Nuts To You

What an interesting day. Tom started his new job today. He left at 4 AM to be sure he was there on time. He called at 5:25 to let us know he had arrived. It was a little worse getting home, though. He said he took a wrong turn somewhere (Albuquerque?!) and ended up in Alexandria and had to figure his way out of there and back on the beltway. He is working for an HVAC company and right now they are finishing up work on a rec center in Fairfax. Tom said he helped build a catwalk on the side of the building today that will be used to access the new units that were installed earlier. It's too early to say if he likes it or not - the initial jitters haven't worn off yet.

Sometimes the boys tease me about what they call my "family orientation". I am a stickler for eating dinner together at the table with no television on, and I try at least on Sundays for us all to eat breakfast together. I am also known for initiating "family pizza and movie nights", "video game time", where all of us compete against one another, and other things which really bug them sometimes. Oh, well - there will be time enough for everyone to be off on their own doing their own things. Right now we are blessed enough to all be in one place, so I think a little (or a lot) of "togetherness" is nice! The boys didn't see it that way when I initiated a "family split-and-stack-firewood-for-the-whole-winter day". Anyway, in true "family orientation" spirit, I made everyone get up to see Tom off to work this morning. Yes, at 4 AM. To be honest, I think everyone kind of had the jitters, because all of us had trouble getting to sleep and it really wasn't difficult waking anyone when it was time for him to leave. Jerry gave him last-minute map checks and I made sure he didn't forget his lunch. One day very soon, we PROMISE to treat him according to his age - but not today! I don't expect that he'll have the same send-off tomorrow morning, but you never can tell with this bunch.

In science Andy was learning about Venus (the planet - not the woman!). The atmosphere is so thick there that scientists use radar to "see" the surface as they can't get a clear picture through the thick clouds covering the planet. As an experiment, I had to make up a model for Andy to map out using a kind of radar. I crumpled newspaper into a small box and then poured plaster over it, creating hills and valleys in the box when the plaster dried. Then I made a numbered grid on paper and covered the box with it. Andy had not seen the box and so didn't know what was in it. He had to mark a stick (we used a wooden kebob skewer) with measurements, then poke the stick through each grid and mark the measurement on a corresponding paper. By using the measurements when he was finished, he was able to make a "picture" of what was in the box based on his measurements. Then he took the paper off to see how close he was, and he had mapped our Venus-in-a-box perfectly. The experiment took a while, but it was a lot of fun. Low-tech, but it worked!

I wonder what it means when the nut trees and pine trees are VERY productive? Does it mean a harsh winter or something? Yesterday Andy, Hilda and I picked up shagbark hickory nuts that had fallen from the three trees near our driveway. We have never seen this many before. Most of the time the squirrels get just about all of them and we are lucky if we get a few. Not this year. We picked up an entire bucketful, plus a huge Tupperware bowlful, and Andy and I went back out today and filled a cardboard box top with several more. Looks like we'll have nut bread this year! While we were out today, Andy and I noticed that there were lots of pinecones lying on the ground, too - more than I can remember seeing in a long time. Today was a beautiful fall day and we really enjoyed being outside. Andy wanted to do his lessons outside, so that's what we did.

Jerry is hard at work on his truck. The motor on his brown truck (his baby) had finally died, so he ordered another one which finally came in and he has been hard at work putting in the new engine. A while back Jerry was working on a house when the man who lived across the street came to the job to ask if Jerry would give him a price to put siding on his house when he was finished that job. Well, they started talking and it turns out that this man painted vehicles for a living and Jerry just happened to need new paint on his baby, and so they worked out a deal - siding for paint. Shortly after starting on Jerry's truck, the man found out that he had cancer. It took him a long time to finish the truck because in between he needed surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Jerry felt badly and kept telling Lonnie that it didn't need to be finished, but Lonnie kept at it, and he finished painting it. It was two-tone, brown with beige down the middle, but Lonnie got the brown done and was going to get to the beige later on, but he just got too sick to finish it, and we felt terrible that he was pushing himself to finish. We brought it home as it was, and I guess it will stay that way unless Jerry decides to paint the beige himself. Sadly, Lonnie died a few weeks ago. His wife called here a few days before and said that Lonnie was asking for all of his friends to come visit him, as he knew he wasn't doing well. Lonnie was a good guy, and Jerry really misses him. Anyway, soon his truck will be back on the road, with a new engine and new paint.

Whew - long post this time! I really should start posting more often and maybe each entry would be shorter!

Oh, nuts!

THIS is how you work on a truck.

Low-tech radar!

Update!

Tom got a phone call this morning, and he will be starting work on Monday morning - in Fairfax, Virginia. This is through the meeting he had last week at the union office he went to, and someone who works for one of the companies is looking for a helper, so they called Tom. He has until January to be sure this is what he wants to do before signing up for the five years of schooling to become an apprentice and then journeyman. The man that he will be working with told him that they only have another week at the job in Fairfax, and after that he will be working near home.

After Tom told us this news this morning, I did what any mother would do - I bawled. Okay, maybe it's that time or something, but I had kind of gotten used to Tom being around, and so had Andy. Tom is working now, but his hours are erratic and most of his lessons were in the evening, so he was here with us during the day. I can't really say why I cried - I just know that I did a lot of it, and felt immensely better afterward. I think I was crying also because it felt like just the beginning of the changes that would be taking place within our family circle, and it also meant for sure and for certain that Tom wouldn't be moving with us. I know kids grow up and move on, and I have been praying for Tom to find a direction for his life, but when it came, I wasn't ready for it! Jerry just rolled his eyes when I started sniffling and babbling this morning - he's used to seeing me like this over our kids! He just shook his head and wondered aloud what it is going to be like when Andy grows up and the nest is empty for good. Which prompted a fresh onslaught of tears!

I'm better now. My eyes are a bit swollen still, but I'll live. I just refuse to think about Andy growing up - I've still got a little while yet. I'll cry about that later.

Oh, and we didn't win the raffle for the $350.00 worth of groceries at Safeway. Good thing we went to BJs, huh?!

Maybe it's just me, but I believe that when I have grandchildren, (which had better not be for a LONG time yet), they will only know what trick or treating was because of being told by their parents, not because they will have the opportunity to do it themselves. We have been here 10 years and the number of children that have come here on Halloween has dwindled each year until last year, for the first time, we had NO ONE come to the door. (Had to eat all that candy by myself, you know. I considered it a mercy eating - had to save my family from the stuff, of course). This year we had two little girls come to the door, but they were my neighbor's daughter and her friend and were on their way home and stopped by. Can't really count that as true trick or treating, though. I remember a few years back when a very tall teenager dressed in combat fatigues and Army boots held out his bag and with a very manly voice said, "Trick or Treat". I looked around for a hidden camera somewhere, but not finding one, and seeing the expectant look on his face, I obligingly dropped candy into his bag. I do have my suspicions, though, that he actually WAS in the military............

Andy has only been trick or treating once, and that was when he was in kindergarten. Neither of my boys was ever really interested in it. That's not MY doing - I'm all for free candy, especially if I get a cut of the chocolate! And as for that one time that Andy went, he only went as far as Hilda's house, scored a haul there, and decided that he was finished. We had painstakingly made a paper mache (did I spell that right? Doesn't look right....!) turtle shell so that he could be Franklin. I went all out on that costume, attaching Velcro straps to the "shell", and even painting a turtle shell pattern on it. For one house. Oh, well. Once I sewed a dinosaur costume for Tom when he was small. THAT was really cute. Somewhere around here I have a picture of him in it. It was like a green jumpsuit that had a hood, and I had made "fins" all down the back and on top of the hood that were stuffed. Tom went trick or treating a few more times than Andy, but didn't start getting into the swing of it until he was older and then I finally had to gently break it to him that 18 was really too old to be doing that. Nah, just kidding. It's probably a good thing my family has no interest in reading my blog huh?! Oh, the stories I could tell......!

Andy did the neatest (I'm old, okay? I use words like "neatest") thing the other night. He plays an online game in which there are players from all over the world. He and Tom have both been playing this game for a couple of years now. There is a translation mode on the game so that all the players can understand each other while they chat, but the other night Andy took a chance and decided to try chatting in Japanese with a player from Japan. I knew he was playing the game, but I didn't realize what he had done until he excitedly screamed, "I DID IT! HE UNDERSTOOD ME! AND I UNDERSTAND HIM!". He nearly scared me out of my desk chair, but his excitement was worth it. So is homeschooling! They chatted for a minute, then Andy got stumped on something and had to write that he hadn't gotten that far yet learning the language!

It is getting late now, and I think I will read for a while. Right now I am reading Seasons of the Heart, a wonderful book by Janette Oke, which I have already read a couple of years ago, but it's huge and takes me a long time to get through it. I am also reading the new issue of The Old Schoolhouse homeschooling magazine that came in Monday's mail, and An Encouraging Word magazine which came in today's mail. And there's ALWAYS an issue of Countryside lying somewhere near me. Oyasumi!

