Update on Dad.

Oh my, things sure have changed on Blogger since February!  I can hardly find my way around so will have to do some studying on this new system.  I was shocked to see so many comments as I haven't looked at my blog for quite some time.  Thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts for my Dad.  He is doing quite well, not 100% yet but getting there.  He is back to work mowing all his lawns, I think he has about 15 or so that he does, and we try to go and help him on the long days.  He can drive, was cleared for that quite some time ago, finished all of his physical therapy, and has had his bleeds checked out and they are all gone. He still has some dizziness when he gets up from laying back but that seems to go within a few seconds now. They told him that it might take up to a year for that to go away completely.  We are very thankful that he came through this,  God is good!  Life around here is a bit different but we are managing.  We don't like to leave my Mom alone much but we work it out.


I am sorry to say that we had to have Lil' Bud put down about a month ago.  We had been dealing with a couple of abscessed teeth that had to be removed, lots of antibiotics, x-rays, meds etc and it turned out to be cancer of the facial bones and jaw.  It was a very fast moving cancer, within a three week span it changed immensely so the decision had to be made to have him put down the next morning.  My vet said he had about a week and not to wait even that long.  It's funny because he never missed a meal, never acted sick other then when the teeth needed to be pulled, never lost any weight, looked fabulous and was so loving right to the end.  Funsize rode him up to our horse cemetery bareback and he did fine, would have cantered if she had wanted him to, just a week or ten days before we were trail riding and he took right off at a nice canter without her even asking him. He was a gentle soul and we miss him terribly but couldn't let him suffer in any way, he was 24.  Again life is different but we have such wonderful memories.  Funsize was 11 when we bought him for her and she is now 29 so really they grew up together.  :o)   We still have Scooter, Nick and Kipper.  I filled Lil Bud's big box stall with extra bales of hay and shavings, I couldn't stand to see it empty.  I am riding Scoot about every day and he is doing really well changing from his job as a team penning horse to a nice western pleasure horse.  Miss T is riding Kip and buzzing around like mad and Funsize has taken over Nick.


Not sure when I will get back to blogging regularly, maybe not till fall.  We are enjoying the lake this summer so much and I have had lots of projects around the yard putting in pretty plants replacing the ones that winter killed last winter due to no snow.  I am spending as much time as possible with my grand kids, we have done lots of fun things.  They are growing so fast and before you know it they won't think it's cool to hang out with Grammie.  They are at the lake this week with Mom and Dad and we are headed down tomorrow for the 4th.  


Again thank you for all your kind words and prayers, it DOES make a difference!


PS I am still Home On the Range but I couldn't get that on the picture so it says my title is YAY.  I will try to get that fixed.  :0)

Saying goodbye for a while

I must take some time off from blogging.  My father was hurt very seriously last week, he fell off a ten foot ladder and got bleeding in the brain.  Yes, why is an 88 year old man up a ladder you may ask??????  He was fixing the American flag.

We flew down to Florida immediately and went right to the hospital.  He looked like he had been in a fight and lost, a big shiner on one eye and stitches in his head where he hit the ground.  He was in the hospital five days and then we got the clearance to fly him home to Maine.  He did very well on the trip home as did my Mom and Buffy the cat.  :o)

He is getting around with a walker some and gaining a little ground each day.  Not sure how long the recuperation will be.  So in the meantime I am going to concentrate on taking care of things here and will try to check in with you all as much as I can. I will miss hearing from you so if you think of it just stop by and say howdy! :o)

xoxoxoxoxo

Snow Day

 

There was no school today due to rain, snow and sleet.  There was a chorus of cheering from the kids in the neighborhood, they forget that they have to make up snow days in the spring if they have too many.  I remember the excitement of waiting to hear if school was cancelled when I was a kid.  We couldn’t wait to get on our snow clothes and get outside to play.  In high school we didn’t get snow days as it was boarding school and classes were held right there.  Our one perk was that we got to wear slacks under our skirts as we had to walk outside to get to the classroom building, otherwise we could only wear slacks in the dorm.

