Ma Has Taken Over My Body

Mom would be SO proud!  I have become a canning, pickle-making fiend this year.  Now, don't get me wrong - I've canned tomatoes in the past so am not a total novice at it.  But, for some reason, this year it seems to be an every other day affair.  PLUS the fact that I am making Mom's Open Jar Sweet/Sour pickles for the first time in my entire life.  I loved those things as a kid, and think that's about the only kind of pickles I even remember us having.  Probably because it makes a HUGE batch - 2-gallon jar full.

Those little slices having been in the brine now since last Tuesday so tomorrow step 2 begins.  The official draining and replacing with alum water (I guess for crispness according to everything I read on the web - and of course, that stuff is always true).  Mom didn't happen to tell me WHY to put alum water on the pickles after the brining, just to do it.  So, we'll see.

On another note, I went to visit a good friend today who's new baby is just about 10 days old now - and getting so cute.  I got to see her in the hospital and can't believe the change in her in just this space of time.  The first year in a baby's life certainly sees the fastest changes.  Another good friend had a little one three years ago and he came early - he was just a little better than HALF the size of this little one who weighed in at 7 lb. 9 oz.  The other little guy weighed 4 lb. 7 oz.  I think it took him two or three months to make it to this newborn's size.  :)

I guess it's officially summertime in Oklahoma because its really been hot the past couple of weeks.  Luckily, we've had a little rain here and there so that makes things better.  Last year, it rained on the 4th. of July (natch!) and that was it for at least 3 months and maybe even 4.  I know it was a looooooooooooong time before we got anymore wet stuff.

So, my egg cooker just beeped so I guess that means we'll have egg salad sandwiches for lunch.  We're actually still eating lettuce from the garden that I've put in plastic bags in the fridge, so can still have actual home-grown salads. 

Speaking of fridge, we bought us a small second refrigerator about a month ago.  My first one that we got in 1976 when we moved to Wills Point, finally bit the dust a few months ago, and, although I really thought we could make do with one, I was WRONG!!!  After years of having a second fridge to store excess opened products in, and make ahead dishes for company, I realized that one would NEVER do.  It was like a jigsaw puzzle just fitting everything in there, and when the produce began to arrive in earnest, we were crammed to the nth degree - and a new little black box came to sit in my kitchen/dining room.  And, it's about full of produce, so what would we have done without it???? 

Enough about all this I guess.  Wish you were here, Mom, to get in the middle of all this goings on.  You would be loving it.  :)

A New Venture

I can't believe it but I'm turning into my mother.  I've been canning tomatoes, putting up her refrigerator cucumber salad by the quarts, and today I actually started making her Open Jar Sweet & Sour pickles.  Basically, NOT because I WANTED to make pickles, but, I have BAGS of cucumbers in the fridge which need to be used, and this recipe starts out with A TWO GALLON JAR OF SLICED CUCUMBERS!  Now, that's the way to use up cucumbers in a hurry.  And they are so pretty in the glass jar.  Now, if only they taste something like I remember, I will be a happy little pickle maker.

So, Ma is still with me - I can't look at the cuc salad or now the S & S pickles without thinking about her, and, drat!  I have a question I need to ask her, and she's not here.  It's been almost 10 years and I STILL have questions I need to ask her.  I guess that will never go away.  I know I'll be able to ask her someday when we see each other in heaven, but I can't quite imagine making sweet and sour pickles up there.  Basically, because if we do get to eat, it will be heavenly food!  :)

The dryer calleth so perhaps I'll get back to posting again later.  Obviously, I'm not a really great blogger, but then, I'm following some folks who started off strong and kind of faded as well.  I miss them.  Their posts made my day.  :)

Later ~~~~~~

And, It Just Gets Worse

OK.  It's been ages since I've written down anything worth reading - at least by anyone other than me.  HOWEVER, our granddaughter just started blogging - again - thankfully, and got my interest kinda revved up again.

Last week was Day Camp at our church.  Day Camp is wonderful - 6 hours of non-stop activities for ages kindergarten through 6th. grades.  Then throw in about 30 teenage helpers plus a slew of adults and you have 180+ folks rambling around each day for a week.  The decorations are always great, the lessons, are great, the food is great.  It's a super time.

My part is minimal - I take pictures of about 1/4 of the kids each day for a mere 30 minute or less time frame, then edit the pictures, zap them into a pre-done slide show, and voila!  The show is presented at the end of the day - each day.  Easy, peasy!!!  This is when I know that I am getting a bit older than when I first took this on.  By Friday, I was sacked out on the couch in the foyer at church before the finale because I JUST COULDN'T keep my eyes open.  You'd think I'd been following kids around all week like my younger counterparts have been doing.  Nope!!  Just 20 pictures or so, and that was it!  Friday night I wasn't even worth being around - so totally exhausted.  So, you see, those sneaky little age increments DO make a difference - and I'm beginning to believe a bigger difference than I would have ever wanted to admit.

On Thursday, I needed our big wood cross that stands in the corner in the foyer for one of the pictures.  It was there all week with two jousting poles leaned up against.  Why you ask?  Don't ask!  Don't know!!

Anyway, Thursday morning I go to get the cross - AND - it's gone.  Sure - Monday I needed a crown that was right where I could find it on Sunday night, Monday morning it was gone.  Being used in the Bible lesson for the day.  Now, I'm not a total washout, so I figured - Aha!  That cross is probably part of the Thursday Bible Lesson.  Stands to reason.  So..... I zip through the foyer, down the hallway, and into the room where the Bible lesson is happening.  She has a cross all right, BUT not the one I was looking for.  When I asked what had happened to the one in the foyer, she told me that it HAD been standing right in front of the big pile of rocks in the entry.  So------- I go back to the foyer, looking in each class room on the way, looked in the sanctuary, back in the corner, at the pile of rocks, back in the corner, back at the rocks, AND do you believe - that cross MIRACULOUSLY appeared in FRONT of that pile of rocks in the time it took for me to look there, in the corner and then back there.   I don't know HOW IN THE WORLD I didn't see it - I had to have almost tripped over it when I made the trip down the hallway.  My excuse - it was THURSDAY!!!

BUT, the best part of the whole thing was - my good friend was coming out of the sanctuary door so I confessed my story to her.  SHE looked in the corner, looked in the other corner, looked at the rocks, looked BACK in the corner, back at the rocks then hit her forehead and said, "Well, duh!!!!"  Ha!!!  I told her, "NOW I don't feel so bad!!!"   We had a really good laugh over that whole mess - of course, blaming the entire episode on "Well, it's Thursday"!  Good thing, too.  Friday I was on the couch!!!