What A Day!

Yesterday was quite a day. I needed to go to the grocery store badly - the cupboards were bare - and I wanted to go to BJs. I didn't like the thought of going over that tall bridge, but not going because of that didn't seem to be right. That is definitely not having faith! Tom and Sam went with Andy and I because they didn't have to be at work until the afternoon. Tom was riding in the front seat and decided it was a bit stuffy in there and so was going to put his window down a little. I saw him push the button down and then we heard an awful grinding, crunching sound. The window came down a little, but there was the definite sound of broken glass somewhere down in the door. I told Tom to put the window back up, if possible, and we would look into it when we got home. He tried to put the window back up but it wouldn't go all the way. It stayed about a half inch down. We decided to just leave it alone so we didn't cause any further damage to whatever was malfunctioning.

We went to BJs, proceeded to spend a disgusting amount of money on food for this family, and headed home. As we were traveling we noticed that the window on Tom's side was dropping little by little all by itself. It got to about two inches and then stopped dropping.

We got off the main road onto the back road that Andy's school is on, now about two miles or so from home. We started hearing a funny noise that kept getting louder and louder, then we felt the truck start riding rough and we realized we were getting a flat tire - quickly. Tom's open window afforded us a prime opportunity to hear the GRRRRRRRRR sound at a deafening level as it was the right front tire. By now we were about one mile from home. I had approximately $350.00 worth of food in the back of the truck, a spare that was also flat (Jerry had just informed me of that about a month ago), and a decision to make. I had to decide whether to try to get home or stop. I decided to try to make it home. I didn't know how long I might be sitting on the side of the road with all that food waiting for either Jerry or a tow truck - and only a mile or so from home. I turned on my flashers and proceeded to do about 10 mph for the rest of the trip. By the time we pulled into the driveway we could smell the tire which had gotten very hot from riding on it flat. I had been afraid of damage to my rim, but had weighed the short distance I was going against that and had decided to risk it. When we pulled into the driveway, we saw that Jerry was home. I was afraid he'd be angry that I had ridden on the rim, but he wasn't, and thankfully there wasn't any damage to it. He had another tire for the truck in the shed so he took the flat one off the rim and put the new one on and pumped it up. Now I just need to have the tire balanced. I will never make a smart remark about him keeping odd tires again. The only thing he could find wrong with the flat tire is that the base of the valve stem looked like it had been cut but that could have happened while riding on the rim. We found nothing in the tire itself like a nail or something, nor any obvious defects that would have made it go flat the way it did. I am very, very thankful that it didn't happen farther from home or - heaven forbid - on that bridge! As for the window, Jerry managed to get it raised all the way up so that it would close, but now we need to have that fixed. They say that things come in threes - whoever they are. A while back my "Change Oil" light started coming on. We have always taken our truck to the same place to have the oil changes and tuneups done ever since we got it, and they always reset the light and put a little sticker on the windshield that tells us when we're due for another oil change. Well, we haven't reached that mileage yet and when Jerry checked the oil, it looked just fine and he couldn't find a reason why the light was coming on. I guess now we'll go ahead and take it in to have that checked, have the window fixed, and have the new tire balanced. That's three. Theoretically we should be done! I told Jerry that the reason these things happened wasn't because things happened in threes - it was because we paid the truck off a month ago!

A couple of weeks ago while we were at Safeway they were having a raffle to benefit breast cancer where you could win $350.00 worth of groceries. I bought a few tickets because it's for a good cause, and the groceries wouldn't hurt, either! (Never mind that I just spent that much at BJs.......!) Anyway, the drawing is today and Andy has just asked me if I had on my "lucky draws" as he says it - so that we would win. It seems he has told everyone in the family to wear their "lucky draws" today. I wonder about that kid.

Now I'd better get going and get Andy busy. We had originally planned to do his lessons when we got back from shopping yesterday, but then with the events the day got later and later. I gave him the choice of doing his lessons yesterday evening or today, and he chose today. Another advantage to homeschooling - not being limited to when you can make up your lessons!

Fall Is Here!

The weather has definitely changed. The mornings are actually cold! In the last few days with the rain and wind, it hasn't warmed up much during the day, either. I love the cooler weather. I was jealous when I saw on the Weather Channel that parts of West Virginia were having snow. Soon.....I keep telling myself. After finally having a break from using the air conditioning, I refused to turn the heat on, even though it got quite chilly in the house, especially early in the morning. I tried to bake stuff in the morning to help warm the house. We'll be fat (er!) but warm. I think of it as a challenge to see how creative we can be to keep ourselves warm rather than using the heat - for a while anyway. Definitely no fun in the dead of winter to do that! This morning just as I was making cookie dough to make cookies to warm us up somewhat, Jerry decided it was just too cold and turned the heat on. While the challenge of keeping us warm creatively is gone now, there will be a new challenge taking it's place - paying the electric bill.

We still haven't been able to get away to look at property, and I must say I'm getting a bit discouraged. My faith hasn't been very strong lately, and I keep forgetting that as long as I just keep plugging away and doing what I'm supposed to do that things will fall into place. Trying to force things to go your way is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It just doesn't work. It seems that the properties we had been planning to visit (ones we had seen online) have all been sold now and land is going fast. Apparently a lot of people are thinking like us. Also a lot of companies are now equipping employees to work from home in order to save fuel and expenses of office space, and so, like me, many more people can work from their home, and moving to places like West Virginia where there may not be any local work, is no longer an obstacle to employment. Oh, well. Faith! Gotta have it - or more of it, anyway.

School is going very well. We're getting into some meaty math which is a challenge for Andy - he has pretty much been cruising through up until now. As I am typing this he is working on a grammar lesson on possessive nouns and objects. He has to write sentences using these plus transitive and intransitive verbs. I must admit that I didn't know what those were until teaching him last week! In case you're wondering (which you probably weren't), a transitive verb is a verb that needs something else to go with it. For instance, you couldn't say, "Karen broke". Well you could, but it wouldn't make sense. You need to add another object to the end of that. Karen broke - what? Her arm? a cup? wind? You get the point. An intransitive verb is a verb that says everything you need. "Karen walked" is an example.

I am anxious about Tom this morning. He has gone to a steamfitter's union office to talk to them about employment. I am surprised at my feelings about this. It seems like I have been pushing him to do more with himself, but now that he is, I am a little frightened. Being a steamfitter seems like such a big deal with the commitment that he needs to make for schooling and belonging to a union - then there's the whole Jimmy Hoffa thing..........

Oh, well. Guess it's time to get on with my day. Faith. Gotta remember that!

A wet parrot is pitiful-looking too - but he was happy!

Buddy took a bath too - except he actually enjoyed his!

I love Sundays. Today has been very relaxing. Usually I try not to work on Sundays, but I think the Lord forgave me today, because I'm trying to work ahead so we can take off for a few days. There's a pork roast in the crock pot, a loaf of bread in the works in the bread machine, the cat is bathed, and the house is relatively clean.

Jerry has been very busy around here this week. The handrail is finished. He put up two fans on the porch, and fluorescent lights in the garage. It sure is bright in there, now!

Last year we had pork in the freezer - this year it will be beef. We bought a steer from Jerry's brother who is going to house it and feed it until it's big enough to butcher. It's already 600 pounds, so it should be big enough by around January or so. He offered us the entire steer for a great price, and we couldn't turn it down, so we'll be getting the whole thing. I hope the freezer is big enough! We also had to think about the fact that moving an empty freezer is a lot easier than moving a full one, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I talked with Dad today and asked him if he would like some of the beef when we get it, and he said that he definitely would - and then proceeded to tell me he wanted several filet mignon, sirloin steaks, and other prime cuts. I told him he needed to call Jerry and place that order himself - there is no way I'm going to get in between a man and his filet mignon!

I gave Peaches a bath today. There is something paradoxical about bathing a cat. Bath and cat are not two words that go together. Like civil and war. Anyway, I managed it, and he seems to be grateful. We had let him outside a couple of days this week and his long fur was hiding fleas that he picked up from being outside. That is definitely not something we need to deal with inside the house, hence the bath.

Well, now I am going to go enjoy the rest of my Sunday - all too soon it will be work, school, and the regular stuff again.

Have you ever seen anything more pitiful?!

Jerry's fluorescent lights. I neglected to mention that the garage ceiling is 11 feet high - that's why I didn't care for standing on a walkboard holding up drywall last week!

The stair rail turned out beautifully. It sure is better than that old black, ugly one!

More of hubby's handiwork - to add to my already insufferably boring blog!

Everybody's A Critic!

