Marching On

 Well, this month certainly flew by. It's just a couple of days before April is here and with it I hope Spring temps and some sunny days along with those April showers.  Easter is also in April but late in the month.  That's OK since it will give me time to get the yard cleared of winter dead things and probably lawn mowing too.  I just wanted to finish the final Chicago trip pics and adventures.  My sister's party was  on Wednesday night and I think I mentioned the bad weather with tornados and storms that day.  Then there was the 3 inches of snow on Thursday that was a bit of surprise.  Thankfully we had warm clothes with us! But it melted very quickly with rising temps and we had some nice shopping time.  I posted about Annabelle's stroller we got for just this kind of occasion.  We plopped her in there and not one person mentioned a thing about it.  But I'm sure many thought there goes a crazy dog person!  Well, when we had to bring her it really did work out well.  Plus she doesn't even bark so she sat quietly and we let her out to walk whenever we could.  In the outdoor mall by Midge's they have an area for dogs and kiddos to play.

It was a nice big area and the day turned out very sunny but just a bit chilly.  Lots of kids around and a few dogs.  

Jack giving Annabelle a few snacks for being such a trooper!  After the mall we went to an event that my niece, Katie, was in charge of .  A polar plunge that was a fund raiser for special Olympics. It was really well attended with 500 crazy people willing to jump in an ice cold pond for charity! They raised over $100,000!

This is Katie's group. Every team had a theme and they chose ninja turtles..hence the green! That's Katie in yellow getting everyone lined up and ready.

Splash! Brrrr! There were volunteer firemen in wet suits just in case there was a problem in the water. Plus only 10 people were allowed to jump at a time so it was pretty safe.

My great niece, Ella coming out all wet ready to hug her Grandma!

The police station's dog, Bandit, made his appearance also.  Such a pretty and well behaved pup!  We managed to get a stop at a resale shop we always enjoy and I found a few things I couldn't pass up. After spending a few more hours with Midge we took off on Sunday for home.  I know we'll be seeing each other in June for a family reunion, but saying goodbye always brings a few tears.  So good bye March.  I think you'll be going out like you came in...like an angry lamb!  Cold after the warm days we've enjoyed and perhaps rainy but that's OK.  Spring has sprung and soon I'm sure we'll be complaining about the heat.  I hope it's been a good weekend for everyone.  See you in April!

She's not tip toeing through tulips but sitting by the many daffodils that have bloomed.

70 Is Heavenly!

 I saw the meme that said it was more fun being 20 in the 70's than 70 in the 20's.  That's a true statement! But we still try and have some fun even if we're 70 in this day and age.  My sister, Midge, just turned 70 last week so Jack and I took a quick trip to Chicago to surprise her.  Her kids concocted a surprise party for her.  She isn't fond of surprises.  Especially surprises that put her in the spotlight.  But we did it anyway!  Hey, she threw a few surprises on me so she owes me one for her!  We  hadn't seen each other since last October when she was here for the annual Halloween gathering.  Usually we get together in December for a family Christmas but it was cancelled.  So seeing each other this past week was great even if it made her cry when we showed up at the shindig!   Her daughter told her that she and her family were taking her out to a Greek restaurant for her birthday and when they arrived at the Greek Isles she was greeted by 25 people that included friends and family that shouted a large: SURPRISE!  Then Jack and I appeared with a giant poster/card that I made and we hid behind when we walked in.  We lowered the card and had our own SURPISE for her.  Yes, she cried and it was put on Facebook.  We stayed the rest of the week until yesterday.  It was a nice visit and fun to see my nieces, nephew, their families and just hang out with Midge.  So here's a few pics of the party:

The cake wasn't just pretty it was delicious too! 

Here's the poster card I made.  Full of candy, lottery tickets, and love!

Midge's sweet kiddos...Bill, Amy, and Katie.  They really out did themselves with this bash.  The food was amazing and everyone had a really nice time celebrating my sister who's been through so much with her health. We didn't even know if getting to 70 was in the cards for her.  But she surprised everyone with her determination to live a full and, hopefully, long life as much as possible.

The Greek food just kept coming! Greek salad, spanikopita, potatoes, lamb, dolmatas, bread, pastisio, rice with spicy sauce on it, flaming cheese, lots of pastries...oh my, it was crazy good!

