Where does the the time go?

Well, I have not written since October.  I knew I had been neglecting my blog, but it only feels like a few weeks.  But no, it has been a couple of months.  Wow!

All I can think of is that getting adjusted to the two dogs, Thanksgiving, activities at church and just life in general have been keeping me busy and active.  I also figure it is just the mundane things and who would care....

But I know that many of you, who do take the time to read this stuff would like to be kept more updated.  So I will try to give you a capsule of things.

Miles is fitting in nicely.  It has been interersting anf funny and frustrating.  This week they dogs, both of them are peeing in the litchen.  I am either not being a attentive as I need to be or they are just being lazy.  There, for a while they were being so good.  The hard part, is I cannot tell which one it is.  It will all work out.  Winston nd Miles are playing together and not snarling as much.  They still have their moments but I predict that by this time next year, they will be cuddling together like they have been together for years.

I had my quilting ladies over for a long weekend of sewing.  It was such a lot of fun.  The ladies came and went as their schedules allowed.  We laughed, giggled, watched movies.  Burned things in the oven and enjoyed the things we did not burn.  There were many things created, started, finished and ripped out.  We decided that we are going back to the Outer Banks next October, located our house and sent in our deposit.

We started a small study group at church.  It is all about prayer and while it was my idea, because I want to know more about how to do that better, I have ended up being the facillitator. We meet every three weeks and I am enjoying it very, very much.

One of my dear friends and one of the OBX ladies has been very ill.  She has developed pneumonia and it really has dragged her down.  Sheila is a very caring and giving.... and always putting herself last.  So I am concerned about her and trying to help her out when I can.  But she insists on being independent.

I have also been asked to teach Sunday School.  I had my first lesson on Sunday.  Not that I ever do things normally, but last week I went to get a haircut at the Bird's Nest in Parkesburg with Erin Minch.  She does beautiful work an I was in a mood for something different.  So she used some bleach to lift color and then added back in some purple and blue hair color.  I love it, but I am not sure the people at Parkesburg Mennonite were ready for me.  So, not only did I teach my first Sunday School lesson with purple hair.... we had a pastor in who is applying to replace our pastor wh is rretiring... and I had to help him set up his PowerPoint on the computer for hiis sermon.  Hopefully I did not scare him away.  He did a really did a nice job and I think he would be a nice change and could help attract some new people to the church.

This week, the ladies of the church are having a cookie exchange.  Ii am helping to organize it, so I am planniing some games and tomorrow I will be baking cookies.

I am not ready for Christmas.  Brian flies in on Sunday and it will just have to be what it is.  It may be a gift card Christmas.  I wanted to make things for everyone, but I ended up making mug rugs for a friend in Belgium to give as gifts.  And now I suddenly have three embroidery jobs, including one that showed up on my back deck this morning.

The good thing is that I am feeling more confident and settled than I have in quite a while.  I think I am making my way in life, my new life without Rudy.  Each year, more and more.

So, I am off.  Time to start moving the dogs to their last trip outside before bed and then it will be working on embroidery and cookies tomorrow.  Looking forward to creating pretty cookies and excellent embroidery.

Good Night!!!

A Lovely Night with Family.... remembering....

I had a very nice time with the Wallace family in Middletown, DE last night.  Nancy is my niece by marriage.  My late husband is her uncle.  Nancy is married to Jeff Wallace and they have a son Steven.  Nancy also has a son, Anthony Boylan who is grown and already out on his own.

Steven decided to play football this year at Middletown High School.  He is really growing into a lovely young man.  I get to see the Wallaces a couple of times a year.  Usually for holiday meals, so it was nice to be seeing them for a different reason.

I had to be at their house at 6:00 PM.  I was a hair late as I have totally forgotten how much traffic is out around 5:00 PM rush hour.  I tend to be at home during those busy hours.  I also tried a short cut that I thought I had remembered and it was not quite what I had remembered, but I did get there in time to move from my car to their car and off to the school.

The reason for the evening was the "Beat The Beast" night where they honor or remember those who are fighting cancer, have won the battle or who have passed away.  At the beginning of the school year they were given the option to purchase a pink football jersey with the nae of the person they want to remember.  Steven selected his late Uncle Charles and had the name Rudewick on the back of his jersey.  Nancy emailed me on Wednesday evening to see if I would be interested in comeing to the game.  She had just found out that she and hubby Jeff would be walking on the field with Steven and invited me to join them.

We arrived in plenty of time to get to the gathering place.  Nancy did get a picture of me with Steven, but I have not gotten it yet.  But here is a picture of the waiting area and the football team warming up on the field resplendent in pink jerseys.

Steven is number 74, so we were at the end of a long line, but it was a very special moment listening to the information about Rudy being announced over the PA system and proud;y walking along the 50 yard line with Steven and his parents.

We then opted to stay for, at least part of the game.  It started out badly for the Cavaliers as Mount Pleasant took the opening kick and ran it the length of the field for a touchdown.  The rest of the first half Middletown struggles to score two touchdowns on their own while keeping  Mount Pleassant from scoring.

Each time Middletown scores, the cheerleaders ran to a couple of boxes and threw little, blue footballs into the crowd.  They are sponsored by Nino's in Middletown and are worth a free cheese pizza.  I missed getting one, but a friend of Jeff and Nancy gave me the one that he got.

They were also giving the rally towels out to everyone, so Nancy made sure that I had one.

This was the score at halftime and we got to joy the halftime show.  But Since Steven was told he did not have to suit up for the game and he was getting chilled in the cool night air... as were the rest of us, we opted to leave after the band finished.

Once back at their house, we warmed up and chatted about our memories.  Nancy has just moved her father, my brother-in-law, into an assisted living facility so they had been going through all sorts of memories and stuff as his house has sold and they will be going to settlement on Thursday.  I got home a little after 11:30 PM so it was later than usual bedtime for me.

I got up after 9:30 AM today.  I took a moment to take a picture of the little football, the rally towel AND the jersey that Steven wore.  He gave it to me last night, another very touching gesture.  It was an evening of loving memories and new, special times.

Not as bad as expected....

Hello friends and family.... and those who are just reading.  The great bridge replacement on Route 41 has begun.  For those who do not know, in my area there are two main truck routes going north to the turnpike and Harrisburg or south to Route 1 and I-95.  The majority of that traffic has usually gone along Route 41, as there is a truck stop along the way before hitting Route 30 and points north.

I live on Route 10.  I have been here since 1983ish.  I ended up here following the divorce from my first husband so I could keep my kids in their school district.  It was a cute little house, with the emphasis on small.  It was a two bedroom bungalow.  My second husband built a third bedroom in the basement so the boys had a bit bigger space and were not sleeping so close to our bedroom.  These days it would not be a legal bedroom as the basement window is not big enough to crawl out of in case of a fire, but there is a exterior exit in another part of the basement... but I am off topic.

Penn DOT has, as of Tuesday, closed Route 41 and detouring ALL of the traffic going north, up Route 10, through Parkesburg to Route 30.  This takes them right by my house.  It has been in the planning stages since spring although for all of the chatter on Facebook by locals you would think Penn DOT decided to do this on Sunday and suddenly closed the road.  But they altered several lights along the detour adding left turn signals to speed traffic along and added a traffic light at an intersection that has needed one for years.  Many of us are thrilled that it has finally been installed.

I fully expected to have a significant increase in the amount of traffic that would make it very hard for me to get out of my driveway.  I also expected to have a rash of accidents at the intersection with the new light, but neither has happened.  Traffic has increased.  I notice a larger number of trucks speeding by, but I ventured out yesterday and had no trouble getting out, moving around the area using alternative roads and getting back home.  And, to date, not even a fender bender at the new light.

My sleep patterns are changing, finally.  I have been having some trouble getting a good night's sleep since getting back from Fancy Gap this spring.  I sometimes find it very difficult to fall asleep.  But if I do fall asleep, I find myself waking up throughout the night or not really being in a deep sleep and being aware of tossing and turning.