I have finally arrived......I guess. There is a tracking function on my blog where I can see who has visited my blog - not who personally, just where their internet connection is. There is a map that shows dots where people have read my blog from. My blog has been read from local places to places as far as Brazil and Japan. There is also a function that shows where the reader was referred from. If it's someone who has my blog address, it just shows that the reader typed in my blog address directly. Sometimes my blog is referred from another blog, and that seems to have been the case lately when I achieved my brief moment of fame. I noticed that my blog had been referred from a blog I had never heard of, so I went to that blog to check it out. This blog writer was writing about how he was recently bored and so decided to check out other blogs just for fun. What he wrote was, "there are insufferably boring blogs out there, like for instance the lady in England who scrapbooks, or this lady who posts pictures of her husband's handiwork...." Guess who that link led to?! Yes, none other than me. That insufferably boring blogger who posts pictures of her husband's handiwork! I did not take the comment to heart, however. This "critic" turns out to be an unemployed 24-year-old living in a basement and apparently has nothing better to do than surf blogs to see what "boring stuff" is out there. I think I liked an earlier visitor to my blog much better, who is affiliated with the homeschooling magazine I referenced in an earlier blog. The magazine was starting a homeschooling blog and wanted to know if I would be interested in writing for their blog. I was flattered, but because we just started homeschooling, I didn't really feel qualified to add anything just yet! Who knew my humble little blog would garner such attention?! Insufferably boring and all!

Slowly but surely....

Slowly, s l o w l y, this house is getting in shape so we can put in on the market. Jerry has been very busy the last few days. He extended the small deck off of the back porch and made it larger. We had to do that because the way it was, one of the supports was sitting on the septic tank - not a good thing considering all the work we just did to the septic system here! Now the deck supports are clear of the septic and the larger deck looks much nicer. He also finished the block retaining wall in the back yard. There are two tiers, and it has turned out beautifully. It is also making a huge difference in keeping the yard in place instead of running down the hill when it rains. Today he is replacing the old wrought iron railing in the foyer with a wooden one. Now comes the hard part - for me, at least. He is going to run air conditioning ducts downstairs, which requires going through MY bedroom closet. Yikes - I'm afraid to open the doors for fear of avalanche, but it has to be cleaned out for him to have access. Only the upstairs had air conditioning vents and the basement always pretty much stayed cool, but we decided that air conditioning downstairs might make a difference in selling the house for someone who might be considering using the downstairs for separate living space, especially since we're putting a shower down there, too. (That's his NEXT project!). Oh yeah - he also finished putting drywall on the garage ceiling. Tom and I had to stand on a walkboard HIGH in the air and hold a piece of drywall above our heads while Jerry nailed it. That was one job I didn't really like much!

We have had a good week as far as school goes. We are moving right along learning about Columbus. I tried to tell Andy that his ships were named the El Nino, Pinto Bean, and Santa Claus, but he didn't believe me. Kind of scary to think about me teaching him, isn't it?!

Jerry is replacing the horrid wrought iron rail with a wooden one.

I was experimenting with the black & white setting on my new camera, and caught Peaches napping on Jerry's arm!

Andy has made friends with a stray cat that has been here for months. Sigh......another animal.

The block wall extends to the garage, behind Jerry's truck. It turned out very nicely, and is really helping to keep the yard from washing down the hill!

What's In A Blog?

I haven't written in a while because I haven't been in a very good mood. No reason, really. Just feeling work pressure, housecleaning pressure, PMS, overweight, overtired - you get the picture. Somehow I felt like I couldn't write because I felt grumpy. That's the thing about blogs. What you read is never a picture of the whole person - just those parts that the writer is sharing. People are far more multifaceted than that. I am subject to foibles, bad moods, and mess-ups just as much as the next person, but I guess it's hard for me to put that in a forum where everyone and anyone can see it! So, there it is. I was grumpy, so I didn't write.

Anyway, not much has been happening here. Andy, Tom, Sam and I went to the county fair on Friday. It was much more crowded than it was in the previous few years. We were literally shoulder-to-shoulder with people trying to move around the fairgrounds. It wasn't as enjoyable as in previous years because of the crowd and long lines. I guess that's what happens when you live in the county dubbed as the "fastest growing county in the state", which it was several months back. Actually it was determined to be the fastest growing county in the state, and one of the 100 fastest growing jurisdictions in the nation. The people here think it's great, but I don't see it that way. It is crowded and noisy, the people are getting more rude by the day, and the county is filling up with yuppies. I read an article recently about how the county is trying to change the zoning laws here now, to make it more difficult for farmers to have livestock. It was stated that the county was having affluent people moving in, and with what they are paying for a house here, they should not have to be subject to seeing or smelling pigs, cows, chickens, or anything else "farm". Seems to me to be a step backwards. This county was nothing BUT farmland not so long ago. But we mustn't make the affluent yuppies uncomfortable now, right?! Sheesh. Oops - some residual bad mood is oozing out.

Today has been a wonderful birthday so far. Jerry and the boys insisted that I open my gifts after lunch. I kind of wanted to delay it, to somehow stretch the day out more, but they were so eager! They gave me a beautiful sunflower gel candle that smells wonderful even without being lit, and a digital camera of MY VERY OWN! Tom is thrilled that I no longer have to borrow his. Mine came with a case and a tripod, too, so I told everyone I expect to take a family picture very shortly, now that I can set the camera on the tripod and set the timer to take the picture. Now I can't wait to go to the mountains to look at property - and take LOTS of pictures! I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading through all the literature. There are a lot of features to learn to use. The camera is the same model as Tom's, just with a few more features than his, so I already basically know how to point and shoot. Now I just have to watch Tom, to make sure our cameras don't "accidentally-on-purpose" get switched!

Power Dressing, Indeed!

I came across this story and I am still laughing. Be careful how you dress!

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. This week has been nuts here with playing end-of-the-pay-period catch up! That's what happens when you do things like go to bluegrass get-togethers and go fishing instead of working! Well, it's caught up now, and this pay period I won't get behind. Actually I'd like to stay ahead if possible, because Jerry said that he would like to go look at property in WV sometime in the next couple of weeks. We are both getting antsy now. We had not planned to be here another winter, but sometimes things don't work out the way you planned them! I'm sure there's a good reason we're still here, even though we may not realize it, but we do have faith that we'll be put where we're supposed to be when we're supposed to be there.

We finally sold the property we had for sale in WV. We weren't in any hurry to sell it and so we stuck to our asking price, which we eventually got. We used the proceeds to finish paying off the Tahoe, so now we're just down to the mortgage and Jerry's trailer, and that will be paid off at the end of this week. The mortgage will take a little longer! We are slowly but surely paying off everything so we have more funds to buy a house in WV with and can be mortgage-free there. It would be even nicer if the month-to-month stuff around here wasn't so expensive! Last month's electric bill was $270.00. I guess because of the air-conditioning (it's energy efficient, don'tchaknow!) Energy efficient, my eye.

Buddy the bird has officially become part of our household. Andy and I took the sign down. We didn't get any more calls on it, and he was very quickly endearing himself (herself?) to us. He now says "Heeeeere, kitty, kitty!" very nicely! Sometimes if he can't see us he'll either start squawking or shrieking, or laughing like a maniac until he can see someone! Today Tom had band practice downstairs and for some reason every time the drums started, Buddy would shriek "HELLO!" He has developed the disturbing habit of making a distinct belching sound that sounds suspiciously like Tom! I can live with that, but I definitely made it clear that the bird was NOT to be taught any foul language! The family just laughs when I tell them that, though, and it makes me cringe to think of what "language lessons" might be going on when I'm not around!

Well, enough blogging for now. Got another busy day ahead.

Uncle Jim's house.

One of the bands playing.

Cousins Lisa, Jon and Amy.

Uncle Jim, (their) cousin Nick, and Dad. They are all so much alike that it's scary!

Alyssa, Collin and Matthew having fun in the moon bounce.

Mike, Sherri and Mike in the room with the desserts - funny how we kind of congregated there!

One of the bands is playing under the canopy.

Crossing over the river before Harper's Ferry.

Aunt Dot (Jerry's Dad's sister), and Jerry's mom.

A Wonderful Day

Yesterday was a wonderful, relaxing day. We went to Uncle Jim's house for his annual bluegrass get-together. We had never gone before and I'm so glad we went this year. It was great seeing relatives, some for the first time, and seeing cousins I haven't seen in 20 years or more.

I had printed out directions from Yahoo! maps on the internet, but they neglected to tell us that the "Potomac Street" they had us go down was through the historic Harper's Ferry park and literally down through the woods. We had just crossed over a train track and went down a slight hill and then there were - woods. And nothing else that we could see. Just as we were beginning to turn the truck around, we heard a train whistle and then the warning lights started flashing. We got turned around just in time to watch a train passing roughly 10 feet away from us. It was pretty scary. When we got out of there, we saw a park employee directing traffic into a parking lot, so we stopped and asked directions. We showed her what we had printed and she said that yes, believe it or not, the road we got on after the railroad track actually was a road and went through the woods! But thankfully she said there was a much easier way to go, and so we went that way. You'd think Yahoo! would have at least marked it the "scenic" route or something! Boy, was it scenic!

