It's All Gone...For Now

Here are some photos I forgot I had taken to explain what needs to be done with our deck. I need to take it back so I can use it for what it was built for: us, not the cats.

This is the pile of snow I ended up with when I shoveled all around the greenhouse we have for the outside cats. The greenhouse is behind me in this photo. Some of the cats are peeking out from under the deck.

Here you can see three of the cats. They love to go under the deck, especially when I walk around the corner of the house to feed them. That's their escape route. Some of them run to the back of the property to our garage/barn that you can see beyond the little shed on the right.

This is how it has been for the past few years. We get gale-force winds at times and all the resin chairs just blow across the entire deck. I got tired of setting them upright all the time. The cats play on them and sleep under them at times. The pole in the back is our wind turbine. The swing and cushions are in the basement but the swing holder is still there.

I am hoping to get the deck power washed and then painted sometime this spring. Husband is scheduled to get his knee worked on (again) in mid-May and I would like him to do the deck before that happens. If not, who knows when it will get done. I guess I have to start nagging again because I don't want to go through another summer without the use of the deck. It's just not right to have something like that and not be able to use it for what it was intended. Right?

A Day Late

We had a rather busy Monday and I didn't get a chance to post about Sunday's race in Phoenix so I will take the opportunity and do it now before I forget about it.

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on finally winning one. Hopefully Dale Jr. will follow suit and bring one home soon.

Speaking of Dale Jr., he did a bang-up (no pun intended) job in the race coming home 10th. He didn't have an easy day of it starting 35th. He got busted for speeding on pit road, his team had a wheel break off a jack, he had to pit under green with a loose wheel and fell back a lap, and he also overshot his pit and had to back up which meant precious seconds were sucked up.

But all in all I was pleased with the 10th place finish. Las Vegas is the next stop and we all know who rules that track. Hint: both brothers were raised there and usually dominate the weekend, much like one of the brothers almost swept all three series last weekend. So a second congratulations goes out to Jeff Gordon once again for taking that win away from he-who-won't-be-mentioned.

Still Shiverin'

Nothing much has happened since I last posted. I don't know if that's good or bad.

We had a little snow since then but most of it is already gone. I heard on the news that another storm is heading our way tonight.

Here's a little tidbit you might like to know: my husband had a knee replacement back in 2005. They didn't want to do it at first saying he was too young. But the wear and tear on his knees from jumping out of trucks most of his life took its toll. I kept telling him that is why they made steps but you know how that is.

Three years later he needed another total replacement as the original had worked its way loose somehow causing much pain. He went to a different surgeon to get that done. Well here we are another three years and now the bottom part of the second replacement has to be replaced. He won't be having a total replacement, just a revision of the tibular part. And I don't have to tell you that I am just a tad sick and tired of it.

Because it is just a revision of one part, his surgeon said the operation will take longer. And so will the rehab. I am not looking forward to this at all. His surgery date is in May. I really don't think his loose tibular part will last that long. Yesterday after we came home from shopping it went one way and his leg went the other. He caught himself in time so no major damage was done, but it sure did put a hurtin' on him.

And on a different subject, I haven't seen any new kittens yet but that doesn't mean there aren't any around. Once this cold weather and the snow goes away and the grass starts to green up with the sun warming everything, I am sure the mothers will bring their little ones around to show us. I just hope we don't have a bumper crop like last year.

And the last subject is near and dear to my heart: NASCAR. We are headed to Phoenix this weekend. The last couple years they would go to California after Daytona but the schedule has been changed. Things are looking up for Dale Jr. this year mainly due to his new crew chief. Finally a crew chief that understands him and wants to give him what he wants: to be competitive and win some races. I'll drink to that! Coffee, that is.

Never Trust A Meteorologist

I was all set to enjoy the next few days of warm weather as predicted by our local station and newspaper. Actually, the station is in Philadelphia which is not all that close to us. Maybe 75 miles south of us.

Well, we had a fairly decent day today until it started raining. Huh? Where did that come from? I asked my husband if there was rain in any forecast and he said he didn't think so. Nothing in the paper either. I double checked.

Instead of warm weather the next few days they are now telling us we will have high winds ( some at least 60 mph) and it will be cold. Well thank you, people. And the worst of it is they are predicting snow soon.

I knew I should have stayed in that cave this morning but, nooooo...I had to come out and check the forecast.

Well, That Knocked The Wind Outta My Sails

Dale Jr. was on the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500 race. But that all changed when he was practicing today tucked behind Jimmie Johnson, his teammate, who had no place to go when they came up on slower moving cars that drifted up in front of them. So Jimmie lifted and Dale Jr. would've been OK except Martin Truex Jr. was behind Dale Jr. and turned him sideways.

Result? Two wrecked cars, bring out the backups, Junior going to the rear in the first Duel race tomorrow with no practice in the backup car, and Junior also going to the rear of the 500 on Sunday since the first two positions had been filled by Junior and Jeff Gordon respectively.

Can somebody please give this guy a break? PLEASE??????? I am getting so damned tired of Junior's bad luck.

Congratulations Dale Jr!

The front row of the 2011 Daytona 500 has been determined. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., secured the pole position and will start the race alongside his teammate, Jeff Gordon, who will start in the second position.

The remainder of the field will be determined on Thursday, the 17th, with the Duel races starting around 1:00 pm.

Dale Jr. also sat on the pole for Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout after being the lucky one to draw that position the previous night. He wasn't so lucky, however, during the race when he was taken out by an accident involving Regan Smith and Carl Edwards.

Speaking of that race, I am not a fan of this "new" racing at Daytona...the two-car tango. It might look like fun to others, not to mention some of the drivers loving it, but I would like to see restrictor plate racing like we are used to seeing it.

And for me, it is now time to take a deep breath, hold it...hold it...hold it...and don't breathe till the last lap of the last race at the end of November.

I Did It Again

I am using this picture because it's the only one I have to explain what happened to me last week. I would go out and take a picture with the snow and ice all around and the greenhouse, but every time I upload pictures from my camera they all come along for the ride and then I have to delete the duplicates and that is such a pain in the a$$.

Now, in the photo above you can barely see the cellar doors right below the kitchen window. The greenhouse we erected is currently to the left of the cellar doors on the concrete, but it's not in this picture because we didn't have it when this was taken.

Fast forward to last week with all the snow and ice all around that greenhouse, on the cellar doors, and coming off the roof at the juncture above the kitchen window. Try to imagine all that snow and thick ice.

Once the weather warmed up a bit and things started melting, because of the buildup of snow and ice, what melted didn't have many places to drain and a lot of water found its way into the greenhouse. What a mess that was. At least half of it has a wooden pallet covered with plywood so whatever bedding I put in there for the cats is kept off the concrete floor. That half was OK and the bedding was dry, but what was in front of it right where you go inside was what concerned me. A mini swimming pool. That is their feeding area and it is also where they go into the greenhouse. Cats don't like pools of water so I had to get that water out.

My mission was to clear away the snow and ice between the cellar doors and the greenhouse because that is where the problem was. I shoveled, I picked, I poked till my hands were red (I didn't go out prepared because I didn't know about the water till I got out there so I had limited things to work with and no gloves).

At one point I had the cellar doors cleared off, so I braced my right foot up as high as I could and my left foot was at the bottom of the cellar doors but on the ice-covered concrete. It didn't take long for my left foot to slowly start sliding...sliding...sliding and I soon found myself doing an unwanted split. And down I went plopping my butt right in the pool of water outside the greenhouse. My saving grace was the fact that no one could see me. You know how that goes, you fall and immediately look around to see if anyone saw you being a doofus.