The last couple of weeks I have been dealing with Miles being in the house.  He is a younger dog than Winston and in the first couple of weeks, whenever he would get up in the middle of the night, I would get up, take him out, just so we had no accidents in the bed (he is sleeping with me).  He now gets up and down all by himself and seems to be able to make it all night without having to go outside.

My Fitbit, that I have been using since late winter, indicates that I am getting no less than 6 hours a night, but I have trouble being overly active on those days.  I do better with closer to 8 hours.

Yesterday I got a new pair of pajamas from Target.  One of the quilt designers that I follow, had posted them on her blog and they are adorable.  They are long sleeved, long legged and in "pouty pink" with all kinds of sewing things on them, needles, thread, scissors, sewing machines, rulers, embroidery floss... all kinds of cute sewing items all over. the link is: http://www.target.com/p/nick-nora-women-s-pj-coat-set/-/A-17328918  and be sure to select the Pouty Pink, as the other colors are different, non-sewing designs.  I got the 2X and they fit me fine except the sleeve and pant length are designed for an Amazon.  But they are stretchy and soft and I wore them last night and slept for almost 10 hours!!!

Today I received another sleep aid from Amazon.    They have daily deals and I always look at them but rarely buy.  But I have been looking for an essential oil diffuser that I could use in the bedroom.  But they are really expensive and many of them only run for a couple of hours.  I wanted something that could go all night and send the scent of lavender into the room all night long.  The Pure Spa Deluxe was usually around $90, but was on sale for one day for $30, so I pulled the trigger.  It arrived today.  I set it up around 2:00 PM and I just checked it and it is still putting a gentle mist into the air.  What I like, is that is does not make a sound!  It has some subtle lighting, but it can be run with no lights, too.  I will let you know how it works out for me!

On the Winston/Miles front, things are moving along, but there are some bumps in the road.  It is quite obvious that Miles sees himself as the alpha dog here.  Winston, who has always been laid back and not much of a lovey dog, had a bit of an anxiety attack on Sunday.  After getting back from church, I had planned to do some sewing, but Winston began to frantically pace, trying to find a tiny, dark space to crawl into.  He has done this a couple of times before Miles arrived, but I am sure that Winston had enough of the new kid and just wanted to find a place to hide.  He tried my bedroom, where he has always been able to hide, but that did not seem to suit him.  He just paced circles and figure 8's on the main floor.  He finally headed to the basement and I watched him on the cameras go from room to room.  He finally settled down in the dark sewing room and slept for over an hour.  After that, he has been good.  I am trying now to give him separate time for playing and cuddling when Miles is outside on his own.  Miles will not let me pet Winston alone if he is in the house.  We will have to work on this behavior.

Tomorrow I will be making an unexpected trip to Delaware.  I had an email from my niece, Nancy.  She apologized for short notice, but in the beginning of the year they had arranged to buy a football jersey for Steven to wear in a special game, honoring or remembering cancer victims.  They had purchased one that said Rudewick in memory of my late husband.  It turns out that Steven and Nancy and Jeff will be part of the pre-game ceremonies by marching on the field.  They have invited me to join them.  I was quite touched by their thoughtfulness, so I am going to go down and join them in remembering Rudy.  I will get some pictures!!

I will try to be better...

I had an email from my friend, Sharon, today.  She wanted to know if I was OK.  She is a friend on Facebook, but she also follows my blog and was concerned that I had not posted in a while.  I was shocked when I saw it had been almost two weeks since I had written anything here.  Sharon, I promise that I will try to do better.  I guess I have been busy as time has just flown.

Getting the newest family member is getting acclimated to his new home.  Miles has made his presence known in my home.  He has marked a couple of places... to be expected for a young, male dog.  We have done the initial vet visits and are treating him for a yeast infection in his ears and some skin irritations, probably allergies to fleas that he had when his foster family found him, lost in a children;s park in Pikeville.  He has had his initial Lyme disease shot and has been microchipped, so he can be returned, just in case he gets away from me.  On his last visit, his skin has cleared up and so have his ears.  He is still digging at his feet more than I like, but I noticed that Winston does it too, just not as much as Miles.

I helped out at church for a four session special speaker.  This gentleman was a motivational speaker and was remarkable in his story telling and his faith.  Inspirational!  I have been learning how to run the Audio/Visual system at church.  This was an opportunity to run the system myself and learn how to do things.  It was fun and very much a learning process.  I was able to man the microphones for the speaker and the musical guests.  I was also able to project the lyrics on the two screens at the front of the sanctuary and kick off the Power Point presentation for the speaker.  This way, I can serve as backup for the two people who run the system normally.

I also served as the facilitator for a small group that we started at church.  We are studying everything there is to know about Prayer.  It has been interesting thus far.

I have also gotten some dressers for the basement bedroom.  My brother-in-law, Al, is moving to a retirement home on Saturday.  He has sold his house and they are getting rid of furniture and belongings.  I wanted to put dressers back into the room now that the sewing stuff is in it's own room.  So I bought a dresser set and picked it up this week.  The nephews loaded them in the back of my truck... which really enjoyed being out of the driveway and not plowing snow..... and the dressers will stay there for a few days until I can either get the room painted or I can get help bringing them down into the bedroom.  I am planning to have them in the room (painted or not) by the end of this month as I am having a mini sewing retreat here the first weekend in November.

The most exciting thing that happened recently was on Sunday morning.  I returned home from church to find that my burglar alarm had been triggered by the motion detector in the living room.  It is supposedly able to ignore pets under 40 pounds.  Both of my dogs together do not weigh 40 pounds.  Somehow, they managed to trigger the alarm.  The good news is that the system functions.  The bad news is that the motion detector is now sitting upside down.  The sensor projects it's beams out from the sensor directly into the room and then down to the floor.  Turing it upside down has the floor beams going up to the ceiling.  Hopefully that will solve that problem.  It never went off with just Winston.  But he would curl up somewhere and just sleep until I got home.  After Miles came, they did the same thing... but I am guessing that they are learning to play together when I am gone.  To say that things are really changing here is an understatement.

Furnace on, Sweat pants out and a lazy day...

I am not getting the nice kind of sleep I would like.  It is not me.  It is Miles.  Most nights he is sleeping with me.  Some nights he starts out in the Living Room where Winston has always slept.  But Miles is on a medication to work on his skin issues and it makes him pee more than usual, so generally about 2:00 Am or 3:00 AM he gets up and jumps off the bed.  Or, if he is in the Living Room, he comes in and tried to wake me up.  So he goes out (and sometimes Winston, although he usually gives me the 'what in the world are you doing up at this house?' look) and we all go back to sleep.

I turned the air on for a couple of days last week, not so much for the temperature outside, but more for the humidity level.  I had it turned off but the windows closed as it has been raining and drizzling and blowing some for the last several days.... thanks Joaquin.  This morning I woke up and the temps outside were down in the 40's.  Right now, early afternoon, it is only reading 51 degrees.  So guess what, the furnace was flipped on and the sweat pants and long-sleeved shirt came out of the drawer.  Hello fall... nice to see you!

Miles is feeling a bit more at home.  For the first time, he and Winston played with the toys.  I had pulled off the covers on their big pillows (I had not gotten Miles out fast enough this morning and I came out to find him peeing on the pillow.).  I had put Mile's pillow, uncovered, on top of the kennel.  I left Winston's uncovered pillow on the floor.  Winston wanted me to throw one of his unstuffed toys.  So we were playing catch.  Miles figured out that it was fun to play with the toys, so he grabbed another one of the toys and jumped on top of Winston's pillow.  Now Rachel (Mile's foster Mom) had said Miles did not tear up anything while she had him.  Wiles had been racing around the living room, all happy and bouncing and then jumped on the pillow with the toy.  He appeared to be playing with the toy.  But on further checking, he was actually tearing into the outer covering of the actual pillow and bringing out the stuffing.  So I had to yell at him and get him off the pillow.  So I had to grab a needle and thread, stitch up the hole and then put that pillow on top of the kennel, too.  We are still learning about each other.