Tom, Jerry's aunt and mom ended up not going with us. Tom was sick when he came home from work Friday night and felt terrible and spent the day resting and taking medicine yesterday. Yesterday morning shortly before we were going to leave, Jerry's mom called and said that Jerry's aunt was sick, too. We stopped by on our way to pick up lawn chairs that we were borrowing from them and to see Aunt Dot before she left today to go back to California. She was really disappointed because she wanted to go with us. She said she felt well enough to go, but Jerry's mom wasn't sure about having her out all day instead of resting, especially since her flight to California today has a 2-hour stopover in Dallas and today will be a long day for her before she gets home. So, it ended up just being the three of us. Tom is really hoping they have another one next year because he was also disappointed that he didn't go. Uncle Jim had originally said that this was their last one, but then yesterday he said they might do it again. I hope so.

Andy had a great time. He really enjoyed the music. The bands that played had some CDs for sale there, and Andy bought two for himself. He listened to them on the way home and again last night. Andy and I were just walking around the yard when we heard music. One of the bands was playing an impromptu concert in the parking area, all by themselves. Andy wanted to stay and listen, and they didn't mind, so he got a private concert! Andy was amazed at how wonderful the music was, with no electricity involved! Now he has a new enthusiasm for his violin, as he intently watched the fiddle player, and now insists that he MUST have a banjo to learn to play!

Anyway, it was a great day, and it's hard getting back into "regular" life today. I feel like I just want to do nothing and listen to Andy's CDs today, but I can't - I didn't get to the apple butter on Friday, and so now I really have to do that.

Catch of the Day

Andy and I had a great day today. We went crabbing and fishing in Solomons. I had been reading on the DNR reports that the crabs were plentiful and the fishing was good. Today must have been an off day! We caught exactly one crab, and that's it. We were there about five hours, too. Four elderly people in a boat pulled up close to the pier and asked Andy if he would like the fish that they caught, so even though we didn't catch any ourselves, we still got fish. I had told Andy that if he was going to fish, that he was also going to learn how to clean a fish. I also decided that this was something I should learn how to do, too, as I've never done it before. One of the houses we have seen online in WV is on a river - a stocked river - and cleaning fish would probably be a useful skill to have there! I can now say that I have cleaned fish. It's really not so bad. Andy didn't get off to such a great start, though! We were doing this in the kitchen (probably not the best place to clean fish, but we were using directions in one of my wonderful, old cookbooks). Just as he was slicing the bottom of the fish, suddenly the slippery fish shot out from under his hand and flew across the kitchen trailing what I guessed to be a gallbladder, like a kite's tail! Once we stopped laughing (and cleaned the floor!), we got busy again. The innards weren't Andy's favorite part, but he did okay with it. I tried to fillet one which didn't work out at all. I ended up with something approximately the size of a chicken nugget. I believe fillets require bigger fish - or more experienced fish cleaners. Jerry came home shortly after that and since I knew he knew how to do the job quickly and efficiently, I asked him to show me his method which turned out to be much better than my bumbling efforts.

We are a little burned and very tired, but happy. Tomorrow will be another busy day. Jerry's mother gave us a bucket of apples, so it's apple butter time again. Then Andy and I need to clean our vehicle to go to Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy's bluegrass festival on Saturday in WV. Jerry's aunt is here from California and so she and Jerry's mom are going with us. The truck doesn't need too much attention, but it needs to be vacuumed and we need to make sure that there isn't any residual fish/crab smell from our adventure today.

About Andy's ONE crab - when I asked him if he was going to throw it back, he said, "No way! I'm going to eat that beast!". And that's exactly what he did, too. I cooked it and he barely waited for it to cool down before he ate it.

Here's a fat and happy seagull!

The pier and the bridge.

Adjacent land is owned by the Navy and there was a huge ship docked there today.

To give an idea of size and height, what you see on the bridge is a tractor-trailer. THIS is why I get nervous going to BJs!

Have you ever seen a ham fish?

The parking lot of the pier is under the bridge and the pier is just beside it.

Andy fishing at the end of the pier.

A Must-Read

This is absolutely unbelievable. Click on this link and read this article. National Geographic ran this story in it's October 2004 issue. Incredible. Immediately after seeing this story online, I wanted to read the whole story. I ran downstairs to go through Tom's "archives". He saves all the National Geographic magazines because we all read them (thanks, Mom!). More blogging later if I get a chance, but I just had to share this. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief.

Bird Days

I have learned to never say never when it comes to pets. We will never have another dog. Until brother Mike needed someone to take Bear. We will never have another cat. Until we found Peaches half-conscious and bloodied in the back of Jerry's truck. We will not keep this bird. Until nobody claimed him and he quickly became a family member. Sigh...... Oh, well. Never a dull moment around here, anyway.

Either the previous owner of this bird purposely let him get away, or he really is a wild one blown in from somewhere. Only one person has called about the "Found Bird" ad, and it turns out that she lost a very large, full-sized parrot who had a yellow head and red wings. Definitely not this one. He has now been named Buddy - derived from the fact that everytime someone passed by the cage they said, "Hey, buddy!" So, Buddy it is. Buddy is quite the talker, too. He imitates my laugh and Jerry's. He says "You're bad" (Jerry's voice), "Hi!" (in my voice). Actually, that's more like a singsong and drawn-out "HiiIIIIIiiii"! He says "Pretty bird", and does an incredible imitation of a crow's "CAW CAW"! The other night he started making night sounds like the crickets we hear at night here - even though he was inside. I think he must have spent some time being outside to have picked up the crow sound and cricket chirping. Also, if he had belonged to someone before, as quickly as he has imitated us, it seems that he would be saying something that he picked up at his previous owner's, but the only things he says are what we have told him. He also imitates the squeak on my desk chair! He doesn't do these things all the time, and some he has only done once (like the desk chair), but he's getting more loquacious by the day. Taking after me, I guess!

We had him in the cat carrier anticipating that someone would claim him, but we decided that he needed a cage since it seems like he's adopted us. Tom and Sam went yesterday to get one and came home with - a dog crate. I stared at the box for some time before mustering up the courage to ask Tom what he was thinking. For heaven's sake, there was a Labrador retriever on the picture on the box! He said that there was not a bird cage to be found in this area and he thought that this would work. The bird doesn't seem to mind the extra space, but it sure takes a lot of space up in my house! The bird has discovered that he can poke his head out between the bars, which is definitely not a good thing when there's a cat watching your every move. Buddy likes to crawl upside down on top of the cage and then poke his head through the bars on top and look around. I keep having visions of Peaches jumping up on top and playing "Whack-a-mole" (or more accurately, whack-a-parrot).

Peaches has learned to keep his distance from Buddy, and Buddy is not afraid of him in the least. The second day we had Buddy, Peaches got a pulled whisker, a nipped nose, and two nipped paws. He doesn't bother him anymore! Yesterday after I had put parrot food in Buddy's food dish, Peaches reached his paw into the cage, scraped a pawful of parrot food out of the cage onto the floor and began to eat it. He did this two more times before I put a stop to it. He was making a mess, and parrot food can't be good for a cat! I have always said my pets were never playing with a full deck. Buddy fits right in with the rest of them, too.

School is going great. Yesterday we learned several Japanese phrases. The course we are using teaches them how they sound phonetically first, so that you can actually use the language right away. Did you know that Ohio-Goes-Eye-Moss means Good Morning in Japanese? Or that Oh-Yah-Sue-Me is Good Night?! In more magnifying glass and sun experiments, we discovered that chocolate doesn't just melt - it actually burns. The experiment was to use three chocolate pieces and by raising or lowering the magnifying glass, make the spot of sun on the chocolate bigger and smaller and see the difference in melting time because of how concentrated the sun's rays were when the spot was very small. The chocolate started actually smoking almost immediately and there were actually round, black charred areas on the top of the chocolate bar. It smelled awful, too. Did you know that one million earths could fit inside the sun? Kind of makes me feel small in comparison.

I guess I should be going and accomplish something today. I was very surprised and pleased when I got an email the other day from one of the companies that I do transcription for. It said that they were very pleased with the quality of my work and my diligence in getting the work out, and that they were raising my pay. What a wonderful, unexpected blessing that was! So, I should get some work done, and also I really need to get outside and do some yard work. The yard is looking like a jungle, and Jerry's been working from dawn to dusk and pretty much collapsing when he gets home, so the boys and I really need to step up and do more around here. The other thing I need to do is write Mother back with the boys' Christmas list. You'd think that by now I would be more prepared as this happens every year, but I'm not. Her email was funny. She said, "You know the drill. Help this old lady out so she can get her Christmas shopping done".

Wow - I can chatter as much on my blog as I do on the phone! Sherri called me the other day to relay a message from Dad, but she also said that Dad had told her to set a timer before she called me, or she'd never get off the phone. Nice. Oh, well. It's true - I am a chatterbox!

Do you think this could be a problem?!

I'm watching you......

Andy trying out the cage - not a bad fit, actually.......

That's not a goofy grin on Tom's face - that's fear that he's about to lose an ear!

Music is one of Andy's favorite subjects!

