures, but we don't think they are. They're not real big, but they're nowhere as small as she is. But she is very affectionate, loves Bud and Dusty, and is pretty much potty trained. A few accidents. But she's fitting in very well here.

We're gearing up for Christmas. I did some Christmas shopping yesterday....all of it at Best Buy. Found almost everything except a video game that I'll check for at WalMart and Meijer, and if they don't have it, I'm sure Amazon will have it. Marco already got himself a Christmas present.....more about THAT later.......

Marco is completely re-doing my Zen Room. Scott came over Sunday and painted it for us. After we tore up the old yucky carpet, Marco moved wires, and televisions and computers and phones will be moved around. The hardwood flooring is great, and we have no carpet left in the house. Just the oriental rugs in the dining area and the great room. I'm going to find a small oval one for in the Zen Room. The ones we have now are red - see pic above - but I'm going to get one with greys, blues and whatever when I go shopping for one. After all, it's a ZEN room, and has to be more soothing.

That's about it for today. No other big news actually. I don't want to overdo today if I'm going to be back tomorrow or the next day. Probably won't try to blog every single day. I'm retired for heavens sake. LOL

You stay warm Columbus.

Rain, rain, and more rain

Just posted a pic of my Amazons, Sunny and Baby, for the heck of it. We're not sure when their exact birthdays are, so the parrot forum I belong to has created a "hatchday" list so everyone's birds get recognition. Sunny and Baby were recognized in June, even tho' I suspect they were probably hatched a little earlier in the spring. I just picked June for them. They don't care, and neither do I. I enjoy them no matter what. One of the ladies in the forum makes up the pretty little cards for them. I need to find time to experiment with things like that. I know so many people who make neat graphics, siggies and videos. I'm sadly behind when it comes to things like that. Maybe when the toilet business slows down.

Marco is busy all weekend here in town with the gay Pride festival. They ordered 60 toilets, set up along the parade route, and then down at Bicentennial Park where the partying is. He just ran downtown again after dinner, to check and see if his 2 employees are on the job. They expect 15,000 attendees. Columbus has stuff going on almost every weekend in the summer. The next festival is the Rib Fest, and Marco only has to take 6 of the big trailers, not individual potties. Easier. It's amazing with all the rain we've had....really super thunder and lightening storms....that nothing has been rained out.

I heard on the news - just caught the tail end of some story - anyhow, something about gas will hit $7.00 a gallon before very long. I just can't imagine. I put $60 worth of gas in my tank, and it didn't fill it up. I don't think Marco has ever filled up his Trailblazer. I know that thing would take well over $100 on a fillup. When I took Sunny to the vet for her checkup, I passed a new cycle lot over on Main Street. I didn't get a real good look at the cycles, but they weren't motor cycles, and they weren't exactly motor scooters either. I guess more like souped up motor scooters. They didn't look like they had a very big engine. But whatever they were, they had every color under the rainbow. New and exciting, and probably will do well. If I were a little younger, I'll check into them. I see more and more cyclers on the road all the time. Several in our neighborhood.

I haven't checked on the fish today. They probably need their filter cleaned out, and some food before it gets dark. Guess I'll take care of that since dad is downtown checking potties.

You stay cool Columbus.

Barb

Ghosts and such

This is my cool pitcher plant. It's carniverous...those pitchers are always full of dead flies. I paid $20 for it; a friend mentioned that they grow wild down where she lives in Florida. Just threw it in, as I have no pictures of ghosts.....

There was an article in the paper recently about the Ghost Train that carried Lincoln's body back to Illinois for burial. According to legend, in April the ghost of Lincoln's funeral train appears on the tracks in Urbana Ohio, where the train paused for fifteen minutes while crowds watched and paid their last respects. People have felt it pass them - felt the rush of hot air, and some have seen a phantom light down the tracks. Some people have seen the actual train, with a crew of grinning skeletons on it. Clocks in the area stop while it passes, and lose 5 or 10 minutes of time. Apparently this year, a history class from Urbana College watched for it, but missed out on actually seeing anything. I was disappointed, as I'm sure they were.