I gave both dogs dental cleaning treats.  They were bone shaped and I give them one every now and them.  Miles took his into the kennel and is munching away.  Winston tried to bury his in the couch.  Then he went over to the baby gate at the kitchen door which tells me he wants to go outside.  So I opened the gate and he ran over to get his treat.  For once, I let him take it outside.  He has been so good with Miles that I felt for once, I would let him actually bury something.  He was outside for close to 20 minutes.  I had to drag his lead to get him to come inside.  His face was caked with mud (it is still drizzling here) and his paws were filthy, too.  But he had a smile on his face and I do not regret letting him do this, it is part of who Winston is!

I will be heading to the church, shortly.  Tomorrow is food donation day and I have several things to put on the table.  I do not want to be lugging in multiple bags tomorrow morning.  I will be helping to work the A/V system tomorrow morning.  We are having a 4 session program starting tomorrow morning.  The other three will be tomorrow night and then Monday and Tuesday night.  I will be working the system alone on Monday and Tuesday night.  Yikes!!!  I will let you know how it goes.

An expensive user error....

Today I had to pay the piper.  And I will have to pay the piper next spring as well.  But tiday my user error cost me $213.31.

Living in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the last several days have been revolving around the weather and the impending arrival... of all things.... a hurricane.  Just a few days ago there was just normal fall weather.  Suddenly there was Tropical  Storm Joaquin.  And almost as suddenly it was a Category 1, then 3 and now 4.  The forecasters could not agree on his track because of all of the many variables.

So, being the think ahead and be prepared person that I am, on Wednesday I headed outside to make sure that the generator would be ready in case we lost power.  But to my dismay, it did not want to start.  Eventually it turned over but it would only run with the choke either fully on or about half.

I called Danny and he made some suggestions, so I added some carburetor cleaner, got it to run and let it run for a while.  Did not change anything.  It just was acting like it was not getting fuel.

Thursday morning, I went to try it again and now it was not starting at all.  God bless Danny, he and Marji came up and he spent a couple of hours working on things.  The spark plug was fouled, so he cleaned that.  We could get it to run, but only with the choke on.  He was not comfortable fiddling around with the carburetor.

So I called the Westpro company, the makers of the unit and they gave me the name of two repair centers in the area.  The closest one was in Downingtown.  I called Yerkes Repair and spoke to the owner, Bill. He asked if I could get the unit to him and I said, while I had a truck, I was a widow, living alone, etc.  So he said they could pick it up.  They would be here first thing in the morning.

Not exactly first thing, but they did have an older gentleman here around 9:30 AM.  He loaded it into the van and off he went.  I asked, as he was shutting the doors on the van if he had a time frame that it would be fixed, and he said 'no', and left.

I had to just settle in and worry if I would be seeing it anytime soon.  Even though Joaquin was going to stay out in the Atlantic after all of the drama, we were still getting some nasty weather from a couple of systems that could still have the power going out.  And the reviews for this company indicated that they were slow to get things done, with no responses on the phone.  So I was a tad worried.  But they had been very responsive thus far and had communicated very well.

But I set about my day, clearing my dining room table and getting some things straightened up.  I had a crock pot roast cooking.  I had just checked it with about an hour or so before it might be finished when the phone rang.  It was Bill Yerkes.  The generator was finished and could they come bring it back.  I said, certainly and the same gentleman returned it and muscled it back onto the deck.

They had replaced the spark plug, de-gunked the carburetor and did some sort of power steam in it and freed a frozen selinoid.  The ethanol that is being added in the gasoline these days, if it remains in the carburetor causes a varnish to coat the inside.  They said it was really bad.  The manufacturer said to store it with no gas in it.  The repair man said all I have to do is close the gas flow valve and let the motor run out of gas.  This will keep the gas from lingering in the carburetor.

So, I am back in business.  I will follow the directions and be hopeful that I will not have any problems in the future.  If not, I know who to call.  And I did not think that the $200+ toll was too bad, considering they also picked up and delivered it back to me repaired in just one day.

So, next spring, I will have to get a new carburetor for my lawn tractor, get it replaced and put a shut off valve between the gas tank and the engine, so I can do the same thing with it.  It was running badly the last time I ran it.....!  I am learning things that Rudy knew but never shared with me.  But I am understanding more and more!

More cuteness...

Miles is making himself right at home.  Most of the time, as soon as I move, he is moving right at my feet.

I did get him taken to the vet yesterday.  I saw Dr. Clark instead of my normal Dr. Frame.  The first available appointment was with Dr. Clark and I did not want to wait two days to get him in to be seen.  She announced that he was underweight which means I can shower him with treats to fatten him up.  He appears to have a yeast infection in his ears.  Foster Mom, Rachel, had mentioned that he had a very large knot of fur on ear ear.  She suspected that air had not gotten to them because of the knot.  I think he had something going on before and that the knot was from his scratching.  He also has several hot spots on his skin.  These are from either flea bites or perhaps a food allergy or maybe mange mites.  He got a shot to relieve the incessant scratching and then pills that I start next week when the shot wears off.  We go back in two weeks to check him out and to get his last shots for a dog living in this area.

She also got a nice dose of ear ointment into his ears and I need to try to do the same every day.  His entire demeanor has changed.  He has stopped scratching, he sleeps peacefully, has started to play with the abundance of toys in the room.  Hopefully we can keep the healing going so he can settle into being a sweet, little dog.

Last night I once again opened the windows to let in outside air as it was cooler outside than inside.  This morning was the busy day here at the house.  At 10:00 AM the garbage men arrived.  About 5 minutes later the mail was delivered and 5 minutes after that the lawn service arrived to mow the grass.  With the windows open, Miles became aware that there was a window and a view outside.  So he bounded to the top of the couch and watched the activities while Winston stood guard on the floor and barked.

Today was Winston's turn at the vet but we saw our normal vet, Dr. Frame.  Winston has put on a couple of pounds, so he really does need to loose some weight.  He has a tooth that has developed a really bad tartar buildup since last year that is going to have to come out, an expense I really do not need right now.  I will get that scheduled by the end of the year.  He got his rabies shot, lyme vaccine and DHPP vaccine along with a heartworm test.  They trimmed his nails, too.

The rest of the day has been just chilling.  I find I am still trying to catch up on my sleep.  My sleep patterns have been a little off since I decided to adopt Miles and he slept with me the first two nights, waking up to scratch every couple of hours.  So after getting back today, I found myself nodding off, something I have done each day since Miles came home.  Last night he started in bed with me, but somewhere in the night he jumped down and I found him asleep in the living room.  I guess he is preferring to be with his furry brother and not me so much.  Works for me.  We are all adjusting and trying to fit in.

I had nodded off watching "On Demand" viewings of 'Somebody's Got To Do It' with Mike Rowe on CNN.  When I woke up, this is what I saw.....

He is really feeling at home these days.  This was Molly's favorite place to spend her time too.

And the cuteness continues....

It has been almost a week since I have posted.  And if I said my world has been turned upside down to say nothing of poor Winston.  For those of you without access to my Facebook postings, the newest member of my little furry family has arrived.

After trying out several different names, I have taken to calling the little fellow Miles.  It was suggested to me by a high school classmate.  Willa said she has always liked Miles as a name and since he had traveled so far to become a member of my family that it was a perfect name.  And I agreed.  He still has not figured out that it is his name, but he does turn every now and then when I call him.

I arrived in Fogelsville about 5 minutes before the scheduled meeting to find the van already parked in the lot.  I was surprised at the size of the van.  It was tall and about the size of a small bus.  The double side doors were opened and the one side was nothing but stacked and secured travel crates.  There were numerous sizes of dogs and I could her the occasional meow, so there had to be at least one unhappy cat.  There was a man and a woman (Cindy) in charge and they were refreshing a couple of the crates.  I was soon presented with Mr. Rubbles who looked confused but happy to be out of the truck.  After receiving his paperwork and medication, I turned to give him a walk.  When I turned back, the van was already pulling away to gas up and continue on their journey.  They were professional and loved what they do.  According to their web site they were also certified and insured.  Quite the organization.