Jerry's new friend!

Weird Happenings!

Yesterday just as I was typing the last line of my blog, Jerry called me and said to get Andy and come over to the neighbor's house quickly - that we would not believe what he had. He had been at Hilda's house replacing the string in her weed trimmer and they were sitting out in her back yard by her shed. I must confess that I thought he must have found some sort of reptile or other creature that boys tend to appreciate more than girls, but I dutifully grabbed Andy and went over. Boy was I wrong! Jerry was standing there holding a parrot! Hilda had been sitting in a chair under a large tree in her back yard when she saw something swoop down and then felt something on her back. Not being able to see what it was, she was understandably alarmed and told Jerry to "Get it off me!" Turns out, it was a parrot that had flown down out of the tree and onto her back. What are the odds of that happening?! Jerry held out his finger and the bird very gently climbed onto it. We got some bird seed and water and it ate and drank very heartily! He wasn't inclined to fly away, either. When Jerry put it down for a moment, it walked and followed him until Jerry picked him up again and then he climbed up on his shoulder and just sat there. We put it in our cat carrier (how's that for irony?!) and brought him home. We looked him up and found out that he (she?) is a Quaker parakeet, or Monk parrot. We also found out that they are wild in some places, the nearest to us being Delaware. There were pictures on the web of actual flocks of them in places like Florida and Tennessee. I don't think this one is wild, although it could be. It's leg is banded, although the band doesn't give any information that would let us track it. We found that some state agencies track birds by banding and that it may not necessarily have belonged to anyone. Just to be sure we didn't have someone's pet, Andy made a big sign and we posted it on the community bulletin board which is on the side of the road as you enter our community. No one has called yet. Jerry has certainly gotten attached to it already. The bird nips at everyone but Jerry, but as long as I don't act afraid (and can stand the pain for a bit), the bird will eventually let me pet him.

Now if that weren't strange enough, Tom called this afternoon from work and said, "Mom, you are NOT going to believe this!" There is a bench outside of the store where he works and he said he looked outside today and saw sitting on the bench - you guessed it - a Quaker parakeet. He said that a girl that works at the store went up to it gently and tried to get it on her finger. It didn't fly away, but wouldn't get on her finger, either. Tom said it just backed away from her a little on the bench. Then Tom said apparently the people working in the hair place next door saw the bird. They came rushing out, making lots of noise and chased the poor thing trying to catch it. Of course, then it flew away and Tom said they didn't see where it went. Tom said this one had a band on it's leg, too. Something very strange is going on here. If the hurricane had been closer to us I tend to think that maybe somehow that had something to do with it. Or a truckload of birds escaped somewhere close by!

Not a lot has been going on around here lately. On Friday I drove (yes, you read that right!) Andy and I to BJs to get the last of our school supplies that we needed. He needed a sketch pad and art pencils which we got at Michael's which was next to BJs. I was really nervous driving there, especially going over that VERY HIGH bridge, but I did it. I was exhausted when I got home, but I did it! I kept reminding myself as I drove that "anything that is not faith is sin". You can't have fear and faith at the same time!

Today we are expecting the last of his materials - his Japanese course and Grammar book. Even though we had school last week, tomorrow it begins for really. Looks like I need that grammar book!

I think I have created a monster. In Andy's science book we were learning about the sun. One of the activities was to take a magnifying glass outside and burn leaves. Well, I think we have run out of things to burn, or attempt to burn. Andy enjoyed that activity so much, that I think I've created a monster (or a pyro!).

On Saturday Andy's friend came over and they had a very nice time together. Well, actually there's no such thing as 11-year-old boys having a nice time - more like a rambunctious time! This was his friend Kody, the one who went to the beach with us earlier in the summer. I had a nice visit with Kody's mom, who unintentionally stayed chatting the entire time Kody was here! We started talking and well, the next thing we knew four hours had gone by and they needed to get home because they were expecting the grandparents over for dinner. It was a great afternoon for Andy and I.

Well, now I need to get some coffee and get some work done. The nap bug is trying to bite me, and I just have too much to do for that!

Back To School

Today was Andy's first day. I had as much fun as he did! And I think I actually learned some things, too. He made a design in plaster of paris that turned out very nice. He chose a plate from extra dishes that I had stored to take to the thrift shop and broke it carefully and then embedded those pieces into the plaster. As we were walking back into the house, he decided to snip off a black-eyed susan to put in the middle.

We learned about the migration habits of Canadian geese, a little about the Vikings and began on astronomy. Did you know that you can remember the order of the planets by the phrase "My Very Early Morning Just Started Under Nancy's Pancakes"?! Using the first letter of each word - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Next time Andy has to make a mnemonic phrase of his own to remember. That should be interesting. He made a model using balloons and hung them from his ceiling . I thought it was a very good first day. Apparently so did Andy - we had already finished for the day and this evening he asked if we could "do more science", so we went to the next thing in his book which was the balloon planet project. I hope his enthusiasm continues.

Today began my 4 AM schedule again, though - and I am TIRED! I admit that I had gotten away from that over the summer, but I needed to get back to it so I could get my work done early and have the rest of the day free. I must confess that I took a short nap this afternoon. Well, my work was done, school was finished for the day, dinner was planned, and I was TIRED! I don't intend to make that an everyday habit, though.

At 3 o'clock this morning Andy walked into my room (where I was soundly sleeping) and announced (shouted, actually) "Do you NOT HEAR what I'm saying?" I sat straight up in bed (and checked that I hadn't wet myself in my fright!) and said "Huh?" He then began to talk nonstop about a video game that he plays. Realizing that he was still asleep, (which is a good thing for him - if he EVER talked to me like that when he was awake, I likely would whomp him!) I told him to come over to my side of the bed and tell me about it. After about three sentences he was snoring loudly! He doesn't remember anything about it. He talks in his sleep quite a bit, but this is the first time he's walked too! It would have been funny if he hadn't scared me half to death!

The solar system - in Andy's room!

The finished product.

Here's Andy - creating his masterpiece.

Today was nice. Dad, Sherri, Zack and Alyssa came to visit for a while. I had a crockpot full of spaghetti, but Dad wanted to get home to cut his grass this evening, so they didn't stay for dinner. We will have to have a nice, long visit sometime soon. I pray for Dad each day, as I can only imagine what a struggle it must be for him. I have difficulty trying to imagine what it would be like without Jerry, and without the boys too, but just imagining it for a moment feels very lonely.

Sherri has done a terrible/wonderful thing. She has shown me how to use Comcast's photo show feature. Now I'll never get anything done. It's her fault. I made a photo show of Tom and one of Andy, but Tom did some creative editing to Andy's photo show, and now I need to do some editing of my own before it's web-worthy!

I gave Andy the choice of starting school tomorrow or Tuesday, which is when everyone here does - and he chose Tuesday. He's squeezing every last bit of summer out that he can!

On Friday we went to BJs, which is a warehouse club store like Sam's Club. Never go hungry. There are mutant-looking sized boxes of goodies there, and pies that are approximately two feet in diameter. Want croissants? Have a case. Or two. If the rich pastry gives you indigestion, pick up an industrial-sized bottle of Pepto-Bismol. In the past I bought my hair color there because it came in a pack of two (one must always have a spare, you know!), but I wasn't able to this time. They have never offered the full selection of hair color that a Wal-Mart or even a grocery store would carry - that's the nature of a warehouse store - but usually I could find an acceptable shade of brown, anyway. Well, not this time. This time they only had TWO colors available - blonde and black. I decided I could live with my gray a bit longer, rather than going to either of those extremes.

Jerry is installing windows in a house across the street from us, and he has finished now and just took the warranty information over to them, so I guess I'd better get the rest of dinner ready and on the table. He is so tired. He worked all day yesterday with his uncle taking down trees. He enjoys the change of pace from his construction work and has found that he rather enjoys doing tree work - as long as it's his uncle up in the top of the tree and not him!

How Long, Lord?!

What is wrong with people these days? Many, many things, I'm afraid. This story is unbelievable. Sometimes I just wonder, "How long, Lord? How long are you going to put up with this?!"

Andy's math materials came in yesterday. His student book and manipulative blocks were backordered, so what we got was the teacher's book and DVD and his test book. I told him we would just go with that! He failed to see the humor in that. The rest of the materials are expected this week.

It was nice to hear from Mike today. I had sent books to Dad, Sherri and Mike and he said he was already a good way into his copy. The book is Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I have only read a little of mine, but it seemed wonderful and was very highly rated and so in light of all the conversations we had been having after Maggie's passing, I thought they would enjoy the book too. This is from the front cover flap: "What is Heaven really going to be like? What will we look like? What will we do? Won't Heaven get boring after a while? We all have questions about what Heaven will be like, and after twenty-five years of extensive research, Dr. Randy Alcorn has the answers. In the most comprehensive and definitive book on Heaven to date, Randy invites you to picture Heaven the way Scripture describes it - a bright, vibrant and physical New Earth, free from sin, suffering and death, and brimming with Christ's presence, wondrous natural beauty, and the richness of human culture as God intended it. ......And the next time you hear someone say, "We can't begin to imagine what Heaven will be like," you'll be able to tell them, "I can."