This jogged my memory and reminded me of a friend of mine who has a son in his mid 20's who bought a house last year out in the country east of Columbus. Kyle was recently divorced after a short marriage, and had a friend living with him for a while to share expenses. I forget who first noticed that they had a ghost. It wasn't too long after they moved in. As with other houses that have been empty for a while, it needed cleaned up. Kyle's friend really worked on the windows, and had them sparkling. It was only a day or two later that they noticed a child's handprints on a couple of the windows. On the inside. And no children had been in the house. They cleaned them off, puzzled. And a week or so later, more handprints. Small ones. Then one day, the room mate came home from work, and in passing Kyle's bedroom saw a small girl sitting on Kyle's bed. I guess he flew out of the house, scared to death, and went to his mom and dad's house till Kyle got back home. There have been other instances where someone has seen the child.....usually out of the corner of their eye. Once at a party at Kyle's house, so they have other witnesses. I guess they've learned to live with it. Things were still a little up in the air when I last talked to Cindy. Again, the medical "issues" (I hate that word, actually, but it fits) I had the past 6 months have intruded on a lot of areas. I really need to call Cindy and see what has transpired. I'll let you know after I talk to her......

So....do I believe in ghosts? I do. And I've read where 51% of Americans believe in them, too. I'll also let you know if I ever see one!

Isn't this a cool graphic? I love Tim Horton coffee, and have it almost everyday. The price of coffee is shameful, but isn't everything these days? I consider it money well spent. Good for the soul and all that.

For my far-flung family members and friends, you probably don't know about the part time jobs that Marco and I have. Briefly, a friend of his that has a whole empire of businesses, bought a porta john company and needed someone to get it rolling and coordinate it. Someone who could light a fire under $10 an hour employees, and all that. Well, Marco took on the job, and lured me in to help in the office. I do site management, routing and billing. A bit much for part time, but hey, it's fairly seasonal, too. I was working 4 days a week till this week. There have been days that I've had to take off for my mom's doctors appointments. But now I'm just working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "Just". Sigh......

Since I'm a little focused on blood pressure, due to mine freaking out on me a few months back, I'll mention 2 alternative therapies that I've tried. First, I tried acupuncture. I only had 2 sessions of that. I just happen to believe that if you spend $60 for a session, you should see results after a couple of them. I didn't. Also, it was more uncomfortable that I thought. The second time, a needle really hurt my wrist, and the acupuncturist had disappeared. He came back about 20 minutes later with a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand. Jerk. Rather than mess around with more sessions, I tried cranial-sacral therapy. Rather than explain it, if you're really interested in it at all you can Google it. Better explanation there than I can give anyhow. And this was the interesting thing: Even thought the therapist only touches you lightly, it's the intent of the therapist that is what is healing. And it worked. After the session, I went home and took my blood pressure, and it had dropped a whole lot. It was during a stressful week, and not only did the b/p get lower, it stayed lower for days. And for me, that's good. My b/p still jumps around. It was real high during a bad day about 2 weeks ago, and I took an extra 1/2 pill after dinner, and took a reading before bed, and it was 92/48. So I have to watch out. I kinda feel like I'll deflate or something.

But I'm surviving, and doing okay. My family, parrots, and dogs keep me busy. My African Grey parrot - MaggyMay - has survived heart problems for 15 months now, and seems to be doing okay also. Our older weenie dog - Buddy - is on thyroid medication and "light" dog food. Poor guy. He's only 8 now, but seems older.

Anyone who has waded thru this boring blog - my hat is off to you. Right now it's just catharsis. Hopefully, I'll get more interesting.

Love all you guys!

Barb

Just a note...