Since it didn't hurt right away I just picked myself up and kept working away at the snow and ice thinking I would pay for that split the next day. And for some unknown reason I never did get sore from it. I must be doing something right. Well, I mean, other than doing something stupid in the first place.

As soon as we can we are going to move the greenhouse away from the cellar doors so there will be no further problems in the future.

It all works out. So just stay tuned to follow the misadventures of this crazy lady.

Congratulations...

...to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. They were one of my picks to go to the Super Bowl and win it.

Offended

I am sick and tired of hearing that word. Why is it that no matter what someone does or says there is always someone else who is offended by it? Come on people...get a freakin' life already. This "I was offended" crap is driving me insane.

And it's not just in this country either. It seems to have invaded the entire world. I do believe it has become the catch word of the decade. Maybe longer. If someone is so dang offended by something someone else has said or done, why do they have to make such a big deal out of it? Why even bring it up in the first place?

Geez, when I was growing up, and especially in my teens, I guess I was offended at a lot of things but we didn't use that word. Pissed off, or a nicer version would be ticked off, were the words we used. I still use them. They don't get me anywhere other than feeling better for having said them, but my life goes on.

The next time you hear I was offended send those morons to me and I'll give them a piece of MY mind.

I am climbing down off my soapbox for now and going back to waiting for the next storm to hit us. It's just around the corner. And then another one will be coming along next Tuesday. Just one more thing to piss me off.

Taking My Deck Back

This is an older photo of one half of the deck. Actually, it is the better half. You can see one of the shelters to the right and in the middle is the table turned upside down. The other half is the messy part. I took a picture of it and wanted to post it but it's still in the camera. Yeah, I know, a lot of good it's doing still in the camera.

It's been years since we have used our deck for which it was built. It's also been a few years since it was cleaned and painted and it is in dire need of both.

Our colony of feral cats took it over awhile back and things haven't been the same since. At first I didn't mind, but there came the day when I longed to be able to use the sliding patio doors to walk outside and sit in the sun to read or just to relax. That hasn't happened for many years now.

It's time!

...time to clear off the upturned resin chairs, the swing skeleton whose swing and pillows are in the basement, the table turned upside down so it didn't blow over from the wind, the totes used for shelter prior to the greenhouse (for the cats), and the two-piece plastic dog shelter used for the same reason. Everything has to go.

...time to languish in the sun with a book after walking through the patio doors. Those doors have masking tape on the inside and plastic on the outside to keep the cold out for now. We are planning on replacing the entire unit this summer.

...time to pressure wash that poor deck and then paint it a different color.

Yes, it's damn time!

Can't Catch A Break

The past two days have been hellish for me. But they have been far worse for my husband. He started getting sick on Thursday. The commode was fast becoming his best friend. Or not. Neither of us thought anything of it other than something he may have eaten. So we dismissed it as just another one of those bad days.

Until the following day. Oh boy. That's when everything went haywire. You know the old story: coming out of both ends. Not even remotely funny. So I did some research and his symptoms were like that of stomach flu, or gastroenteritis. How one picks that up is beyond me, but pick it up he did. I can only assume it happened the day before, either at the diner where we had breakfast or at the grocery store.

We both try to be so careful when it comes to germs, but they never cease to amaze me in that they always manage to track us down and invade our bodies. Damn little peckerheads. I am getting so tired of this because now it's my turn. Yeah, we have been taking turns when it comes to that type sickness. All the more reason that hibernation business looks rather lucrative these days.

My daughter called me last week to let me know she was sick. Now that I look back on it, she probably had the same thing my husband just got over. Last night I decided I needed to sleep in the recliner so I would be near him should anything go wrong during the night. He mentioned something about calling 911 should the need arise. I prayed it wouldn't arise. Going through that once was enough, I didn't want to experience it again. That time he passed out due to dehydration. We know better now that once the body starts getting rid of fluids to drink electrolytes to replenish what is lost and so I always keep a couple bottles on hand.

Sleeping on a recliner is not the best when one is riddled with joint pains off and on. And try doing that with a couple cats lying on you or alongside of you like they were attached. By 5:30 I had a strong urge to use the bathroom facilities but didn't have the heart to disturb either cat so I tried to change positions to ease my bladder. Easier said than done. Fifteen minutes later the cat that was lying on my stomach decided he wanted to go somewhere else and I was able to leave, taking my pillow with me and climbing into another bed, closing the door behind me. Ah, sweet bliss. I slept till 10 am.

By Saturday morning all was well once again in this house. Husband was almost back to normal and asked that I make oatmeal because he was hungry as heck. He hadn't eaten anything for almost two days.

What really irks me the most is these episodes usually hit us during the night or on a weekend when it is impossible to do anything about it as far as a doctor is concerned. I was relieved to read that gastroenteritis only lasts one to two days and it is treatable at home, and it's unnecessary to call a doctor or 911 unless severely dehydrated. At least that was one thing we didn't have to worry about.

Snow Up The Hoo-Hah

I really don't have much to write about other than the snow storms we keep getting...one on top of the other. But I felt I must write something just to let you know I am still here, still thinking of what to write about.

This storm was supposed to be in two or three parts. We were supposed to wake to rain this morning. That didn't happen. It was already snowing. We didn't get much accumulation from this morning. It stopped snowing early this afternoon. The worst of it is supposed to arrive overnight and continue into the early morning. I will believe that when I get up tomorrow and look outside.

I was going to take some pictures but since I haven't used either camera lately, the batteries needed to be charged. I use the batteries that can take a charge for months at a time. I noticed the last time I charged them was August 8th of last year. I wouldn't use any other kind of battery since discovering them.

Moving on to another subject: does anyone out there love and adore Ellen DeGeneres as much as I do? I just discovered her show a few months ago and try not to miss it. I wonder if there are any people out there that don't like her? She is such a personable human being. Forget the fact that she is gay; that really doesn't come across when she is entertaining the world. Hell, I'm not gay and even I would marry her. She celebrated her 53rd birthday on today's show and one of her surprise guests was Pink. I love Pink. She is a local girl and she is now very pregnant.

And need I remind you out there that the Budweiser Shootout is only two and a half weeks away? Hoo boy, I am getting so excited I can hardly contain myself.

OK, time to go back to sleep...

Oh Good Lord Not The Steelers Again

I'm okay with the Green Bay Packers going to the Super Bowl, but I am very upset that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going too. Big Ben doesn't deserve that. Big Ben needs to grow up and realize he is a hero to many children.

I was hoping it would be the Chicago Bears vs the New York Jets, but someone had other plans unlike mine. What a shame...that could have been a good game for a change.

Back in the day I was a huge fan of the San Francisco 49ers, but in recent years they have all but fallen off the map. That is why I pulled my New York Giants out of the closet and openly started cheering for them instead. It's good to have a backup team, no?

But seriously. The Steelers? That's almost as bad as if it were the Eagles...or the Patriots. I'd better quit before I make too many enemies.

Waiting

#1 ~ I'm waiting for yet another snowfall. This will be out fifth of the year I think. Maybe the sixth. All nuisance snows as they have been calling them. All small amounts of accumulation. All a pain in the you-know-what.