Mr. Rubbles, now Miles, curled up on the seat of the van and slept or scratched or licked his butt and paws.  Rachel, his foster Mom, had indicated that after his vet visit, he had begun to scratch  at his ears.  But this was more body wise.  But we arrived home safe and sound. (Thanks to all of my friends and family who remained awake until 2:00 AM to make sure I got home safely.)

The introduction to Winston went well.  Winston had no idea and was not happy, but there was no fighting, just the occasional snarl.  Miles did try his best to mount Winston which was not well received.  He has tried it once or twice since, but has learned that is not acceptable behavior.

I am having two separate feeding areas and when eating, I close the baby gate so Miles cannot come out and eat what is left of Winston's food.  Unlike Winston who was satisfied with grazing all during the day and night, if there is any food anywhere on the floor, Miles is going to eat it!!  Winston has still lot figured that out, so when I put down the dry food, he might take one or two pieces, leaving the rest for later.  Miles is busy, in the kitchen, eating every last crumb.  If I forget... and I have... to move Winston's bowl out of his feeding area, Miles would finish off in just a few moments.  And once he gets going, do not even think about taking it away.  Snarling and gnashing of teeth will ensue.

Rachel had indicated in the initial conversation about Miles that he did not beg for people food.  This is Saturday evening chicken salad sandwich and the little head on the left is Miles, watching every bite I am taking, along with Winston, the set of eyes at the end of the recliner.  Perhaps he did not beg at Rachel's house, but he is certainly is doing so here.

There have been a couple of  nasty moments when Winston had been curled up on the end of the recliner and Miles has jumped up past him and onto my lap.  Winston initially growls to warn Miles not to play with his behind.  Miles then starts to snarl which puts Winston into snarling and the next thing I know they are really baring teeth and Miles is lunging at Winston's head.  I have to put one of them either in the crate or in the kitchen where they can settle down and forget what they were doing.  I think what happens is that Winston just warns Miles but Miles thinks he is growling at me, so he goes into protect Mom mode and then Winston does, too.  So I just do not allow any more than one on the recliner at a time.  Today... so far... no major snarling.

So, these are the new faces in my life.  They are getting along, but we have a long way to go.  Tomorrow I am taking Miles to the vet here to get him set up, and to see if we can figure out why he is scratching his ears and chewing on his body.  Winston goes on Wednesday for his annual checkup and boosters.

I go to a new cardiologist next Monday.  The one I had been seeing has left the practice, so I am checking out the replacement doctor.  Then on Wednesday I see a new family doctor.  Same issue with my doctor leaving the practice, so i am checking out a new one.  They are all in the same group and I am going to see if they can at least work together to schedule visits and tests so I am not getting overly stuck and checked.  I will let you know.

Getting Excited...

Yesterday morning, after I woke up and logged onto Facebook, this is what greeting me...

This picture was posted by this little fellas foster mom.  You can begin your awe's now!!  Isn't that the cutest face??

I have been trying out names.  Rubbles is not the name he will keep.  When I got to meet Winston, he looked like a Winston, so I kept that name.  But this little dog is NOT a Rubbles.

One of the names I like is Llewellyn (Lou for short).  It is Welsh and means Lion.

One of the names is Livingston Old English for Lion Stone, but I think it is too close to Winston and it might confuse both dogs.

The other name is Jin Xiao-ping which means, depending on which site you look at, Golden Happiness.

But I will reserve my naming until he is here and I get a sense of his personality.

In the meantime, I am over the moon and Friday night cannot come fast enough!!!

A Touch of Fall....

Last night, as I was making arrangements for my new furbaby to be delivered, I happened to notice that the temperature had dipped to a delightful 55 degrees according to the thermometer mounted on the front porch.  At night, I have my AC to dip to a nice, cool temp, but there was no way it would be as chilly as the temperature outside.

So I shut down the air conditioner (the first time since May) and opened up a window here and there throughout the house.  The fresh, night air poured in and shortly after the house temp was delightful and the stuffiness of a closed up house was evident.

I was online with my friend in Kentucky, JJ Walker, who was Winston;s foster dad.  My new furbaby is from the same rescue group, so JJ is helping arrange transport.  We were messaging on Facebook about all sorts of things until close to 1:00 AM.  JJ is more of a night owl than a morning person.  I am, too, but I rarely go that late.  I had mentioned to him that there were now new noises that Winston had not heard in a while.  And sure enough, a late night Amish buggy went by the house.  And, as I expected, Winston started barking and barking.  So while the fresh air is nice, if Winston continues to bark, the windows may have to close.  Hopefully Winston will get used to the new sounds and realize they are not something to be barked at.

It is now early afternoon and the temperature is only at 72.  I would be really happy if the high temps would stay at the 70 level and the nights in the 50's.  Life would be perfect!

Rubbles, the new Pekingese will be arriving around midnight on Friday.  I had thought the trip would be an overnight adventure from Kentucky, but once picked up, the courier will drive straight through.  He or she will call me 2 hours before they arrive at the designated location.  Fogelsville is just south of Allentown and an hour twenty minutes from here.  I will meet them at a large WaWa station there for the exchange.  So by Saturday, I will have my new little snuggle bug.

A new adventure begins!

Round the Bend....

So, I guess I have gone around the bend.

But when one lives alone, and even though I have lots of friends and do many things in my community and church, I still spend the majority of my days at home.

As I get older, I find I am more content to be at home or staying close to home.  I have gotten all of my sewing stuff back into the sewing room and have spent more time sewing this week than I have in a while.  I have several projects that I am looking forward to getting started on.

I did create 2 items for Sew Much Love this week.  I almost did 3, but I goofed on the first one, and I was tired, so I will try again tomorrow.

The snowmen are a No-Sew project for the ladies who say they cannot sew.  The Christmas Tree Napkins are a quick and simple napkin.

But back to the bend I have gone around.

I was fortunate to have adopted a lovely dog that I have named Winston.  I drove all the way to Kentucky to get him and in the process made friends with Winston's foster dad, JJ Walker.  Because we are also friends on Facebook and I have "liked" the Diamonds in the Ruff, Inc. Facebook page, I get to see all of the adorable animals that they have rescued and found new homes for.

Last month they came across an adorable  little dog that was wandering around downtown Pikeville.  They posted pictures looking for his owners.  And they posted again and again.  So I asked JJ what happened if no one stepped forward.  He said they would adopt him out and asked if I might be interested.  I said maybe.... you see, this dog was a Pekingese.

I had one as a young girl.  Miss Queue was the family dog and when my brother finally left for college, my parents were left with her.  But they adored her and when she died, my mother mourned her death.  So, I hoped that the owners of this dog would find him and yet wished that he might find his way here.

But I need another dog like I need a hole in my head.  But No one came forward.  SO I began talking to the Diamond folks and as of today, I have arranged to have this cutie pie transported from Kentucky next Friday evening, arriving in this area close to midnight on the 19th.  I will have to travel to Fogelsville, PA, which is about an hour away, just outside of Allentown.  His name is currently Rubbles.  But that will change.  But I want to meet him first.  His foster mother says he is laid back, house-trained and loves snuggling.

So my home will become more loving and wonderful.  And yes, I have gone round the bend.  But it is a lovely trip!! 

Back in a groove....

Sometimes I wonder why I do my trips.  I spend time getting organized and ready for the trip.  I enjoy going.  I enjoy doing whatever my trip was designed around.  I enjoy returning to my home base and being on my own.  But sometimes that can be a problem.

I usually find that I experience some real 'down' time upon my return.  Each time seems different.  This time, I got unpacked faster than any of the previous trips.  I have everything back in place where they should be.  I have finished projects that had deadlines and gotten items that were promised to the person/group that I promised them to.  I have almost all of the materials that I need for some Christmas projects for Sew Much Love.

