Still Kicking

In case anyone out there is searching for me...yes, I am still here on this earth as well as my husband.

We both got through 2020 and as far as 2021 goes...so far okay.  Neither of us contracted COVID and we were able to get our shots earlier this year.

On another note...sad to say I am not happy at all with the way things turned out as far as the voting went in the 2020 election.  I refuse to acknowledge that this so-called president we have now is actually the president.  That is my right and if anyone doesn't like it, stay away from my blog.

So much has happened since I last posted anything here and the only reason I am posting today is to let some people know that I am still alive and kicking.

Time Sure Flies When You're Not Having Fun

This past month of October was one nasty month.  It all started on the first when my husband had to have a procedure done.   The same procedure he had done over five years ago and came out of that with no problems.  This time was a lot different.  First of all the doctor was supposed to see him as a follow-up two weeks later but that was cancelled and then the second date was cancelled as well.  We were told the doctor had a family medical emergency and would be gone for most of the month.  Finally we were able to see him on the 28th.  By then so much had happened and was going on with R that four days prior we had to turn to our family doctor for some help.  Without going into a lot of detail things are finally looking up for R.  It was rough, believe me.  I suffered right along with him.

Last week R had three doctor appointments...all follow ups to tests he had done prior to October.  I had to have one rescheduled because he was just not up to driving or  traveling that distance and I was not wanting to drive on the thruway.  If I can find a different way to get to where I need to go without  having to drive on a thruway I will grab it.  Even if it takes longer.

And now we are in a new month.  Hopefully this month will be a lot kinder to us.  We have no appointments for this month or the next.  But then in January they start up again.   It is never ending when we get to be our age I suppose.  I only have two family doctor appointments over the course of a year with the occasional blood work being done.  And I have to go back in a year to get my eyes examined after having gotten cataract surgery for both eyes back in September.  I came out of that with no problems whatsoever.   It was such an easy procedure that if I had three eyes I was ready to get that one done right away, too.  The only glasses I need to wear now are off-the-rack reading glasses and I don't always need them if the print is large enough to see without them.

My eyesight had gotten so bad that I stopped driving for a few years.  But now I am back in the drivers seat of my trusty Mustang and all is well in my world again.  I really missed driving that car.

Two months ago my one blood test came back showing my thyroid was not doing what it is supposed to be doing like making enough of what it is supposed to be making.  It is under-active, so now I am on a thyroid medication for that.   The only problem I have with that is it has to be taken an hour or more before I eat in the morning and I am a late sleeper.  I usually wake up anywhere between 5 and 6 am so I keep the medication by my bedside with a bottle of water and I take it then.  It works for me.

Other than what has been going on this past month all is well in the household...for now at least.  Fingers crossed.

 

Today Is My Birthday...but Who's Counting

Sorry I have been lax in posting but we have had numerous doctor appointments and procedures done and blood drawn etc. that my head is still spinning.  And we won't see daylight until mid-November.  90% of those things belong to my husband.

I recently had cataract surgery and I go back to have my eyes tested in a few weeks to determine whether I need to wear prescription glasses.  For now I do not need them and besides the time I wore contact lenses, this is the first I have been able to be without glasses other than reading glasses.  Hallelujah! 

They claim today is the first day of Fall/Autumn but we are experiencing 90 degree weather and it is hard to think about leaves changing color with all this warmth.  I prefer this kind of weather and dread winter.  I stopped liking winter when I learned how to drive and have hated it ever since.  Although I don't do that much driving these days I still do not like the bone-chilling weather of winter.

They always say no news is good news and since I don't have any more news that's it for now.

 

Summer Is Fading...

...and I hate to see it go.   I prefer the heat over the nasty raw coldness along with snow and ice of winter.  Our winters here in SE PA are raw...and the air is moist making it a lot worse.

Another reason for my disliking summer leaving so soon is that the two of us have a lot of medical appointments coming up through the end of the year and into the next year. 

I am having laser surgery done on both my eyes over the span of two weeks starting at the end of this month.  I wish that was already done.  There will be follow-up visits, too.  I also have my semi-annual family doctor visit this month.  So far that is it for my appointments. 

R is having routine work done as well but not on his eyes.  Other parts of his body.  We clear one hurdle and up pops another with him.  That's just the way it is when one grows older.     Something's always going on.