#2 ~ I'm waiting for the weekend football games in anticipation of the Super Bowl next month. I could name what teams I'd like to see battle it out, but I don't want to jinx either one. Maybe I should list the other two and jinx them. That would be nice if it worked.

#3 ~ And last but not least the hardest thing for me to wait for is the Bud Shootout February 12th, with the Daytona 500 being run on the 20th. And then I am in hog heaven till the end of November when NASCAR season ends and the long wait begins again.

Some Musings For Your Pleasure

Here we are in the dead of winter and after all my whining about hibernating I still haven't done so. And yet I have gained weight over the holidays. A year ago I started my diet before Thanksgiving and kept it up till well after they were over, and I was able to not only take off weight but not even gain an ounce during the entire time. This time I threw caution to the wind and now I am in a situation I do not like. It's called weight gain. And I don't like it one teeny tiny bit. And if I could reach my a$$ I would kick me into next week. But you know, a person can be on one diet after another all their life and it gets to be a tad sickening after awhile. I am so weary of it. My epitaph should read: She had her ups and downs

On another note, the storm door we went shopping for last Saturday is hanging in its proper place. However, Murphy's Law followed us on that one, too. Nothing we do ever goes right. Everything is always such a challenge. We either have a part or two missing or something doesn't go right and in this case, we ended up with a tiny gap at the lower half of the door by the frame. Back to the drawing board husband must go. He knows what he has to do plus the factory is sending some strikers to replace the ones that are incorrect. This storm door is a security door in that it has a locking handle plus two latches (upper and lower) and it comes with a $1000 break-in warranty just for that reason. Now all we have to do is get it straight. It's always something around here. Never a dull moment when we have a project going.

The weather outside is very frightful. It has been a heck of a dull and dreary day. First we are getting snow (3-6" I think), then the rain comes bringing with it ice like in the frozen Tundra, and when the temperature rises, the rain is supposed to wash everything away. I think. I can't remember for certain how it will be wreaking havoc on us, but wreak havoc it will. Ho-hum, I am ready for it.

I just did a quick spell check and it told me no misspellings were found. Wow, that's a first. I took typing in school but I sat in the back row so I never learned the proper way to type. And yet I can keep up with the best of them. My forte was shorthand. I won all kinds of awards for being fast. The funny thing is, you can take shorthand as fast as lightning...it's the transcribing that wrinkled many a brow. I mean, you can jot those little symbols down lickety-split but if you can't read them then what you wrote doesn't mean anything. I still use that form of writing to this day, especially when I'm in a hurry.

And those are my thoughts for the day. Only because I was due to write something and I had no idea what to write about.

Like Day And Night

My husband and I went shopping yesterday for a storm door. The one we have for our front door isn't performing satisfactorily anymore. A lot of cold air comes in, hits the steel door, and transfers that cold air into the living room and the dining room. There it directly hits the person sitting on the one side of the dining room table. Which is not me. I sit opposite of that chair...closest to the kitchen.

That brings me to another subject. Why is it that the majority of women sit in the chair closest to the kitchen when food is being eaten? Is it so we can easily get to the kitchen should the need arise during dinner? That is one of the reasons I chose that side of the table. Another reason is I forget to put things on the table that are sorely needed while we are eating. Like condiments, salt, pepper...utensils.

Sorry, I went off course there. Back to the storm door shopping: we decided to shop both major home improvement centers. L*wes was first as it is closest to our house. It is also my favorite of the two. We went to HDepot afterward. Both salesmen we spoke to were about the same age, in their late 30's or early 40's. But each one was very different in the way they helped us.

The one at HD was a sourpuss and seemed like we interrupted him from doing something fun and illegal. He couldn't answer my questions as fully as I'd anticipated. He actually was of no real help to be honest and he couldn't wait to go back to what he was doing at the computer. So be it...that's not my favorite store anyway but husband insisted we comparison shop before making any choices. Usually, if I find a product I like that I am in the market to purchase, I don't need to shop around. I will, however, if there is a huge price range but a lot of times I can figure that out on the Internet.

We did go to L*wes first. Now that salesman was very helpful, upbeat, funny, and just downright likable. We didn't make the purchase today but after our discussion, we decided L*wes it is and Saturday we will return for the door. And just to make it clear: there wasn't much of a discussion because I had already made my mind up before stepping foot into either store. But that's between you and me. *wink*

Yay...The Eagles Lost

And the fact that they did lose made my day.

My Giants (and I take great pride in saying they are mine) finished their season 10 and 6 and didn't get a wild card playoff spot. The Eagles finished 10 and 6 and did get a wildcard playoff spot.

Now that the Eagles' wings have been clipped I would say the playing field is once again even. Thank you Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. I owe you one.

Snow

Yes, that white stuff is making its way across the state and should arrive in the wee hours of the morning. And since there are no other outside things to bother the system, like warm air or whatever, we are only getting a smidgen of the stuff. One forecast was 1-3 inches, another 2-4 inches. Just enough to be a nuisance.

Meteorologists are saying that by afternoon rush hour most of it will be gone, since the sun will be out and will melt it. Boo hoo. I am so ready for a huge, huge storm. I have no place to go for at least a few weeks, there's plenty of food all over this house, and I have lots of cat food supplies for my three inside fur babies plus all those outside.

And, oh yeah, I have all those cookies.

So I say, bring it on!

About All Those Cookies...

When the next Christmas holiday rolls around, I will not be carrying on like a maniac baking almost 400 cookies (which equates to about 33-1/2 dozen) like I did this past Christmas holiday.

Two years ago my husband, an avid auction hound, brought home two large stainless steel cookie sheets which were part of a box lot that he bought. I'm sure at the time that there was something far more dearer to his heart in that box than those cookie sheets but I can't remember what it was. And so I inherited them.

At that point in my life I had long stopped baking cookies because they would burn, causing me to be one frustrated woman. I had finally thrown up my hands and simply quit. But after many years of not baking, I decided to give it a try again and use the new baking sheets. Really, I had nothing to lose (except my sanity maybe). I started with a huge bucket of already mixed dough (chocolate chip) that we purchased at Sam*s Club. I think the container stated it would make about 80 cookies. I felt that wasn't enough so I decided that the Betty Crocker pouches looked like a safe thing to try. They were on sale and I had coupons so I bought a wide variety.

It turned out that my baking endeavors were very successful, much to my surprise. I continued on and made more cookies that year than I ever wanted to...or dreamed about for that matter. I guess I was making up for lost time. My greatest dilemma wasn't all the cookies I had made, it was trying to figure out why I became such a cookie-baking freak all of a sudden. I finally did figure it out: I had been using T-fal, or dark coated, baking sheets when the cookies burned. Stainless steel sheets work so much better.

When this past holiday season rolled around, I thought I'd give it another go. I went on the hunt, to see what I could find. Again Sam*s provided my Eureka! discovery with peanut butter cookie mix complete with Hershey Kisses to put on top of each cookie. There were three packages of mix inside. I was like a baker possessed. I had also gotten more Betty Crocker pouches. I couldn't make enough, and the only thing that stopped me that day was fatigue or I'd probably still be making them.

I don't make New Years resolutions simply because I cannot keep them. Pure and simple. But I did make one for this year, and I can honestly say this one I will definitely keep:

Absolutely no cookie baking come Christmas time!


I think I should go hide those trays right now because I don't want to be a cookie monster again. My husband decided the cookies are too rich for him. That leaves me to decide what to do with all of them. Currently I have been eating my way through them until I finally decided the remainder will be frozen. God, I feel so free!