But, the last few days have been just plain, lazy, "I cannot get out of my own way" days.

The calendar says fall should be showing up in cooler weather.  I have had enough of the 80's and 90's.  Yesterday we finally had some rain that was really needed.  My grass was beginning to look very spindly and brown in spots.

I did get to visit with Mary Alice Carroll this week.  I had to deliver an embroidered backpack for the Cecilton Lions Club Night at the Races.  I got to see her new home in Crystal Beach.  It is very quaint and suits MA and Billy to a "T".  Then we went to Shaffer's Canal House in Chesapeake City for a delightful lunch where we caught up with each other's lives over the last few years.  It is always good to stay in touch with our distant friends.  We need to do that more often.

For once, I have no other long trips planned.  That does not mean that I will not have one or more.  But there is nothing planned until Fancy Gap next year.

I have a letter to write and then I am off to the basement sewing room to begin working on some Christmas crafts.

Hurry up and Wait.....

So, I am in full on packing mode and have been all weekend.  I made a list on Friday so I would not lose track of what I needed and wanted to get done.  It has helped a lot.  I am not stressed in the least, although that might change by the end of the day.  

I am currently at L C Autobody getting the oil changed.  I brought her here as it was too far to head into Downingtown to go to the Hyundai dealer.  They would also tag me to do the 30,000 mile maintenance and I have just hit that mark last week, so I will wait on that for when I get back.  I arrived to get the oil changed on time and it should not take too long.

Clothes are packed and I have Winston's stuff gathered.  Sewing stuff is next and I need to go through the travel snacks and motel food as I think I was planning to be gone for a year, looking at the bags in the kitchen.  Bills are paid and the two new pieces to the home alarm arrive today, so that will take time away from packing.  But I will be able to read the temperature inside the house if it works correctly.  

Update.... I am sitting in my bed at the Red Roof Inn in Elyria, OH.  My car has fresh oil, I think I have packed everything and then some.  Winston has been an excellent traveler. But I cannot seem to get the local Internet to connect to my computer.  That could prove to be a bad thing as I cannot update my web site for this trip.  I will not worry about it until I get to either Linda's house and try it there or land at Brian's house.  Hopefully it is just a sucky motel system and not my computer.

The trip was relatively uneventful. There has been some sort of significant accident on the PA turnpike near Bedford and all along there were warnings that it was closed in that area.  The turnpike AM warning station was repeating directions for a detour that added up to close to 150 miles.  But fortunately it was cleared before I got to the area.  I did crawl in traffic resulting from the emergency road repair, but it only set me back about 45 minutes.

Today I am setting out for Linda Mehnert's lake house in Lake Villa, IL.  I will keep trying the Internet as I travel and update the website as soon as I can.  

4:30 AM and sleep is not coming.....

I hate nights like this.  I work all day long, even until way past where I should be relaxing before bed, tired, ready to sleep, but I lay there and nothing happens.  I move in different directions.  Not comfy.  Toss and turn, still no sleep.  I watch all manner of boring shows on TV and Netflix... nada.  Can't wait to see what my Fitbit has to say about this night.

Yesterday was a busy day.  I have been working to get all of the clutter off the floors in the living room and dining room.  Because Winston is a digger dog, the carpet which is 30+ years old and looking it's age,had gotten to look really dirty and flat.  I know that the carpet had not been shampooed since well before Rudy died.... and he has been dead for over 4 years now.  It was way past due.

I finished up getting the last of the stuff put away or moved out of the way, dug out the carpet shampoo machine and went to town.  I started in the dining room and tankful by tankful of warm, soapy water, I cleaned the carpet.  The areas most walked by myself and Winston were horrible.  I put down the cleaning solution and then let it soak in well.  Then I would suck up the dirty... and it was really bad let me tell you.... water, dumping the waste water tank into the toilet.  After the first couple of passes, there was actually mud that settled into the bottom of the waste tank.  Gotta love my digger dog.

Took me most of the day to complete as the spray, soak and suck process took more time than just spraying as it sucked.  The good thing is that this shampoo machine really does a nice job of sucking.  So, while damp, the carpet had pretty well dried in the area first cleaned by the time I was done.  And when I got up Thursday morning, it was dry.  The color is back to the soft brown with areas of lighter yellow/tan.  The loft is back, to a degree with 30+ year old carpet, so is much nicer on bare feet and my white socks did not get dirty just paddling around the house.  It is something I have been trying to get to since I brought all of the stuff here from the Maryland House.

Thursday (yesterday as I write early Friday morning) I did some shopping.  I am in full on prep mode for the Minnesota trip.  I had my list from Brian on hings he and Matt and Janice wanted from Pennsylvania.  So to the beer store for two cases of Yuengling Black & Tan Beer.  Then to Hoe Depot to get a couple of security latches for the basement door (there has been an increase in burglaries in the area and that door was the least secure) plus some 3M hook and loop hangers for the little shelves I am adding to the sewing room basically to give the new camera a higher perch.  The to Walmart for Herr's BBQ chips for Matt, some Tasty Cake Peanut Butter Kandy Cakes for Janice and bread for me.

I had also called the SimpliSafe folks and asked them to bill me for the extra entry sensor.  I am going to put it on the inside door to the sewing room.  I will probably have it open when I am home. but when I am away it will be a fail safe sensor for anyone who might try to break in through the basement.  They are also going to send me a Freeze Sensor, designed to be mounted by the thermostat and will send out an alert if the temperature falls to 41 degrees, giving plenty of time to get a heat source going so pipes do not freeze, as well as a panic button for the bedroom.  The freeze sensor will let me monitor the current temperature inside the house so while I am away, I can see what the internal temperature is to know if the air conditioning or furnace are working inside the house.

So after a snack which eventually served as dinner, I headed to the basement.  I installed the three little cube shelves (pictures will follow someday soon)  and got the camera temporarily set up on tip of one of them with a nice long shot of the room.  The I tacked installing the two extra latches on the door.  One is a ball and loop thing like most hotels have on their doors and one is just a straight latch through a loop.  Since the door is really just a hollow interior door, neither one will hold back a determined thief, but it will slow down one who wants to be quick and quiet about getting in and will make me feel better about leaving the house for long lengths of time when I travel.

Finally, I took the old sensor from the basement door and installed it on the interior door to the sewing room.  The came the "adding a component" to my alarm system process.  The instructions from SimpliSafe had two methods of doing that, one through the Keypad, the other using the remote and my PC.  I opted for the remote/PC combination as it seemed easier.  I followed the directions, the system found the "new/old" sensor which has been named Sewing Room but it was listing the Basement Door sensor as 'open'.  I fussed with the basement door, opening it and closing it to make sure the correct number of flashes were happening on the sensor, but it was still showing 'open' when I decided to call it a day and head to bed.

I went in the kitchen to set the alarm and after pushing the HOME key, nothing happened, except the keypad was now reading that the keypad was out of range.  I found this mildly amusing as the keypad and the base station are now only 7 feet apart so I doubted that they were out of range.  I tried all sorts of things to get the system to work.  Finally I unplugged the base station, counted to ten and plugged it back in.  Suddenly all was working just fine as far as setting the alarm. But it did mention that there was an open door somewhere in the system

Since I am now up, but fading fast I might add at 20 minutes after 5 in the morning, I checked the system, via my PC.  I refreshed the settings by syncing the system and all sensors are showing properly, including the Basement Door which is now showing closed as is the Sewing Room door, so I am feeling all warm and fuzzy, here is my safe house.  Perhaps I can sleep now!

It is the tiny things that foul you up.....

So, yesterday I dug into the moving of entry sensor and web camera in the sewing room, better known as Camp Parkesburg!

I took down the camera first and then removed the entry sensor from the door.  Easy Peasy!

I studied the door.  Because we had covered the electrical wiring in metal to give the basement a more industrial look, and because there is a metal beam in the ceiling between the top of the door and getting a signal to the base station, I decided to mount the sensor on the side of the door about a foot or so from the bottom.  It gives the sensor a more direct line up the steps to the base station without too much interference..... hopefully.