These folks are friends but just look at the table of food...like I said, there was tons of it! Ha!

Sisters....She's the best!  Happy birthday Midge!  Can't wait to get together again, but no surprises, I promise!

Putting Up With Noise

 Hello March madness, and I'm not talking about basketball.  I don't know how March approached your neck of the woods, but I like to say it arrived here last week like an angry lamb.  Not quite as harsh as a lion but not quite as mild as a lamb.  We've gone up and down with temps and that seems to be the pattern for this month as it "marches" on.  How have you been putting up with the noise of the political scene?  I don't do politics on my blog but I must say the noise from both parties and the junk on social media has my ears ringing.  So, I keep my opinions to myself, scroll on by, and try to find fun and uplifting things to look at or read.   As you all know, I went back to work a few years ago...3 years, I think.  It's been good so far.  I don't do big stuff in surgery at the hospital anymore and I work only if needed.  Mostly I'm working 2-3 days a week.  I work in an endoscopy lab that is located at a different location than our hospital.  I work with a great group of people.  It's small, quiet, and I can park near the door! Ha! If you're working at the hospital the employees have to park 1/4 mile from there and hike over.  Anyway, due to some remodeling being done to upgrade our scope cleaning process they have moved us to the hospital for, probably, 6 weeks or so.  My first day being back in the hospital surgery area was yesterday.  It was an eye opener as I had forgotten how noisy, busy, crazy, and tense it can be there.  The beeps, the overhead paging, the music from the ORs, the constant flow of staff out and about is different from our quiet area at the Mifflin location.   Maybe my age is showing here but I will be happy to get back to what I now consider my home work place.  I'm thankful Jack has volunteered to drive me to work at the hospital and drop me at the door so I don't have to truck across 2 parking lots, a busy street corner, and sidewalks not always maintained the best during snow and ice time. When I leave work, it's nice to come home to peace and quiet here at the Pines.  Jack and I lead a pretty boring life here!  Even our dog, Annabelle, is quiet.  Since we've had her for 3 years now, she's never barked.  Not sure why but for a Westie she's not noisy!  She's a good little pup and even puts up with my ideas....like getting her a doggy stroller.

Doesn't she look thrilled to be there?  I thought when we travel with her if she's in a stroller we could take her inside a store or shop if needed.  I saw a friend do that on Facebook so I thought I'd give it a try.  We're planning on a trip to Maine this summer and will take her with us.  I just need to practice giving her rides I guess.  Poor thing.  One final quiet bit of info.  I don't know if you're a chili fan or if you've ever had Wendy's chili.  It's not my go to for carry out but Jack loves their chili.  The other day our son said he got Wendy's chili at Walmart.  Really?  Well, we were at Sam's club the other day and on a stroll down the aisle that has chili, low and behold:

There it was!  We snatched up a pack and after trying it out, Jack declared it really good! (Not as good as my homemade, right babe?)  So, I hope your last days of the first week of March go quietly, not too cold or snowy, and don't forget to "Spring Forward" this weekend!

Good Bye February, Hello Another Birthday

 When I was a kiddo, I looked forward to the last day of February.   It's my birthday today and like when I was little, I looked forward to this day but not because it's my birthday.  I look forward to the hope of Spring in March!  This has been a cold and snowy winter.  There has been lots of illness at home and work.  Jack had the crud but got over it pretty quickly.  My boys had it too...some harder than others.  Co-workers called off and I got called in to help out.  Thankfully,  I haven't gotten it yet...I'm knocking on wood now!  I have been a slacker in the blogging world and I haven't even ordered my blog book like I do every year.  As I mentioned in a previous post I was scammed and we had to redo all our accounts and that was a huge pain and took up time and worry.  Thankfully I've put it behind me now and hopefully I'll get back on schedule with my blog.  I will get to reading my blog buddies posts this weekend and get caught up!  So for now I'll bid farewell to February and to being 71.  I'm the youngest I'll ever be at this moment so I'll celebrate that!  We had a fun day with some Sam's club and thrift store shopping and then we had a lovely dinner with friends this evening.  Stay well everyone and lets hope Spring brings good health, warm weather, and tons of sunshine!

I usually put in a pic of me to keep track of my wrinkles over the years so here goes:

Happy bday to me!