Now, it's a week later, I think I've recovered, and somehow caught a "nasty, summer cold".  Blegh!  Blegh!  Blegh!!  So, I will just 'blow' my way out of here, and maybe sometime in the next year or so, I'll get inspired to write something else.  Surely SOMETHING of interest will happen!

Perhaps, I'll write about our Branson Trip - only interesting to me, probably, but, one never knows, does one???

Little Red House Barn

It only took two weeks - I can't believe a couple of old folks can get something finished that fast, and, I use the term "couple" quite loosely.  I really only did enough to be able to claim that I actually helped.  I did a few helpful things like holding boards when Bill was putting up the rafters, holding boards when he was putting on the barge rafters, holding boards when he was nailing on the fence rails.  You get the picture - I'm REALLY GOOD at holding boards. 

The other stuff, I'm more of an "oral" builder - I can talk a good story but actually doing it - not so much!!  BUT, my husband seems to think that my help as "invaluable" so that works for me.  Oh, yes, and I did put the blue tape around the little windows in the feed room door so that he wouldn't slop paint all over the glass.

So, now my Pretty Girl has a place to eat and get in out of the weather.  Unfortunately, her very FIRST introduction to her new stall was - go in, find food, get bit by fire ants, come out, stomp a bit, go back in, try another mouthful, get bit some more.  Man!!! This is the pits!!!!  I mean, the bits!!!!!  Unbeknowingly, my frugal husband decided to use some mulch material he'd had piled in the back yard for bedding.  I had become the new home of a colony of fire ants, and they DID NOT appreciate a horse tromping around on their new digs.  But after a liberal dousing of bug spray - the bedding and the horse, the fire ants are no more.  Just to be on the safe side, said husband cleared out all of the mulch and substituted pine shavings that come in a nice sterile package down at C.J.'s.  Pretty Girl seems to have forgotten all about the ants because the stall is working out just fine and it almost looks like she may have slept in it last night.

So, the little red barn is all finished.  The feed room lacks a few shelves, and moving the stuff in there, but for all practical purposes, we will consider this project "a wrap"!

Whatta Week and it's only Thursday!!

As you can tell - this blog was written a couple years ago now.  I actually started it, and then never  got it posted.  I was hoping it would stay in the proper sequence seeing that I started writing it way back when, but, alas, it didn't so just bear in mind, this was written back first part of June in 2010.  

Happy Memorial Day - a little late, but still in the proper week.  Before I get started, let me just say that I am getting VERY tired of dial-up internet service. Now, I know that I should be thankful that we have any internet service at all considering the rural area we live in, BUT, we DO and we have been promised high speed internet for the past 2 1/2 years now.  YEARS, mind you, not months, Years!!!  The towers are up, the guts are being installed, but we've been hearing that for at least a year and a half, so my question is::  Where the heck is our high speed service?  Can someone -- anyone tell us when it will be available.  At least, that would give us something to go on.  Two months ago I was told by the office that stuff was being installed at that time but it would probably be 2 or 3 months yet.  THAT was 2 or 3 months ago.  WHERE IS IT????

Of course, I realize that those of you reading the above can't do a blooming thing about it, but somehow I feel better just getting that off my chest.
Now, for the "whatta week" stuff.

I started out Monday (Memorial Day) preparing for the colonoscopy on Tuesday that I have been trying to avoid for the past 10 years or so.  I finally convinced myself that having the test would probably be a good thing (smile) so there I was Monday drinking a gallon of GoLytely.  Doesn't the name just get you?  Give me a break - GoLytely.  Hardly!!!!  After the first 30 - 45 minutes of drinking that stuff, you are doing anything but going lytely.  Soooooooooo, I got the process started.  Just prior to the first siege, I thought to myself, "you know, it would probably be really smart to wear something a little protective, just in case this starts with a "bang" and getting to the bathroom is not an option at that time."  So, I went and put on one of Ma's big old panty Depends that she wore some when she was living here.  And, sure enough, about 15 minutes after THAT wise decision, the show was on the road - so to speak.  Actually, the show was in the Depends, but you get the picture.  So, after spending the next 45 minutes to an hour holed up in the restroom, drinking more GoLytely to continue the process, I decided that if I continued wearing a Depends, I could probably navigate to the kitchen and back and not have an "accident".  So, that's what I did the rest of the afternoon.  I felt like a "big old person in a diaper" but it worked.  As the flushing continued, the Depends did its job and I stayed high and dry.  What a deal.  I was sitting at the computer drinking GoLytely, and getting rid of it all at the same time.  About two glasses was all that little panty could hold, so "off with the old and on with the new".  Think I went through 5 or 6 of the things, but it sure beat the heck out of sitting in the bathroom for 4 hours.  And, that's really your only choice unless you want to have major cleanup duty when all is finished.

Believe me, the actual test was NOTHING like the warm-up.  They put me to sleep, and before I had time to wonder when they were going to get started, I was waking up in recovery - all finished.  That was definitely the easy part.  The joy of it all is I get to do it again in three years.  Yippity-do!!!

So much for that.  THAT was the beginning of my week.  Then, Wednesday, Bill went to see the folks who bought my Blaze last fall as we are selling our remaining two horses and thougtht they might be interested.  When he got there, the man told him that he'd had to put Blaze down.  He was playing with the other horse and got his leg tangled up in a corral panel.  Broke the leg and tore up ligaments and muscles and everything.  I felt so bad, and felt bad for the owner as well.  He was about in tears telling Bill about it.  He really loved that horse about as much as I did, I guess.  Sure was sad to hear that.
Here's my best picture of that pretty fella.

AND, today, we've got someone coming to get the last two horses.  Bill just doesn't trust Shadow enough to be comfortable riding her, and so if he doesn't ride, I don't either.  Much as we like both the horses, they just cost too much to keep and feed and shoe and worm and etc. when you aren't riding anymore.  I wish we'd have never gotten them when we were out of horses before, but this is the last time we'll go through this.  I can't take HAVING to get rid of them.  I really was all right selling Blaze, but I don't really want to sell Domino.  I haven't had enough riding time with him.  But, that's the way it goes sometimes.

This was my Domino.  He was really beautiful and I think we
would have done well together, but, alas, he had a foot problem
and ended up limping much of the time.  The vet said he'd probably work OK for a kid to ride but not a grownup - at least not much.  Never work for trail riding.  So, he's gone,

Now, perhaps, I'll actually get this posted!!!