It's not an easy read, but definitely a good one. As usual though, I am reading more than one thing at a time. Yesterday a new issue of Countryside magazine arrived. That is always a dangerous thing around here! Reading it always makes me want to just stick a For Sale sign in the yard and run for the mountains.

Jerry has been very busy lately, working 12 to 14-hour days, so we haven't had a chance to look at property. It seems that as soon as people heard that we wanted to move away, everybody wanted something built or done "before you go"! Businesses could use that to boost sales - just tell people you're moving out of state! It's just as well though, because we figured that with Maggie's passing, it's a good thing to stick around here for a while for Dad, and then when He (God - not Dad!) decides it's time for us to move, He'll see to it that "all our paths are made straight". He has never failed us yet when we wait on Him for major decisions.

Now I think I will go and do some reading and get ready for bed. For some reason I have been very tired today. Probably because this old body did more housecleaning this weekend than it has in years! My house (and my old body) didn't know what hit it!

What a boring weekend. A wonderfully boring weekend! Actually, I did a lot of cleaning this weekend. I actually scrubbed my kitchen floor with a scrub brush - on my hands and knees! That is not how I usually clean the floor (although those who really know me know that I usually don't clean the floor at all!) But we won't mention that. Anyway, it needed a serious cleaning. My knees are very sore, but the floor looks great! Yesterday it was the bathroom. Thoroughly. Ugh. Now the rest of the house still looks like a cyclone went through it, but I'm making some progress.

We got a course booklet from the local college the other day. They are now offering many courses online and devoted a large portion of their catalog to their online course offerings. However, one course in particular caught my eye. It is an online course called Using the Internet. Hmmm.....shouldn't you kind of already know that before taking an online course?!

Andy's history and geography materials came in. I think we are both looking forward to starting school. Now we are waiting for his math to come in, and then I still need to order his foreign language course (he chose Japanese). I wasn't able to order that with everything else and needed to wait for another pay day! Homeschooling is wonderful, but definitely not cheap!

This has been a great day. My floor is clean, there are brownies baking in the oven, and Andy is cleaning his room (without even having been asked!) Life is good!

Boring days - yay!

These past few days have been boring - and I'm glad. I've just been working and working on decluttering. Yes, it's taking me a while.

Andy's science stuff arrived the other day . It looks like it's going to be lots of fun. It was the book he is using (which is Astronomy) plus all the materials he needs to do all the experiments and projects throughout the year. I was happy when, after looking through all the goodies, he asked, "Can we start school whenever we want, or do we have to wait until everyone else does?" We have not started yet, though. All of his other subject materials have not arrived yet.

We were at the used-book store last week and on the bookmark they gave us it says, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read". This is attributed to Groucho Marx. I think it's a hoot!

WHAT???

BAND PRACTICE IS GOING ON DOWNSTAIRS. HEAVY METAL. WHAT? WHY AM I SHOUTING? HUH? I CAN'T HEAR YOU......

I finally got Tom's birthday pictures off of his camera. These were the only two I could manage as the batteries were low (dead!) and kept cutting off when I tried to take a picture. We gave him an iPod. Once children get older it's hard to get gifts for them. I have to say that I really like his iPod - I may just have to get myself one - well, after I get a decent camera!

I had written to my cousin Lisa last week and she wrote back the other day. Her email had me in stitches. I had written in my letter to her that listening to conversation between her dad and mine (brothers) explained A LOT. She wrote back, "It's genetic. There's no hope. Give up now". She was packing for a trip to Australia the next day! I wish I had gotten her flight information so Andy and I could track her flight. We tracked Sherri's when she flew from New York to come to Maggie's funeral. At various points throughout her flight I jotted down the plane's altitude and speed. It's very interesting - and Sherri didn't realize until I showed her that she was hurtling through the air at 525 mph! The tracking must stop once a plane reaches an altitude of 5000 feet when it's getting ready to land, because we could see the plane steadily descending, then it got to 5000, then it read "altitude 0 - arrived". I'm quite sure the plane didn't just drop from 5000 to 0 in a minute's time! The last flight we tracked was the same way, when Jerry's mom was flying to Ohio. We even got to see that her flight had been delayed twice before taking off. She was supposed to have left at about 8 PM and arrived at around 10 PM. Jerry was at his brother's house and called me at 10 to let me know he was on his way home and he said, "I guess Mom's plane has arrived now". I was seeing on the screen that she was actually still sitting in BWI airport because there had been another delay. I don't get out much - therefore I live vicariously through relatives!

Tom was wearing a Hawaiian lei and decided to drape it around his ears. Don't ask. Here he is unwrapping the iPod that we gave him. That's a neat thing! I want one now!

Tom's birthday cake. Food Lion did this one - not us!

Whatever Happened To Modesty?

I just saw a television commercial for back-to-school clothes. Oh my. In the commercial there is a young pre-teen girl trying on different outfits, all of which cover very little of herself. Why do girls (and women for that matter) need to show so much of themselves? And at school, no less?! Oh, I'm not such a prude that I don't remember wanting clothes like that for myself when I was younger. I was not raised in a home where modesty (or the reasons for it) was really addressed, but then it was also understood that there were just some things we would not wear out of the house, young lady! Today's pre-teens are dressing like the streetwalkers of only a generation or two ago.

Back in the 1800s a man who caught a glimpse of a woman's ankle considered himself fortunate! A woman's shoulders were also considered to be an especially feminine part of herself, perhaps in contrast to a man's broad shoulders, and they also were not shown except to a husband. There used to be some mystique about what were considered feminine parts of a woman's body, such as her upper arms, shoulders, legs, ankles and feet. Doesn't it stand to reason that if a man only sees these things on his wife and not all day, every day, then some of that mystique would remain for him to enjoy? Now there is nothing left to the imagination. Proponents of video game bans claim that too much violence has "hardened" a generation of children and the shock value is no longer there. The same is true of television and movie violence and even sex on TV or in the movies. It's the same as developing a tolerance to a drug - you need more and more for there to be an effect. I view modesty the same way. How can a man ever appreciate a woman's feminine attributes when he sees them everywhere he goes? That makes them everyday and ordinary - not something to be treasured and appreciated because they are not seen often.

My point in all of this rambling is that amidst all the societal ills that we have today, I know modesty will probably never make a comeback, but it sure would be nice if it did. And that's my humble opinion on this Friday!

Another Monday

Today has been interesting. I went to the bank, the board of education, and the grocery store. Mundane things for everyone else, but anxiety-provoking for someone afraid to be on the road. It is confusing how my faith is what lets me even get out there to try to drive somewhere, but I can't seem to get any control over the gut-wrenching (literally!) fear that comes when I see a car approach in an intersection. I can actually start to feel comfortable behind the wheel until I come to an intersection, and then my knees start getting wobbly and my stomach feels most uncomfortable. I wasn't going to write about that, but as with so many other things, this is part of me - who I am, and that's what this blog is about. Writing a blog is kind of like just letting it all hang out - the good, the bad and the ugly! But it's also therapeutic, and that's why I do it, and so when my boys are older they can have this to look back on and see what their ol' mom was all about (which may answer many questions for them!)

I went to the board of education to withdraw Andy from THE SYSTEM. As I suspected, they didn't want to see what materials I was using. I just need to fill out a form stating my intent and that I agree to teach him what he would be learning in school, and that's that. There will be a review in January and in June in which I will need to show his work to the home school coordinator at the board, but that's it. It's kind of funny though - they made it very clear that Andy could not participate in any school activities of any kind, including extracurricular, and could not use any school materials - BUT he sure was welcome to take the state testing when it's given at the schools! I guess he is! - his and other homeschoolers' scores would tend to make the school's scores look very good, which translates into more money in the end. We can't use anything of theirs (even though I still must pay school taxes), but they can use our children with the education that we taught them, to make their school system look good. Puh-leeze. Okay - enough board-bashing. I will say that I am very pleased with the education that Andy got in elementary school, and for that I am grateful. It also helps when you have a smart kid - but then, I'm biased!

A Reason To Behave!

I was reading about people who had near-death experiences. There were several things that they all had in common, but there was one thing that really made me sit up and take notice. They said that they first saw themselves "hovering" above their bodies, then they went through a sort of tunnel. Upon arrival at the end of that tunnel, they saw what was like a movie of their lives. During that movie as they watched themselves interact with others, they felt the feelings that the other person with whom they were interacting felt. One woman said she had stolen her sister's Easter basket when they were small; a fact she didn't even remember as an adult, but in her "movie", she saw this and felt the sadness and anger that her sister felt during that. A man who admitted he had been particularly ruthless in his dealings with people said that he saw all of these things and felt just awful feelings; the feelings of the people he had cheated and betrayed. By contrast, though, the times when the people did good things for other people were also seen, and then they felt the good feelings that they gave other people by being kind and generous. Definitely something to think about as we wander through our days in this society that has become almost completely selfish with an "everything for me" attitude.

