And the band played on! (Actually, four bands played!)

Catching Up - Part II

Whew! Lots of stuff happening and not enough time to write about it. Andy and I started school last week. We haven't really started in earnest yet, just mostly reviewed what was coming up so we could start tomorrow for really.

Last week my computer bit the dust. It had been acting strangely for a while now and I had it in the back of my mind that one of these days I really should get a new one. One of these days happened before I was ready! It's a very long story about what it took to get up and running again so I could work (it involves voiding the warranty on the new computer and taking the hard drive out of the old one and putting it in the new one to get my stuff). I'm very glad that I know how to do that kind of stuff myself otherwise it probably would have cost big bucks. Anyway, it's my own fault, really. If I had just had a backup disk, I wouldn't have had to go through that. Yes, I know. Who doesn't make a backup of their stuff?! Well, ME! But I know better now.

I am feeling better and I think this stupid virus is finally on the run now. Actually I was feeling really well last week and then this whole computer mess happened and I think due to lack of sleep and stress, my throat got sore, my side swelled again, and all I wanted to do was sleep again. I recognized it trying to come back and made sure I took care of myself and things are just about back where they should be now. In researching this virus I learned that it can take four to six weeks to get over it and then it can come back for a while if you don't take care of yourself.

We made it through Ernesto okay. A couple of trees uprooted in the little patch of woods behind the house but they fell into the woods and not towards the yard or house. My nylon flag on the front of the house was tattered to shreds. When I looked out and saw the bottom part being shredded away, I meant to take the whole thing down to keep the flagpole from breaking, but I got busy doing something else and forgot about it. Well, it was a summer flag and it was time for a fall one anyway, right?
We were without power for only about a half hour but everyone on our street was out for most of the afternoon and night. The electricity for our house in particular is hooked up on the street behind us, whereas everyone else on our street has their electricity hooked up on our own street. It's strange to see everyone on our street out except us! My neighbor called and wanted to know how on earth we had so many lights on when the electricity was out! She thought we had massive amounts of candles!

I am looking forward to next Saturday. Uncle Jim is having his bluegrass get-together again this year and I am really looking forward to it. It was such a wonderfully relaxing day last year, and after these past couple of weeks, I'm ready to GO!

Catching Up

A little update - mostly in pictures! First of all, whatever virus I had is gone for the most part, but I know when I need to slow down because my side starts to swell again and I fall asleep wherever and whenever! Not a problem if I get enough rest, though.

I successfully sold all of Andy's stuff from last year and made enough to buy this year's stuff, which I did, and which we will be using tomorrow to start school. Andy is thrilled! That was sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell. Actually I did so well selling the stuff ($576.00 in a week - not too shabby!) that I'm going to list the rest of the clutter around here when I get the chance.

All four of us took a breather last Thursday and went to the Solomons pier to fish and crab. It was a lot of fun. We didn't catch any fish, and the crabs we caught (three!) were too small to keep. Oh, well. We had a very nice day together as a family. Andy has really been wanting crabs since then and we had told him that we would buy some very soon. Well, last night we were on our way to the grocery store and passed the man who usually sells crabs on the side of Route 4 - only this time his sign said "Free Crabs" . It took a minute to register what we read as we were going by at 55 mph, but Jerry did a U-turn at the light and we went back to check that out! Sure enough, the man was trying to close up for the night (it was 8:00) and was giving away the rest of that day's catch. He gave us 18 good-sized live male crabs. They were in a plastic bag and we listened to them rustle all the way home from Food Lion! They were steamed as soon as we got home and Andy could barely wait for them to cool before digging in. Can't beat free crabs!

Well, that's about it for now. More later when I'm not so tired...*YAWN*!

Can't beat free blue crabs!

A seagull taking it easy!

All my men fishing.

A heron sat here for hours just observing everything.

Jerry netting a crab from the crab line. Turns out it was too small to keep, though!

Last Sunday was relaxing. I actually had time to make pies!

I'm not sure what this flower is - I'm guessing some kind of iris? Anyway, it is the only one and just sprang up in the front flower bed this year! I have no idea where it came from.

Here's what Tom's project looks like from the side. LOTS of tiny pieces that each had to be measured and cut individually and put together. Getting it to college in one piece on the Metro was the real challenge!

One of Tom's projects for school - he had to build an elevated model of the picture on the right (model is on the left).