Tomorrow we both need to have blood drawn and we found a new place to go to that is much closer than the other lab.  The new one popped up back in May and it is in the same system as both of our doctors are that need the tests to be done.  R also needs an EKG and it could be done where we are going tomorrow; however, he would have to be there at 8:00am.  The other alternative is to go another day to a local hospital where he always goes for those types of tests.

Needless to say these never-ending tests are mind boggling and quite bothersome.  R does not complain, he just has them done and gets over it.  I, on the other hand, feel like they are quite intrusive to my life. 

I like to sleep as late as I want to, get up and have breakfast eventually, read the newspaper, do odd chores that need to be done, eat lunch, do more odd jobs or putter around on the computer, make dinner for the two of us, more computer puttering, feed the cats (inside and outside) when they need to be fed, do whatever else needs to be done and by 8:00 I am ready to watch some TV programming.  When something like tests and surgery are on the horizon it kind of upsets me because it is getting in the way of my life the way I want to live it these days. 

Gee, it really sounds like I am complaining.  Well guess what...I am.  Life was so much more simpler when we were still in school with no worries whatsoever.  But good Lord I would not want to go back there and have to go through the years again to get to where I am now.  For the record though I think there are some things I would do differently and make other choices. 

And it would be nice to shave maybe ten or fifteen years off of what I am now.  But I guess we can't have it both ways.  

Two-And-One-Half Years

That's exactly how many years are between my brother and myself.    He is older.  

I grew up with my brother so that meant I knew only "boy" things.  So instead of playing with dolls I played with trucks and played baseball and got muddy and did whatever it was little boys did.  And to this day I prefer driving a pickup truck to some fancy car.  Except for my Mustang -- but that's because of the "I want to go fast" in me.

My brother and I were quite the pair.  He had a 2-1/2 year head start on me so it was natural that he was the first in anything.  To say that I was a tomboy is putting it mildly.  Where he was, I was.  I was never considered a tag-along little sister who got in the way.  And we always got into trouble together.  And boy did we get in trouble.

I remember one time in particular when we set a field on fire (we lived in the "country") and then ran home.  We caught a lot of heck for that little escapade.  Luckily the fire was found before it got out of hand.  I think it may even have burned itself out.

Then there was the time we played Superman and attempted to jump off a small out-building, cape included.   We were stopped before anyone got really hurt.  Parents...they really take all the fun out of everything.

My most favorite memory was the day we were shooting arrows into the sky using the small sets my aunt had bought us.  Toy sets, that is.  We situated ourselves behind another small building that sat alongside the road.  Unbeknownst to us one of the arrows came straight down
on the roof of a car passing by.  The road was not heavily traveled as it was a small road off the beaten path.  Luck would have it we captured a car.  The driver stopped and knocked on the door bringing my mother outside.  Boy, did we ever catch heck when our father came home...after a hard day of work when he was super tired.

All these incidences occurred between the age of 6 and 8, but I can still recall them as if they happened just yesterday. 

I wanted to insert this photo somewhere above but it would not work and I am still learning how to do things with this new computer.  I think if you click on the photo it will get bigger.  In the photo is myself and my brother along with our mother and paternal grandfather.  We were all staring into a very bright sun and everyone is squinting.

Stop The Insanity

When earth was created, whether it was by God or some other phenomenon, a whole array of fauna was born with  every living thing having its purpose during its life.  However, what was created man is ever so slowly taking away.

For instance...much of the wildlife in southeastern Pennsylvania is losing their habitat.  Why? 
The nasty answer is developments -- both residential and commercial.  Every time I see empty space with a For Sale sign on it I cringe.  It doesn't take long before mother earth is gouged and the ugly buildings etc. appear.  Prior to that happening, the land was/is a peaceful place for many animals.  Some call it their home, some are just passing through.  Take the whitetail deer for example.  For centuries they have had their own travel paths, never straying from those paths.  Those paths disappear with man moving in and taking over most of that area the animals have called home for so long.  So where do they go since they have been pushed out of their homes?  They are creatures of habit and when you take that away they have no place to go so they reluctantly venture elsewhere.  And soon that is taken away from them as well.  Just keep pushing them out until they no longer exist.