We are celebrating Tom's birthday this evening. I will post pictures (if he lets me use his camera - again). I really have to get one of my own one of these days! More blogging later if I get a moment.

It's amazing what a little sleep can do. I'm slowly getting back on some sort of a schedule around here. It has been a tremendously long and hard week and we have all been kind of out of sorts. Being such creatures of routine, I did find it helpful to try to get back into one again. I feel like I've been in a fog and it's just now clearing!

Yesterday was Tom's birthday, but we won't be celebrating it until this weekend.

Sherri called me from Cooperstown Dream Park in New York where Zack is playing baseball this week and I was able to watch him play from my computer! Technology is truly amazing.

Well, time to wrap this up - a nasty storm is quickly approaching and I'm a nervous ninny when it comes to storms and unplugging stuff - especially after lightning hit us once already and fried everything! The wind just knocked over my bamboo plant on the deck. Definitely time to go!

Gone From My Sight

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!", there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying.

- Henry Van Dyke


This was included in the program for Maggie's funeral.

Maggie's funeral was yesterday. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, either, especially when Dad got up to speak. Quite a few people told him that he could have a second career as a preacher! Even Rev. Ticknor told me that later. Dad told everyone that every day you should thank God for having someone you love in your life. If you have silly arguments, or say things you really don't mean, if something happened and you never saw that loved one again, would that be the last thing you wanted them to have heard? He said when you go to bed at night to pray and thank God that he gave you that day with people you love. In the morning if you wake up and that person is still with you, he said to thank God again for giving you another day with them. He said that even though he was in Delaware during the week, he and Maggie called each other at night to talk about their day and to say goodnight. Dad said he is comforted by the fact that the last thing he said to her was "I love you", and "Goodnight". While he was saying this, the lights in the church flickered. They flickered again when Maggie's best friend Julie stood up to speak. After the service Dad had wanted some private time with Rev. Ticknor to talk and he told me that during that time he asked about the lights, and Rev. Ticknor told him that he noticed it, also, and that it had never happened before. Something to think about!

On a table in the reception hall there was a display of pictures of Maggie and three photo albums of pictures. There was also a basket of shells that Maggie had collected over the years and everyone was told that they could take a shell if they wanted to. At the front of the church during the funeral Dad had put a picture of Maggie in which she was standing on a beach all by herself, with the wind blowing her hair, her arms thrown wide open, and a huge smile on her face. Dad said that this was a favorite picture and that it showed just how Maggie embraced life. People talked about how she would randomly send them cartoons, articles, books, or something that she came across that she thought they might like. One day as I was sitting here working, the phone rang and I saw on caller ID that it was Dad's and Maggie's number. All I had time to do was say "Hello?" and Maggie said, "TurnonDr.Philrightnowhe'stalkingaboutfearofdrivingbye!", and hung up. I was laughing, but managed to get the television turned on to the right channel!

Rev. Ticknor said at the funeral that many years ago his wife had left him, and he was left with two children ages 2 and 4 to raise. He said that he and Maggie had even dated a few times after his wife left him! I talked with him after the service and told him how I had attended St. John's Church. It turns out that he knew that church very well, and as a matter of fact had just seen Father Wingert, who was there while we attended and who did our marriage ceremony, a month ago! He said that St. John's closed a number of years ago and that several items from the church were stored in his church now. He said that after standing empty for many years, the Diocese sold St. John's and now it is an African-American church and he said he was glad to see it, too, because now that church had more spirit than it ever had! He said that the priest who took over after Father Wingert retired died just a few years after that at the age of 42. He was Father Robey. He had taken over St. John's by the time of our wedding but we had asked Father Wingert to perform our marriage ceremony since he was the one who had been in the church while I was growing up, which he was kind enough to do. It was certainly a sad day, but Maggie had a lot of friends and Dad told everyone that Maggie would want everyone to laugh again and he said that rather than mourn what seems like an untimely death, that we should celebrate having her in our lives for 22 years, as he did. I do believe that Dad could be a preacher!

It was nice seeing my cousin Lisa again. She came with her husband, Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy. We caught up on things and exchanged email addresses. Every year Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy (isn't it funny that at my age I still call them that? Just calling them Jim and Nancy somehow seems disrespectful!) have a bluegrass festival at their house in West Virginia. Dad has told me in previous years how great it is but we never went. I think we'll be going this year, not only because it will be good to get together with everyone, but because Aunt Nancy said this is the last year they are having it!

Well, I am truly tired and need to get some work done before I can even think about taking a nap. I am still fighting back tears now and again, and I guess I will be for a while. I keep choking up thinking about watching Dad carry the box with Maggie's ashes out to his van to leave the church yesterday. He suddenly looked so tired and old. He didn't want her ashes put in just anything; he chose a box that she had particularly loved and that had been in his library/study at the house. Oh, now I'm going to cry AGAIN. I need to go switch gears and work or clean house, or do something! I asked Rev. Ticknor to please keep Dad in his prayers and he assured me that not only would he, but that he would make a prayer request at the church as well. Dad had said not to pray for him, but to pray for Maggie, but I told him that Maggie was already Home, and now Dad needed prayers for strength and peace for each day to come. Okay - enough now! Back to work! Or cleaning. Or napping.

This really is going to be a short post. I am really tired and feeling sort of at loose ends today. Maggie passed away at 9:10 last night. Dad wanted to be at home alone last night which we were worried about, but he kept insisting that this is what he wanted. I called him this morning and he sounded tired, as expected, but he said he was okay. He said he was walking through the house looking at everything. Maggie has always put little touches here and there and the total effect was beautiful and looked like something from a magazine. Once when I was there I noticed some lemons and limes placed on a cutting board on the counter. After being there for a while and the fruit not getting used, I asked about them and Maggie said that she just thought when she saw them that they were beautiful pieces of fruit and that they happened to match the cutting board and so were just a little arrangement there in the kitchen. There were things like that everywhere. She found beauty and humor in everyday things. Once when I was there I noticed something hanging on the door in the kitchen and went to see what it was. It was an old actual photograph of a train wreck where the train had derailed and was quite crumpled with pieces scattered around. Underneath the picture in the margin Maggie had written "6000 Parker Drive" which is their address! She had been recovering from her lung infection and said that this was basically what her house had become since she hadn't been able to get up to do anything - a train wreck! Only Maggie would have thought of just putting something up like that. This morning while talking with Dad about these little things that she did, I told him that Maggie put Martha Stewart to shame. He agreed and said that Maggie even had one up on Martha Stewart - Maggie wasn't a roaring witch! Oh, dear. I've done it again with the short post. Maybe I'll start with the intention of writing a long post and see what happens.

Just a short update on things. Uh oh - I said short. We'll see. Anyway, Dad called to tell me that Maggie is still hanging on. Everyone had been so sure that yesterday would be the day she went Home. He said that she always did have the last say in everything! He said she didn't go when he was ready; she would go when she was ready, and that was that! Dad is getting better day by day. I know there will be ups and downs and some days will be better than others over the next days, weeks and months, but he is doing better. I believe that God is allowing Maggie to be around this long because it has helped provide healing for Dad and anyone who may have been questioning removing her from life support, which, even though that was her wish that she had made known before all of this, was still a terribly hard decision to make. Instead of passing suddenly, everyone has been able to say goodbye to her. Yes, I know what the doctors say - that she can't hear, or think, or know that we're there, but I'm not convinced. And besides - how exactly can they know this? As far as I know, no one has ever returned from the other side to tell them.

Maggie's memorial service is scheduled tentatively for Sunday. It is going to be at the church where Dad and Maggie were married. I'm sure that it will be a packed place. I don't think there's anybody in the county who didn't know Maggie. Dad has been camping at the hospital for a week now. He has only recently started running home long enough to shower and change and then goes right back.

It's odd how things can seem so upside-down in situations like this. For instance, two days ago Dad said that the insurance company said that Maggie needed to be taken out of intensive care and put into a regular room because she no longer required intensive care. For anybody else who was recuperating from something, that would be very good news, indeed. But in Maggie's case, it was because there was nothing left to do anymore and because she hadn't passed away, the insurance company wouldn't pay for an ICU bed any longer. Then Dad asked the nurse about leaving for a short while to run home and shower and change, and the nurse told him to go ahead, that Maggie had "stabilized". Again, ordinarily a patient stabilizing would be a good thing, but in Maggie's case it meant that nothing had changed.

So many issues being brought to mind, challenged, and definitely lots of food for thought these days.

