Ahhhhh Spring!

It's here finally! The temps have been spring like off and on for the last couple of weeks, but now the calendar agrees. I can see the changes in the grass...it's a bit greener....the creepy woods still have no leaves on the trees, but when Eddy and I go walking you can smell it in the air and see some green peeking out of the brown leaves on the ground. The sky was so blue on the morning I took this pic. Soon it will be mushroom hunting time, something I never do but I know lots of folks who talk about nothing else. If I would happen upon some in our woods I could probably sell the rights to the little buggers! People do not tell where they find them by the way...Oh my gosh, that's punishable by death if you tell about the "spot" where the mushrooms are. It's maple syrup time too. Malabar farm had the maple syrup festivle last weekend. We went one time with Craig and Amy but from what I hear it was very crowed this year, not like when we went. The weather was perfect for it and people are looking for cheap fun. If you're looking for cheap fun, come on over and visit. I'll let you hunt for some "shrooms", but you can't tell anyone where you got them!

Not everyone in the world is blessed to have a sister...especially a sister who inspires you, uplifts you, and is there for you thru thick and thin, good times and bad and also was a real irritant when we were little!!!! But we grew up and became best friends and when we're together we sure can laugh it up! We're more careful now, due to old age bladders and all....but I couldn't have asked for a better sib than Midge (Aunty Mudge as the boys used to call her) I admire her in so many ways...she's artistic(not autistic), helps my brother Greg manage his business and I think him sometimes! Is always there for her kids and grandkids and nephews when they need a place to lay their heads or someone to talk to them about life. She wants us all to be the Waltons and live close together forever and everyone to be happy always. I know she scares some people with her directness, but hey, it's a dirty job and someone has to do it!!! She helps my Mom out even when Mom thinks she doesn't need helping out, and she will keep the paint stores and hobby lobby open for ions to come. Well, enough blubber talk, hey HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIDGE!!! LOVE YA LOTS...(isn't this better than a silly e-card??)

Isn't she just the cutest thing?

Don't hide kiddo, you're 54 and should be proud of it!

A wonderful idea!

First an update: The shiney, lovely crock pot made a delish corned beef and cabbage dinner for St. Patty's day....Second: After I told my wonderful co-workers about the death of my old crock pot and then revealed I just couldn't chuck it into the garbarge, Shay said: (Drum roll....rrrrrrr) "Make it into a planter...fill it with flowers and set it outside" Oh, I could have kissed her...except all her kiddos are sick with the flu. So now I can fill it with lovely poseys and it will be reborn!! You know, I really do need a life.....

Goodbye Old Friend

A good and faithful friend passed away tonight at 10:15pm... I was putting a piece of corned beef for tomorrow's (St. Patrick's Day)

dinner and when I plugged in my 35yr. old crock pot I heard something sizzling, cracking and an odor of electrical burning reached my nose. OH NO!!! I cried...it can't be!!!! Yes, Dr. Jack actually pronounced it dead after smelling the burned out cord. Gone, it can't be saved he said. I looked at the poor thing and although it was quite bruised, scratched and well worn, it never failed to deliver a wonderful dinner, cooked while I was away...usually at work which made it all the more wonderful to come home to a cooked meal ready for my hungry family. I remember the first meal I prepared in it. We were married a whole week and I put in a chicken, some barbecue sauce, plugged it in and off to work I went. When I arrived home a delicious aroma met me at the door and Jack came home from Chiro college shortly afterward and he immediately commented on the wonderful smell. What a great wife I was...so talented...so creative in the kitchen...soooo...well never mind, anyway we took off the lid, looked inside and found a heaping pile of black char...I had inadvertently set the crock pot on high...not good for chicken...not good for chicken cooking for 8hrs. Well, I didn't give up on it or my ability to create a meal with it. It stood the test of time, moves and changes in cooking styles and four boys. I will miss it dearly because you can't find that shade of avocado anymore, made all the more lovely with it's scratches. Reminds me of my own worn scars of time that the last 35yrs has given me! Amy and Craig gave me a new crock pot last year that I have used many times too, especially for pot luck carry ins. It's a bit bigger than my old friend and I had to adjust to it's hotter cooking temps, but it has delivered some tasty morsels too. Hopefully it will last 35yrs , although I might not! Here it is next to avocado pot...So shiny, so new. So long old friend. I may bury it next to our old dog Ferris, I don't know if I can just throw it in the land fill....I'm getting teary eyed, I must go to bed now...

SIZZELING!!

It was a hot time in the old town (or homestead) on Saturday afternoon. Because we heat with wood that Jack cuts from our property, we get a bunch of branches that tend to build up over a season or two. Saturday we had the perfect weather to burn a bunch off. We started out with a nice stack that you can see here....then the fun begins with some gas, matches and...POOF!!! Fire Baby!

As the fire burned down, Jordan, Jack and I would throw more branches from the other stacks we have and I also cleaned out some of my flower beds and got rid of alot of dead plants to get ready for new plantings coming up.

In the end all that was left was this tiny pile of ash that smoldered all night into this morning. That's the beauty of living in the country...burning is allowed. It makes the air smell good but probably does something to global warming. Well, this spot is cleaned out nicely. I think we really need a vacation or something because blogging about burning wood is really lame! Oh well, this is how we spend our wonderful Saturdays! Jack did go down to the Boy Scout reservation in the morning to have a meeting about this year's camp in July. Before you know it summer will be here....But for now, what can I plant in this newly cleaned out area????

A Walk Around Town

My bestest friend Donna (Starkey) and I always used to walk daily when we lived in town. As soon as we moved to the Pines, the walks became a sometime thing...something we really miss! We talk, laugh, get religious, laugh, fix problems of all kinds, laugh, did I mention talk?? Today was such a great day to do the sometime thing, get out there and hit the road! I decided to take Eddie with for his first walk away from his own neighborhood. He was very curious of everything, and everybody who passed our way. It makes the walk a bit longer, but he did good for his first time. I stopped at Donna's beautiful house...I love her yard, you should see it in the summer, it's yummy! With the time change we could head out at 6:30 and it's still light out! Yawhoooo!!! I love this time change, even if it means a little lost sleep...We headed out and stopped here and there to talk to friends we met along the way, fend off another boxer who actually dragged her owner across the lawn to get to us, and yes we stopped at McDonalds...no not for a burger (yucky) but someone...I won't mention who, needed a pit stop. I'm so grateful for Ronald McDonald's and the hamburgler's toilets...thanks guys. Then the end came and Eddie and I bid a fond farewell to Donna...a little darker out, and much talked out and a great time out for us! P.S. Don't you just love her "Starkey Hollow" sign?

Smile!

Today was a really nice, warm (58de.) day. I got out of work a little early and after running some errands, decided to roam the outdoors a bit. It just made me smile to see that even though it has been bitter cold the last few weeks, spring flowers will make their way to the surface once again! The next few days of warm mingled with rain will really bring everything up. I'm not so naive to think that it won't get cold or snow anymore, but this sight just made me smile! This video might not make you smile, but it did me! Some of you know that Eddy and Squeak don't get along. They do little things to irritate one another. Now that the weather is nicer, Squeak spends most of her time outside and Eddy spends most of his time wishing he were outside. Put both of them together in the outdoors and this is what happens....don't worry, no cat or dog was injured in this episode.