Winter Storm Alert

 This winter has been a change from the mild ones we've had.  It's more like winters of the past. Our church social was canceled last night when it was going from rain to ice. Then this morning we got about 4 or 5in of snow at a fast pace. We did go to church. We only live just down the road but some others are much farther. Only 22 folks showed up and when we were at a level 2 alert, we headed home. It's been a quiet, snowy, cozy day.

The bird feeder has been busy. Look close, do you see the little red dot? Hello Mr. Cardinal!

All white again.

Even little fences seem pretty. I know this weekend has been a crazy weather time for many.  Stay safe and warm!

It's Febbrrrrary after all.

February First Thoughts

 Since my last post was back in January and it was my final thoughts on that day, I decided to make some first thoughts on this day in February.  As always, the month is flying by and soon will be half over!  We've had some crazy weather.  A little warm up, a cold snap again, rain that washed away the snow that had melted.  Rain that came in form of ice that made the roads a mess and my deck a mess too! My sister always says that February almost always has a snowstorm around Valentine's Day.  This year will not disappoint. We're expecting a snow storm this weekend.  First another round of ice.  I'll take snow over ice any day.  I know the Northeast has had its fair share of the white stuff this year.  I think a lot of folks are looking forward to Spring!  

We did have lovely sunshine yesterday, but it was cold, and I don't think you can see the ice on the trees in this pic.

All the trees were dressed in crystals and grass was crispy on Annabelle's paws!  But no matter the weather a walk always feels good. The driveway was covered in ice too, so we stuck to the grass route. The snow has melted when we had a little warm up and then some rain to complete the task.  

Notice the weird track on the back yard grass?  That's where I shoveled paths for Annabelle when we had all the snow last month.  I'm hoping when Spring does finally arrive, new growth will take that away.  Well, this month has been dubbed "Loveuary" by Hallmark.  Have any big plans for Valentine's Day?  We have a church social on Saturday but not sure we're doing anything for the actual Valentine's Day on Friday.  Our weather will determine exactly what happens I guess!  Have a good rest of this week!

January Final Thoughts

 Oh January how I won't miss you after tomorrow!  Yep, this very cold month will be over and I can put this one behind me and hope for a better February.  I shouldn't complain because we are doing fine but the scam that left us a little poorer but a lot smarter was a shocker.  Jack got that crummy bug that's been going around and so did Jordan.  Both are better now.  It's been going around where I work too.  So far I'm knocking on wood that it doesn't come my way.  My sister too has had it and she's finally sounding better.  My BFF, Donna, has been struggling with a perplexing condition that has left her with muscle weakness in her legs and having to use a walker.  Hoping she can get some answers with more tests on the way. Work has been very quiet.   One of our busiest surgeons left for greener pastures and left a big open hole in the hospital surgery schedule.  When the hospital isn't busy the staff goes to the Endoscopy unit that's about 5 miles from the main hospital campus.  When they're there, I'm not needed.   I usually get 2-3 days a week but not much lately.  I enjoy what I do there and the few who work there regularly have become good friends.  So, all in all, it's just been a bit different for the start of this year.   But enough whining for tonight!  Jack and I went to the Temple today and enjoyed a much-needed, quiet prayerful time.  It has put me in a better mood to face February!   Tomorrow, to finish January, I get to have an evaluation done by my boss.  Now you must take in consideration that she's never watched me work.  But no worries since we do our own evals.  We answer questions like:  What's the best part of your job.  What makes you excited about your job.  What are your goals for the next year...blah, blah, blah.  You also have to give yourself a score from 1-10 on how you feel you do at your job.  I'm a PRN worker.  That means I just go in and do my job, collect my paycheck, and can say yes or no when they ask if I can work certain days. I get no benefits, so I really don't have a big skin in the game.  I do work hard when I'm there and the one thing I never, ever say is the phrase: "I'm tired".   I leave that to the younger ones.  When I feel like I really am tired and the job isn't fun anymore, I'll be out.  Anyway, I gave myself a 7 with the idea that nobody is perfect, and I like to leave room for improvement! Ha!  So, my goals are to get to work on time, get through the day without saying I'm tired and hopefully work on the days the drug reps bring lunch.  They have big expense accounts!  Here's my final thoughts for this final week and days of January:

EAT LIKE A BIRD:   I don't know who made up that fairy tale.  We have birds at our feeder that hang out there all day and eat constantly.  Reminds me of a group of folks at Golden Corral that were bragging about being there all day and were there for dinner too!  Plus, those birds are messy!