We always dressed for dinner.  Sport coats and ties for the guys and dresses for the girls.  For church we always wore hats, gloves and hosiery and again the guys wore sport coats and ties. We thought it was extreme at the time and grumbled a bit but I think things have gone way to far the other way these days.  When I see the get ups some kids wear now days it makes me cringe.

Why do some young men wear their jeans down around their knees?  Can someone please explain that to me?  Why do they think we want to see what color boxers they are wearing and how in the world do they keep their pants from falling off?!  Good grief, if I tried that I wouldn’t be able to walk!

And ladies, please, we really don’t want to see your th*ongs when you bend over for something or sit in the bleachers at a ball game! Gag!  I know I am an old fogey but some things just aren’t meant to be seen by the world. Speaking of, please cover up your boobage while you are at it.  I was in a store recently and the gal at the counter was sitting down leaning forward and everything was hanging out all over.  Don’t they have dress codes any more in the work place or does that violate someone's freedom of speech or some other loophole?

So, for all the griping and grumbling I probably did in boarding school I’m glad it was the way it was and we learned how to dress properly.  Okay, enough ranting.

I love snow days because I stay home and usually a grandchild or two will come over.  Today was no exception and Miss T and her friend K came over this morning and are going to stay until tomorrow morning.  They have played outside, come in and dried their snow clothes in the dryer, gone back out again and started all over again.

We also like to cook as you all know.  Now Cliff M. cover your eyes as this involves more pictures of food!

This recipe was given to me by Needled Mom my buddy out in California that I will be seeing next weekend! YAY!  It’s braided bread and it was lots of fun to make and even more fun to eat hot right out of the oven!  I think maybe I could’ve let it rise a bit more so that I could get the egg wash on more evenly but regardless it was to die for!  Thank you Mary, see you soon!!!

I also got some quilting started.  I got everything cut out and will start putting it together tomorrow.  It’s going to be a beautiful poinsettia Christmas quilt.  The fabrics are really nice and the pattern is soooooooo pretty!   It was on the cover of Keepsake Quilting catalog a couple months ago.  I will keep progression pictures in future posts.

So, I must get dinner on the table as the Hubs will be home soon.  Have a wonderful weekend!

This is not about football.

One way to lose readers of your blog is to talk about football.  I have found this to be the case. This post is about football but in a very round about way, stay with me here.  :o)
Saturday morning we left to fly to Boston to be in town for the Pats game this weekend.  There was work involved but also time for some fun things too.  Flying out of here can be challenging at best so we often are on small planes that I refer to as puddle hoppers.  I’m used to it now but at first I felt like I was on a kite.
We took off without a problem and we all were doing our crossword puzzles, using Ipads, dozing, you know, all the things you do on a flight.  About 45 minutes in the air one of the pilots came back and said there were weather issues in Boston so we would have to land in Providence Rhode Island.  Okay, that’s not too bad, about an hours drive back to Boston.
A few minutes later he came back again and said we were going to have to land in Portsmouth New Hampshire as there was a possible problem with the landing gear freezing up.  Immediately my overly active imagination was showing the runway being foamed by airport personnel so that we could glide in like a sled!
We landed without a hitch and went into the small terminal to wait for another plane to be readied for the rest of the trip.
You can see that the visibility was not good in this picture.
Well we waited and waited and finally one of the pilots came out and said that there was just one guy on to deal with this stuff and that it would be a while.  The plows were out cleaning the runway and hopefully putting some sand down.
Waiting is not one of Hubs and Sons strong points so they decided they would rent a car and we would drive the rest of the way to Boston which in good weather would be a couple of hours.
Adding one more thing to the mix was that Miss T and I were going to fly back home the next morning as she had a travel team basketball game that she really didn’t want to miss and the rest were going to stay for the game and meet with some clients.
Well we hashed that over for a while and decided that if the weather was still good in Bangor we would head back home in case we couldn’t get home in time the next day.  The pilots assured us things were still fine in Bangor and they were headed back there so we hopped on and went with them.  The terminal people looked at us rather strangely as we came in as we had just left that morning!
The next day we went to her game and they won by four points which was nice as they had only won one other game all season.