Getting Back to Normal

I hate being sick. I hate it. I'm just now getting back to feeling somewhat normal. A couple of weeks ago I started having a sore throat off and on and then a nagging little pain in my left side. I didn't pay too much attention to it because I was busy with other things. I had also started walking regularly on the treadmill again and thought that maybe it was just that. Then each day of last week it seemed to take me longer and longer to finish two miles. By Friday I was just plodding along wondering why I felt so awful. By Saturday my throat was really sore, my left side was swollen and so tender I couldn't touch it, and I was running a fever. Besides all of this I was incredibly tired. I was falling asleep wherever and whenever. I had actually been taking naps during the afternoons the whole week before, but again I thought it was just all the busy-ness catching up with me. This was something different. I just wanted to sleep! Also at the end of last week a case of conjunctivitis was trying to catch me and wearing my contacts became impossible. On Monday morning it occurred to me that all my symptoms somehow seemed familiar and that I should know what ailed me.........then it hit me. Mononucleosis! I got to the computer as fast as I could make myself get there, and started researching. Sure enough, every symptom was there. I even read where the Epstein-Barr virus (which is the bug that causes mono) can manifest as conjunctivitis (pinkeye) in some people. Well, now. The only question was, where did I get it?! Then I remembered Tom not feeling well about three weeks ago, with a sore throat, swollen glands, a fever, and falling asleep very easily. He was even coming home early from Sam's because he said he was just "too tired and felt like he could sleep forever". Mono can be caught just like a cold - being around someone who has sneezed or coughed. Being called the "kissing disease" is an old wives' tale. It isn't spread quite as easily as a cold, but does spread in the same way. Anybody who knows me knows that I don't go to the doctor unless I feel it's life-threatening, so I didn't go. Besides, it's a virus, and there's nothing that can be done except to let it take it's course. Antibiotics are useless unless you develop something bacterial. I wasn't fooling around with my swollen spleen though, and was very careful of what I did because I didn't want a rupture to happen. It was so huge that my clothes were uncomfortable. I didn't do anything except lie around for two days (that's pretty much all I felt like doing - I was out of it). By yesterday I was having moments of feeling back to normal and my side was less tender and the swelling was going down. This morning I feel much better, and my side is only tender in one spot with no swelling felt. I haven't had a fever since Sunday, so I might just make it after all! And I'm able to wear my contacts again. Thank the Lord - I'm as blind as a bat without them! I'm wrestling with myself this morning, though, because I really want to get outside and cut the grass and do some weeding because the weather is very nice right now, but I know I should still be resting. In any case, I am very grateful to be feeling better. Being sick is for the birds!

Scenes from a cookout.

Unfortunately, my pictures of the cookout didn't turn out very well, but we had a good time.

And A Good Time Was Had By All!

Well, this afternoon was our street cookout, and I think it went very well. We had 9 out of 13 families attend. The food was good, the company was even better, and everyone got to meet and greet. The weather couldn't have been more perfect as the rain cleared out just in time. Now I'm getting ready to fall into bed with a book. I am TIRED! I have been a little stressed out - okay, a LOT stressed out - about this cookout. I kept having awful thoughts that maybe people wouldn't get along and then it would be my fault! My worry was groundless, though, because everyone really seemed to have a good time and even signed their names and contact information on a paper I had put on the table so that I could put together a list to distribute to everyone. Well, on to that book now - for as long as my eyes will stay open!

You Know You're Getting Old When.....

You use a hair color specifically called "Gray Solution" and it still doesn't manage to cover up all the gray, and your own mother sends you old-people jokes via email. Guess I'm in the big leagues now.......!

It's Pickle Time!

I have been very, very busy lately and haven't been able to update. It's time to buy next year's materials for homeschooling Andy and in order to finance that, I was selling last year's material on eBay, plus some extra materials that I had acquired over the past couple of years. Everything was going great until I listed two science book sets for sale. I had one fourth grade and one fifth grade set each with teacher's edition, student book, and lots of workbooks and project books that go with the course. These are sets that I bought off of eBay a couple of years ago and never used. They are new and had been packed away. Anyway, I listed the sets and then sat back to wait for my profits to roll in. About three hours later I got an email from eBay informing me that I have violated their policy of not selling teacher's editions and that they had pulled my listings off their site. What?! That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. After all, I bought those very same books off of there just a couple of years ago. I wrote them a scathing letter and they wrote back informing me that they just made this new policy in February of 2006, so it hadn't applied when I bought the books. They further wrote that they were doing this in order to comply with public school publishing companies who said that teacher's editions being made available to the general public were allowing children to cheat, and asked eBay to not allow them. Oh, please. Fourth and fifth graders? I wrote them yet another scathing letter informing that I was most disappointed in their bowing to outside influences telling them what could and could not be sold on their site. Ebay used to be the greatest place for finding things that you just couldn't find anywhere else. Now it's not just teacher's editions - they have also given in to certain designers and companies who have asked that their products not be allowed there in order that they don't lose out on their profits. Isn't that what an auction is all about? In my letter I pointed out the fact that I had seen used panties (deliberately used -EWWWW!), sweat and other bodily fluids (more EWWWW!), grandmothers, souls, foreheads for advertising tattoos, and other strange and not-so-nice items being put up for auction, but God forbid I should list - OH NO! A TEACHER'S EDITION! (shriek of terror here). They wrote me back yet again saying that they are very sorry for any inconvenience they have caused and that they realize this new policy has not been popular with homeschoolers (you think?!) and at some point they may consider changing it, but in the meantime if I tried to list any more teacher's editions, my eBay account would be suspended for violation of policy. I think the underlying problem here is parents not being involved in their childrens' lives yet again - yes, their kids might be using these books to cheat, but where are they when they are buying them? Well, the elementary school level material being banned is just ridiculous. When is the last time you saw a kindergartener laughing with evil glee as he or she bid on the teacher's edition of Dick and Jane? Patently ridiculous. Ooohh. Now I'm angry all over again, and it's Sunday too. Deep breath - deeeeep breath - okay, I'm better now! I ended up listing the teacher's editions on Amazon.com auctions and intend to tell the winners of the student book auctions that they are there if they want to buy them. After my listings being pulled the first time, I relisted the items but didn't want to go through the hassle of taking new pictures all over again, so even though the teacher's edition was still in the picture of the items, I wrote in the description that although the teacher's edition was pictured, due to eBay's policy, they were NOT included in the auction and that the buyer was bidding on the student books only. Then I sat back to wait for my profits to roll in. About three hours later I got another email informing me that my listings had been pulled AGAIN because they contained teacher's editions! GRRRRRR! Another scathing letter rolled off my keyboard in which I asked if they even bothered to READ my listing in which I clearly stated that the teacher's edition was not included. They wrote back informing me that even PICTURES of teacher's editions were not allowed, and if I violated their policy one more time my account would be suspended. If eBay wasn't the biggest auction place out there, I surely would take my selling elsewhere and will certainly look into that later, but right now I need to get these books out of here so I can buy new ones! So, I took all new pictures NOT including the teacher's editions, and relisted them. Then sat back to wait for either my profits to roll in or my listings to be pulled and my account to be suspended. I seriously feel like they have red-flagged me, now! You think it might be the scathing letters?! Well, it's been a few days and my listings are still intact and one set has two bids on it already, so I must be okay this time. Sheesh.