Horses

Here's another blog that I started about 2 years ago, and apparently never finished.  So, read it with summer 2010 in mind.  :)

All gone!  No more horses!  No more nuzzling noses looking for treats!  No more horsey smell greeting us when we go to the barn.  No more manure to spread.  No more flies to deal with.  No more rides.  No more sore butts.  No more saddling, unsaddling, brushing, currying, shoeing, worming, feeding.  No more four-legged friends greeting you with excited whinnies when you FINALLY get there to feed them.  Yep!  The last two horses are gone.
Now that I read this, it's kinda sad.  It does look pretty empty down in the pasture when we go there to fish, but it was time.  We found them a good home - they were bought together, and I think they'll be happy where they went.  So, the barn stands empty, the grass keeps growing in the pasture, and our season of horse ownership has come to an end.  I almost wish someone had a horse or two we could board for them just to have them down there again.  :)

Other than that - it's been a hot bugger of a summer so far, and I'm prone to stay indoors most of the time if at all possible. I do get out in the garden to pick squash and peppers and lettuce, etc. but try to do that in a hurry-up-and-get-back-in-the-AC fashion.  The only time I want to really deal with the heat is fishing.  Or, swimming would be good, but haven't gone any around here.  I guess we really need to find a good swimming hole someplace close.  I had such a good time when our kids rented a houseboat on Lake Ouachita a couple years ago.  I could have stayed there the whole week with them instead of just the one day.  The water was like bath water, and I really hated to get out of it.  What a blast flying down the slide and splooshing into that beautiful, clean, deep, warm water.  Do you think I liked it???  Oh YEAH!!!!!!

Cookie's fixing to get a bath today as soon as my one piano student gets here and we finish her lesson.  They should have been here already but guess they are on the way.  In fact I hear them now so will finish this later.

And, I now realize that I never did "finish this later" so I'm just going to finish it now and post!

I'm finished!!!!!!  LOL

Togetherness!!

Bill and I will be married 37 years next Saturday.  Hard to believe, I know, but it's the truth.  We got married one week after my birthday in 1975.  And, my Dad thought we'd never last.  Actually the day that I brought Bill home to meet the folks, Daddy had gone to town to get fortified with a couple of beers before the "big meet"! 
 Guess he was really concerned with what I had brought home to the farm.

Anyway, THAT'S not what this is really about.  We were talking about the new little horse barn tonight at supper, and though he's doing the lion's share, no, make that elephant's share of the work, I did manage to get my hot little hands on a few boards, so that I can actually say, "I-eee haelped!"    Sometimes, just one other pair of hands makes all the difference, sooooo, that's where I come in!!! 

I said something tonight like, "You know, we've done a lot of projects together in the 37 years we've been married."  Some good, some not so good. BUT, the one that we always both think of when we're reminiscing about those projects is the time we brought the Franklin cast iron stove up the back stairs of the store when we were living above it.  Now, that stove was one heavy piece of work.  Bill chained it to a sled he'd built out of 2 x 4s.  Kind of a skid.  THEN, he attached a heavy wire cable to the front of the skid.  Brought the cable up the steps, over the porch floor and back down to the trailer hitch on our '75 Monte Carlo. 

AND, then the fun began.  Yours truly was driving the Monte Carlo while the big man was going to try to keep the stove upright.  No small task when you are trying to drag a stove up steep staircase.  All the while praying that the cable didn't snap, I started sloooooowwwwllllyyy, so very sllllloooooowwwwlllly pull that Franklin Stove that held 24" wood up the stairs. 

God was with us.  The cable didn't snap, the stove didn't tip over and fall on Bill, and I didn't drive the car through the south fence even though that was looking like a distinct possibility.  AND, we got the stove into the upstairs living room.  AND, then, after all that drama, we probably only used it once or twice, because it flat out cooked us out of the area.  Didn't know it could put out that much heat!!!  

Why we didn't have camcorders and digital cameras back then I don't know.  This definitely was movie worthy, but, alas, all we have are the memories and the re-tellings.  And I believe the story gets better each time.  :)

More next time.

Another Year Gone

How does this happen?  It seems like every time I get inspired to post a blog, I look at the last one and a year + or - has slipped by.  I don't know where it went.  It was here not that long ago, and, now it's gone.

Many things have happened this year I guess.  More probably in the last 4 weeks, but lots of good stuff nonetheless.  For starters, my 73, almost 74, year old husband worked on a cattle ranch most of last summer building fences, clearing stuff, putting up stuff, feeding cows, doing the hay thing, etc.  Every night he came home with not a dry thread of cloth on his body.  He lost weight, was getting pretty thin-looking, but like he said, "If I was ever gonna die from a heart attack, I think I would have already done it!"  Guess he's a pretty tough old buzzard for sure.

Then we had a wonderful visit with our daughter and her husband when they came up last fall.  Been a while since they'd been here, so it was so good to see them.  They motorcycled up one weekend, and then came again in a vehicle.  Easier to carry stuff that way and a granddaughter and her boyfriend came along so that made the visit extra special.

Then, if that wasn't enough, my nephew and his family from Wisconsin came down the week after Christmas for several days.  What a great time we had, and I think they did too.  We made music, played on the pond, and just had a lot of fun.

Here's a picture of the kids in the Pedalo on the pond.  They sure had a blast!!

And, now we've got horses again.  We bought one for me to ride - a beautiful boy.  I named him Chance because I kinda figured he was my "last chance" to ride again.  I've been NOT ready for a couple years now, but somehow the "horse-bug" has bitten me yet again.  HOWEVER, my last Chance turned out to NOT be the horse for me.  After a friend who can ride anything she gets on, and our granddaughter, Lacie, rode him, I was warned in no uncertain terms to "never get on that horse.  Never, EVER!!!!"  Too much horse for me.  And, I tended to agree.  He's a big fella - over 16 hands, and has a bit more spunk than I want to deal with.  I think Bill will be able to ride him, but "not I," said the duck! 

Chance and Bill - March 2012

Bill looks a lot more comfortable on Chance than I ever would.