Innocent bird buffet.

Messy mess on the deck:

The ground under the feeder.  Eat like a bird my eye!  We have had some lovely birds come and visit though.  The cardinals, red headed woodpeckers, blue jays, and of course the tiny birds that aren't afraid when we walk out on the deck.  They aren't leaving their buffet for anyone!  That's it for now.  Here's my final pic of the post:

Our Annabelle hasn't met a couch that she doesn't love!  She has the right idea.  Night all! Bye January!

BRRR Days

 We made it through the coldest week ever!  It broke a few records around these parts but thankfully we  didn't get the amount of snow the southern states did.  I'm sure the kiddos that had never seen snow were having a great time.  The grownups, perhaps not so much.  A few flakes can shut down those places not equipped to handle it but a foot of snow is down right paralyzing.  We had snow off and on but it came in just a few inches at a time.  No biggie here.  Our schools were shut down until yesterday because of the dangerous temps.  It's suppose to get up into the 20's and 30's this weekend which will feel like a heat wave! We've been hunkered down at the Pines with Jack manning the wood furnace.  Phil and Jackie came over last weekend and split wood that got us set to handle the cold.  We were very grateful for wonderful sons who care about us!  Jordan was fighting the same virus his Dad has had and was home from work a few days and really feeling crummy.  On Saturday, last weekend, our Granddaughter Rae had the high school winter formal dance.  Her boyfriend's Grandpa is the maintenance man for the Historical Society buildings and got them in for some pictures.

For a winter formal, that dress looked pretty chilly to me!  I think I'm getting old! She did have a shrug wrap that went with it but didn't wear it for the pics. The Victorian settee was very pretty too!
They were good sports about letting us take pics in places like the library in this beautiful building.

I liked the ones on the stairs.  It was nice of Gabe's Grandpa to get them in and I enjoyed seeing them have fun too.  So that about sums up our week!  I didn't work this week because the hospital hasn't been busy and the doc I work with at the endoscopy lab was on vacation.   So just puttering around, shoveling snow, taking Annabelle out for quick walks has been the order of the days.  We did go for a little drive today to an Amish store for some fresh eggs.

For $2.50 a dozen they are much cheaper than the grocery store!  The sun was shining even if it was only 17de out and it was lovely to see the pretty landscape.  For my final pic of the post:

Annabelle and her crazy hair in the morning.  Have a good weekend everyone!

Hello 2025

 Well, better late than never I guess. Happy New Year everyone!  January is half over and I was thinking of just giving this blogging thing up but decided to keep at it and give some more thought and time to it. The first weeks of January have been a mix of snow, cold, not much sun and not much working either.  I know things should get going more in a few weeks once folks decide to start on their medical care and using deductibles. As for the weather it's typical of January in Ohio except we've been spoiled the last couple of years with mild temps and not much snow.  Mother Nature has decided to up her game this year.  It's been a back and forth of bitter cold and snow.  The snow we have has thankfully came in small batches of only 2-3 inches at a time.  Makes it easier to keep up with the shoveling!  Next week we are expecting some bitter temps for Monday-Wednesday.   After that I'm thinking it will go into a more normal pattern of winter.  Thankfully, Annabelle likes the snow and doesn't seem to mind the very cold temps although I don't take her walking for very long periods of time.

I don't know if you can tell but I shovel out paths for Annabelle.  I call them her pee paths! Ha! They sort of look like crop circles in the yard.  Do you do things like that for your furbabies?  

Once all the Christmas decor is put away, I bring out the snowmen and even put some lighted flakes on the kitchen mantel.  I like to keep a bit of light up until February then I go for Valentine's stuff.  It helps to keep the winter bright!  

One thing that makes the winter brighter is watching my grandson play basketball! He's #14 in the red. They've had a good season and we were happy to watch them win this one and see Cameron score! 

Go #14!  