On a nicer note, today is pickling and bread-baking day here. A while back I wrote about a very nice older man that Jerry knows who Jerry gives all his extra building material to because he fixes up houses for people in his church. Well, this man has worked for the same excavating company around here for nearly 20 years, and now they haven't had any work for him for the past four weeks or so. He called Jerry asking if Jerry could use any help and so he worked with Jerry on days when Jerry needed extra help. Whenever Jerry has a job which involves removing old aluminum siding he keeps the siding and when the aluminum pile gets big enough he takes it to the recycling place and gets a check for it. Well, we had gotten quite a pile out here and so Jerry told this man that if he would help load all the aluminum, he could have the money that they got for it. This man is very proud and refused to take any money, even a loan, without doing something for it, so the aluminum deal worked out well for both of them. The side of our garage now no longer has aluminum stacked to the heavens, and the man was able to make this month's truck payment. Anyway, this man always grows a huge garden every year and usually shares veggies with Jerry anyway, but he came by the other night and gave us a 5-gallon bucket of cucumbers. Jerry mentioned to him that I would make pickles out of them and a deal was struck (between those two, mind you - I was informed later!) that if he brought vegetables, that I would can them or make stuff out of them and we would share what I canned or made. He requested zucchini bread from the zucchini, so that's the bread I'll be making today, and also those cucumbers will be pickles by this evening. Well, it works out well for us too because I really like to can stuff, and this man and our family will get vegetables canned for the winter. It's probably a good thing, too. I went to Safeway the other night and a 10-pound bag of potatoes cost 7.99. Was there a potato shortage I was unaware of?! Well, I should be getting busy - cucumbers await!

Two Birthdays!

I am sorry it took so long to update my blog. I am embarrassed to admit this, but the pictures of the baby that Mike sent me were in .bmp format and I couldn't post them here, and it took me longer than most people to figure out how to change them to .jpg format so they would work! I'm a little slow. Okay, a LOT slow! Anyway, here they are, finally. Aaron is a cutie and so are his big brothers. I can't wait to see (and hold!) him. He was born on Thursday, 06/29/2006 at about 1:00 in the afternoon, and weighed about 8.5 pounds. (I am saying about because these are the statistics I was given by the proud Dad shortly after his birth, and I'm not sure if he was rounding or not!)

We celebrated Andy's birthday on Monday with bowling again this year. We had a great time. I still can't bowl, but I have fun anyway! This year Sam's sister and grandmother joined us. Hilda wasn't able to come because she had fallen a couple of days before and had to stay off of her knee for a bit. Other than that, it was the same crew as last year. We came home and ordered pizza from Domino's, and later had cake and ice cream. Mmmmmmm!!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

From left to right: Andy, Charlie, Tom, Jerry, Sam, Jerry's mom, Sam's sister, Sam's grandmother.

Bowling birthday boy.

Welcome, little Aaron!

Big Brother Collin.

Big Brother Matthew.

Tom visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. He enjoys taking black and white photos. He's good at it - this looks like a postcard!

I cannot believe it is June 26 already. Time is FLYING, and I wish it would slow down just a little! Tom came back from North Carolina Saturday night. He had a great time. Sam has only had one day home, and now she and her mother are going to Mexico for a week. The trip was a gift from relatives in California for Sam's graduation. She isn't very excited about going, but I hope she has a great time once she is there.

We haven't been doing much around here. The canvas covering on my lawn swing (which I dearly love but have had for nearly four years now) finally became dry-rotted and tore. Jerry wanted to throw it away but I thought we could try to save it. Andy drilled lots of little holes in the metal tubing of the frame and we webbed it like a lawn chair. It turned out great, and with the cushion on it, you can't even see what's underneath. My swing is saved! Andy was very proud of himself for drilling all those holes. He pretty much fixed the whole thing himself. I'm pretty proud of him too.

Not very newsworthy, but we installed a new toilet yesterday. Weren't you just dying to know that?! The neighbors must have thought we lost our minds yesterday. (Well, we have, but that's a story for another day!). We were really trying to avoid the expense of buying a new toilet so we had been trying to fix the old one. It just wouldn't flush correctly, resulting in having to flush it 2-3 times (or more). We just fixed our septic system last summer, and didn't want to fill it needlessly now. We tried everything. We plunged like crazy - didn't help. Jerry went up on the roof with the hose and blasted out the vent up there - didn't help. I took a little sharp stick and checked EVERY LITTLE HOLE around the inside of the rim to make sure water could flow into the bowl freely - didn't help. I used a snake (toilet auger, if you will) and fed that just as far as I could - didn't help. Yes, I actually did these things myself. Finally Jerry took the toilet up and carried it outside. He put it up on cinder blocks and filled the tank and flushed it several times. My sides are still hurting from laughing. There is something so very wrong with hearing the sounds of a flushing toilet out in your yard (or worse, seeing one!). Anyway, we couldn't find anything wrong. We finally decided it was time to retire the old porcelain and go to Lowe's for a new one. Boy - they sure have changed in 20-some years! The toilet we replaced was the original one that came with the house, and the house was built in 1981. Anyway, now everyone's happy! Maybe the old one could be a planter............