Man keeps insisting on taking their homes away, all in the name of GREED of the mighty dollar.  And what really upsets me is when people move into their precious new home and are "pestered" by wild animals they are the first to get upset and complain.  All I want to say to them is:  Folks, they were here first so where the hell do you expect them to go?  Do you want to kill all of them so you can live happily ever after?  Think again! 

One of these days, and I probably won't live long enough to see it,  there will be more houses than people to fill them and because of that many animals will have become extinct.

How sad. 

(When I was writing this I was thinking about how this parallels with what happened when the white man (yes, I am white) came to this country and pushed the natives to oblivion and almost-extinction.  Apparently they still haven't learned a darn thing.)

Jewelry Box Mystery (And Surprise)

This past weekend with nothing to do but wait for the night race in Kentucky, I decided to go through the big jewelry box that belonged to my mother.  It has been 14-1/2 years since I took possession when it was handed to me by my sister.  At the time I felt there was nothing of real value in it because my sister was like a vulture before both parents passed within 2-1/2 months of each other.  At the time, I opened it, looked things over quickly, closed it and there it stayed all these years in our spare room.

My husband helped me untangle everything since it seemed as if someone had grabbed a fistful of things and tossed it all into the drawers.  There were pins, brooches, necklaces, clip-on earrings and some other small pins that belonged to my father, a package of unopened hearing aid batteries good through 2004, and a dime.   I don't remember a lot of the things in there but I do know my mother wore mostly gold jewelry (or goldtone) and rarely wore silver things.  So finding silver jewelry (mostly the necklaces) was a surprise to me.  But a much larger surprise lay in waiting...

There was a 2 inch pewter Maltese cross on a very chunky chain -- something you would see a biker wearing.  I was elated to find it and I will wear it whenever we ride our bike.  I will also wear my Harley clothing along with my black boots with the silver chains on them.

The fact that the Maltese cross was in my mother's jewelry box will always be a mystery to me  because it sure threw me for a loop as they say.  My mother (as far as I know) had never been on a motorcycle and my father never owned one, so I have no idea who it belongs to.  One thing I do know for certain is that it's now mine. 

(Footnotes:  1) motorcycle riders wear both the Maltese cross and the German Iron Cross.   
2) I am not able to ask my sister where it came from for reasons of my own.)

This Should Be Required Reading

It has taken me this long to finally read this book.  I am getting through it slowly.  It is a difficult read in that it breaks my heart with just about every page.

What the government did to those people is outrageous.  I truly cannot believe what they went through as they kept being pushed all over the country with most of them herded onto reservations like cattle.  

The lust for gold and good land etc. by the people that came to this country was (and still is) nothing short of greediness.   

Long before the Pilgrims came in 1620 the Spaniards arrived in the 1500's bringing with them horses, slaves, and pigs to take care of those that died along the way.  (That part is not in the book.)

In my honest opinion, this book should be required reading in every school and every grade starting with middle schools on up.  

Anyone who reads this and can still say they don't care what happened back then and still call themselves Americans is not telling the truth.  The native people never stood a chance...

Mondays

When I worked I hated Mondays with a passion.   Sundays used to be a bad time for me especially as the day wore on and into the night.  A lot of times I would get sick to my stomach. Toward the end of my job those days just got worse.

And then the day came that my job and I parted company.  I was freed and relieved.  When that happened I had any day I wanted to do absolutely nothing.  But those days were few because there was plenty to do around the house.   When I worked it seemed I never had time to take care of business at home and a lot of things got left undone.  Not so anymore.

Since then things are so much better and now Mondays are just another day for me.

R and I usually save Mondays and Tuesdays as days of rest and relaxation.  A lot of times we use both those days when we need to set up appointments.   

On another subject, I figured out a way to get at least some of my cherished photos back that I lost when  my other computer died.  I paged through all my posts here and transferred what I really wanted to My Pictures.  I am still so new with this new Windows system and it has become a learning process for me.  I also have quite a few photos stored at another place that I haven't visited for years.  I recently was able to get back into that but now I have to figure out how to transfer some of those photos as well.  They're a little picky it seems.

Upcoming posts will be about bringing this blog up to speed with happenings over the past year, about my fur babies, about our obnoxious next-door neighbors, about happenings with our township and what just recently happened with the manager of said township, etc.  Lots in store, lots to tell, but it does take time for me to formulate just how I want to write about a certain subject.  So be patient because Lord knows I am not. 