No pictures or anything for me today. And I have some nice pictures from "Dancing With The Stars" that we attended last week. Scott and Jackie gave us tickets to the show at Christmas, and we had a ball. Such a great show. Wayne Newton looked bizarre of course, but everyone else was great. Cheryl Burke, Edyta, Karina, Sabrina, Dru.....a whole bunch of them. Put on a super show. Hopefully, I'll get them uploaded for you soon. We had 2nd row seats, right in the middle of the stage. :-)

Anyhow, just want to mention that I haven't been feeling my best lately, and have had blood pressure problems mainly, and found out this moring that my EKG looked bad, and they did lots of blood work, and I have to have a stress test and heart cath, and I hope that's IT. I don't want them to have to crack my chest. What a pisser. None of my friends are having any kinds of problems at all, and here I am in bed and looking forward to some crummy stuff. Anyhow, I haven't been blogging like I should lately anyhow, so I may be offline for a bit. Hopefully, I'll be back in the next few days. Depends on what my blood work shows when the doc calls me in about an hour. I'm sure it's not much. "Looks like an electrical problem" the doc said. Whatever.
Will be you soon, take care Columbus.
Gramma Barb

Mr. Gnome

Marco took his gnome to New Orleans. We've had this little guy sitting out on our deck for about 2 years now, but he's never been on vacation till his BCS bowl trip with his "daddy". And probably wouldn't have gone if it weren't for Jennifer gettting a "family gnome" for Christmas, and instructed to take it whenever she goes somewhere during 2008. Then it's turned over to another family member. I guess you could say we snitched their idea, altho' we've seen things like this on television for years. Little statues disappear out of people's yards, and then they get pictures of them from Disney World, and the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas....stuff like that. Too funny.

That's Eric on the left at a VooDoo shop with the gnome, and the gnome attending a pep rally on the right. Marco has tons of pictures of him....crossing state lines, in restaurants, at the camp ground, all kinds of people holding him, and even standing on a urinal.

The only downside is that it's inconvenient hauling Mr. Gnome around. Next trip we'll buy a little carrying thingy for him. But I think he had fun.

Sunny and her hormones

I wanted to post a video of Sunny, my DHY Amazon. I want to share it on one of the sites I belong to, but can't get it to copy.
I think it will post to the blog okay, and then I can link to the blog. Sigh. Will I ever get all this copying and stuff straight??

Anyhow, here is poor Sunny, getting hormonal in December:

Let's feature Jeff

As I mentioned in my last post Jeff had the misfortune of hitting a deer on Christmas Day. He just sent me a link to his online photos, and he was nice enough to include a pic of the damage the deer did to his vehicle. And nope, that's not Santa.....it's Jeff with some hair on his chinny chin chin. That was new to me the last time I saw him. Anyhow, Bro, I don't see any blood, so I'm taking the liberty of posting your misfortune. Plus.....I've left you out when it comes to pics. There are a couple nice ones of Jeff and Vicki in his album, so I'll include some of those....plus his kids and grandkids in some of my 2008 blogs.

We're all cleaned up and Christmas 2007 is now a memory. A good one, but it's always nice to "get the house back". It took us a million trips up and down the basement stairs, and my knee had to be iced last night. I did make an appointment with the knee surgeon for an evaulation on January 16th, so maybe I'll find out once and for all the extent of my knee damage and what it will take to fix it. Gulp.

Marco is preparing to leave for New Orleans on Thursday, along with 4 friends. He's going to take his clothes and misc. items out to where we keep the motor coach this evening. I think they are going to leave around 3:00 am, so he needs to have everything in place. Several people have said to me, "You're not going???" It's hard to keep a straight face and just say no. I think I did say HELL no one time before I could catch myself. I have a list of souveniers that I want from the French Quarter, some of them from Madame Eruzlies. Heh heh.

Okay, that's all for tonight. You say dry Columbus.

I love: having the house to myself for 5 days.

Just shoot me

I took a picture of my little African Grey Pepper the other day, and though it didn't come out the way I was aiming for, I thought it was kind of interesting. She is such a sweet little girl. But when she calls for me, "Barb", she uses Marco's voice and sometimes I actually think it's him. I'll say, "what?", and Marco will say, "I didn't say anything." It's never dull when you have animals that talk.