We came home and did some baking and made homemade ice cream. Peanut butter ice cream with mini peanut butter cups in it.  Oh my aching hips!
The Pats won and there was a lot of celebrating down on the field with my family right in the middle of it.  Next thing I know I get an e-mail from Son with a picture of Mr. D in it! You’ve got to love technology.  A friend of ours in Atlanta was watching the game, saw D in the midst of that huge crowd (he was sitting on Son’s shoulders to keep from being trampled) had his DVR on so stopped it and took a picture of the tv screen with his Blackberry, sent it to Sons Blackberry in Foxboro who in turn sent it to me in Maine!  Is that cool or what?!





Everyone got home safely that night, the weather had cleared so all was well! :o)


Hey Dickiebo I can't get onto your site!

Can I help with the homework?

 

Here is Miss T with her kitty Penelope.  They are like two peas in a pod even when it comes to homework time.  She sits there patiently waiting for T to get finished.  She even came to spend the night here last weekend when Miss T spend the night.  Noodles liked the company but Munchkin was in a snit and hid the whole time.

Miss T loves all cats.  In fact she loves all animals and has a tender heart towards them.  She was playing with my Ipad the other night and Noodles was a good subject to shoot.

 

She also took pictures of her Miss Matched socks.  I guess they are all the rage now with the younger set, mismatched socks on purpose, they even come this way.  We got these at the Miss Matched store at Universal in the fall.

I’ve been continuing to take down my Christmas decorations.  It looks awfully bare without the lights and greenery on the shelf in the sunroom.  I may put up some strands of little white lights all along the shelf if I can do it without them being seen.

 

We made little apple tarts and Miss T made her own crust from scratch.  I’m going to put together a little binder with all the different recipes she has made for her.  That girl loves to cook!

 

These rolls came out much better then my hockey puck debacle of Christmas Day!

It’s a few days later and I still haven’t gotten this posted yet.  I just came home from having a nice lunch with two horsey friends over town.  It was nice, we sat there for three hours!  When we came out one friend had a ticket on her car………she was not happy.  Then as I was driving home she called and said that it was a courtesy ticket.  I had never heard of that, I thought a ticket was a ticket but guess not.  Maybe it’s like a warning. She was happy!

 

Ever have those days when you just can’t think of anything interesting to write? I’m having one of those days.  The End.

Your ham might cook a bit faster if you turned the crockpot on…..

I write notes to myself all the time.  Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t, like yesterday when I left myself a note to put a big ham in the crockpot for dinner that night.

I know sometimes when I get up in the morning I have 50 things to get done so I leave a note on the kitchen bar to remind me to do things.  Sure enough when I got up I didn’t even get downstairs until 9 AM by the time I made the bed, picked up the bathroom and bedroom, sorted laundry, showered, did hair etc etc so when I came down and saw the note I scurried around getting the ham out, washing it, getting it in the Crock pot with some water etc etc

About 10:30 I thought to myself, I don’t smell the ham cooking yet.  Guess what?  I didn’t turn the crockpot on, just plugged it in!  Good grief.  Sooooooooo I turned it up on high and hoped for the best.  It did cook nicely the way I like it with the meat falling away from the bones but it would have been very disappointing to have the Hubs come in for dinner and the ham still cold in the crockpot.  Please tell me that you do things like that too!!!!

I did make custard and it came out fine.  It’s so easy to make and my family loves it.

Best Baked Custard

6 eggs slightly beaten

2/3 cup sugar

Dash of salt

2 teaspoons real vanilla

5 cups milk scalded (I do this in the microwave)

Nutmeg

Heat oven 350*. Blend eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla.  Gradually stir in scalded milk. Pour into 6 oz. custards cups and sprinkle with nutmeg. Place cups in a baking pan and pour very hot water into pan within 1/2 inch of top of cups.