To One And All

Another year down the drain. The older I get, the faster they go. I wish there were some kind of potion we could take to slow things down a bit. But there isn't, so I just have to go with the flow as they say.

This past year didn't hold any great surprises for a change. Other than me falling, stumbling, tripping, well you get the picture...but that is nothing new. I have been doing that all my life so why change now?

I can only hope that 2011 will not hold any major surprises either. I like when things go along nice and smoothly, one day melting into another. No major stress, nice and easy. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Merry Christmas!

See you all next year!

Unless something comes up between now and then.

What A Neat Concept

Yeah Eli, I Know The Feeling

This is exactly how I felt after the Giants got whooped badly by the bullies of Philadelphia...the Eagles. The Giants were 21 points ahead with 8 minutes and change to go in the fourth quarter and they still lost.

Just one more reason for me to not like the Eagles. The main reason? Michael Vick. The next reason? Andy Reid and his naughty sons. It seems as if the teams with the bad boys get the biggest piece of the pie these days. When will justice ever be served? When will the good guys start to get the accolades they so richly deserve?

And I'm not saying that because I'm a Giants fan. I really do feel that the Eagles are getting away with a lot more than they should be. These days, they make my stomach churn. And I won't even go into detail my reaction when the final touchdown was made by that Jackson kid. It may have been Sunday but you would never have known that if you were in my house at that moment.

The Giants will be playing the Green Bay Packers this weekend and if they win their game they will get a playoff berth. I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed for that to happen.

Letting Off Steam

Why is it that there are so many people complaining about things that don't concern them? Just because they want to be heard? Or are they chronic complainers? Or do they just want to hear themselves talk? Or are they that lonely with nothing better to do?

These types of people are growing in number at an alarming rate in my estimation. When I hear these things they complain about, I just want to walk up to them, get in their face, grab them by the ears (maybe) and say, ever so softly, What is wrong with you? And then I just want to tell them to get a life and slap them into next year.

OK, I feel a lot better now. Oops, I just became one of them, didn't I? Seriously, you would be surprised some of the things my husband tells me that people complain about when he comes back from a township meeting. Unbelievable. I don't go to those meetings for one simple reason. I'd probably harm someone by ripping their ears off.

Brrrrrrrrrr!

OK, I have about had enough of this cold weather now and am going into hibernation. What? Oh, sorry, I can't do that. Well, I could if I wanted to but it's not very feasible for a human to do it. But still, if we could I would be the first to do so. I really, really, really hate this cold weather. When I was a kid it didn't bother me. I used to run outside barefoot in the snow and think nothing of it. My mother didn't like the idea, so I would do it when she wasn't looking. Because I did that as a child, I have built up a great immune system. At least something worked out well.

This is only mid December. It is not supposed to get this cold in these parts until January. Who is monkeying with our weather? Whoever it is, please go the hell away...and stay away. I can't afford to move to a warmer climate. I have too much invested in this house and property. What would I do with my cat colony outside? No, it just wouldn't work. So I am stuck year after year in Siberia-like crap.

I always used to wonder what my parents were thinking when they decided to have me in this part of the country. Or even this country. I would have much preferred to have been born where it is warm most of the time. I don't think I would be as crabby or cranky or any of those other words describing a person who is malcontent with what life has thrown at her in the way of nasty frigid weather. Know what I mean? It just ain't fair. I didn't ask to be born here.

Oh yeah, I guess I could have done something about it at an earlier age, but nothing was thrown my way so I stuck it out here in friggin' cold Pennsylvania, land of the popsicles. And just think...at least three and a half months till warmer weather arrives. At least by then the racing season will have started, and that will be enough to keep my mouth shut from all this complaining.

I am spending most of today baking. That will keep me warm.

Catching Up

It turned out to be a good day for me in that I accomplished more than I thought I would as far as decorating for Christmas was concerned. I was busy most of the day. I will finish it on Sunday.

I thought I was going to really have to hustle to get it all done before the football game at 1:00, but the Giants-Vikings game has been postponed until Monday evening at 8:00 due to a blizzard in Minnesota. That's OK because now I don't have to rush to get done what needs to be done.



What would a day like Saturday be if I didn't have one of my famous accidents? All my Christmas stuff is in the basement, in totes. Needless to say I was up and down those steps all day. I was also doing some vacuuming and other things in between decorating. At one point I made a stupid decision to take my socks off. I went downstairs and when I got to the bottom landing (there are two more steps after that) my foot slipped off the landing and down I went. Right on my butt and then forward so that my hands were on the basement and I was kind of like in a kneeling position. At the time all I could think of was I probably put another crack in my ass.

Everything is still kind of sore but I hope it's not too bad in the morning. If it is I will sit in a corner with one of my wine bottles. Yeah, like that's going to happen.

Well I'll Be Darned

Remember my post on November 17th titled "What Went Wrong"?

While reading the newspaper a few days ago I made a remarkable discovery. Someone questioned the consumption of black licorice possibly causing certain severe side effects. Reading on, I discovered that people with high blood pressure should NOT eat black licorice because it aggravates the condition and makes it worse than what it already is. It also causes severe Migraine-like headaches. Holy crap! I have been eating at least one ounce of Australian-type black licorice daily for at least three months, ever since it was presented to me at a local candy shop. Australian black licorice is made from the actual licorice root. It's expensive to say the least. I paid $10 for half a pound that day. But like a junkie, I was desperate for it. I wish I had never bought the stuff now that I look back on it.

And I would not have bought it had I remembered to get the regular licorice I had been buying every week at my regular grocery store. But I forgot to get it that particular day. So my husband went on the hunt and the first store we stopped at (in our neighborhood) had this Australian stuff. I never heard of it. I tasted it and from then on I never went back to what I was buying before.

When I finished reading that article in the newspaper I decided I needed to do some researching and so I looked up the word glycyrrhizin which is the sweet-tasting compound from the licorice root. As I read each entry I soon became quite scared. I had been on the road to possibly killing myself had I kept up eating just one ounce a day. It has been known to cause heart attacks. Some days I ate more than an ounce. I am human, you know.

I also found that it can counteract blood pressure medication. And the one pill my doctor doubled the dosage for me was on that list. When I finished my research I went right to where my supply was and found I had only two days' worth left meaning there was two ounces in the dish. Those went right into the garbage. I was prepared to buy a new supply the following day, so I am glad I found out about it before I did that.

I don't understand why licorice does not come with a warning. Or why some doctors don't warn their patients about eating it after they have prescribed drugs for hypertension. In my case, it took almost three months for the side effects to pile up until that morning when I was wobbly once I was out of bed, and then the severe headaches that followed that. So it's a good thing I had a doctor's appointment a few days later or I could be sleeping with the fishies by now.

Where's The Rewind Button?

I wish I could hit a rewind button and go back to these warmer autumn days. As I write this the temperature is 28 degrees. That's 40 degrees colder than I prefer. (That last picture would have been better had I taken it without a window in my way.)

Better yet, I would like to rewind myself back to when I was just a wee little tyke. However, I would only wish for that if I could also foresee the future back then and change a lot of things that happened to me along the way to the present.

If I could have done that I would have saved myself a lot of headaches and problems along the way. But then again, who knows how things might have turned out? Better left to letting things take place naturally I suppose. But still, there are some things I would have tweaked just a teeny bit so my path would have taken a different route.

I do know that life is what you make of it and mine turned out fairly decent. I have no complaints now...but getting to this point in time, there certainly were enough of them.