I am anxiously awaiting word from Mike and Linda. I will be an aunt again sometime today or tomorrow when Aaron William will make his debut into the world.

We are planning Andy's birthday party for July 3rd. He wants to go bowling like we did last year. We are looking forward to it, as we always enjoy bowling - only this time we get cake and ice cream afterwards too!

Fireworks in North Carolina.

Sam's graduation picture.

Look Out, North Carolina!

Andy and I just waved goodbye to Tom. He is going to North Carolina with Sam's family for a week's vacation. We didn't realize that his school does have a break between sessions. It really worked out well that the spring session is finished and he is off school now until July 10th when the summer session starts. Now he won't be missing any classes for this. He is going to call when they arrive so I can figure out if there are any webcams nearby. When Sam went with her family to Ocean City, we didn't realize she had been on the boardwalk right where there was a webcam located and she could have waved to us! I'm almost afraid of what Tom might do in front of a camera when he knows we're looking at it!. This is the child who has no qualms about mooning people. A couple of years ago the boys and I were out in the driveway splitting and stacking firewood. Tom bent over and, well, let's just say that the moon came out in the daytime. In a fierce whisper I told him that half of his posterior was showing to the neighborhood, and to fix it. Very loudly he said, "Only half? Well, that's no good", whereupon he "fixed it" so that the whole moon was out. Sheesh. I wonder if North Carolina knows what they're in for this week?!

I am looking forward to a cookout that I am planning for the people on our street. I had the idea rolling around in my head (there's a lot of space in there, you know!) for a while now. Maggie's death last year and the way things have changed, and the fact that we will be living here for at least another year or two now because of the changes made me start thinking about how life changes and really is very short. I started thinking that I was tired of living in a place where people act like strangers. I figured that the neighbors already thought I was a card short of a deck because of how I like to welcome new neighbors with a cake and a card, so they wouldn't be so surprised that I wanted to do something where everyone could meet! I wrote a letter and sent it to everyone on the street letting them know what I was trying to do. I needed to choose a date for it when everyone would be available, and I knew that would be hard to do with summer vacations and plans, so I asked them to write or call me with what dates they had available this summer. I got an email back already from neighbors who say they are looking forward to attending and meeting everyone. I hope everyone else feels the same! Of course, Hilda not only likes the idea, but as usual, is offering to pitch in and help. I really want to be like her when I'm 87!

I was looking at the Discovery Channel website to find something "Mythbusters" for Andy's birthday and I saw these Life Lessons figurines. They are too funny!

Here's a good way to lose friends!

This one is hilarious - and so true!

.....and my personal favorite!!!

Not a lot going on around here lately. Andy and I are getting stuff together for the second board of education review next Tuesday and wrapping up his school work for this year. We mutually decided to take a summer break and start back again with homeschooling on August 15. I think the break will be good for both of us, and it will give me a chance to make some changes I want to make to his curriculum and get his new materials together. Andy's just glad to have a break! We were originally going to have school through the summer but we changed our minds. August 15 will be here soon enough!

Andy and I just got back from the beach. It's just down the road about a mile or so. There were only two other people there. Even in the summer it's not very crowded. We looked for shark teeth but didn't find any on this trip. Well, now we'd better get to work. We have decided to finish school on Friday and Andy has his last few Spanish lessons and science assignments to do and a blog entry to write. Time to shake the sand from our flip-flops and get busy!

Andy was skipping stones and flat shells. He's gotten pretty good at it. All of my attempts just sink!

The beach was beautiful (and empty!)

Look closely - there really is a rainbow in between the trees!

Memorial Day

We had a great time yesterday. We went to Mike and Linda's house for Matthew's birthday. The boys are growing up so quickly. Jerry wanted to beat the traffic on the holiday weekend, so we left at 3:30 yesterday morning (YAWN!!!). We are still feeling tired today. We really had a good time though and we are glad we went and got to visit with everyone.

Here's the birthday boy enjoying his new ride.

.....and here comes contestant number three in the Mr. All-That-And-A-Bag-Of-Chips contest........

And now for the talent portion of the competition........

Bailey with cake on his face! I did not obtain a photo release from the gentleman in the background, therefore I am not responsible if the photo is not to his liking!!!

"Bring it on!" Okay, she didn't really say that, but I can't figure out what she WAS saying, so I went with that!

Andy having a laugh at the pool antics.

"If I stick my tongue out and concentrate REAL hard on not tipping over........"

"OH NO!..........."

We'll miss you, Busa.