Christmas was wonderful and extremely tiring. It was spread over 3 days, and actually more, if you count the parties and get-togethers leading up to Christmas. I won't go into everything, as it's long-winded and a bit confusing. We just had plenty of time with everyone, and it was wonderful, and I'm so happy to have such a big and basically happy family. A few of the littler ones got crabby from time to time, but that's to be expected. Marco and I gained a few more unwanted pounds. I also fell in the driveway, as my stupid knee gave out on me again. Hurt my wrist some, but nothing broke. I promised to call the doctor today. Lordy, I'm scared when it comes to actually replacing something like a KNEE.

My poor brother hit a deer on the way to Jennifer's on Christmas day. Practically everyone I know has hit a deer, except Marco and me. Knock on wood. Haven't spoken to Jeff yet, but I imagine it will cost him a few $$$'s. Bummer.

Well, I think I'll limp into the kitchen and fix a sandwich. I got Marco the DVD "1408", and altho he's working today, I think I'll watch it without him. After all the work of the past week, I'm pooped.

You stay dry Columbus.

I love: pillows

Mike Harden commentary: Post-office angel helps little girl's sadness

This article was in today's Dispatch. Mike Harden and his family have been friends of our family for over 25 years, and Mike always has a great column. Please click on the link below to read this story.

Mike Harden commentary: Post-office angel helps little girl's sadness

Ah.....cool weather

I love this picture of the front of our house, even with the flag pole in the way. This is from last week, when we had about 3 inches of snow, which I loved. In fact, I had a dermatologists appointment that day, and one of the things he was going to check was the Rosacea on my face, which has been worse than ever due to all the heat this year. And naturally, since if had been cold for a couple of days, my face didn't look bad at all. But I still got a prescription for Metrocream, which is an anti-inflammatory. Also had some pre-cancerous lesions frozen on my chest, the area where I've had a couple of bad sunburns, and it's all catching up with me. Luckily, my dermatologist is rated one of the best in town.

Unfortunately, the snow is gone now, and it is raining today. It's supposed to be about 54 today, and no really cold weather is in the forecast. Mom is having a Christmas party for the family this coming Sunday, which should be really fun. It's been a long time since we've all been together, and I have to remember to take my camera.

I just finished my Christmas cards, so that is one more thing out of the way. I think I've got everything wrapped, but still need a couple of things that I hope to get tomorrow or Thursday. Then that's IT.

Okay, Columbus, you stay dry today; I've got to get dressed and take mom some places today, and then we both have dentist appointments this afternoon. It's always something.....

I love: The Maijishan Grottoe

New Year on the horizon

Although it's only the last day of November, and a whole month away from New Years, I'm already thinking about what kind of resolutions I'm going to make. I remember reading that 100 million people in the United States make New Year's resolutions.

In addition to the "standard" resolutions of "lose weight" and "save money" and "exercise", one thing I want to do is start a "gratitude journal". And actually write in a journal, not type, like I'm doing now. Pen and paper for a change. I need to take stock each day of things I'm grateful for. I get bogged down with all the tedious things in life, and then get bummed out. Time to really look for the good things. It's all just a frame of mind, and I need to get into that frame more.

I'd like to see family members more, but everyone is in the same boat. Too much work, and too little time and energy. I have to think about that one, and what might be done......

I need to make sure I'm doing what I can environmentally. I passed a church that had something on it's sign out front about "this planet being God's creation; what are you doing to honor it?" I worry about the world my grandkids will be living in when they are adults.

And of course, we need to weed out all the junk we've accumulated AGAIN, and simplify.

I'd like to experiment with baking more, but again......gotta find the time. Marco's our cook, so I should be able to find time to do some baking.

So....I still have 4 weeks to think about resolutions and how to implement them and keep them. I've never really made any before, but this year I'm going to try. Maybe in 4 weeks I'll have mine done....

You stay warm Columbus.

I love: pay day

Farewell Thanksgiving

Ugh, I am probably the only one in the whole U.S. of A. who hates Thanksgiving, but so be it. Exhausting buying and fixing and taking stuff. The kitchen is a hundred degrees even with the window open. My knee is killing me..... well, I won't dwell on it. Christmas is a bit of a hassle with all the food and stuff, but somehow it's pretty much okay. Anyhow, I'm so glad Thanksgiving is OVER.