I decided that I would mount both the main sensor part and the tiny magnet part using screws.  Not a problem with the big part.  It was attached to the door with screws already so the two parts separated easily.  The tiny magnet was a whole other story.  I pushed and pulled... and pushed and pulled.  I inserted a regular screwdriver into the tiny end and tried to move the small piece that would attach to the door with screws.  Nope, not moving.  I kept at it, feeling like an idiot but nothing worked.  I called SimpliSafe only to be told that removing that piece was the hardest one with even the SimpliSafe folks having trouble.  Feeling like less of an idiot!  I struggled for a total of an hour and a half before digging out a tiny screwdriver from one of my sewing machine toolboxes.  And even then it was moving by teeny tiny amounts... but I won and it finally came apart.  So I installed it on the bottom side of the door.  So far, so good.  The sensor is communicating with the base station.  But it also did that with the original location for a couple of days.  Time will tell.

I moved the camera to the entry door and mounted it.  But, hard as I tried, I could not get a good field of vision.  So, for now, it is on top of the shelf where I have my coffee cups are stored, but it is not high enough.  So it will be fine for now, but I will be looking for an alternative to get it higher.

I was sleeping very well last night until my weather radio went off at 4:30ish in the morning.  It was a warning of heavy lightening and wind.  So I got up, shut down the work computer (it is the one that streams the cameras), gathered Winston and headed to the basement.  I flipped off the main power and we sat in the dark waiting for the storm to pass.  The thunder rolled and rolled and rolled.  One clap of lightening was very close by and the rain pelted for several minutes.  It was over in about 20 minutes but by now, I am awake.  Flipped the power back on, restarted the computer and went back to bed.  Did not fall asleep until after 6:00 AM and up again by 8:30 AM.  Going to be a long day!!!

Moving things today

I woke up this morning to a notification that the new sensor in the basement was no longer communicating with the base station.  Drat.... I had such high hopes.

So, now that I have showered and dressed, I will be heading to the sewing room, cordless drill in hand.  I am going to move the sensor to the middle of the door and move the web camera to a new location.  I will keep trying until I get this done.  It is not their equipment, it is the makeup of my house.  I am guessing that 100 years old is not all that tech friendly.

Troubles and Progress....

You should know by now that if you do not hear from me either things are going along really well or not so much.  This time it is a little of both.

I have been busy and not busy.  There are days when I have things to do and I am up and down, in and out, and by the end of the day I am too tired to post.  Then there are days when I am just down and do not feel like posting.  It is called life as a widow.  There are days when I really miss having someone in the house to help take the burden of the normal chores.  And then there are days when I say, why bother, as there is not anyone in the house who would care if the bed is not made, the dishes in the sink are piling up or I have not planned for dinner, so I do not eat and just snack.

The alarm system arrived.  I was able to install it.  The entry sensors are in the same places as the other company's entry sensors.  The one motion detector is located on the shelves in the same area as the motion detector in the living room but not attached to the wall.  Will make changing the battery in a few years much, much easier.  The basement motion detector is midway up the steps and attached to a wooden box that once kept my potatoes in the dark and cool in the basement.  The different thing about this system is the keypad (located in the kitchen so as to cover the hole made by the old company in my kitchen wall) must communicate with the base station which is now separate from the keypad.  The old company had the keypad and the base station together and that is the part that fried.  I had placed the base station near the window in the dining room so it was farther from the basement sensor than the old system base station.

It had been in for close to a week without an issue.  Last Sunday I went to a cookout at Nancy & Jeff's house in Delaware.  While Winston and I were there, I got an email about the basement door entry sensor no longer communicating with the base station.  When I got home I logged into the web site and began to follow the troubleshooting list.  First, go to the door and open and close it a couple of times to see if it reset.  It did not.  Next, was to move the base station closer to the door sensor.  So I relocated it to the sewing machine table at the end of the wall in the dining room. Still no difference.  Next was to check the battery.  Since it was only 6+ days old, I doubted that, but stranger things had happened.  I did not want to undo a working sensor that late at night, so I set the "home" alarm which sets the entry sensors to armed but not motion detectors.

I could not sleep.  Kept thinking about what might be wrong and liking the fact that I had 60 days to try out the system where I could return the components and get my money back.  Then I remembered that I might have the special battery for the entry sensor, so I got up and sure enough, I had several of the special sized battery.  I grabbed one and headed to the basement.  Took the sensor down, took the original battery out and put the new one in.  Placed the refreshed unit back on the door and then opened and closed it  a couple of times, hearing the base station twiddle which told me it was communicating with the base station.  I closed and had just locked the door when the siren began screaming.  I had forgotten to turn of the alarm!!!  I race upstairs, enter my code and just as the last number went in, my phone is ringing.  It is the monitoring station asking if I am alright.  I explained my plight, gave them my safeword and reset the alarm before going to bed.

The next day the sensor stopped communicating again but by now I have called the SimpliSafe people and they had already shipped out a replacement sensor.  But then the keypad was giving me fits.  It would not acknowledge the pin number entry or it would take multiple entries to get things shut off.  When the new sensor arrived, I again called the SimpliSafe technical support people and had a lovely young woman helping me.  She diagnosed the keypad issue as not communicating with the base station.  I moved it back to the dining room window and the keypad issue was gone.  The door sensor was installed and the serial number changed for the base station but still not recognized by the base station.... but I now understood that my plaster and lathe walls along with cinder block in my almost 100 year old house make modern, wireless communication difficult.  I have now moved the base station to the top of the bookcase in the dining room so is easily communicating with the keypad and also in closer to and communicating with the basement door.  If it loses communication with the door again, I will need to move the web camera and perhaps relocate the sensor to the center of the door, away from the metal enclosure for the electrical lines.  But I have great confidence that I will get everything set up to communicate with the base station and have a really nice security system that I can expand piece by piece over the next couple of months.

I did run into a problem with my home phone.  When I replaced the security system, I had to unplug the base station from the kitchen wall.  It was two wires (power) and a plug (I had no idea).  I did this on a Monday afternoon.  Tuesday morning I needed to call someone and discovered that I had no dial tome.  I called Verizon and finally got a young woman who, when she checked my line said she was reading that I had a receiver off the hook.  It was then that I realized that the plug I had removed was part of the communication system for the old system and I had essentially left an open circuit thus looking like a receiver off the hook.  So I scheduled a repair person and by the time he had arrived, I had located the line from the old system and could tell him exactly what was needed.  The only issue he created was that he had to make sure the signal was coming to the house before he came in.  Bees had built a nest inside the box outside so he sprayed it to not get stung.  After he left, I was on the phone with Marji and the phone kept hanging up on me.  I called the tech (I had his number in my cell phone from when he called to let me know he was on his way) and he came back and dried out the box outside which solved the problem.  I am hoping, fingers crossed, that this is all finally taken care of and settled.

We had another Sew Much Love session.  Each time we do better and better at making the pillowcases and other projects.  This time we had to relearn how to do the pillowcases.  The lady at Piece By Piece had returned some to us that were not up to her standards.  So we took time to show all of the places that needed to be watched.  Then we ripped up seams, restitched pillowcases and helped one of our sewers (who preferred doing her pillowcases on her serger) learn how to do the french seam with a regular machine.  We had decided that everyone should learn how to do the pillowcases the same way.  We also found that one of the other sewers had used the wrong bobbin in her machine and had bad seams in her pillowcases.  So we got her back on track as well.  It was a good day all the way around.

I am now getting ready to head out to visit Brian in Minneapolis.  I leave here on the 12th and will not return until the 28th.  I will stay just outside of Cleveland and then stop near Chicago to stay with my cousin for two nights and one full day before heading to Minneapolis.  I will leave Minneapolis on the 24th and back to my cousin's for three nights and two days before heading back to the Cleveland area on the 27th and get home on the 28th.