So----------------- last week we bought my Pretty Girl.  We found her over at Big Cedar and I believe we are soul mates.  She is 15 years old, been there, done that, stands still, neck reins, stops, goes, and comes when I go toward her with a piece of apple or a treat.  Hey!  I'm not against a little bribery.  Whatever works.  :) 

Pretty Girl - April, 2012

This is my birthday present this year - a beautiful horse and brand new saddle.  What could be better.  As soon as she gets new shoes, we're heading for the trails.  LOL

So, that's what's been happening this year so far.  And, our poor little Cookie has a bladder infection, or kidney stones or something.  I feel so sorry for her.  She feels like she has to go potty ALL the time.  So, she's in panties with a pad for the time being.  Just because she has to go all the time, doesn't mean she's going to be going here in the house.  These little pads that Mom left in her dresser drawer have come in VERY handy.  Half a pad and little girl panties and Cookie is good to go.  And I mean that literally.

Cookie in her "panties"

So, perhaps I won't wait another year to write again.  I'm sure there will be many more horse-related stories coming so will try to do a bit better this year.

66 and On A Tear

Now that I'm officially 66 years old, I think that I am 'entitled' to "telling it like it is".  (Just want we need - another entitlement!)

First of all, let me say that I had a wonderful birthday.  It started off with a beautiful card and a Kindle e-reader from my hubby.  I've been secretly (well, maybe not quite so secretly) casually making mention of the fact that I thought there might oughta be a Kindle in my future.  After all, I've always LOVED to read, and the convenience of being able to download books and read them whenever I felt the urge, rather than having to wait to go to a bookstore (which, by the time I actually got to a bookstore, any thought of something that I really wanted to read was completely banished from my mind by the $29.95 price tag of said book.)  So, even though there is a charge for the newer e-books it's a LOT less than the bookstore price.  Even the Wal-Mart price.  So, he saved up his money (he has a real job now for which he gets paid real money - how sweet is that!!) and had me order a Kindle for my birthday.  So, I'm now currently in mad love with JAKE!  (ie:  Joan's Kindle - JK)

I'm reading "High Heels to Tractor Wheels" by Ree Drummond, a book by Dennis Swanberg, subscribed to Reader's Digest and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines, :"Water For Elephants" - which, after reading all the comments about this book, I can hardly wait to start.  And all this in the first few days of Kindle ownership.  Like I said, I LOVE Jake!!!!!

To carry on with my birthday.  Last Thursday was Bible Time at our church, so I spent the entire morning and the early part of the afternoon over there rehearsing our skit (in which I play Clementine) and then putting the skit on for the two groups of kids who come from school to attend Bible Release Time.  Midway through our second skit, when Zelda (one of the other characters) and I were "frozen" while Pastor Rufus delivered his mini sermon, he instead counted off: 1, 2, 3 and the entire church of kids and adults burst in to "Happy Birthday to you" for me.  I was so surprised and I guess my face turned beet red.  That was just the nicest thing and TOTALLY unexpected.

AND THEN, to top off a really good day, we went out for Chinese food with our really good friends and ate like little piggies.  It was delicious and a very nice evening.

So, WHY AM I ON A TEAR you might ask?   BECAUSE, I am sick and tired of getting taken advantage of by doctors.  Not all of them - two in particular - one can be read about in a previous post.  The one I'm pretty well put out with this time is the optometrist that I've been using ever since we've been in Oklahoma.  He is located in Mena AR and I've been going there for years.

Well, last summer, in July to be exact, I had cataract surgery in both eyes.  A couple months later I went back to said optometrist for a followup checkup.  At that time, he prescribed a pair of glasses to help me see close up.  I had my eyes fixed so that I didn't have to wear glasses all the time anymore, just for close work.  So, two or three weeks later, I got the glasses and proceeded to wear them when I read or use the computer.  (Like right now - LOL)  About a month ago, sometime in mid March, I noticed one morning that I wasn't seeing quite as good as I had been at first.  I thought perhaps my eyes had changed a little.  A day or so later, I happened to reach up and take hold of the frame of my left lens and realized that it had shifted a little, so I took my glasses back off to check the screw and lo and behold!  The lens was GONE!!!  I don't know when!  I don't know where!  It's just GONE!!!!  I have searched the house over and I'm sure had it fallen on the bare floor someplace I would have heard it, and it's not around.

NOW for the part as to why I'm angry.  I went back in to the doctor's office to tell them that something was wrong with the frame - that the screw had come out or something and the lens was gone.   Either the frame was defective so that the screw didn't seat properly or else whoever put the lens in to start with didn't tighten it up properly.  All I know is the lens is GONE!!   So, the girl at the front desk goes back to check with someone and comes back and tells me that it will cost me $169.50 to replace the lens.  THAT'S what the lens cost in the first place.  They're going to charge me FULL PRICE to replace a lens that was lost through no fault of mine.  I bought the frame from them - they put the lens in.  It came out.  End of story.

Well, not quite.  I told the little girl at the desk that I was extremely upset about this and felt that something should be done - this wasn't my fault.  She told me that "oh, the screw just came loose.  That's just routine maintenance.  We're not responsible for that!"  Helllllooooo!!!!  Just how would you feel if you bought a new car and six months later a wheel fell off and you had an accident and wrecked the car.  Then, when you checked and found that the lug nuts had come off so that's why the tire fell off, and the dealer said, "Well, that's routine maintenance.  We can't be responsible for the lug nuts coming off!"  Give me a break!!!!  I would foresee a very large lawsuit in their future.  How many times have you ever gone out and checked your lug nuts to be sure they are tight - especially since it's a brand new car!!!!!  Come on!! 

And the same holds true for glasses.  WHY would I expect that the screw might come loose in a brand new pair of frames after only having them for 6 months.  I had another pair of glasses that I wore for 7 years, and I NEVER had a screw come loose.  AND, I never had the doctor suggest that I go to the back after an eye exam and have the screws checked in my frames "just in case they were loose!"  He didn't EXPECT the frames to be loose, and neither did I.

SO, I went back in to the doctor's office and this time talked to the wife of the doctor's son who is also part of the practice.  She agreed with me that that shouldn't have happened and was sure that it could be taken care of.  She said, I'll just have to run it by the office manager, and I'll give you a call in the morning. Well, the next morning the office manager called me and explained that they couldn't replace the lens.  After all it was all my fault.  Now, they would replace the frame if it was defective, but not the lens.  The frame was under warranty.  BUT, if the frame was defective, then the lost lens was not my fault.  Then she said that they could give me a 20% discount off the cost of the lens.  I told her that was NOT satisfactory at all.  I was not to blame for this and did not feel like I should have to pay for something that #1.  they've already gotten paid for to start with and #2.  was the result of a defective piece of merchandise that I BOUGHT from them!!