I hope to be adding more photos as well to this blog.  I stopped taking photos on both my cameras when I could no longer use the memory card in the old computer.  For now I have to figure out how to use this new memory card slot because I have a few saved photos on both cameras.   When new items are purchased user guides or manuals are far and few between and all I got with this all-in-one computer is a large insert showing what is where but not how to use them.  I have so much to learn.

Hey People...I'm Back...

Yes, I am back but for how long I don't know.  

A lot has happened since I left toward the end of last year.  I lost a total of 45 lbs. (so far) on my new food regimen  and my husband whom I shall refer to as R from now on has had another knee replacement earlier this year.   

I recently had to replace my computer (at the beginning of this month) but I am thankful that it lasted nine years like the first computer I had.  This is my third computer.  This time I went for the All-in-One model.  So far I am loving it despite going from Windows 7 to Windows 10. 

I did lose all my photos and I am sure someone somewhere can figure out how to get them off that hard drive.  I was fully prepared for that PC to eventually die and was backing things up, writing things down, printing documents etc.  

I really enjoyed writing on this blog but I hit a wall back in 2018 and was frustrated so i just gave up.  But for now I think I have so much more to say and write about...I hope anyway.

Here is my quote for the day:

If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
---Ronald Reagan

Adios People

I have decided it is time to bring this blog to an end.  No reason other than nobody reads it and it's just a waste of my time.

It was fun while it lasted, but it's no longer fun.  

No Longer An NFL Football Fan

After what I just read about one of my favorite NY Giants players, Odell Beckham Jr., and what he did during the game with the Eagles, I have decided to not watch any more football games until these over-paid prima donnas stop acting so childish.  Odell hinted that when he lifted his leg in mock urination while on all fours that it was meant for our President for the things he has been saying about NFL players.  Which, by the way, I am on the President's side.  And baloney on the free speech excuse. 


Taking a knee while the national anthem is being played has no place in our society.  I have also just read that doing so in the name of social injustice is the highest form of hypocrisy.


NFL team owners should also know better.  Who do they think is funding their stadiums?  We, the tax payers, that's who.


When Colin Kaepernick first started this nonsense I over looked it...but now it has gotten totally out of hand.  These players are not against racism or anything else they want to call it...now they are against our President for the things he has been saying about them.


I say we should all take our part and stop watching NFL games on TV, stop going to those tax-payer funded stadiums, and maybe they will wake up and realize how foolish they all are in our eyes.


And my message to all NFL players, and any other sports figure that is doing these silly things, is to stand up and honor the flag of the nation you are a citizen of and grow up!

Rain, Rain, Rain

Every day, late in the day, another storm rolls through our little hamlet.  Actually we are known as a village, but I prefer hamlet.

Today's storm was accompanied by thunder and a little bit of lightning.  At my age I am still trying to get used to those two things.  Especially the lightning.  It still scares me and I want to run and hide.  But I don't.  If I carried on my cats would run and hide and I don't want that.  

Today's topic will be kittens.  We were blessed with four of them almost six weeks ago.  Their mother is very friendly and quite young.  She was one of four in a litter that I named Riley, Rebel, Rion, and Ringo.  Riley and Rebel, we believe, were trapped and taken away by our big bad nasty neighbor.  He does not like cats.  He does not like most animals.  But he says his six year old son is the light of his life.  And now another one will be here soon as his wife is huge with child.  Joy.  But they are a topic for another day.  I try not to waste my time and energy thinking about them.  Besides, they are on their good behavior right now because my husband complained to our magistrate and a court date has been set up in September...continued from a date in August.  The charge?  Harassment.  

Back to the kittens.  Their mother was on friendly terms with me from the get go.  The other three not so much.  Rion is still here and she keeps her distance...but not as far as some of the cats have in the past.

Ringo had her litter underneath some arbs.  Then she moved them to a corner of our house on a concrete patio with no shelter over their tiny heads.  So I made a makeshift shelter to keep the rain off of them...although rain rarely hits that part of the patio.  After about a week there she then finally moved them into the hothouse we have just for the cats.  Plenty of straw and other amenities.  It gets quite hot in the summer but during the winter most cats welcome being in there.  Her last move was onto our deck.  We have an awning we can control by remote from inside the house and when it rains we can put it out far enough so that they stay nice and dry.  I also set up a shelter for them against the house so they would have a quiet place to go to while nursing or napping.  