Reincarnation. Now there's something to talk about. I could go on and on about that subject. Do I believe in it? Not really. Do I wish it were real? Absolutely. Not only would I love to be around in another 50 years or more, but I also would love to go back in time to visit all my ancestors just to see what they were like.

Now that is something that would make my life truly worth living.

Way To Go Dale Jr!

I would like to extend my congratulations to Dale Earnhardt, Jr., on winning his eighth consecutive award for Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

In A Quandary

Michael Vick, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles (yuck!), is on the cover of the current Sports Illustrated magazine. There is also a feature article about him.

I read the magazine cover to cover except for that article. I try to watch the man (man? really?) play every once in awhile but I still find it very difficult to do so without getting upset or having to look away. What I do let myself see is nothing short of amazing...he's a darn good player, better now than before his 19 months in jail. I get a lump in my throat thinking about those dogs though and I quickly switch to another channel.

But that article in Sports Illustrated kept calling me so I decided, what the heck, what can it hurt if I read it? It's quite an unbiased report. One that held my interest all the way through. As a matter of fact, halfway through I couldn't believe I had actually gotten that far.

The part that really stood out for me is this, and I quote:
People speak of being conflicted about watching Vick, hating his crime and loving his game, as if the two can be separated. They can't. Think about it: Can it be that only hard time earned by vile acts, made Vick the player he is now? For Vick to touch greatness, did dogs have to die?

And that's where I get stuck. All I can think about are those tortured dogs. I can't get beyond that. And I doubt I ever will, no matter what heights Vick reaches.

He's no hero, nor will he ever be.

First Snowfall

It started ever so slowly: tiny flakes almost unnoticeable to the eye. Within five minutes you could tell it was snowing and in half an hour it was starting to stick.

When the snow first started falling, the cats outside didn't know what it was. Especially those that were born this spring and summer. A few of them sat outside, some looking up wondering what it was, others very puzzled - if a cat can look puzzled. They all finally found shelter either under the deck or in the greenhouse. They had just been given fresh water, warm food, and a fresh supply of kibble so they were good to go till the next feeding.

Meanwhile, I went about my morning by prepping the turkey for its vessel where it would stay most of the day (in the crock pot). I had already gotten the remainder of the meal together waiting to be prepared.

It was a quiet, peaceful day. We watched three NFL football games. We had a big discussion on the shakeup involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr., at Hendrick Motor Sports. He will have a new crew chief, a new crew, and new cars next year and will be in the same garage as Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team. What a huge relief for us fans. I am as eager as Dale Jr. is to get next season started.

Today the snow is gone. There's some turkey left and a little of each of the side dishes. Those will be consumed tomorrow. Today it was beef stew for dinner.

Thanks

From my computer to yours, here's hoping you all have a nice Thanksgiving. And remember, it's not just about all the food. This country pretty much sucks these days, but we do have plenty to be thankful for and about. I know I do.

Adventureland

Gee, I only had three visitors to my blog on Saturday. Guess I'd better write more often. But when nothing much is happening, nothing much comes out of my fingers.

So I will tell you all about my day. After I got up this morning and fed the inside cats, I went outside and fed the colony of cats we have on our property.

My husband is looking for a running board for our 2006 King Ranch Ford F-150 pickup truck. So off to the truck junk yard we went. They thought they had one on the premises but couldn't find it. It's a huge yard. So they told us they would look for it and call when they find it. Gee, I hope they don't get lost. They said they have around 30 cats running around in the yard and they keep the mice population down.

When we were done there it didn't seem right to go home. So we drove from one end of the county to the other, or so it seemed. We have a store called Ollie's and it is full of hundreds of items. They get their merchandise from stores going out of business, overstock, and things like that. I love poking around because new merchandise arrives constantly and you never know what you'll find. I found $110.00 worth of stuff today and used the 15% discount card I got through the mail.

When we were done there we were a tad hungry after doing that heavy duty shopping so we went up the street to one of our favorite diners for a bite to eat. We used to buy coffee in that diner along with our meals but it now costs $1.59 a cup, and I am sorry but that is just too much for coffee. So we always have water with a lemon. And I will not pay $1.70 for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts either. That is just pure highway robbery. I don't mind paying $1.29 for coffee, but anything higher than that is ridiculous.

When we were finished at the diner it was time to come home. We took the back roads driving slower than usual looking for deer. We saw four sightings for a total of seven deer. Two of them were big bucks. I had my smaller camera with me so I couldn't pull them in as close as I would have liked. When we finally arrived home we were just in time to feed the cats outside again.

I watched the NASCAR Nationwide race and once again was very disappointed as to who the winner was. That is so depressing when he wins all the time. Whether it's in the truck races, the Nationwide races, or the Sprint Cup races. I'm not going to mention his name because I am sparing myself from that. Ugh.

I watched Johnny Depp in Alice In Wonderland and fell asleep a few times. I didn't get to see Alice fight the jabberwocky. For those of you who have seen that scene, I ask: did I miss anything? Didn't think so. I'm glad the movie was free because I would have wasted money had I paid to see it.

And that, my friends, is a day in the life of...ME!

What Went wrong?

I have been a little under the weather these past few days or so.

I have been battling high blood pressure most of my life. It must be hereditary because I could never pinpoint why I had it or what caused it.

About ten years ago I had a doctor appointment after work. Earlier that day I had been stung by a bee that got in the window by my desk. Needless to say it spiked my BP because of the way I reacted to it. When my BP was tested later, I was told it was far too high. Long story short, I was put on a regimen of pills for hypertension, the fancy work for high blood pressure.

I've been taking those three pills ever since albeit they've been adjusted in their strength off and on.

For the past few years things have been going great. Instead of seeing the doctor every three months, we changed it to every six months. My BP was under control - not the ideal figures since I also suffer from white coat syndrome which causes my BP to be much higher than it actually is at the doctor's office - but the figures were always within a reasonable area and of no huge concern.

When I had this last appointment I somehow felt something was wrong days before I was scheduled to see the doctor. And that was validated when my BP was through the roof. My doctor readjusted the strength of two of my pills.

As I sit here and write this, I still have absolutely no idea what caused this recent spike. And neither does my doctor. I guess my first indication that something was wrong was when I got out of bed one morning and was a little unstable navigating around the bed. But once I was out of the bedroom I seemed fine. I shook that off telling myself I got up too fast. What I didn't know then was it was caused by the high blood pressure.

I haven't had a headache for almost 20 years, but when one showed up a few days ago I knew I was in some kind of trouble. Again, that was caused by the high BP. So for now I am taking stronger pills and in two weeks I will be having blood work done to see if those tests give an indication of some underlying thing that is causing this.

Until then I have taken it upon myself to limit my sodium intake and watch what I eat. I am so tired of watching what I eat. Before it was for dieting purposes and now it is for health purposes.

So I say to myself, here we go again. That wonderful merry-go-round called life.

A Brief Visit To The Body Shop

Our truck finally went to the body shop and got the necessary repairs needed after husband miscalculated while backing up. Anyway, that's the story he told me. I wasn't along when it happened. We've been driving it for well over a year, maybe longer, after it happened. It wasn't really that noticeable, but I guess it bothered him because I was always teasing him about it. I'm good at that.

It involved the other side from the wheel well on back, including the bumper. And there was a dent in the front of the wheel well. I am still trying to figure out how he did it. It's on his side...how does one get such a scrape, dent etc. on the driver's side? Not to mention the man drove huge tractor/trailers most of his life. Hello?