So, she said she'd have to check again with the doctor who was going to be back in the office Monday (today) and she'd call and let me know what he said.  GUESS WHAT!!!!  NO Call!!!  No nothing!!!

AND, if all this wasn't enough to frost my cake, the real kicker in the whole thing is that he's already gotten $1,026.00 for this pair of glasses, frames, and a followup exam.   He charged my insurance $249.00 per eye for "Exam Post Op Cataract Care".  PER EYE mind you!  And what really ticks me off is that he did nothing more during this "Post Op Cataract Care" exam than during any other exam I've had.  Same routine.  And that was $90.00 for the whole thing - both eyes!!  What a stinkin' rip off!!!  And then we wonder why our Medicare and insurance premiums are going through the rough.  Because doctors are ripping them off by calling what they did by some fancy-schmancy name.

So, that's why I'm mad.  I'm not a little mad.  I'm really, really, really MAD!!!!!  And I'm not finished with this yet.  I have never quibbled about legitimate charges for things I've had done, but this is just WRONG!!!!

Good Grief!!!

This is PATHETIC!!!  This thing tells me that the last time I posted anything was May 5th.  How did that happen??  What HAVE I been doing.  Ohhhhhhhhh, now I remember.  I started fishing.  THAT's what happened!  I made the gigantic mistake of agreeing to go out to a friend's pond with the husband who, by the way, LOVES to fish, just to get him to stop bugging me about it.  And, lo and behold, the crappie were biting BIG TIME, and we caught at least 15 fish apiece.  AND, that did it.  I was HOOKED - hook line and rod and reel and little pink gummy worms.

So, that's what we did all summer - fishing every afternoon, or early evening.  It was great.  I got my own pole(s), reel(s), and they sit right here in my office in the corner.  Actually, can't wait for it to get to be fishing time again.  We caught lots of crappie and nice BIG bass in our pond and friends' ponds.  This fall we decided maybe we ought to keep some of the fish and freeze some fillets. 

GUESS who had to learn to fillet fish???????  You are right!!!  Yours truly!  Don't know why husband didn't want to learn - he sure likes to catch the suckers, but wasn't about to fillet 'em.  So, after a couple tries with just a fillet knife, I invested in an electric knife with two different sized blades, and is that thing slick.  I'm getting pretty good at the filleting thing now.  As long as the fish are iced down and pretty dead by the time I do it.  There's something about filleting a live fish that I don't think I'm going to do.  I don't like them LOOKING at me when I'm cutting their sides off.  There's just something really wrong with that picture.  But, as long as they are just giving me that icy stare, I can get the job done. 

Anyway, that kept us going this summer - that and our little garden that actually gave us a LOT of good eating.  We had two rows of lettuce and ate lettuce and ate lettuce and ate lettuce.  And then the banana peppers and tomatoes started producing.  And THEY both did great.  I truly believe that we got way over a thousand banana peppers off the 9 plants that we planted.  AND, best of all, we discovered roasting them.  THAT is the way to eat banana peppers.  Just was 'em and pat 'em dry, then put olive oil on a flat sheet pan, single layer the peppers in the pan and drizzle with more olive oil.  I started using the spray olive oil - makes for a much quicker job.  Then roast at 375 for about 15 minutes or until just starting to brown.  Take 'em out of the oven and sprinkle with salt, and just eat them.  Don't have to seed them or anything.  You'd never even know they had seeds. 

When the okra started, that's how we made lots of it.  Use the small 3 -4 inch size and roast like the peppers.  No slime, and they are just delicious.  We sure hated to see the okra quit producing.  We had LOTS of it as well.  Can't wait till next garden season. 

Now my freezers are pretty full.  Bill even went deer hunting this year and killed one his first day out and his first shot.  THAT'S the FIRST time he's gone deer hunting since we've been married.  AND, again, guess who had to cut the thing up?????   Yep, yours truly once again.  Luckily, I had a friend who is an expert at it, so we did deer together over in her kitchen.  I would never try that on my own, but it worked out OK.  So, we've got some good venison in the freezer as well. 

See what happens when I don't blog for a while - I try to fill in the ENTIRE time since the last post. 

So, we'll see how long it goes before the next one.  :)

J

Updated Blog and Steam Blowing

As you can see, I'm making a few changes to the blog - basically changed the name from "From Mom & Me" to Meanderings, etc.  Just thought it was time to update as Mom's story has been finished for over two years now so no sense in staying with that title.  I actually thought about an entirely new blog, but when I looked at all the stuff I'd already done on this one - pictures, recipes, posts, info, etc. - I decided it would be more work to try to start over than to just revamp this.  So, here we go meandering.

I've been on Facebook for over a year now.  You can see the link to my profile page on the blog homepage.  I enjoy Facebook immensely as I get to keep up with friends and people that I really wouldn't be in contact with at all if it wasn't for this avenue.  I'm friends with cousins there whom I haven't seen since I left high school.  And, that's a long, long, long time ago.  :)

So, to do a little updating on where we are and what's going on.  We thought we had our land sold where the barn is and the horses and the pond.  A doctor from Cleburne, TX came up and made us an offer, and we decided to take it.  Was time to let it go.  Bill spent a couple weeks cleaning out the barn, the area around the barn, the little barn, hauling brush off, and generally policing the whole place.  It really was looking good.  The good doctor, Robert N. Smith, Jr. to be exact, came up a couple times to see it, decided where to have a well dug, made arrangements for that to be done a couple weeks down the road, called the electric company and requested service there, sent a deposit to them to get that done.  We got the 911 address established on the property, and all was going according to plan.  When he first made the offer, he asked us if we wanted any money down or would we be willing to work on a handshake because "that was the way he'd always done things. He was from the old school where a man's handshake was as good as a contract and his word was his bond.  As far as he was concerned, it was a done deal."  Those were HIS words. So, being from the old school of honor and integrity himself, Bill agreed and they shook hands and that was that.

Anyway, the good doctor called Bill to tell him on Friday that he had the certified check and was ready to get this done, so plans were made to meet in Poteau Monday afternoon to file the Warranty Deed and transfer the funds.  We got up Monday and were on our way to Smithville to sign and get the deed notorized when Bill's cell phone rang and it was the good doctor.  Basically, he said, "I don't feel right about this so am going to have to back out of the deal."  No real reason, no alternative requests, just backed out.  We were, as you can imagine, it total shock and actually, STILL are in shock.  We don't know why.  We don't know what happened.  We don't know what we did or didn't do to make this happen.  All we do know is that the word and handshake of Dr. Robert N. Smith, Jr. of Cleburne, Texas is as worthless as a piece of used toilet tissue.  We found out what big fools we were to trust someone because he was a doctor and was reputable and believable.  I hope no one else ever gets stung by this sorry excuse for a reputable doctor, because the sickness in the pit of our stomachs is still there and still upsetting.