I have an embroidery job to do before I leave and a quilt that I have agreed to make for a dear friend.  She currently is living in Belgium so I must wait on the box of tee shirts to arrive from her.  If they get here before I head to Minneapolis I will take them with me so I can work on it while I am in Minneapolis.  If they do not get here, then I have another project to take to Brian's house and I will jump into the tee shirt quilt when I get back.  I find it amazing that people think I am good enough to make a quilt for them.  I just think of myself as a novice sewer.  Perhaps I am selling myself short.  But I will be getting very busy over the next several days.  I will be packed up and heading out in 9 days!  Yikes, I better get off my tush and get busy!!

Amish Fireworks

Yesterday was a day full of good food, friends and Amish Fireworks.

Last year, my friend Sheila invited me to join her at a family picnic nearby.  It is an annual event and I was thrilled to be included.  They have lots of good food and many of the locals and not so locals come over to enjoy the day and to experience some 'old time transportation' in the form of steam powered tractors that once were used to plow the local farmer's fields and do the work that was done by horses and mules.

This year I had invited Marji and Danny to come along with me and since she had been in the hospital keeping Danny from going to Michigan to his family reunion, they were able to come.

A couple of the family members own these incredible steam driven tractors.  Most people who want to see these machines have to go to the Rough and Tumble Museum or attend the tractor events at the facility at Rough and Tumble.  These wonderful machines are actually brought to the backyard of this house and set up so that anyone who wants to can get up close and personal with the machines and talk to the owner/drivers about how they work.  This is a bit of a fuzzy picture of the two of the machines sitting in the yard.

Here is a short video of some of the people checking out the Russel machine.  The young lady who is closing the front of the engine is the owner.  She also works at the Strasburg Railroad and is the only female engineer that runs the steam engines there and she also fabricates parts to keep these magnificent machines running.

These machines are running the entire time we are there.  In fact, they use the steam from the engines to flash cook corn on the cob!!!  Talk about good flavor!  The have the tractors connected to devices that allow them through a very large belt system so that a full load can be placed on the engines without moving their wheels.

At dusk, they begin preparing for the show.  At dark they feed a specially prepared fuel source into the firebox that causes a tall shower of parks to come out of the smoke stack going dome 20+ feet into the air.  Hence, Amish Fireworks.  Below is a video of the Russel machine entertaining us with a spectacular light show.  It is a small continuous video, but there are dark places where the engineers were stoking the firebox with the special fuel.

And if you just want to see a still picture of sparks.... well, here it is.  Not nearly as interesting as the video.  Just keep in mind, it is dark and hard to take normal pictures in the dark!!!

Life just gets in the way, sometimes....

I have managed to get two items off my second list.  I finished up the office and I got the sheets sewn together for Kerry (a Facebook Friend who wanted 4 old sheets put together to cover an antique car in a garage to keep dust off of it... I will be seeing him tomorrow at a picnic so I want to deliver it.)

I still have to oil and get running my two older sewing machines as well as my little toy Singer and get back to working on my half square triangle blocks.  I have begin working on clearing stuff out of the dining room  and off the dining room table.  May not sound like much, but it is progress for me.

Had to go out to the bank this morning to deposit a check.  I used the opportunity to visit our new Aldi Store that replaced the Bottom Dollar Grocery Store.  I have been in the Aldi in Elkton and really liked it.  They have their own brands and the prices are very competitive with name brands in other stores.  Very little in terms of fresh meats or fruit, but canned, boxed and frozen there is quite a nice variety.  I got some cake mix, icing (I am going to a picnic tomorrow and I am taking cupcakes.) and some Italian Artisan Bread.

I did get some good news today.  Yesterday the new camera came to replace the one that died during the surge.  When I was installing the new one (that looked just like the old one), I, just for giggles, plugged the old one in to the new cord... and it came on and rebooted.  So I put the new one in (and it is plugged in to it's very own, high powered surge protector) and ordered a new power cord.  It came today and sure enough, I was able to reset the camera to factory specs so I have a spare or I can add another one in the sewing room.  For now, it is on the shelf above the work bench in the basement.

Marji is finally home again.  She was released late yesterday morning.  She sounds good for having had fluid in her lungs just a few days ago.  She is even thinking of joining us at the picnic tomorrow.  This is the picnic that I went to last year where they had the steam engines that are used to cook the corn and then send towers of sparks into the air.  Sheila called them Amish Fireworks.  Danny and Marji had planned to be in Michigan this weekend for another family reunion, but Marji's illness made those plans go away, so if it is not too hot and she is up to it, I expect  that they will be here.  Danny would be fascinated to see the engines up close and personal.

Monday, according to the UPS package tracker, my new security system will arrive.  I fired my old company.  They were completely crazy to think I was going to pay $700 to $800 to replace the one that died in the surge.  When it died, they go no alarm to indicate I was off line.  Once they knew that and told me what the cost would be, the never called to see what they could do to help me.  The one lady in service was and always had been, really arrogant and rude, when ever I needed help.  They only finally called and offered to reduce their cost when I told them I would no longer need their services.  And I even had to ask for a refund from the annual fee I paid last October.  But they agreed to give me $90 back.

The new system is the SimpliSafe system that has been advertised on TV.  I buy the components and they are reasonable.  It does not require a landline but is all cellular based but I did not have to buy an additional cell number.  It is included with the system.  I got all new components to replace everything I have in the house and it is being shipped free.  The total was under $300.  I have 2 months to decide if it works for me and if not, I can return it.  I have three choices of monthly fees. from $14.99 to $19.00 to $24.99.  I am starting at $24.99 (which is still saving me $11.00 a month) and gives me the ability to disarm or arm it from anywhere should some one need to get into the house while I am away.  I will also get notices when doors are opened, etc.  I can change the level of service at anytime and add components over time.  I am hoping it will work well.  Stay tuned.

A Confession and Progress....

So, when I last posted, I was happy with my tiny lists and working my way through the second list that included items from the first list.

Confession.... that Sunday, after I published my blog post....I did nothing.  I wasted the rest of the day, on the computer and playing games.  But I really needed to just breathe and unwind after all of the tension of the electrical stuff.

So, Monday I started in again with my list.  The nice thing about lists is that they are always there to start again.  And I have to say that my office is clean, reorganized and uncluttered.  (At least as uncluttered as I can make it.)  There is actually a floor and carpet there!  Amazing.  I even have new hooks up for hoops and hooping aids that have never had a home to go to.  I also went through all of the blanks that I had purchased for projects that never got used.  Some of them are being donated to the 10 & 41 Thrift Shop and others will be designed and used for the Sew Much Love ladies.  I also have some Christmas ideas.  And now that it is a pleasant and functional room again, I will actually enjoy being in there!!!

Those of you with the link to my camera system can peek in and see how neat and clean it looks.  I would love to say that I will be keeping it that way, but I know better.  But I smile now when I walk by and am encouraged, even inspired. to do that with the living room and dining room... kitchen??

It took two full days to do this.  So that one line item on my list took close to two days of sorting and stacking and re-stacking and creating homes for different items.  Tuesday was 'take out the trash' day.  It is the weekly chore that Rudy used to do.  I would gather everything together in the house and he would put it into the trash can and walk it around.  For whatever reason, it is the one chore that I really and truly hate doing.  And it never fails that I think of Rudy, wishing he were still here to do this dreadful job and yelling at him in my head for leaving me behind to handle all of this stuff.  So there were also a couple of trash bags full of trash that I took out of the office from the sort and purge process.

Tuesday evening I picked up Patty Nafziger from church and we drove to Winpy and Dees Diner in Honeybrook.  There we met Sheila Williamson for dinner and a meeting about the Sew Much Love mission we have going on at church.  The three of us are co-leaders of the project, although they seem to think I am in charge... but we have had three sessions since we began and I thought it would be good to look at the different things we have been doing and make sure everyone is happy with the format and what we want to add or improve.