We had friends who camped outside of Best Buy for a couple of days in order to get all the specials, and Marco had them pick me up a Sony Vaio laptop, which of course was the best part of the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm so proud of it, I had to post it. Now I can take it in to Panera, and "be like everyone else". I swear, everyone who comes in to Panera has a laptop. And speaking of Panera, mmmmmm, it's my favorite place to hang out in the mornings and keep filling up the coffee mug with delicious coffee. While eating a fabulous pastry. Mom loves it too, and we go there a couple of times a month together. Once in a while, I get to go there by myself, and just chill out. But not very often.

Finally got rested up from the trip to Raleigh. Very nice town, by the way. But very glad to be home. I need a few things at the store, so I think I'll venture out today. You couldn't have budged me out of the house yesterday. Marco went out and said traffic was horrible. I'm getting spoiled, which is okay, after 35 years of having to go out and deal with the world every day out of necessity. Ahhhh......

Okay Columbus, you'd better start decorating your outdoor stuff while the weather is nice and warm!

I love: my own laptop to carry around. :-)))

Here's a better pic

Here's a pic of sweet little Ava. We got down to Raleigh to see her by the time she was 3 days old, so that's not too bad. She slept most of the time we were there. I must say, she looks mostly like her dad, altho I think she looks a little bit like Margaret, Aubrey's mother. I know it's crazy to look at a 3 day old baby and "see" the likeness to other family members, but I think a lot of people do it. Silly grandma's and grandpa's. But of course, she smells wonderful.....just like a baby, and I just couldn't cuddle her enough. Aubrey is feeling just "okay"; she had a lot of stitches, but really looked good. Todd and Aubrey are both happy that everything went well this time, and the rest of the family is too.

We had wonderful connections at the airport, and this was the first time we flew U.S. Air, and it was great. Then I read a story in today's paper about U.S. Air having the worst performance and quality of service in all the airlines. I'm glad I didn't read that story before we left. I would have been awfully nervous. Also taught Marco to play Sudoku, and he caught on just fine.

So...gotta get cracking on some cooking and baking...so I'm outta here.

Have a great THANKSGIVING everyone.

Add One More!!!

Ava arrived just 3 days before her due date. She weighed 7 lb. 3 oz, bigger than we thought she was going to be. And Aubrey was in labor during the OSU~Michigan game, which they got to watch from their TV in the birthing room. All of the grandkids have been born in "birthing rooms", with the exception of the twins. They were born in the operating room, "just in case". They were full term twins, and since they each weighed almost 7 pounds, the doctor wanted to be in a sterile room in case a c-section had to be performed. Luckily, it didn't. But I digress...... I still can't get over having a baby in a room that looks like a nice hotel suite. Couch & chairs. Refrigerator. Television. Good grief.

Aubreys mom flew down and made it in time for the delivery. Everything went smoothly, and the pics of Ava show her to be very alert. Todd said she had her eyes open for a long time before she dozed back off. We weren't sure that Todd would ever arrive at this place, as he was quite the playboy for a lot of years. Also, Aubrey is the last of her sisters to have a baby.

We are attempting to get airline tickets for just an overnight stay, but this week being a holiday week, it may be impossible. The drive is miserable thru the mountains. That part that goes thru the panhandle of Virginia is a nightmare. Anyhow, grandpa is on his computer seeing what if anything we can get.

I'm happy to report that I won $500 in one of the football pools yesterday. Nancy and I got a few squares in a couple of the games, and we split our winnings. If I had played alone, I would have won $1,000!! But I'm happy with half that. Nancy is too.

That's it for now...more pics of the baby as we get them. Shutterfly doesn't let us enlarge them, so we have had to settle for teeny pics.

You stay warm, Columbus.

Before the Rush

I've been having so much trouble with Blogger that I stopped messing around with it as it was taking too much time and nothing was working. I'll try to post jut a little bit today, but everything keeps freezing up and I have to do a "Ctrl, Alt, Delete" and I get booted off and it's all just too much of a hassle. Plus, no pictures will upload.