See that 4x4 decal at the back of the truck? The original one had to be taken off and replaced. They cost $48. Really. You want to talk about inflation? That right there is a sin. Children are starving all over the world and Ford charges $48 for a stinking decal. There's nothing to it for cripes' sake. And to make matters worse, they sent the body shop the wrong color and they had to wait till the correct color was sent. Otherwise we would have had the truck back within three days instead of five.

But the truck is back now and my Mustang can rest once more in the garage. We used that almost every day because I had heavy duty shopping to be done plus some errands that had to be done. And I might mention that on one of those shopping trips I was able to get my boneless white meat only turkey breast (a Butterball no less) for Thanksgiving. Now I am all set for the big day. I think.

A Bit of Relief

For the first year in so many years that I cannot remember, I won't be making a whole turkey in the oven...or anywhere else for that matter. I will, however, be making a boneless turkey breast if I can find one in our area. I have only checked one store so far, and will be checking another before the weekend. The good thing about making just the breast is that I only like the white meat anyway. And I won't have to start picking the bird apart immediately after we finish eating. The bad thing is there will be no turkey barbecue, something I always make with the leftovers.

As far as our Thanksgiving meal goes this year, I think I have everything I will be needing to put together a nice meal for the two of us. Except the turkey, of course.

I also have all the items needed for my massive cookie baking project, too. Yup, there are seven packages of different varieties of Betty Crocker Cookies. (Hey, I never said I was a Martha Stewart-type person). I also have a box of mix that came with Hershey Kisses which will be put on each cookie. I am ready as I'll ever be to get that task underway. A few years ago if someone would have asked me if I was making cookies for the holidays I would have told them to go pound sand. But last year I stumbled onto something that makes it so easy to bake them that I am more than happy to do so again this year. I only need to carve out one or two days of my *a-hem* busy schedule.

Ask me about Christmas and I'll tell you no lies. Since my parents are not with us anymore and we are all pretty much grown up and gone our separate ways, Christmas isn't the same, nor will it ever be again. Those days are over and gone and it sometimes makes me sad. Instead, we have a quiet day at home. My daughter and her boyfriend usually stop by either on the day itself or sometime afterward. Either way, it works for me.

I have about 90% of the gifts (unwrapped) and that's only because I look for things all year long. I am not a haphazard kind of gift buyer. I usually like to get something that I think the person will like, or something that has to do with their personal likes.

We lost a lot of Christmas decorations when our basement flooded a couple years ago so I don't decorate all that much either. We stopped having a live Christmas tree because of the cats, but I do have a wall tree complete with a string of lights. I have a lot of small decorations for it and it always turns out really nice. And the cats can't get at it. The last thing I need is to be playing hide and seek with a cat in a live Christmas tree. Especially after it has wreaked havoc on the tree.

I even have all the floral displays for the three cemeteries we always visit. Just writing about all this scares me. I have never been this far ahead of the game...ever. I'm feeling pretty cocky right now, so I had better quit while I'm ahead. I will now go sit in the corner waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Just kidding!

I Need More Sunshine

One day into the time change and already I am hating it. Why can't we have daylight saving time all year round? It makes no sense to change over now. Who is it benefiting?

Enough of that, there's nothing I can do about it anyway. I watched the Cup race today. Well, I semi-watched it. That means the TV was on but I didn't pay 100% attention to it. With Dale Jr. running so poorly my spirit just isn't focused on the races. Thank goodness there are only two races left.

While the race was on, I listened to the Giants-Seahawks game on my headset. The Giants won 41-7. Thank God they are doing well this season. I just checked to see how the Cowboys did against the Green Bay Packers. They lost 45-7. I'm not a Cowboys fan but I do like to see how certain teams are faring, especially those that are bottom dwellers. The 'boys have only won one game this season and with their quarterback, Tony Romo, out for probably the rest of the season, they won't do much better.

Saturday I watched the Penn State football game. I try to watch those when they are televised. When I was in high school, I was a member of the band. Our marching band visited the Penn State campus. We played at half time and also saw the game, but a lot of us got food poisoning, ended up in the infirmary, and missed almost half the game. I was one of those unfortunate souls. I have also taken some law courses at the local extension site. So I am partial to that team. Saturday's game was Joe Pasterno's 400th win with Penn State. That's quite an accomplishment.

Oh yeah...about that picture up there. I am so ready for Spring. I can almost smell those lilacs. It can't come soon enough for me. I hate winter, the snow and sleet and cold and everything else that comes along with it. Sometimes I wish I could just hibernate. Go to sleep around this time of the year and wake up to the rebirth we know as Spring. Five long months of dreary weather depresses me. Am I the only one that feels this way?

Please Go Away Pelosi

Oh, puh-leeze...

Now she wants to lead the Democrats in Congress.

Halloween's over, lady, find a corner and go hide yourself in it.

One arrogant person in the White House is all we can stand for now.

Hey, Pelosi!

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

The Eve Of Destruction

Yes, destruction. I await poll results with much anticipation. There are a lot of politicians out there that need to be put away for life and never to be seen again. I am neither a Democrat nor am I a Republican but I picked my side a long time ago...let's say it was not too long after the president was voted in. I'm sure you can put two and two together and figure that one out because that's all I'm saying. I don't need to get my blood pressure to the boiling point by discussing that.

The cold weather is here and it looks like it is going to stay this way for quite some time. As I write this, it is 37 deg. and is supposed to go into the mid 20's overnight. I hate, hate, hate this weather. I have established that fact on this blog many, many times in the 5-1/2 years I have been writing it. And I don't want to be a Debbie Downer about it, so let's move on to something cheerful, shall we?

Damn...I can't think of anything cheerful to say right now. My NY Giants had a bye week so there's nothing to cheer there since they didn't play. Dale Jr. was having an excellent race until he got fancy and took both himself and Jeff Burton out of the race. He had a strong car and could have been a contender. They did work on the car and he did get back into the race so that keeps his record for the year of finishing all the races so far. Only three races left and then we wait until February.

We still have a passel of cats and kittens outside. The youngest two are now 5 weeks old, and we still don't know who their mother is. But the others are caring for them and they have been eating both dry and wet food for at least two weeks. That's one less thing for me to worry about.

That's about all I have to talk about for now. Let's hope the right people are voted into office by the end of the day.

Freaky Friday (Thursday)

I am so thankful it is Saturday. Why? Because Friday didn't happen for me until around 7:30 pm. Why? Because I spent the entire day thinking it was Thursday but feeling like it was Friday. Crazy, huh?

I actually thought Friday was Thursday but I had a weird feeling that it was actually Friday, knowing full well, in my mind, that it was Thursday. No, I'm not nuts. Although sometimes I wonder about me.

So how did I finally figure out it was Friday and not Thursday? At approximately 7:30 pm my husband mentioned something about it being Friday. I thought he was crazy and told him he was wrong, that it was Thursday although I had a feeling all day that it was Friday which I talked myself out of that silly notion.

I looked at him with a puzzled look on my face. He started laughing at me. At that point I thought he was kidding with me so I grabbed the newspaper and looked at the date. Oh. my. God. He was right and I was wrong. Well, I was half wrong because I thought it was Friday even though I kept telling myself it wasn't.

And then it hit me. Oh crap, I missed qualifying for Sunday's race. I ran to get my TV list for racing activities for the weekend and was so relieved to see that qualifying will occur today (Saturday).