So now for the last maybe three weeks or so we get to see them and their antics right on the other side of our sliding door.  They have shelter and water, they get fed numerous times over the day, they have kibble 24/7 and just recently they got their own little litter box.

I was worried about them using a litter box thinking they would not know what to do with it.  I should not have been worried.  I took each one, put them into the box, and from then on they knew exactly what it was for and they use it like little pros.

I only hope and pray we will be able to enjoy these four for many years to come.  They are the first of their kind to actually not be afraid of us.  Whenever I step out onto the deck all four come running to me as well as their mother.  And that can be such a joy.

 

HEY

It's been awhile since I have written anything here.  Not because I don't want to, but because I have nothing much to write about these days. 


Today is a hot one...with more days to follow that will be just as hot.  I am guessing it is unbearable for our cats that are outside.  We have four kittens that are about 6 weeks old.  They have taken up residence on the deck (after mom changed their "nest" at least two or three times) where they enjoy a makeshift shelter to keep them dry when it rains, dry kibble 24/7, wet food twice a day, and a recently added litter box.  Their mother has been taking great care of them and it has been a joy to watch her do her job as a mother and a teacher. 


This little note today is just to let others know that I am still here, along with my husband and four inside cats.  We take things one day at a time hoping there will be another day to enjoy when we lay our heads down to sleep at night.


We still have our trike and take it for rides every once in awhile.  I am sure we will use it, weather permitting, next Friday when we go to see a local band, Crazy Hearts.  They are very good and we try to catch their concerts when we can.


That is about all I know for now.  Maybe something will happen that I can write about and maybe it won't.  What makes it difficult for me to write is the fact that this computer no longer accepts my camera cards so I can't add photos.  I always enjoyed doing that.


Till next time...

The Good Old Days

What happens when a country lets all kinds of people in it -- legally and illegally?

You end up with bloat.  You end up with people who bring their religion, their ideas, their rhetoric into your beloved country.  And soon they want you to conform to their ways.  And they don't understand why we don't see things their way.  And by "we" I mean those of us who were born here and are many generations from the ancestors that came to this country centuries ago.  

I am eighth generation in my line of ancestry.  I share the same last name (my maiden name) with the ancestor that came here back in the mid 1700's.  I shudder to think what he would say about all that has happened since then.

My ancestors, parents included, loved this country.  They were proud to be here.  They loved their flag, their values, their religion...and they never thought for one second they would see half of what is happening here today.  I am not going into detail for I would not want to offend anyone.  Just know that there are so many things going on right in front of my eyes that I do not like and wish I could change them.  

If my parents knew that same sex marriages were happening they would die all over again.  Love comes in many forms and I am not saying they can't love one another...but married?  That is where I draw the line.  

I could list a lot of things that should never have been changed because they aren't for the better but I prefer to keep quiet on my thoughts.  I know I am not always right but damn it, it just irritates me when i see what has happened to this country over the last decades.

I can only hope we can go back to the good times before I close my eyes forever.

********************************************************************************

And on an upbeat note -- both my NASCAR drivers are on the front row of the Daytona 500 which will be run next Sunday, February 26th.  

Chase Elliott has the pole and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second.  Junior is back after spending half of last season "on the bench" due to severe concussion problems.  Since then he got married and hopefully he will do well in this upcoming racing season.  Right now, I am a very happy camper.

Today's World

Yes, we all can easily say This is not who we are when it comes to the travel orders President Trump has put in place.

We all know it's not who we are -- but it is who we've become.  When the Statue of Liberty was given to us with the inscription of "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,”  it was at a time when we were a very young country, when we had open arms for people who really wanted to be here and not come to do us harm.  It was a time when most of us were free spirits and strived to build this Nation into a great Nation...not like today when there are so many that just want to tear it apart and bring it to its knees.

I truly believe the travel orders put in place are a much needed ban.  We cannot go on like we were letting everyone into this country not knowing who they really were or why they wanted to be here.  When they do enter they are given so many opportunities to get a start and very few take advantage of those things that help them...and then there are the many that just keep sucking from government taking everything they can for as long as they can.