Actually, I don't know why I'm even blogging. Today is beautiful, in the 60's and mild, and I don't have much scheduled. Then, starting tomorrow, I have all kinds of stuff, starting with haircut and weave, and then several dental appointments, car maintenance, along with Christmas shopping. Luckily, the kids mainly want one big item or gift cards, which makes things a lot more simple.

I am still limping along. I just don't want to confront what needs to be done with my knee at this time of year. Hopefully, after New Years, I'll check into it. I haven't had a haircut in almost 7 months, and I know my stylist thinks I went to someone else in that time period. Just wait till she see how long my hair has gotten. Much too long for this old granny.

The presidential crap goes on. Now we are less than a year from the next election. Let's just all hope and pray that this time we get an accurate count. Also the oil spill in San Francisco infuriates me, so badly I can't even talk about it. The world seems full of unaccountable idiots. My koi don't know what to do with all this warm weather. They are loving it. They'vd had warm weather for over 7 months now, which altho' is good for fish may not be good for us humans. I love that "stop global warming" commercial with the train coming - the man (who's probably my age) saying it's not going to effect him, and he steps out of the way, and then there is a little girl, about Logan's age, standing in it's path. Very effective, but I doubt if it changes anyone's point of view.

On the home front, Marco and I, the birds, the dogs and of course, the fish, are all doing pretty good. Todd and Aubrey are 1 week away from the due date of our newest grandchild, Ava. Aubrey is pretty miserable, but who isn't at that point. Can't wait to see the new baby, as the 3-D ultrasound shows her to look more like her daddy than her mommy. A little female Todd. Oh, also, today is Amy's birthday. Happy 38 sweetie. The next birthday is mine, however, I'm skipping it this year and for the rest of my life. Just too dang old.

Okay, I'm going to try to publish this, and hope it works instead of freezing up. Hope everyone in Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri are doing well.

Be awesome!
I love: mild November days

Manual Labor

Halloween is sneaking up on us, but it's looking like it's going to rain for the next 4 or 5 days. I think it rained the last week of October last year, too.

This is going to be super short, as Marco and I are painting the condo that we bought originally for mom and dad. We have had renters the past year, and they have bought a place of their own, and we were lucky to get new tenants. However, we have to paint and clean the place, including the carpets this week. And I'm doing the trim, and it's amazing how much trim there is in a place with only about 1,000 sq. ft. Plus removing and cleaning and putting the switch plates back on. People with arthritis should not do manual labor. Wish someone would tell my family. I could hardly get out of bed this morning, and the more Advil I take the more my head and ears buzz, so I think I'll cut back on it today.

The fires out in California are so terrible that it makes me sick just thinking about it. Hope everyone is remembering to pray for all those who are in harm's way. And of course, all our rain could be diverted to Georgia for good purpose. That drought is really bad. I don't think there's much happy medium on weather anymore.

Okay ya'll, I'm off to paint.

I love: Ice packs on sore knees.

Stay safe, Columbus.

Perfectly October

Wow, this is a day to really enjoy ~ a perfect October day. We need to enjoy it, as tomorrow supposedly ushers in the rain, and it's supposed to rain most of the week. But at least it has cooled off. The summer kicked my butt. They say global warming is happening 10 years before it was expected. But our wonderful president says there is no such thing as global warming. 'Tis a dilemma. (Yeah, right!)

Above is a pic of grandson Jared at one of his soccer games. Jared has grown up a bunch since last year. Now he's "the man" . . . it's fun to hear the adults on the sideline cheering for him. He did okay last year, but was a bit tentative. This year he is an aggressive player. And he's getting taller. Not as tall as his twin sister Jessica though. It will be interesting to see if he ever catches up with her. He was born first, but he takes after his dad's side of the family in height. Other than that, he takes after mom's side of the family with those huge brown eyes and the best set of eyelashes in Columbus.

This week we have 2 birthdays ~ Travis will be 3 and Kelcie will be 14. Those are the only 2 in October. The next 2 months will bring a few more family birthdays, including my brothers birthday and mine. Jeff thinks he's cool because he's younger than me, but I think I can still whip his butt. At least when it comes to sock fighting. Wonder if he remembers that?