Last week we had a full moon.  This isn't the best shot but I liked the tree limbs in the shot.  The full moon made for nice lighted evenings and early mornings but also brought out some craziness at work.  Full moons make hospital employees nervous!  The next story here is maybe because of a full moon. It's one final thought for this first blog post of the year.  This is also a public warning.  This past week we,,,or I should say, me since I was the one who got involved, got scammed big time.  I got caught in a banking scam that makes me so mad and also feeling so stupid to have fallen for it.  Now to be honest the scammer was very good and even had the bank phone number he called me from to ask about a fraudulent charge on my account.  Turns out he was the fraudulent call.  I even called the number back to make sure it was from my bank, and it was.  A long story short and $8,700 later I finally went to the bank in person and found out it was a total scam. We did get it straightened out but what a pain.  We had to open new accounts, put in a dispute in hopes of recouping the money, change all our info to the places that we pay bills to or have automatically withdrawn funds from.  I know it happens a lot these days, but I still feel very violated and stupid.  Never deal with anyone on line or on a phone from a person saying they are the bank, or if you have a gut feeling something isn't right, just check it out in person.  Lesson learned for sure!  So, taking a deep breath and heading forward I will say, Hello 2025.  Let's do better from here on out!

2024 Is Out The Door!

 My final post for a lean posting year.  This year has flown by as it seems all do these days and just uttering the numbers 2025 makes me shake my head.  I still can't believe I'm "in my seventies"!  It's been a busy month even with not working as much as previous months.  Christmas came so quickly but these days I've had the chance to sit still for a minute and enjoy the decorations and quiet.  Jack is finally going to be able to close the office door for the last time.  It's taken 3 months to wrap it all up.  He practiced for 47yrs and part of that was with his dad, so clearing out the office also meant clearing out items that were there when Dad was alive.  It's been hard work and emotional work.  His Mom worked there too as the office manager back in the day and there were items there that will always remind me of her.  I got a little teary eyed as I vacuumed up the rooms.  We filled a dumpster, took furniture to a church mission, sold some things and gave much away.  His patients will miss him.  He had 4 show up yesterday and since he still had an adjusting table available, he took care of them.  One of his patients showed up this morning as we were cleaning because they saw his van in the lot and he hoped to get an adjustment.  We chatted for a bit but had no equipment left to do anything.  Yep, this chapter probably goes as the hardest part of this year for Jack, but we're hoping for new adventures in 2025.  Yesterday I did take time to make my Greek New Year's bread.  It's called Vasilopita and it's baked with a coin inside.  When it's cut on New Years, whoever gets the coin in their slice will have good luck for the year. 

I made enough for us and one for a neighbor down the street and one for my BFF Donna.  I wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year even if you don't get the coin in your slice of life tomorrow!  2024, you're out the door!

Has Spring Sprung?

 No, Spring isn't here but it sure feels like it!  We've had temps in the upper 50's to 60de the last few days. A little sun here and there was nice but mostly we've had rain.  I know we were in a drought this summer, so I won't dis the rain.  This is not really unusual weather for our area as I've looked back over the years on my blog and found warm temps this time of year.  I can even recall a January time when we had a 70de day when my BFF Donna and I used to walk.  I know the cold is coming this week, so I'll enjoy this reprieve!  Last night I finally took the walk around our "Candy Cane Trail" at Freer Field.  It was pretty amazing.  It first started last year but they really upped the beauty factor with tons more lights and sights.  Annabelle came with me as Jack was a little under the weather.  I wish I had remembered to put my memory card in my camera to get better pics....senior moment!  So, here's just a little taste that I took with my phone:

Start at the beginning:

Annabelle enjoyed the trek and lots of kiddos stopped to pet her.  She's a good sport and loves people so petting her was a bonus for her.  

The lighted trees and little vignettes like gingerbread people were beautiful.  There were many other cute stops for a photo moment or just to look at like a Nativity set up or a reindeer looking for Rudolph!  It's about a mile or more and we did win a place in the Guiness record books for the most lights on metal trees or something like that.  If you go to Facebook for Candy Cane Trail, I think you'd get a much better depiction of the event.  

My pathetic pics sure don't do it justice.  However, it was a nice, warm night with no wind and Annabelle and I enjoyed our walk.  There's only a few more days to blog before closing out 2024.  I hope everyone has a good Monday and a Happy New Year! 

Merry Christmas A Day Late!