Enter the taxpayer...the hard working people of this country.  If my taxes went to a good cause like toward the children in this country who don't know where their next meal is coming from, I wouldn't care.  But the majority of my taxes go to bottom-dwelling mud-suckers who never withdraw their outheld hands for freebies.  The ones that get on Welfare and never want to get off because it's an easy life.  Why are there so many on welfare today?  Go back to the previous administration and think how they loved all those people on Welfare and subsidies because those people were beholden to them, those people would vote for them, and it just becomes one vicious cycle.  Welfare mothers beget Welfare children and so on down the line.  Somewhere the strong ones will stand up and say Enough!  Others, hopefully, will follow suit and we will become strong again, strong together.

I am very glad President Trump did what he did and I truly hope he does not back down.  That would just make us look weak.  What he is doing now is portraying to other countries the fact that we are now going to help those in need that are already here in our own backyard, those that want to be here and have their "dream" come to fruition.  I don't mind helping those that want to learn and earn; it's those others that live off the taxpayer that chap my cheeks.

And do you know what else bothers me a great deal?  George Soros.  He pays people to disrupt things, he pays them to protest the opposite of what we stand for all over this country...why doesn't he take all that money that he uses for nonsense and give it to St. Jude's or Shriners Hospital for Children or similar places like those that help children with diseases?  No he'd rather waste it on disrupting this country.  How can that douchebag call  himself a US citizen?  How?

 

MARCH FOR LIFE: What A Difference

Last Saturday there was some sort of "walk" under the guise of Pro-Choice where people wore pussyhats (I didn't make that up, it's what they are called).  There were big shot millionaire stars who gave silly speeches and put on the act of their life.  Madonna?  Go back to doing what you do best, whatever that is, and stop talking about blowing up the White House.  Your silly ass should be carted out of the country for saying that.

Ashley Judd?  What the hell was that crap that came spewing out of your filthy mouth as well?  If I didn't know you I would have thought you were the devil yourself...something you were calling our President.  Go back to the rock you crawled out from beneath and hide your nasty head in shame.

That march had nothing to do with pro-choice and everything to do with adding more hate on our President.  All I can say is, if you don't like it there's the door...leave and shut it quietly.  Oh that's right, you people don't do anything quietly.  Just leave. 

Now, folks, flash forward to earlier today...what a wonderful difference...one that made me proud to be one of them.  The March of Life.  The decent respectable women who marched for those that have no voice of their own.  Babies.  Precious babies.

I was at that march in spirit.  It was the polar opposite of the pro-choice demonstration which proves how ignorant they are.  I was embarrassed to be a woman while watching last Saturday.  All I could do was keep asking myself, What is wrong with people these days?  

Today's march had no disruptions and there were no idiotic speeches or so-called poems that made no sense.  Just decent people walking for a darn good cause.

This is a step to getting this country back to being sane again.  What we had the last eight years was totally insane and off the charts.  I for one am glad to see that era end and a new one begin.

Let's Kick Ass

Republican Independence Day

January 20, 2017

The closer we get to Inauguration Day the more excited I get.  It's almost like being a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive.

Yet every day something new pops up in the news to take away "our" good feelings about soon-to-be President Trump.  People are blaming his tweets on Twitter but when i read them I agree with what he has to say.  He is upfront and honest with all of us. 

If someone called me an illegitimate President I would be pissed off too.  And I would let that person know I was pissed off.  Who the hell does that John Lewis guy think he is?  I don't care what he did in the past...we are in the present heading toward a new country.  Live with it.

I have come a long way in this life of mine with many roadblocks along the way.  I am at a point now where nothing anyone says holds much water if it isn't something I believe in.  I don't back down to anyone.  I am my own person.  I answer to only one being and that is God.  Try and take that away from me and trouble brews.

Something else you won't get from me is my gun.  I am an American Patriot and a Christian.  Yeah, I know, I probably don't live a Christian life with the mouth I have but darn it all, don't mess with me and you won't have to hear things like that come from mouth.

And no, I am most certainly not a bitter person.  I love life.  I live for every day.  And right now I live to see Donald J. Trump become one of the best presidents this country has ever known.

And for all you Democrats still crying over Ms. Clinton not winning ?  Stick it.