AND then to top it all off, we get a bill for $150.00 from the lawyer that HE wanted to go see to get an opinion of the transaction.  Our only part in the matter was setting up the appointment for him as Bill knew the lawyer and had dealt with her before.  SOOOOOO - we get the bill and we get the shaft!!!!   Are we still a little bitter????????  NO, NOT AT ALL!!!!!

There, now aren't you glad that I re-did the blog?  Don't imagine you really wanted to hear all this "blowing off steam" but if I could figure out a place to post a big notice to let people know what kind of a person the good doctor really is, I'd be sorely tempted to do it.  Maybe someone else will avoid the turmoil that this has caused us.

AND, it's not that we really even want to sell the property - we just NEED to sell the property.  Since the government so nicely decided against a cost of living raise for social security recipients for the next three years so that they can have the money to:

THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION IS FUNDING TWENTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS-- LET ME REPEAT THAT AMOUNT... SO YOU UNDERSTAND IT $ 24,000,000.00 DOLLARS FOR NEW ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS PROCESSING FOR OUR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS !! THEY ARE OBTAINING THESE FUNDS And  I QUOTE DIRECTLY FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY WEBSITE... "THIS MONEY WILL BE COMING FROM THE SAVINGS TO BE GENERATED FROM WITHHOLDING "COST OF LIVING INCREASES FOR 2010 & 2011 In SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR THE ELDERLY AND A $2.00 INCREASE ON ALL MEDICARE RX BENEFIT CO-PAY"

Now isn't that a piece of work.  So, that's one reason we wanted to sell our property.  But, perhaps it will have to be the house that goes.  It's too big for two of us anyway, but we just love it so much.  We built it and all this stuff that everyone keeps asking about is remembrances of family or friends who gave it to us. How do you throw that stuff in the trash or put it in a garage sale?  I guess we're both just too sentimental for our own good.

OK, that's enough meandering for today.  BUT, I'll be baaaaaack!!!!!!!  :)
Joan

Memorial Day

Memorial Day has come and gone for this year. Lacie came up from Texas - complete with cast on her broken foot, crutches, and, of course, all the fixin's for SMores. That girl LOVES Smores. Too wet to have a fire outside so we just made 'em in the mic. They were so good and the chocolate gets all melty too when you do them that way. I even had some strawberry flavored marshmallows to try. Those are REALLY good in Smores.

We went on a fairly long trailride on Saturday. There were eight of us all together. 4 men and 4 women. We did Short Mountain and waded a couple creeks, one of them pretty deep. Bill was riding our new horse, Twister, and he's so short that Bill's feet got wet when we crossed. It was pretty exciting. I was truly hoping and praying that Blaze did not, at that very mement, want to lay down and roll in the water. He really likes to do that, however, not saddled up so far. But he didn't so I stayed pretty dry throughout.

It sprinkled on us bit but not bad and we stopped at a slab across one of the creeks to rest and eat a bite of lunch. The sun was cloud-covered for the whole ride, but that didn't keep me from getting nice and pink in spite of it all. But not burned. I was slathered with my trusty sunscreen, so at least this year I look like I actually go outside once in a while.

We got back home early afternoon, and just got the horses unloaded and the trailer pulled back into the barn when it poured down rain. I'm so glad we weren't out on the mountain when that hit. Riding home in wet jeans just is not my idea of a fun thing. But, all went well, no one got hurt, and the horses acted fine. It was a very nice ride. I'm ready to go on another one soon.

BUT, that's not to say that I wasn't sore as a risin' Sunday morning when I got out of bed. I guess I tried to sit way to straight in the saddle, because my back muscles and thigh muscles were killing me all day Sunday. By Monday I was doing better and I'm ready to go again now. But it's another rainy overcast day so guess we will wait for a better time.

Bill and Lacie spent all day Monday checking out horses for sale. She's ready to buy a replacemnt for Lady Jane to start working with. I think she's found one so we'll see how that all goes.

Not much else happening so will close for now.
Till next time,
JB

64 and 34

Well, here we are - 2009 - and another couple of milestones come my way. I turned 64 last Tuesday and tomorrow Bill and I will be married for 34 years. It's hard to believe it but time does keep trucking on.

Here's my birthday picture that Bill took - with my birthday bits, cookie, flowers, cards, etc. He didn't know what I wanted, I didn't know what I wanted, at least, that we could afford. So, he got me bits for my horse. They are really snazzy bits - engraved silver with a copper mouthpiece. Haven't tried them out yet, but Blaze had better like them. Two years ago I got a bridle for him for my birthday. So he's all outfitted now.

I haven't been blogging much these days because, as I think I said before, I've gotten involved in MySpace - thanks to my cousin. I've started doing some blogs there so you might want to jog down my address there: www.myspace.com/jlhbabcock and check it out sometime. I have added a lot of music to playlists that I enjoy but can't really listen to them as of yet, being that we are still on dial-up. HOWEVER, according to our resident high-speed internet person, we are on schedule and should be getting hooked up soon. He said they should be starting installations the first of May, so hopefully, we'll be speeding up soon. This dial-up just gets more and more aggravating.

Well, got to close for now. I put some pictures of the Mena tonado damage on MySpace so you might want to look at them as well.

JB

Blizzard in March

I'm sitting at my desk looking out the windows in my office and I see big old wet sloppy flakes of snow falling all over the place. Our granddaughter came up this morning from Dallas to by horse feed at our little store, and now she's trying to figure out how to get it back home safe and dry. Who would have thought that we'd be having snow here at the end of March. The trees are budded out, the spring flowers are in bloom, the tulips look great, and my inside plants are already out on the porch. Bet they are wishing to be back inside. But, they are just going to have to rough it.

Bill went to the eye doctor yesterday and found out that he has to have cataract surgery, so next week he meets with the doctor to set it all up. I know I'm going to have to have that done as well. I can't see very good these days and the eye doc tells me that it's because of cataracts. Who would have thought that someone as young as yours truly would need cataract surgery. I always thought that was for old people - - like Bill. Not youngsters - like me. Note latest photo:

Thought it turned out pretty good. If I was as good with photo editing as my niece is, I'd have done something about my "wrinkly" neck, but I'm not so what you see is what there is.