It is always interesting to have a meeting in a public place.  People look at you oddly, listen in to what we are talking about and sometimes join in the conversation.  The man behind me evidently listened to all of our conversation and after paying his bill, stopped by to ask, in a joking tone, if we also did buttons.  We smiled back and said, sure we did!  We also had a lovely lady stop by and ask about the program.  She sounded very interested and we hope that Peggy will come to join in on the creative fun.

I slept in a little later today, so I am a bit behind.  I had to check in on Miss Marji.  She is in the hospital again.  She had a bowel obstruction late last week and they released her on Sunday only to have her go back into the hospital that night with heart issues and fluid filling her lungs.  I am happy to report that she appears to be recovering nicely and may be released to go home tomorrow.  I hate that she has so many health issues.  She is such a sweet, kind and loving person.  I cannot imagine not being able to call her everyday just to say 'hi'.

Have a Wonderful  Wednesday!

I guess I need lists....

Yesterday was a good day.

After working a bit on the computer, I made a list.  It was not a big list... I did not want to be overwhelmed.  So I took the things that had to be done first, gave them a priority and put them (almost) in order.

It was something like:

1.  Replace surge protector in electric panel
2.  Replace surge protectors and outlets in Office-
        Computer side
         Happy Side
3. Sew Sheets for Kerry
4.  Replace surge protectors in bedroom

So I finished my computer work and gathered what I needed and headed to the basement.  The first thing I did was to put the florescent bulbs in the new light fixture that I had to replace in area by the electric panel.  I kept trying to do it in the dark and could never manage to get it accomplished.  The bulbs are the new T8 size and are smaller than the older T12.  But in the day;ight, I was bale to get it done.

Then I sat down and began the task of putting a new whole house surge protector on the panel to replace the one that was no longer working.  I flipped off the breaker it was attached to and took a screwdriver to the 4 screws.  It took some serious turning as the man who installed it really tightened them down, but I managed.  I pulled the wires and the box out of the panel without shocking myself or shorting out any other breakers.  I used the old box to measure the wires and cut them to length.  I stripped off the ends and twisted the ends.  The I carefully replaced the box into the hole on the side, fished the wires to the places inside the box and attached them to the proper terminals.  Then I flipped the breaker and all of the lights on the box came on, indicating it was properly installed and protecting the house.  I put the panel cover back on and headed upstairs.

Into the office for the remainder of the day.  Since I have not done a lot of work in there over the last year or so, it had accumulated stuff in piles and the like, so I am taking advantage of the need to get into corners to clean things up, label all of the cords and lines that go to and from equipment and computers and organize in there so things are neat and as dusted as I can make them.  So I worked slowly but surely into the evening and have replaced all of the surge protectors in the room, labeled most of the cords.  Funny how some of the old surge protectors worked but were no longer protecting the items plugged into them.  I was really fortunate I did not loose anything more than I did.  It is set up now so I can shut down the computer ad pull three plugs and have everything not on the grid!

I finished up by replacing the surge protectors in my bedroom by the door.  Over the next month or so, I will be checking all of the surge protectors in the house and replacing them .  I am sure that there are many more that are just power strips with no protection.

So, today a new list.  It reads:

1.  Finish organizing office.
2.  Sew Kerry's Sheets
3.  Clean and oil two old sewing machines
4. Work on HSTs.  (Half Square Triangles)

I think I just need a small list of things to do.  It  gives me guidance and forces me to give priorities to the things I have to get done.  At least it is the way things are working for now.

Happy Sunday!!

Summer has officially arrived and yet I am frozen in time....

So, one of the things that I always enjoyed with Rudy in the summertime was spare ribs on the grill and fresh corn on the cob.  Add dome fresh green beans and tomatoes.... heaven on a plate.  I have been working very hard to get the grilling of spare ribs on the grill so the meat would be thoroughly cooked and yet tender and juicy.  When it is well cooked, it can become tough and dry... or charred beyond edible.. which I have done with all of my grilling.  Rudy was an excellent grill master so I have had to work hard to get things done correctly.

Yesterday I finally managed to get ti done.  I was at my local Weis market and found petite spare ribs that were meaty and small enough to fit on my small grill.  I rubbed some spices into the meat and put it on the grill.  I used my Amazon Echo to time everything.  Did the 'corn on the cob in the husk' microwave way of cooking the corn.  It was delightful  I thought of Rudy and how many times we had enjoyed this meal and smiled.

But I feel like I have also been frozen in time.  I have gathered together all of the things to restore safety to my electrical system.  But I have not worked on getting it done.  I do not know why, I have just not gotten off my butt to get the whole house surge protector installed and then start with new surge protectors in the office.  So last night, I made a list and will start going down the list.  Hopefully that will get things going.

I have many things I want to do, but I need to go the things I have to do first.  So I am off to start my weekend.

Have a great weekend, too.

A break from the normal day drudge....

Today... my dreaded put out the trash day (the one job Rudy left behind that I truly hate and despise but have to do anyway) was interrupted by a delightful time having lunch with friends and catching up with two people I have not seen in a very, long time.

Mary Alice Carroll had called me a bit ago.  The locals in Cecilton were going to have a lunch for Janet Flower as she and her husband, Ron, were moving to Dover as a result of all of the 'crap' that came down at Indian Acres regarding living there full time.  We were meeting today in Chesapeake City at Shaffer's Canal House.  M A had asked me to give her a phone number that she no longer had and I suggested that Marji be included.

So I showered and dressed for lunch with friends.  Headed down to Elkton and picked up Marji and we arrived at the restaurant at noon and joined 26 other ladies who were there to honor Janet for all that she had done.

Shaffers was once a lovely place to eat with outstanding food.  But over the years that Rudy and I were going to Indian Acres, it steadily declined and then closed.  It sat, closed for several years and someone finally bought it and has been slowly getting her back in shape and they opened either last fall or this spring.

They had a lovely menu and there were many great sounding things to chose from.  I had a cup of cream of crab soup and a seafood salad.  The soup was good, but a tad salty for my taste.  I have gotten to where I do not salt my food much, so this may be perfectly normal for most, but I found it just a bit more salty than I like.  But good, nonetheless.  The seafood salad was delicious.  A large bowl of fresh greens, topped with shrimp, lobster and crab meat and covered in a delightful champagne vinaigrette.  There were two whole large shrimp and one that was cut in half and placed to make it look like there were more.  There were several nice chunks of lobster and lots of crab.  If I get to go back, I would happily have it again.  But they also had a very nice chicken salad sandwich that those who ordered it raved about.  There was also a Reuben Sandwich that was stated to be delicious.  Marji had dessert first of cheesecake that looked good, but she did not share.  She had friend oysters and said they were a little overcooked and would probably not order them again.

After everyone ate, Janet sat down with Marji and I along with Lorraine Rees.  It had been a couple of years since I had been able to chat with either of them and it was wonderful to catch up.  Lorraine had also moved in Florida.  She had purchased a house when she first moved there and last year decided to sell it as it was just too much work for her.  She is in a condo, now, and loves it.  She has just put her place at Indian Acres up for sale.  I am surprised that it took her this long to do that, but we each find our 'new normal' after losing a spouse at different rates and in different ways.  I am sure there are people who wonder why I did not move to Florida after I visited, but I am happy in my house here in Parkesburg, so I will stay here for quite a while.

Janet has moved to Dover, DE and they are still getting settled.  She seems to like where they are and I an sure will find all of her things to do in time.  It is not so far from Cecilton that she cannot get back there if she wants to see her old friends.  We must have spent and additional hour catching up.  The chatter was like old times when we did things together as Red Hat Ladies.  It was comforting and familiar.

SO, I have been sitting here with Winston after getting home.  It was in the 90's today and steamy.  I will go out after the sun gets a little lower and cools down outside to finish the trash chore that I just hate doing!  I have been looking at putting in a different alarm system.  It has been advertised all over and is called SimpliSafe.  100% cellular, self-installed and several different types of monitoring.  Also thinking about not having any, but that will increase my homeowners insurance.  Decisions, decisions.....