Well, it's too nice to be in here blogging, so I'm going to go get the dogs and sit outside. Papaw is at the Legion doing a little bartending, so I'm blissfully alone. Wonder what kind of people are inside drinking on a glorious night like this? (Although I may just take a Bartles & James Original out with me on the deck.)

By the way, as you may recall I am a supporter of Operation Migration. I'm happy to report that it is underway, and the cranes were successful in their first flight on day #1. Day #2 was rainy and windy, so they stayed at stopover #1. It's a long trip with the ultralights, but they will make it, I know they will.

You stay cool, Columbus.

I Love: Origami

My Anniversary

I actually missed my anniversary as a blogger....... it was yesterday. So, I'll wish myself a Happy Anniversary. I know I missed quite a bit of time for various reasons, but this 2nd year I'm going to try to do at least 2 a week. That way, by setting the bar fairly low, maybe I'll be able to keep up. Hopefully, everyone will stay well, and therefore, I'll have some free time to do things I enjoy.

Today, October 4th, it's in the upper 80's outside and the airconditioner is running. I still simply cannot get over the heat we've had here in central Ohio this summer. I have "run it into the ground" as they say, but it has just worn me out. I spent the last couple of hours just messing around on the computer, which I really don't do. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but today was way too much.....my eyes are hurting, and I don't even feel like thinking up anything to blog about.

One thing I did run into was t.v. commercials, and one that I thought was cute was this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmmsr7PAhWU

Remember that one? So cute.

There are a couple of books that are out of print that I wanted to read again, so I'm heading down to the Half Price Books store to see if they might have them. One of them is by Lawrence Saunders (or is it Sanders??) ~ The Third Deadly Sin. He did a series of those "Deadly Sin" mystery books but I forget where he stopped. I think the one I'm looking for was published in 1980 or 1981. He didn't do near as many as Sue Grafton, with her "Alphabet Series" of books, starting with A is for Alibi, B is for Burgler, C is for Corpse, and so on. I think she is up to "S" now, and her "T" book is due out before Christmas. I've read alot of them but in random order. It kinda depends of what Meijer has on their shelf.

So ~ this is going to be all for today. I'm just too lazy and hot.
Catch you soon; you be cool Columbus!
I love: the smell of fresh flowers

Getting into fall

Today I took mom to my favorite park, Chestnut Ridge in Carroll, about 15 minutes from here. We got a lunch at Wendy's (Coke float for me......mmmmmm) and took it to the park and ate it there. I do that a lot....both breakfast and lunch, and sometimes dinner if Marco is golfing or something. (Not all in the same day.) But I can't get anyone to go with me. Now mind you, when Grandma Barb is needed somewhere, Grandma Barb goes. But when Grandma Barb wants company to do something she likes, no one is interested. So I kidnapped Miss Jean, and she found that it wasn't too bad. Our leaves are turning yellow and orange, but we're not seeing much red this year. The trees got stressed, much the same way I got stressed. I simply roasted, and actually, it was like 83 today and windy and humid-ish, so it's not really fall weather. But the world is a-changin' and I think the falls I remember are a thing of the past.

Our poor dog Buddy - the older one - is developing cataracts in both his eyes, so I have to make an appointment for him tomorrow to get the ball rolling for possible surgery. Imagine, cataract surgery for dogs. I'll bet this will cost a pretty penny. Poor Bud is only 7, so we are surprised that he's developing this problem. Dusty, on the other hand, is too ornery to get sick.

I took my African Grey Maggy to the vet yesterday, and got the I.D. band cut off of his foot (ankle?). Since he has heart problems, his feet swell occasionally, and the other day his band looked pretty tight. So he's taken care of, and all the other birds are up to date on their check-ups.

Marco goes to his new cardiologist in 2 weeks, as sadly, Dr. Stock died a couple of weeks ago. Plus, Miss Jean is doing pretty well. This calls for a big "knock on wood", plus a couple of thanksgiving prayers, but I'm hoping we're on a roll of some low-stress times for a little while. Hopefully, thru' Christmas.

Okay, Columbus you be cool ~ that's it for now.

I love: learning new things.