Well, since I started writing our blizzard has stopped, the rain has stopped, but it's still colder than all get out out there. Even Cookie notices it. She goes out on the porch to do her stuff, and gets it over with in a hurry so she can come back in. She's really got it all under control now. No more accidents. She knows what the outside is for all right. Her hair is really growing out now. I'm still not ready to cut it, so we'll see how long it gets before we decide she need a trim. I give her a bath every 8-10 days so she stays really pretty and silky and soft. Such a happy little dog. I bought her another new toy yesterday. She has quite a collection now, but plays with them all. She'll get one and play with it for a while and then goes for another, and pretty soon you have little toys scattered all over the downstairs.

I actually am on myspace now so if you want to check it out sometime, just go to www.myspace.com and do a search for Joan Babcock. You'll find my profile page. It's still all a little confusing to me - the kids seem to have a lot of fun with it - but when we ACTUALLY get high speed internet, I think I'll like it as well. I've got a lot of music pulled up into playlists, but can't listen to it because it takes for ever to get a song to download - comes through it little spurts. That's really the way you want to listen to music.

I'm going to a singing tomorrow afternoon so that should be fun. Guess I'll take one autoharp and make do with it. Don't feel like taking two or three so I'll just do anything I decide to sing in the one key. Works for me, and I guess nobody will know the diference.

Anyway, till next time.

JB

March Madness

It's finally March. Next week daylight savings time kicks in and spring should be on it's way. Our jonquils and daffodils are in bloom and the tulips are coming up. We've got a pussy willow bush that started putting out little fuzzy buds a couple weeks ago already when it was nice and warm, and then, SURPRISE!!! It was 19 degrees night before last. So, they probably got "nipped in the bud".

I always wondered where the term "March Madness" came from anyway. Perhaps, it's from the fact that if spring doesn't hurry up and send old winter packing, we're gonna be REALLY mad. That's probably not it, but for you northern and eastern folks, I'll be you are ready for springtime. This has been quite a winter for most of the country. We seemed to have missed the majority of the winter weather conditions that came this way - just living right I guess. :)

Had a lot of fun yesterday. One of my piano students who I've gotten to be very good friends with outside of piano lessons came over after lunch, and we proceeded to explore My Space. She has a My Space account and for reasons totally beyond my control, so do I. Actually my cousin Daryl sent me an invitation and it said that I had a message from him. So, I go there, and in order to even find the message I have to sign up. Now, I probably need a My Space thingy like I need another hole in the head, but after spending the afternoon trying to get Kaitlyn's up and running and uploading pictures, and looking for her friends, I kind of got the hang of it. We had quite a time for a while and got a lot of laughs out of the whole process.

She was making a music playlist. Now, if you want to have a real insight as to how OLD you really are, sit down with a teenager and let them tell you the names of some of the music that they like. Or better yet, listen to a couple. Most of the time she'd tell me, "You probably won't like this one." She's right. But --- to be fair, I guess bluegrass and polka music probably won't turn her on either. This is Kaitlyn busily mastering My Space.

She added me to her "friends" list (after answering the question "are you SURE you want to add this person to your friends list" two or three times. ) I guess My Space couldn't believe it either!
I'm sure I'll be the only "gray-haired" friend she'll have on her list, but wait till I start adding some bluegrass music to my playlist. I found out that your friend's playlists show up on your page as well. She'll really love that!!!!

I told her that I was going to upload a video of her playing "Rockin' Robin" on the piano that I recorded last year sometime. She was using my computer so I actually got to see her e-mail address and password. So, I COULD DO THAT!!! I could, that is, if I could REMEMBER her e-mail address and password. That little bit of information seems to have left me, so as for now, her MySpace area is safe from the video. I thought it would be a real good addition, but you know how teens are!

Well, I guess that's enough about what's been happening around here. We both seem to be well finally. Sure been a rash of "the crud" going around. My new little piano student is down with it today.

Till next time.

JB

Sharing & the Neti Pot

I know that sharing is a good thing. I mean, parents always tell you to "share your toys", "share your cookies", "share your space in the back seat of the car", "share your brand new sweater that you haven't even worn yet". Share, share, share! You get the idea.

Well, I decided to "share" something this week. I let Bill "play with" my cold. Yep! I shared all the snot, and sneezing, and coughing, and headaches, etc. with him so he wouldn't feel left out. I got it a week and a half ago (the crud that's been afflicting every person in the immediate world it seems like), and SUFFERED MIGHTILY with it. My nose ran, my stomach muscles and muscles that I didn't know that I even had ached from all the coughing, and I felt like cr*p. You get the idea. If you've had it, you know what I'm talking about. I ate chicken soup and crackers and not much else. It all tasted flat and crummy so why eat.

Anyway, this week Bill is enjoying the "crud". Now, I didn't really give it to him on purpose - although last night he seemed to indicate that it was entirely my fault that he was now feeling like cr*p. BUT, remember the sharing thing mentioned above. I guess that is deeply ingrained in my being and I just couldn't help myself. That, and the fact, that even though I was sick in bed on two chairs, I still had to do the majority of the cooking and "what little food we actually had" preparation. So, I suppose one of those virulent little crud virus bugs just happened to get into something he consumed. So, we're back to share and share alike. However, as I am now on the mend, I hope that he doesn't decide to reciprocate and share it back, because, believe me, I DON'T WANT IT BACK!!!!!! I've enjoyed all the coughing, running, blowing, and sneezing that I want to for a while.

HOWEVER, I did happen upon a neat little gadget called a Neti Pot. Perhaps you've heard of it. I saw it on "Live with Regis and Kelly" a few weeks ago, and actually thought it was kind of a joke. Then, in the midst of the coughing, sneezing, snotting, etc. last week, I saw a doctor on FOX and Friends News one morning listing the 5 top treatments for "the crud". And believe it or not, the Neti Pot was at the top of the list. It is really a help.

SO - - I decided to give it a try. Now, before I jumped off and bought one of these things I found this cute little old elephant tea pot sitting on my shelf that looked like it would work just fine. So, I filled the little guy up with some warm saline water and stuck his trunk up one nostril and proceeded to pour the water up my nose. And, lo and behold, I could feel it traveling through my sinuses behind my eyes, and then out the other nostril. That really got things moving up there.