Bake 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center of custard comes out clean. Remove cups from hot water and serve either hot or cold.  (We like cold.)  You can find this recipe in the old red Betty Crocker cookbook on page 184.  YUMMY!

We went to Mr. D’s first basketball game Saturday morning.  That’s him in the green shorts making a shot!

We missed Miss T’s game, that’s her in the middle in the black uniform with her hands in the air.  She made that shot so was very happy.  Son takes pictures for us if we can’t be there which isn’t very often.  They won this game 26 to 10, it was their first win.

We lost a dear friend last week, he passed away at the age of 81.  His name is Lee Lamson and he was one of my most favorite people around.  His sense of humor was incredible and he could have us in tears laughing so hard over a good story or joke.  He was a kind man.  Many years ago when I was still doing hairdressing I got a call from the funeral home that a family had requested me to come in and do the woman’s hair that used to be one of my clients.  I was floored.  I had never done that before and wasn’t sure how I would react to being in the prep room with dead people being prepared for their funerals.  I was a wimp.

I called Lee who worked in the funeral business at times and said I just don’t think I can do this.  He said yes you can, I will go with you!  Get your stuff ready and I will pick you up so that you don’t even have to drive, I guess he could tell my voice was shaky.

So he did.  And it was fine.  He was cracking jokes with some of the other funeral staff and I began to relax and did the hair without keeling over!  I will never forget his kindness in taking his afternoon to help me through that job.  We joked about it many times through the years since but I sure needed someone that day!

I’m happy to know that I will see him again someday, it is comforting.  He loved the Lord with all his heart.  He is also Funsize’s Grampa so please keep her and the rest of the family in your thoughts and prayers.  We miss him.

Miss T is getting off the bus here after school as Mr. D has a follow up check up at the pediatrician’s office.  He is doing well since his bout with pneumonia.

Quite a few of you asked what a Sound Pipe is.  It is a speaker system that hooks onto your ATV so that while you are out in the woods on the trails you can listen to the music that you have on your Ipod.  The white parts are the speakers.  You can also use it working out in the woods on the trails by running it off the battery as long as you don’t use it that way too long and run the battery down.  It was a fun goofy gift that I knew he wouldn’t be expecting as he is hard to buy for. :o)

Christmas 2011

We started out Christmas Eve Day having a Patriot’s party here on the ole range.  We all like to watch the game so decided it would be fun to watch it together before the Christmas festivities began.  Even Noodles got into the fun with Miss T.

There was lots of yummy food.

We decided to make some gingerbread men.

Can we say ‘calories’?  My hips are expanding just looking at this picture!!!

Lots of presents for good boys and girls.  A signed Patriot’s shirt for Cousin K!

A new rolling pin for Funsize!  Watch out Paul!!!!

Whoops! Caught me having some Coke.  Hey, it could have been the fudge!

Mr. D’s favorite, boxers from Rainforest Cafe.

A necklace for DIL.

All my young people except Funsize who had to leave early for a four hour trip to visit her boyfriends parents up north.

Bringing in the new bikes that were hidden in Mom and Dad’s apartment.

Sons new Sound Pipe!  Thanks Hollie for the suggestion, he really likes it.  Did Colt like his?

A Pogo stick for Miss T.

Hunting clothes for Cousin K.

Fun playing a new game.

I received several special gifts this year.  One was a book made for me by my niece Ashley.  I was very touched by the amount of work she put into it and all the lovely pictures she tracked down.  It is such a great idea if you want to do something special for someone.  She used Shutterfly.  She used every letter of the alphabet but I will put in just a few.

This one proves I CAN make good yeast rolls!

Funsize had a clock made up for me that I love.  It’s me, Miss T and Funsize on the horses one day last summer.  What a unique gift!!! I LOVE it!

My niece Ana did a collage for me with old and new pictures.  I’m sure it took a lot of time putting this together.  It even has my favorite picture of me and the Hubs right in the middle.

I am very blessed to have such wonderful caring nieces and nephews.  Some live quite a distance away but these three live right here in town and I see them often.  Can’t ask for much more then that!!