Goodbye, Busa

Yesterday was a sad day around here. Our cat, Busa, passed away. Busa has been a part of our family for the past 17 years. Tom was 3 years old when he chose him from a litter of kittens at the humane society. It's very hard losing a pet that we have had so long. It is especially hard on the boys - for Tom because Busa was his cat, and for Andy because this is Andy's first experience losing a pet. What made matters even worse was that Jerry, Andy and I were in Delaware yesterday. Tom had stayed home to do schoolwork and went looking for Busa upstairs and found that he had passed away. Tom was very brave because he had to handle things until we got home. When we got home it was 11:30 at night but we gave Busa a proper burial anyway. Tom had wrapped him nicely and readied him for burial because he said he didn't want Andy to see him. Now that's a good big brother. I'm sorry that we weren't here when it happened, but I'm not sorry that Andy wasn't here at the time. Busa had been slowing down considerably over the last couple of weeks and over the past few days I noticed that he wasn't eating very well, so we figured it probably wouldn't be long. He was very old for a cat, and definitely lived a full life! We used to joke that he used up 8 of his 9 lives a long time ago. He was bitten in the leg by a bobcat when we lived in West Virginia and we were told by the vet that he might not make it. He was run over by a car and had half of his tail lopped off and his back legs crushed - again we were told he probably wouldn't make it. Something (we don't know what this time) got into a battle with him and tore part of one ear and put a massive wound on his head - we didn't think he would make it that time. Then when we were moving here from West Virginia, at the last minute he jumped out of the car and ran into the woods. We searched for him but couldn't find him. We had a caravan of people helping us move and we needed to get on the road. It broke my heart, but we had to leave. I knew that we would be returning in two weeks to tie up loose ends and I prayed that he would be there then. Well, he was - because that was 14 years ago! As soon as we pulled up I jumped out of the car and started calling for him whereupon he promptly came bounding out of the woods. He had survived two weeks by himself out there. This time when it was time to go, he didn't even try to get out of the car - in fact, he laid down and got quite comfortable! He was a guard cat around here and would actually chase dogs out of our yard. He even chased a pit bull to the fence line once. We definitely didn't think he would survive that - but he did - again. He was one tough cat, but he was also a real sweetheart and loved to be cuddled, purring so loudly that you could hardly hear anything else. Busa was a great pet, and we will miss him very much.

It's Been Awhile!

I didn't go away - just took a hiatus! In the intervening month we haven't done a lot that was newsworthy. Tom is still in school (he got his midterm grades and is doing very well). Andy is still doing well with homeschooling (in spite of the MEAN TEACHER he has!). Jerry has been busy working and restoring a 1950 tractor for his uncle. His uncle bought the tractor a couple of months ago and wanted to convert it from a 6-volt system to a 12-volt, so now it is finished and running beautifully. Jerry wanted me to drive it when it was finished (and I wanted to drive it), but I was too afraid! If something happened to it, I didn't want to think about Jerry's uncle's reaction! If it belonged to us I would probably try it. Maybe I'll get my courage up before it leaves here next week - we'll see. I did finally get brave enough to drive Jerry's John Deere backhoe. He needed me to drive it and push a wrecked truck into the garage while he steered the truck. I actually enjoyed it so much that I took it for a spin down the driveway a few times! He had bartered with the guy who owns the wrecked truck - if Jerry would remove the engine from the wreck (which was still good and which the owner of the truck wanted), then Jerry could have the transmission for his truck. He got the engine out and the man took the wreck away, but the engine is still hanging on the engine stand in the garage because he hasn't picked that up yet. So, between Jerry's uncle's tractor and the engine, I didn't think there was room for our vehicles which made me a little nervous the other night when the weather forecast was for storms with possible hail. Jerry proved me wrong, though! He crammed the tractor and engine and grill off to one side, and managed to fit the Tahoe and his old brown truck in the other. The brown truck is the one that he used to drive and that the transmission is for - this is the one he had painted and it isn't tagged or insured yet, so we definitely didn't want hail damaging that! That truck means as much to him as one the boys, I think!

Well, I will try to post more consistently, but right now I need to go and do a few things and clean this awful house! Yuck!

Farmer Jerry on the move.

A 1950 Ford 8N tractor. Jerry had a lot of fun fixing this up for his uncle. He also had a lot of fun driving it when it was finished!

The rhododendron bush has nearly reached the second-floor window now.

We saw the sunrise on our way to Delaware, and the farms we passed were beautiful.

This is what the cow (picture posted previously) looks like now. My freezer is grateful.

A bird on the knee is worth....no, wait.....wrong saying!

Grammatically incorrect, but very tasty!

Now for some catching up.......

Tom enjoyed his first day of college. The only problem was that there was a nasty thunderstorm following him all the way down the road and he was trying to get here before it did! There was a tornado watch also, so we were a little concerned about his journey home, too. He arrived at about the same time the thunderstorm did, so didn't get caught in it. Andy and I made him a cake to commemorate the occasion of his first day of college. Andy decorated it - and yes, he meant to use that grammar on the cake, incorrect as it may be!

Dinner around our house is usually at 6:00 (or thereabouts), except now on Mondays we have it at 8:00 so Tom can eat with us. The time change met with a few groans at first until I offered to make sandwiches for the offended persons at around 4:00 on Mondays to stave off their hunger until 8. Anyway, yesterday Tom called to let me know that he would probably be a little late. He said that the Metro stations and the surrounding areas were packed with immigration protestors and it was very slow going.

One of these days I am going to get back on the treadmill. One of these days. This spare tire around my middle is really bugging me now.