After a couple treatments with the elephant pot, I decided to buy a Neti Pot if I coud find one the next time we went to town. The elephant's trunk was a little large at the end to comfortably fit up my nose. I did it but the Neti Pot works much better.

But, it DOES work. Clears all that thick mucus out of your sinuses, and makes it easier to blow out. I'm a firm believer in the Neti Pot. I really began feeling better as soon as I started using this thing. My head didn't ache anymore and I could keep my nose blowed with a minumum of pressure. So, that's my experience with the Neti Pot. It will stay in my cabinet from now on.

You can research it online by Googling "Neti Pot". You'll find a lot of information about it.

So, that's it for the sharing. Hope Bill gets feeling better. I guess he's going to stay in bed today. Perhaps that will get him back on the road to recovery. Now if I could just get him to try the Neti Pot! He's one of the sceptics yet.

JB

Conflake Candy

Here's a recipe that I absolutely think is DEEEEElicious!!! I was in a poopy mood a couple weeks ago, and just decided I needed to have some sinful something to munch on. A friend of mine e-mailed me this recipe so I thought I'd give it a try. U-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.

So, perhaps you'd like to give it a try as well. It's really easy to make and keeps well.

Grease a large bowl to mix in and put in:

4 1/2 cups corn flakes (can use frosted flakes instead of regular and crush them a little)

1/2 cup coconut (packed in the cup a little)

1/2 cup skinless peanuts (I substituted chopped almonds, and I'm going to try macadamia nuts next time)


In a separate heavy pot, pour in 1 cup of white corn syrup and one cup of white sugar. Place on the stove and carefully bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of cream or crunchy peanut butter. (creamy is better). Blend well with cornflake mixture and drop portions onto wax paper on non-stick baking pans. Let cool before eating.

That's all there is to it, and actually, I really liked them warm as well. They were a little more sticky that way, but really yummy.

You'll see what I mean if you give the recipe a try.

Enjoy the recipe.

JB

Left Handed

Well, I see our new president is left-handed. How can I tell? Simple. I watched as he began signing papers immediately following his inauguration, and his hand was up and curled over the paper his was signing.

Now, I'm left-handed too, as I'm sure are many other folks out there. Luckily, when I was a kid, they had stopped trying to force a child to write with the right hand, or I might really be psychotic today. Never know what switching hands might do to you.

Of course, in school, when we were learning to write, print, or put little marks down on the paper, the teacher told us to slant the page slightly to the right to make it easier. I don't remember them telling me to slant mine to the left for the same reason, but that's what I did - at least, apparently that's what I did, because I don't write with my hand all curved around and smearing across my paper. That's really all it takes to correct the situation.

When our granddaughter, Lacie, was born left-handed, I shared all my "lefty" wisdom with her. Especially the saying, "if the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left handed people are in their right minds". I've always loved that one!! But, I did tell her about turning her paper to the left, and I believe that she does - don't you Lacie?

I gave serious thought to e-mailing the new president and telling him this little tidbit of information, but wouldn't you think that a person of his intelligence would have figured it out by now? And then he signed the bill repealing all the Pro-Life legislation President Bush had enacted, and I thought, "Why should I tell him?" He can just continue looking "left-handed".

So, if anyone reading this has the same problem, give your paper a slant to the left and see if your hand doesn't just miraculously straighten out. I have never minded being a "lefty", though, especially since nowadays, there are plenty of "left-handed" gadgets to get. One of the pluses of being left handed is that if you happen to inherit a really good hand potato peeler from a right handed person, the side they always used is probably dull and not much good, BUT, the side I now use is brand new. Can't beat a deal like that!!

So, President Obama, if you ever read this, turn your paper to the left. It works!!

JB

New Profile Picture

Suppose some of you are wondering about the new picture on my Profile. I decided the picture of yorus truly holding Tippy was too hard to look at every time I opened up Blogger, so decided another one was in order. This one was taken when Mom's brother Stan and his wife, and her sister, Delores and her husband were here the June before she passed away.

Stan was playing his concertina and I was playing an autoharp and we decided to do a couple goofy songs (we're especially good at those) so we put on funny hats and acted goofy and I really wish I had a video of the whole mess. But this picture gives you a good idea. It was a lot of fun. I'm sure we were playing and singing something along the lines of "Good Old Mountain Dew" and "Out Behind the Barn" etc. Some of the good oldies.

This was taken just 4 days after I fell off my horse and cracked 6 ribs. They arrived two days after I got home from the hospital, so I was doing everything quite gingerly to say the least.

A friend of mine sent me a recipe for some DELICIOUS cornflake candy. I made a batch this afternoon, and my goodness!!! That stuff is SINFUL!!! Make it at your own risk. If Bill doesn't get here in time for supper, he may not even get any. I could actually make myself "piggo" on these things.

So, next post will be the recipe. You'll have to try it. You'll LOVE it!

That's it for this time.

JB

I Q Test

Free-IQTest.net - Free IQ Tests

Well, I took one of those free IQ tests yesterday. Thought that would be fun. Not bad for an old person if I do say so myself. So, check it out and see how good you do. It's nice to know I'm not brain-dead yet. Sometimes I wonder. Especially when I get up and go into the next room, or up stairs, or outside, whatever, on a VERY important mission, and when I get there, I stand looking around wondering "what in the world am I doing here. I know I came here for a reason, but don't have a clue what it is."

Now I know that I'm not the ONLY one that his happens to. Many people have shared the same story, so this affliction happens to others as well. According to Bill Cosby, if you press hard on your butt, you'll remember. This is because when you go into the other room, leave that room and go sit back down, the minute your butt hits the chair you remember what it was you went after. So the trigger must be the butt pressure. Sorry, Bill. I've tried that. Doesn't work!!

I took Cookie along to the vet this morning to have her "anal glands" expressed. Is that not a term for pinching the poop out of her little butt??? Anyway, that's what we did, so hopefully that will last a while. Next Monday I'm getting her "fixed". We didn't really plan to do that but the vet told us that female unspayed animals have a much higher risk of developing cancer, and we sure don't want that to happen. So, after Monday, I guess we can refer to her as "it!" Ha! Ha!

Well, it's time to play throw and fetch with the munchkin, so guess I'll close. Do check out the IQ test and let me know how you did. They want you to sign up at the end with your name and address and phone number, but I didn't do that and still got my score so don't fall for that if you don't like giving out that info randomly on the web. Enough places we have to put it.

Take care,
JB