What complicated this day for me was the fact that we were out shopping all day so I really had no reason to worry about what day it was. So in essence, I missed the so-called Black Friday shopping day. Because I thought it was Thursday.

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It is my understanding Black Friday has been moved up a day to this past Friday. That is the one I am referring to in my post, not the Black Friday after Thanksgiving Day. Sorry if I confused anyone. Lord knows, I was confused enough myself.

Just A Few Words About Sports

Much as I hate gloating about my NY Giants football team, I will take this opportunity to do so. Monday night they beat the Dallas Cowboys 41-35. They scored on five straight possessions. Little Eli was on fire. They are now 5-2 and have this weekend off.

In racing news, Dale Jr. led 90 laps in Sunday's race and finished 7th. I am not getting my hopes up but the next race is at Talladega, one of Junior's better tracks. I should say, used to be one of Junior's better tracks. He hasn't been doing too good there either, but I need to stay positive where he is concerned.

The Chase for the Championship is winding down with a handful of races left. As of now, there are three drivers that have the best chance of winning: Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick. Kyle Busch is currently in 4th place but is approximately 175 points out of the lead so I highly doubt he has a chance at bettering that position since the top three run good every week. Since Jimmie has won the championship for the past three years, I am not excited to have him win this year again. Besides, that would only drive another nail in NASCAR's coffin. I'm not a Hamlin fan either so that lets him out as far as I am concerned. My hopes are with Kevin Harvick despite the fact that a lot of fans do not care for him. But seriously, of the three, he deserves it the most in my opinion.

Have You Ever Been To A Home Show?

We decided to go to one of our local home shows only because we had tickets to get in free. At $8.00 per person, which would have cost us $16.00 total, it just didn't seem to entice us to want to go. But when we got the free tickets, well...that's another story. Because if it's free, it's for me. Just another one of my many mottoes that I live by.

Seriously, have any of you out there been to one of those shindigs? It consists of vendors hawking their goods. As you walk down the aisles you are inundated with papers shoved in your face and asked if you would like to fill out these little pieces of papers to try and win whatever it is they are giving away. Now, I know better...that's just a ruse so they get your phone number and make follow-up phone calls within a few weeks and end up pestering the hell out of you. But I also learned today that they are allowed to call you once and if you tell them not to call you after that, they can't. Yeah, I heard that before. I stopped answering the phone years ago.

And every last one of them that we did stop and talk to were in a big hurry to come to the house and give us estimates. We were offered a new roof, kitchen cabinet refinishing, a dry basement (sorry, we've already been that route with the flood we had down there two years ago), granite counter tops (yes, that I am interested in and have been for a few years), a freshly paved drive way, and just about anything else you can think of that has to do with a house both inside and outside. And even things not associated with a house. Like the chiropractor offering massages. We have our own right down the street, so we didn't need that either.

Did we ask anyone to come to our house for an estimate? Are you kidding? The answer is a solid No. What we did come away with was a lot of brochures, pens, bags, and most importantly...chocolate candy. That was the best part.

Through The Dark

At the beginning of my last post I wrote that I was sick and was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Trust me, there was no light at that time. That was way off because I was only halfway through what I was experiencing, only I didn't know it then.

I had a bacterial infection that moved through my system with such a vengeance that I was tweaking my will because I feared the worst. And then on the fourth night things got a little better, and by the fifth day it had worked its way through and out of my system leaving me very weak.

I have always been very healthy from childhood on, but I suppose as one gets older one is vulnerable to more sicknesses and crap that is floating around and about.

I truly believe that there is so much cross contamination of foods in almost every eating establishment that no one is immune to food poisoning or infection. I also believe that a place that serves food can be as clean as a whistle, but if just one of their staff isn't? you are definitely at risk.

The solution? PLEASE ~ all food handlers, wash your hands after using the bathroom! That goes just as well in the home as it does in a public restroom. All I ask is that you please save me from having to go through this awful thing again.

Thank you.

Just One Of Our Many Summer Trips

I've been under the weather for the past couple of days but I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are a few photos I took on one of our excursions this year. There have been many of these short trips and I had originally planned to post all the photos at one time, but I have since decided that's not such a good idea. Blogger gets a little uppity when it comes to loading a lot of photos in my blog.

This is a statue of a fireman in a town north of where I live. When I was a kid and my parents told us where we were going I would always get excited because I knew we would be passing by this statue. I don't know how old it is or the story behind it, but I still think it's the neatest thing.


This is part of the Lehigh Gap. I took this photo while crossing the bridge.

When we were kids and my parents drove us through the Gap we always said this house was haunted. It, too, has a story but I am sorry that I am posting this ill-prepared. I should have done my homework first like I usually do. I only know that it was built in 1881 and was called Marshall's Mansion and that it has recently been renovated.

This was our mission that particular day. After my first divorce (yes, there was only one divorce), I used to take my daughter to this fair almost every year. This place used to host rodeos back then and we never missed any of them. My daughter and I went to as many rodeos that we could, and I still like to watch them on TV when I can.

2010: Banner Year For Area Wineries

In 1969 our state legislature allowed Pennsylvania to enter into the winery business, and as a result we now have approximately 125 vineyards statewide. The state has about 14,000 acres of grapes and ranks 4th nationally in the amount grown and 7th in wine production.

The Lehigh Valley area was found to be excellent for growing grapes, and we now have nine family-owned wineries in the Valley.

The hot, dry summer we had was excellent for grapes. As a result, they are honey-sweet and just the right firmness. I cannot wait to taste this year's crop, but I will have to wait till next year.

Besides selling wine right at the wineries, they are allowed to also sell at up to five retail outlets, all festivals, and they can make direct sales to restaurants. I prefer to buy direct from the winery and do so on many occasions during the year.

My favorite is Vynecrest with Clover Hill a close second. Clover Hill recently celebrated their 25th anniversary this past summer and for one weekend they offered a 25% discount off all their wines. No, you don't have to ask...I most certainly did stock up with that deal.

I have more pictures that I took but I can only find one that I was able to post. My recent fiasco with losing photos on my memory card have left my photo library in disarray and I do apologize for that.



As much as I love wine, I allow myself to have 4 ounces with dinner when I cook a meal for us. That amounts to approximately four to five glasses per week. I'd drink the entire bottle at one sitting if I could but those darn calories get in the way.

Disgusting Little Buggers

Repugnant. Loathsome. Abominable. Repulsive. Obnoxious. And those are some of the nicer names. I cannot tell you what I call the stinkbugs that invade our area every year around this time.

I would post a photo, but I'm sorry to say you will have to Goo-gle them to see what they look like because I just don't have the stomach to put one on here. It would make me want to run off to Siberia...where they are not and never will be.

These bugs are not indigenous to this country. Back in 2001 some of them hitchhiked from somewhere in Asia (thank you U.S. government for back and forth trade), and they decided to hop off in Allentown, PA. That is just a few miles away from where I am sitting.

We were told that this season (end of summer into early fall) would be the worst infestation ever - and they weren't wrong.

They want to come into the tiniest of spaces they can find so they can "winter" in warmth. They don't like cold weather. The only decent thing they do is not breed or lay eggs inside; they lay their eggs under leaves outside.

They were coming in where we recently installed two window air conditioners. My husband got the idea to saran wrap the air conditioners along with a lot of masking tape. We tamed those areas; however, the front door is now the spot they love the best. They crawl into the opening between the door frame and the storm door, then again past the other door and voila! there they are...on the inside.