I was looking through some homeschooling materials I had used when we homeschooled Tom (I told you I am a packrat!) and came across a workbook on Life Skills for Middle Schoolers which included such things as budgeting, working, nutrition, cleaning, and other neat stuff. I was looking through the nutrition portion of the book because there were some pages I wanted to use with Andy and I started looking at the pages Tom had completed way back when and reminiscing. Evidently I must not have looked too closely at the work Tom had done because I found where he had drawn a food pyramid, complete with pictures and labels. He had everything in it's proper place - including a drawing of a pear labeled "Mom-shaped pear" under the fruit and vegetable category. Nice. Can't fault him for honesty though, can I?!

I have given Andy an interesting assignment. He has started a blog and is required to post on it at least once a week. This is part of his writing assignment. He seemed to not like the idea at first, but then asked if he could post more than once a week if he wanted to. So far he has only
posted his first post which was when he created his blog, but the posts are due on Thursdays so there should be another forthcoming. He hasn't given me permission yet to post a link here to his blog, but I will as soon as he lets me. Blog shyness, I guess!

Spring is here!

I do believe that spring has arrived. I had a lone clump of daffodils bloom in the dirt that once was my backyard, and the plum tree is flowering. Actually, this year for the first time our baby plum tree is flowering, too. Each year when the plums fall from the tree we try to pick up and use the good ones and rake the others up. A few years ago I noticed what looked like a very small plum tree starting to grow near the side fence where a plum had rolled down the slope and gone unnoticed. I watched the tree and once I was sure what it was, tried to guard it against lawn mowers and wayward weedwhackers. Jerry kept threatening to "accidentally" run over the little tree with the lawn mower because he didn't want to think about having even more plums to contend with. Well, he didn't, and it has really grown over the past couple of years and now is blooming for the first time. I hope that now with two plum trees that the plums we get will be bigger since there is another tree to pollinate now.

Tom just left a few minutes ago for orientation at his college, which starts Monday. He seemed a little nervous and when I asked him about it, he said that he's more nervous about getting to the Metro station and getting on the right train and making the right transfers to get to the school. There is a new Metro station at Branch Avenue which isn't really all that far from us, and so he'll be catching the Metro there and taking it to Rosslyn rather than trying to drive to Arlington, Virginia and find parking there. He'll need to transfer to a different train about halfway there because the Branch Avenue station is a Green Line and the Rosslyn station is Orange and Blue. I'm sure he'll be an old pro at it within a few days, though. Today for orientation he is able to bring Sam with him. She is somewhat familiar with the Metro since she and her family have used it before to go places, so surely between the two of them they will find their way to the school!

He'll only need to go to the school on Mondays and Wednesdays. He has four classes; two at the school and two online through the school. He's eager to start, but a little nervous at the same time.

I haven't written much lately because Andy and I have been busy. We've made yet another change to his lessons! One day last week as I was putting away his schoolbooks (the ones we used before the computer curriculum), he picked up his science book and looked longingly at it. I knew he had been growing bored with the computer curriculum, especially the science - where you watch a man do experiments on the screen and then write down what he found out - boring! At least we actually used to do experiments ourselves. Anyway, I didn't say anything but after several minutes he sheepishly asked if we could go back to the old way of doing things. Secretly I was glad because I missed the books we read together and the experiments we did, but I also didn't want him thinking that we would change the curriculum every time he got bored with something. We compromised and have kept the computer curriculum for Bible, Spanish and Math, and everything else (Language/Grammar, Geography, Science, and History), have gone back to the old way of doing things. We will probably be switching the Math over soon, too, but we will wait until he finishes the unit he is currently on.

One day a couple of weeks ago I was looking at his grades on the teacher portion of his computer curriculum (before we switched back). I noticed that I had been given notices that his math assignments were not up to date, and in fact were quite a few days behind. When I questioned him about this, he was very quiet for a long time. Then, shuffling his feet and not looking me in the eye, he informed that he liked Spanish so much that he had been working on that rather than his math for the past several days. Apparently he must have liked it a lot. He had done the Spanish assignments all the way into June. Now if only he could be as enthusiastic about Math!

I am waiting to see what will happen with my work. With one of the companies I work for, I do the transcription for John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. I usually do the work for their Deer Valley Hospital, but sometimes switch over to North Mountain. With this company's transcription software you are given templates specific to each account that you do reports for. Usually you are given two sets of templates and so if work runs low on one account (hospital), you can switch to your other template and do work for another one. Since each hospital wants its reports done differently, the templates are created by the company to make it easier on us, so basically we can just choose the template and type the information and it will be formatted specifically for that hospital. Several months ago the company asked for transcriptionists who would be willing to do work just for John C. Lincoln. Personally, I think switching between templates is a pain and although the differences between accounts aren't that monumental, it is a pain to change because I lose time due to a learning curve when switching between accounts. Anyway, I was more than happy to volunteer for this, and had gotten to where I could do my day's work in about an hour and a half to two hours. Yesterday morning while I was working I finished the discharge summaries, so then moved on to consults. Hmm - got those finished too. I then went to the op reports - and there weren't any. This seemed kind of unusual as this account is usually very busy and it is rare to actually catch up on the work. Then later on in the day there was an email from the company informing us that the work was caught up for this account and to switch over to our other accounts to work on until they emailed us again. I don't have another account to work on, nor am I particularly keen on the idea of learning the format of a new one. Since my work was done for the day, I got busy with Andy and general stuff and didn't think about it anymore until this morning when I went to sign on and begin work. I dialed into the hospital just fine, but when it asked me to enter my passcode, I did and it told me it was invalid. I tried a couple more times thinking that I must have not dialed the code right in my pre-coffee state, but it wouldn't accept my passcode. All of the transcriptionists for this account have the same passcode, so evidently the hospital is doing something and we are not being allowed to access their system. This is reminscent of a couple of years ago when one hospital decided not to renew their contract with the company and "locked out" everyone and then informed the company that they weren't renewing. Oh, well. We'll see what happens. I'm not worried about actually having work - the company has several accounts and I know that I would just be put on another one, but I am not looking forward to the learning curve and the time lost . I have a doctor's appointment today so I'm not worried about it as I wouldn't have the time to devote to it today anyway. I hate going to the doctor's but it's one of those necessary annual female things. Yuck!