 You know the saying, "A day late, a dollar short"?  Well, that's me today.  Late and lots of dollars short! I have been bad about blogging but dealing with blogger and sign ins and such has become a bit of a pain. We'll see how the new year goes with all that.  In the mean time, Christmas day went well here at the Pines. It was a little different this year.  We've always hosted Christmas celebration on Christmas day.  When our grown kiddos had littles it wasn't bad.  Most of the in-laws did Christmas Eve and then we had the next day.  But the littles aren't little any more and a few are married and have their in-law traditions to deal with.  So we sort of had a gathering that came in different times. Phil's girls came early because their other Grandma was having her Christmas that fell into ours.  Our Granddaughter Lexi was ill so it was just Phil and Rae and her sister Aria that made the trek.  They opened gifts and ate some of the snack things I had set out before  heading out on their way.  I was a little miffed that this was happening but couldn't really do anything about it.  It was a quick fun time with them anyway.  Next, most of the crew came at the appointed time with just a few coming in a little later.  I had all the gifts pretty well organized into family boxes and it went well.  I think everyone liked the gifts and no returns are necessary!  We had some fun laughs along the way before heading into the food zone.  Ham and a million sides were served and then we played a game and tried to eat dessert even though we were still full! Ha!  

Gathering around the food!

This is Hazel smiling for YaYa.  She's my daughter-in-law's Grandbaby who's become a favorite visitor here and we are happy to be step "Great Yaya and Great Pawpaw"!  She has a 1yr old little sister, Tatem, but I don't think I have any pics of her from yesterday. 

Granddaughter, Summer with her constant companion, Happy!

Wait, I do have a Tatem pic...standing by her Grandma, Evelyn.  

Jordan with his girlfriend, Brittany and her little girl, Haylee.  It was nice having tiny kiddos again around the Pines!

Driana and her hubby, Jonathan.  Driana is an RN and works at a University Hospital in Cleveland.  I work at University Hospital, Samaritan, here in Ashland and she just starting training doing EGD's and colonoscopies at her facility..hmmm....just like YaYa does down here in Ashland! We had a lot of colon stories to tell each other!  I did a bit better with photo taking this year.  I'm usually pretty busy with food prep, talking to my family, organizing the gifting and such and forget to snap a pic.  Oh well, I will show this one photo that did make me laugh.

This is a bad shot of Evelyn and Sam's back sides but the little girls were excited to look out and see a couple of Santa's reindeer in the back yard.  Yep, three deer showed up and I couldn't resist telling them that the reindeer were visiting to say good-bye for this year and to be reminded to be good for the new year ahead. I think the adults even bought that story! Ha! (no one noticed the "reindeer" had no antlers!) 

Here's a pic of the quiet before the storm as we got the livingroom set up for the family.

I found these green chair covers on line and they fit my yellow chairs to make it look a little more festive.  I sort of like to decorate for Christmas!   Last weekend Jack and I went and helped the Salvation Army by ringing a bell by the red bucket.  Annabelle came with us.  I promised Jack I wouldn't put this on Facebook but I hope he doesn't mind this pic on the blog:

We were laughing at the tiny size of the bell! However, Annabelle looked cute in her sweater.  She loved all the attention from the shoppers. Even though we were indoors, this is the exit for the grocery store and it got pretty cold with the door opening and closing.  We were assigned for an hour but after 45 minutes we noticed poor Annabelle shaking.  It was cold on that tile floor so Jack took her to the car and warmed her up until I finished the last 15min.  I think I'd rather do the Christmas in July bell ringing next year!  On a final, not so jolly moment, I want to mention a sad note from this past week.  We had a boy, 13yrs old, in our Church pass away.  He committed suicide because of being bullied so bad at school. Such a tragedy for this family and his friends at Church.  I think social media is the worst for kids when it to gives access to constant bullying and encouraging suicide.  I don't know what could have been done for this young boy to help him but being vigilant about checking kids phones and hopefully taking action if necessary to stop this.  Prayers go out for his family and his older brothers.  This can be a tough and cruel world for kids.  We certainly had bullying in our day but face to face where you can duke it out, get it over with, and walk away.  Times are different now.  Well, I hope this new year ahead can bring peace to everyone and hope for better things along the way.  Have a safe and happy rest of your holiday season.