This is going to be a short post. I am exhausted and am only writing because I have some things to get off my mind. Thursday night Dad found Maggie unconscious and she was brought to the hospital unresponsive. They determined that she was brain dead. She and Dad had already talked about this before, so Dad knew her wishes, which were not to be on life support. Dad prayed for a miracle as did everyone else, but I guess God's will was for this situation to be just as it was. Yesterday at noon Dad had her support taken off. It is now 4:30 PM the next day and Maggie is still with us. It is so difficult and I am really struggling with some things. I have been at the hospital the last couple of days and when Sherri and I went in to see her yesterday evening, when we would talk to her we noticed that her respiratory rate and blood pressure would rise. We decided not to say anything about it, as Dad has been on enough of a rollercoaster ride as it is. But when we were back out in the waiting room, two of Maggie's friends who had been back to see her for a long time said how they noticed that when they talked to her that her blood pressure and respiratory rate rose! They had asked the doctor about it and were told that there was some response probably because the voices were familiar but nothing that could be cognitively processed and that the brain wasn't actually comprehending anything. I am having a hard time with this. Well, I talked to her as if she could hear me anyway, because who can know for sure? It is very difficult because for someone who had asthma and who had a very serious lung infection a year ago, she sure is holding her own. Dad had such hope at first and his hopes were bolstered by some encouraging information the first day, but then the doctors dashed that and said that there was no chance of recovery. I think this was worse than if it had been that way from the start when she was brought in. Anyway, now that Dad has accepted this as best as he can right now, it is heartbreaking to see him holding her hands and telling her that it's okay to let go now. I am getting teary AGAIN writing this. I didn't think I had any more tears left after the past couple of days, but I was wrong. This morning Jerry's brother called to let him know that a neighbor of Jerry's mom died in his sleep last night. These are folks that Jerry grew up with and they have been a big part of Jerry's life. I didn't think Jerry had any more tears left, either, but I was wrong about that too. So now there will be a funeral for Mr. Crandell on Thursday, and Maggie's possibly Friday. It's been a long week already, and it's only Monday. I will keep on praying for peace for everyone, because I do have faith, and I know that what He is allowing to happen is all for a reason, even though we don't understand that right now, but He promises us that "All things work together for good for those who believe in Me". Amen to that. Did I say this was going to be a short post?!

Taking The Bus!

Tom and his friends are chartering a bus - the same one I showed a picture of in a previous post which took Andy's class to the boat trip. A few weeks ago Tom and his drummer friend were talking about going to Ozzfest again this year, which is a huge, outdoor, all-day rock concert (think Woodstock - minus the LSD). Last year Billy had his Explorer but it has since been wrecked - again a previous post! - and now he has a small pickup truck. Several friends of theirs are going but this year transportation would be a little difficult and would require several cars. The concert is at Nissan Pavilion in Virginia and it's kind of far from here, so the logistics of getting a bunch of people there by 9 a.m. and everyone staying together and coming back together at sometime after midnight were a little daunting, to say the least. I suggested to find out how much it would be to charter the bus that had been used for Andy's trip because I had heard from the people at school who chartered it for the fifth grade class how nice the service was and I had seen first-hand how nice the buses were. I called them and they gave me a price - plus a discount since I said that I had been on one of their buses before and was really impressed. Broken down among several people, it was actually quite reasonable, and it made a bunch of people very happy to know that they could all ride together and not have to juggle parking and finding everybody once they got there. I have been put in charge of collecting the money and reserving the bus (which I did yesterday). I am so glad that this worked out for them as I always worry about Tom and his friends driving long distances anyway, but I knew after a day of concerts that everyone would be very tired which made the drive home very worrisome for this mom! Tom and Billy asked if I wanted to go since I was arranging the bus. I know they were only asking out of courtesy - it was amusing to watch them cringe at the thought that I might actually go! I politely passed on that one. Ozzie Osbourne isn't quite my style! More blogging later if I get a chance. Right now I gotta go flip a funnel cake that Andy and I are making. Yum!

Still Kickin'

Whew! I have been very busy working the last few days to try to make extra in order to buy the books and things we will need to homeschool Andy. It shocked me when I saw the calendar and realized I only had two more pay periods before I needed the supplies, so I figured I'd better put it into high gear. Here in our county we are required to register with the board of education no later than 15 days before the first day of public school in order to homeschool. That puts us roughly in the beginning of August. With Tom, I had gone through the church that we were attending at the time and they served as my "approval" for what I was teaching, which was then approved by the school board. Now I'm on my own and I'm not sure if they are going to want to see what materials I intend to use or not. Probably not. I truly do not think this county cares much about this. I have very little faith in our local board of education, and have been very disillusioned that they are acting in the best interests of our children. It's surprising how much my thinking has changed in that regard. With Tom I was very scared and thinking that THE BOARD KNEW ALL, and wondering if I would do it right. Now I realize that THE BOARD knows very little, and I am confident in my ability to teach my child, and furthermore believe that he will get a much better education this way.

I have spent about three years looking at and comparing curriculum for Andy. I think I have made good choices, but we'll have to see when we begin. Nothing is written in stone, and I'm obviously not going to continue with something that just isn't working for us, but right now I feel good about what I have chosen for him. With Tom, because I really felt like I didn't know what I was doing, I bought a pre-packaged curriculum for the entire year that was basically all workbooks for each subject. BORING!!!!! I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that in store for Andy. Tom's curriculum package was what was used in Christian schools. Andy's isn't overtly Christian like Tom's was and is quite a mix. I did, however, choose a science curriculum that assumes that you are teaching that God created the earth, and not some random cosmic explosion! At least he will get both viewpoints this way, which is more than the public school science teaches.

I figured I should probably update my blog just to let anyone who may read it know that I'm still kickin'! Busy, but still kickin'!

Here is the big crayfish, sans legs.

Here's the little crayfish. To give an idea of his size, the white gravel is the kind used for the bottom of a fish tank and is very tiny.

Bug Bites and Crayfish

Lazy summer days! At least not too lazy, though. I am managing to keep up with everything these days, anyway. I am tired right at the moment, though, because of being up most of last night watching Andy's hand. He has severe reactions to bug bites. We KNOW that he always needs bug repellent on when he goes outside, but I guess this time it's my fault that he got bitten. On Monday, the Fourth of July, I heard and saw fireworks above the trees on the next street over. I called for Andy to come quickly so he could see them too, and - you guessed it - we didn't bother with the bug spray. We were back inside within 15 minutes, but it was too late. He had two mosquito bites on the top of his left hand. Yesterday morning when he woke up his hand was a little swollen but by last night it was really puffed and now his fingers were, too. We're doing what we always do; Benadryl, cortisone cream, ibuprofen and ice, and watching it closely to make sure it stays clean and doesn't get infected. When he was younger I took him to the pediatrician the first few times this happened and we were told each time that it was the same thing - just a severe reaction to bug bites. Now we know what to do, but I still don't sleep well and find myself checking on him throughout the night. We were given an EpiPen to inject in his thigh if he should ever get stung by a bee, but thankfully, we have never had to use it. The pediatrician had told us that since he had this severe reaction to regular bug bites, that he will probably have a very bad reaction to a bee sting and his throat would probably swell shut. Scary stuff.

We discovered we have crayfish in the spring/ravine/ditch in our back yard! Jerry was fixing it and installing a pipe to make drainage better back there and had to do some digging in the bottom of the ravine. He found a small crayfish which we put in a small aquarium and watched. When Jerry found the critter we looked it up in a Nature Study Handbook that I had gotten to use next year with Andy, and it told us a lot about crayfish and how interesting they are to watch. They are, too! We watched this little guy move tiny pieces of gravel to make a place for himself just so! The next day Jerry found a very large crayfish but this one had no legs. There were also some sort of animal tracks down in the mud too, so evidently something battled with the crayfish and he lost his legs in the process. Our book said that the legs would grow back, so we put him back where we found him (along with the little one, too), and he is still alive.

I have been making an effort to spend less time on the computer. It can be an addiction just like any other bad habit. I have found that I am accomplishing a lot more when I surf less. I have been making slow but steady progress in de-junking my house. There's just SO MUCH STUFF!

Here's the birthday boy!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

We had a wonderful day today. We had a lot of fun bowling, and then came back home for cake and ice cream. None of us are ready for the pro circuit, but we had a great time. Jerry and I, Tom and Andy, Sam, Andy's friend Charlie, Jerry's mom, and our neighbor Hilda, went with us. No, she's not the one who was out in the bikini! Hilda is a lovely lady whose spunk I greatly admire. She is 86 years young and has energy I only dream about. She and Andy have a wonderful friendship, and when I asked Andy who he wanted to invite bowling, I was not very surprised that she was on his list. Hilda is almost never home - she is a member of the ladies auxiliary at the local firehouse, plays bingo three times a week, babysits her great-great-grandson on occasion, and takes bus trips to wherever, whenever possible! She just recently completed a first-aid training course and got a certificate of completion for it! This was a pretty rigorous course, too. There were people of all ages taking it. She said she decided to take the course because she thought it would be "fun"!

Andy had a great birthday, and we all enjoyed his day with him. He is growing up way too fast for his mama's liking!

Jerry did the writing on Andy's cake. He should consider a career change!

The bowling crowd!