I can't believe that it is almost St. Patrick's Day. Wasn't it just Christmas yesterday?! Tom will be starting school on 04/03. During his admissions interview he had given them his high school transcript and his college transcript from when he attended the community college here during his senior year of high school. He was very pleased when they called him a couple of weeks ago to tell him that they had reviewed his college record and decided that they would accept those classes in transfer, so he will be starting the Art Institute already having credit for the first year of English and Drawing. That's two classes he doesn't have to take now.

When Jerry came back from Ohio he accidentally left his glasses in his brother's truck. Tired of squinting, he finally went and picked them up the other night. While he was there he took pictures of our beef. This is the cow that we bought several months ago that his brother is feeding and housing for us. He's just about ready for the big hay bale in the sky (the cow - not Jerry's brother!)

More blogging later if I get a chance - right now it's lunch break and then back to work!

More auction pictures.

Another auction picture.

Where's the beef? Right here.

Jerry's new toy.

Look out, yard!

We had a great time at the auction yesterday. Well, except for the mud, the unexpected high temperatures, the walking........! This auction place is very large (something like 26 acres) and they had every piece of equipment you could possibly think of. I always enjoy people-watching and this was certainly a day for that! There were what looked like farmers with overalls, bikers with ponytails (many of them gray!) and more tattoos than someone on Miami Ink, lots of Amish men in bright colored shirts and straw hats, contractor-looking types with tape measures, cell phones and work boots, and one annoying man wearing too much gold jewelry and riding around on a golf cart that had a sign on the back that read "On The Spot Financing! Credit In 15 Minutes!".

The ground was very muddy and I don't think the rain the night before was entirely to blame. The spitting going on there would rival a busy dentist's office! I was beginning to think that spitting on the ground was a prerequisite for attending an auction like this, and I asked Jerry about it. He laughed and said that if I looked closely, I would notice that just about every man there had a cheek full of chewing tobacco. EWWWW!!! I was careful to look where I walked after that. With the number of auctions they have, that land doesn't stand a chance of EVER drying out.

Jerry went there mainly because they had two of the tractors that he has been interested in for a while. He has been looking on the internet, in classified ads and at dealerships, and pricing them. They are actually kind of hard to find. John Deere has only been making them since 2002 and so there aren't many used ones out there, which was why he was surprised to find two of them at this auction.

The auctioneer was in a little booth on the back of a pickup truck that had loudspeakers on it (and I mean LOUD!), and it would ride through, stopping at each item and auctioning it off. It took a couple of hours before the little cart made it to the tractor Jerry was interested in. When the bidding finally started on it, there were only three bidders including Jerry. The bids went around around three times, then one man shook his head and was out of the bidding, so it was just down to Jerry and one other man. Jerry had told me earlier what his limit was and as the bids began to reach it, I found myself getting nervous. I knew he really liked this machine, but I also knew that he meant exactly what he said and that he wouldn't go a dime over his limit. Finally the bidding got to $2000.00 under his limit. All eyes turned to the other bidder. The man hesitated a moment then nodded. Uh oh - the bidding was now up another $500.00. Then the auctioneer turned to Jerry who seemed to be thinking long and hard about it, and then finally nodded. It was back to the other man now. He thought a little longer this time and finally after what seemed like hours, he shook his head. The auctioneer shouted "SOLD to number 2508!" I was so happy to see Jerry get this, and at less than we ever dreamed he would get it for. I was grinning like an idiot and I knew he really wanted to also, but it was a pretty manly kind of auction, and that didn't seem to be the thing to do right then!

He is going tomorrow to pick it up. We didn't take his truck and trailer to the auction and so we knew that if he won that he would have to make another trip to get it. It's really not a bad trip. It only took us about two and a half hours to get there and the scenery is beautiful.

After the auctioneer had moved on to other items, Jerry went inside to pay and I was standing next to his tractor waiting for him. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. Heading straight for me was Golf Cart Man. He brought his golf cart up to a halt and jumped out. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself. Not wanting to appear rude, but being blinded by the sun glinting off his gold jewelry, I shook his hand. He motioned toward the tractor. "HECK OF A DEAL YA GOT THERE!" he shouted at me. I had to resist the urge to spit and shout back "HE**, YEAH!". Then he gave his true purpose for being there. He wanted to know if we would like a loan to pay for the tractor. Now, I may be a newbie when it comes to auctions, but surely people don't go to auctions and bid on stuff without knowing how they're going to pay for it, do they?! I told him politely that we weren't interested in a loan and he continued to tell me of all the wonderful financing options he could offer. Just then, Jerry came back out. Then it was his turn to listen to Golf Cart Man's sales pitch. Jerry's a little more to-the-point than I am, and soon Golf Cart Man was zooming on to his next victim - er, customer. All in all, it was a very good day - and after tomorrow no yard will be safe!