They resist all kinds of pest repellents so spraying them is out of the question, especially since we have three cats living with us. Oh yes, then there is the cats. Our hunters. When one of them is sitting still looking down at the floor near the front door, we know enough to get a tissue for the nasty little intruder(s).

And God forbid, don't ever squash one once it is in that tissue. No, they must be put into the commode and flushed immediately as they are also good swimmers. If one is squashed the smell is horrid. I myself don't mind the odor as it sometimes is a sickeningly sweet smell. There are a lot of people who cannot stand the smell of them once they are squashed.

We have killed so many of them we have lost count. Keeping them out of the house is the biggest problem because they like to crawl away and hide. And then when you least expect it they will kamikaze you with an annoying buzzing sound. That's when I start running...anywhere but where they are. And when we have the overhead fan on, they like to fly around with it like it is the mothership or something.

So here I sit writing about these nasty little buggers and I am itchy all over. Those of you who are not inundated with them now may be dealing with them sooner or later. Just take comfort in the fact that they eventually do stop wanting to come inside, but it has to be really cold outside for that to happen.

10-10-10

Another one of those unique dates we get to experience.

What makes this date particularly outstanding is the fact that it is Dale Earnhardt Jr's 36th birthday. So here's a great big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to you, Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I am hoping the day will bring luck and magic to that #88 car and that his crew chief and team will work together (for a change) and communicate well. He qualified 9th but his three practice sessions were in the 20's. Will he be lucky enough to find himself in the top ten when the day is over? Time will tell.

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Meanwhile let's talk football. Giants football. Currently they are tied for first place (2-2) with two other teams: the Redskins and the Eagles. I try to follow both those teams as well as the last place Cowboys. I just don't understand why they are all in the same division since they are all teams that I like. But it sure makes it interesting each week to see how each team fares and where they fall in place in the standings.

As you know, I follow the Giants but I am also partial to the 49ers. I have been a 49ers follower since the days of Joe Montana (who in my estimation is the greatest quarterback ever). I had hoped they would have a better start since they won all four of their preseason games. It seems I am not the only one disappointed in them after listening to the sportscasters after the games.

But, alas, my heart lies with the Giants these days since it is still in NY and my butt is in PA.

Just Another Day At The Casino

We finally visited the Sands Casino yesterday. It is built on the grounds where the former Bethlehem Steel once stood. It's a shame for the Bethlehem Steel. It no longer exists. It used to be THE place to work. My father worked there and his father before him. And they made darn good money there, too. Now it's gone and instead of giving out good money via payrolls, the new building takes your money.

We had been talking about going ever since it opened and it sure beats having to travel all the way to Atlantic City. But let me tell you...I will take Atlantic City casinos over this one any day.


The only bad thing about going to Atlantic City casinos is the dreaded bus ride. It is long for us. Approximately three hours there and then three hours back, and depending on when you leave in the morning, you get back very late at night.

We have taken the bus ride to AC numerous times over the years, but once these casinos started popping up in our state and near us we decided we had better check them out just to see what they are like. Of course, I miss the ocean...ahhhh, the ocean. The closest I get to the ocean these days is my noise machine that I use to try to get to sleep.

Let's just say today's trip was a day away from the normal humdrum of daily life. My husband informed me that we probably would not be going to that particular casino again. He did say, however, that we will be visiting others within our state but not as close as the one we went to today. That one is only about half an hour away, depending on the traffic, so it's a shame it didn't work out for us. But then again we're not casino junkies, so it doesn't really matter.

And just to let you know...we didn't lose a lot of money. What we put in the slots, I won back at one machine, and then we spent all but $20 of that. So it wasn't too bad.

The Power of Perseverance (And Water)

That part of me which is German took over my senses and wouldn't let go till I found my pictures that I erased accidentally on my memory card. It took me three days but I finally found them thanks to the third recovery program I used. And they were all free. What I didn't know was that the first two programs took all my pictures off my hard drive and dumped them back into my photo library. I now have the pleasure of deleting them, one at a time, and putting them back into oblivion from whence they came. Those first two recovery programs did not, however, retrieve the missing photos. Thank you Pandora for doing what they couldn't do.

I took a good amount of pictures the day after the rains stopped and these are only a few of them. They are all taken in the same vicinity and they all show water where there was not a single drop the day before the storms arrived. Remember that as you view them; not a single drop and all you could see was the sandy colored rounded stones in the creek bed and directly below the dam.

These next two photos are of the dam. Prior to the storm, the water came to the top and did not go over the dam. Not one single drop. For the majority of the summer, there was no water below the dam; therefore, no water made it to the creek either. The pieces of wood in both photos never made it beyond where they are. The turbulence right below the dam was so strong that there was no escape. From the top of the dam to the creek bed below is about six feet.

We stood on both sides just watching as the wood and tree limbs got jumbled around constantly. Couple that with the constant noise of the dam itself and one can get lost in time. However, we did leave eventually and on our journey to other places we found this:
Of course, she wasn't that close to us. I used my zoom lens. She was protecting her little one and kept very still while we watched her. Although it can't be seen in its entirety to get the whole picture, this doe was lying on a hillside with shrubs and trees all around her. The rains had stopped and she found this clearing to take a breather from the harsh weather she had just endured for a few days.

Continued From Yesterday's Post

I spent the major portion of Saturday trying to recover my lost photos. I had finally figured out what to do and how to do it. But it no longer mattered. You see, in my eagerness, I somehow managed to erase ALL the photos on my new camera. That includes my saved ones (but they are in my computer library) and the photos of the flooding and the two of the doe. Those are gone forever.

How I managed to erase them in one shot I will never know. Chalk it up to not knowing what I'm doing when it comes to computers and now apparently cameras too. I play around till something works but a lot of times I take the wrong path and really muck things up. I guess I have only myself to blame.

My last area to search was my hard drive. I downloaded a free recovery data program and ran a two hour scan. I checked all the entries dated October 1st and found nothing.

So let's see...nothing in the hard drive files, nothing in my photo library, and nothing on the camera memory card. I am way past that sinking feeling. The gremlins did their job on me and they are telling me I never went anywhere on Friday and I didn't take any pictures either. I have to believe them.

Just A Tad Angry

This us going to be one of those off the cuff posts. And an angry one at that. Most of you know that the East Coast has been inundated with rain, rain, and more rain. I guess we had two separate storm systems come up the coast over the past two or three days. I lost count.

The rain finally stopped and we decided to take my camera and see what kind of shots I could get as far as flooding was concerned. And I did get some great shots. I was even able to get a good closeup of a doe protecting her little one.

As soon as I had some time after we returned home, I decided to import the photos to my computer. For some reason they didn't go where they were supposed to go, so I deleted them. Oh dear God, I should never have done that. I have since learned, after much digging around, that Win7 does not allow pictures to be imported after they have already gone that route. Don't get me wrong, I love Win7, but geez they have some serious flaws in my book.

Two major ones are their mail system (there isn't any) and now this importing problem. I think there is a fix coming later this year so they can be imported a second time. I never had a problem with Windows XP, I could import old ones any time I wanted as I always had that option.

There is a fix I could do if only I knew how to find the needed file/folder to rename it. I tried everything in the book to find that file/folder but came up empty handed. They tell you what to do once you find it but not how to find it. And right about now my patience has run mighty thin so I think trying to locate it will have to wait another day.