This is Jerry's tractor now. I'm afraid the yard will never be the same.......

What a great tractor!

This tractor was HUGE!

Uh oh- Jerry's caught the auction bug! I knew he spent too long in Ohio! Okay, that's not entirely true. For a few weeks now he has been talking about going to an auction in Pennsylvania tomorrow, but a few days ago when he called me from Ohio, he said he didn't think we'd be going. Well, he's been home two days now and he's decided he wants to go after all. So that means we'll be leaving at around 5:00 tomorrow morning to go to Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania. His uncle wants to go too, so we'll be picking him up on the way. I've never been to a "for really" auction before - just the little ones around here where you can actually understand the auctioneer!

In looking online for the information about the auction we're going to tomorrow, I discovered that eBay also has live auctions and it turns out that the auction we're going to tomorrow is also going to be simultaneously on eBay. We could stay home and watch the auction and bid from here, but Jerry says he would rather go and see the stuff before he considers bidding on any of it. Here's the link to eBay live auctions. They are very interesting to watch. Here is the link for the particular auction we will be attending tomorrow. When you are viewing the auctions on eBay, it isn't like having a camera there watching the auction; as each item comes up it shows the item and then shows the bidding progressing, and that's all you see. I decided to try my hand at one of the live auctions the other day and bid on a pair of gold and diamond earrings. I really just wanted to see how the auction process worked (yeah, right) - so I bid $10.00. They ended up going for $91.00. I wasn't too sad - you can't really expect to get a pair of gold and diamond earrings for $10.00, now can you?!

Whew! Time to take a break. I am very tired! Believe it or not, the boys and I have actually been making headway on this pile of mess we call a household. Jerry has been in Ohio all this week and is due back tomorrow, and the boys and I decided that we would surprise him by having as much decluttered, cleaned out, taken down, or otherwise packed away as possible. I have come to a startling conclusion. We have WAY too much stuff.

There is a huge auction and sale in Mt. Hope, Ohio every year, and it's mostly horses and horse equipment. Jerry's brother goes every year and Jerry's mom said she was going this year and asked Jerry to come with them. They have had a great time this week, but Jerry said he's ready to come home now! He called me today from a different auction where he had gone with his brother and brother-in-law and asked me to look something up on the computer about the size of a John Deere engine before his brother-in-law bid on it. I got the information for him and then listened to the auctioneer over the phone. How anyone can understand them is beyond me! All I heard him say was jumbled sounds occasionally punctuated with a loud, "ONE THOUSAND dollars", then the mumbo-jumbo again, then, "one thousand FIVE HUNDRED dollars", and so on until the gibberish finally ended with "SOLD!". The auctioneer was talking so fast and the numbers were rising so quickly that I told Jerry I hoped he was keeping his hands away from his face and close to his body, so as not to accidentally bid on something!

It has been a nice visit for all of them. They are staying with Jerry's sister and brother-in-law in Dayton, Ohio. This gave Jerry's mom a week with her only daughter and two of her three sons, and they all seem to be enjoying themselves.

Now I am going to put on my jammies - yes, I call them jammies - and read for a while. I have been reading a book that some people feel is controversial, called "Created To Be His Help Meet". Personally, it kind of reflects what I have felt for the last several years. The book doesn't offend me at all. It is based on the belief that God made a woman to be a "help meet" to her husband, as it states in the Bible - not his boss, his conscience, his resident nagger, or his competitor. We are living in a very ill society right now, and I just wonder how much of it is because women insist on being equal to men, when that just wasn't the way things were supposed to be. We are made differently, so why the struggle to be the same? Okay, stepping off my soapbox now!

On to jammies, some reading, maybe a cup of tea, and Zzzzzzz............going once, going twice, "GOOD NIGHT!" (Toldja I was tired!)

Mrs. Goodwrench

Move over, Mr. Goodwrench - Mrs. Goodwrench is on the scene. Yesterday I was helping Jerry work on his truck brakes. It has been an interesting experience, to say the least. My job was to sit in the truck and push on the brake pedal while he bled the brake lines. We had a sort of automotive Lamaze going - push, push, push, h-o-l-d. The pedal would sink to the floor and we would begin again - push, push, push, h-o-l-d. At one point he emerged from under the truck and said he needed to let the ABS hydraulic valve soak a little to loosen it, or he was afraid it might break off. We spent the time talking about many things, him leaning against the workbench and me still in the driver's seat of the truck. After a good while he knelt back down on the creeper and disappeared under the truck. I could hear tapping noises coming from underneath, then an ominous-sounding snap. After about three seconds there was the simultaneous explosion of an expletive from under the truck and a wrench thrown out at high velocity, skittering across the floor. I was glad for my position in the truck, above the action. After a moment he wheeled himself out from under the truck and calmly announced that he would need to order a part. I didn't need to ask which one.

That was yesterday. Today he picked up the part and put it on. We did vehicular Lamaze once more, and then took the truck for a test spin. The brakes did just fine, as attested to by the punctuation Jerry kept putting into our conversation. About every three words or so he would stomp on the brake pedal - SCREECH - pause in the conversation, readjust the seatbelt which had locked, and do it all over again.

I don't think I'm ready for the mechanical big leagues yet, but I'll do as a brake-pedal-pusher and test-rider, anyway!