Stormi
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Thursday, 2 November 2017
November!

I haven't been very good at updating this for the past couple of weeks.  So, working backwards....Halloween was wonderful.  Walter came over early then DJ and Robin brought their grandkids over.  I had made a large pot of chicken taco soup and sent some home with Walter for dinner.  Robin and DJ had soup and the kids had sugar frosted flakes - I know, nothing like more sugar on Halloween.  There was one other group of three children and two adults that stopped by.  It was cold, windy and a school night.  This is the worst turn-out we've had ever.  Even our first Halloween when there were only about five houses on our street there were more kids that came around.  Back then there weren't any Halloween Bashes at the park or trunk-or-treat events in this area.  Watauga has changed a lot since then.

 

Our irrigation system is installed and working beautifully.  It is mostly drip with a couple of zones in the back that are spray.  Stan is now able to nap in the late afternoon instead of being outside hand watering.  I love having the drip all the way around the house because it will really benefit the foundation.

 

Last Sunday I asked Stan to put washer fluid in my car.  He opened the hood and found a horde of peanuts near the windshield.  We cleaned them out and I quit putting out peanuts for the blue jays since it appeared the squirrels thought they had found a good place to hide them.  I asked Stan to check the car yesterday and sure enough, there was the start of another horde.  He cleaned it out and we are working to keep the little pests out.  We aren't sure if it's squirrels or a rat, so traps were set and they should deter either from entering the car again, WE HOPE!

 

We are really enjoying the cooler weather and so is the electric bill!  I'm thinking the water bill will be lower now too since the drip is so much more efficient.  Stan has all the winter-over plants in the sun room now.  His watering duties have now turned into yard maintenance duties, falling sticks from the trees triggered by north winds and the falling leaves.  He is slowly working around the yard to tamp down the trails left by the installation of the irrigation.  

Posted by stormi36 at 7:46 AM CDT
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Friday, 20 October 2017
Friday

It is a nice day out.  I have lots of "homework" to do today.  I think Stan had a good birthday.  He got lots of well wishes from family and friends.  He enjoyed his German chocolate brownie cake.  He didn't feel like going out for steak for lunch or dinner, so I fixed hamburgers for lunch and shrimp pasta primavera for dinner.

Off to do laundry! 


Posted by stormi36 at 10:33 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 20 October 2017 10:34 AM CDT
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Thursday, 19 October 2017
My Birthday

I had a wonderful day.  Having Jess Sprinkler here made it even more fun.  Jess is a great guy and he and Stan were like two kids.  The system is complete in time for us to enjoy our joint birthday present.

Many thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday.  I've got some really wonder friends!

Today is Stan's birthday.  He got a Belgium waffle with peaches and whipped cream, bacon and milk.  He got a card from me and one from our stuffed bunny.  He isn't feeling 100% today so he's taking his after-breakfast nap right now.  It's his birthday!  He can do what he wants.

We're going to Hoffbrau for lunch today to split a steak and baked potato.  I'll probably make shrimp primavera for dinner.  I like making his birthday special. 


Posted by stormi36 at 7:45 AM CDT
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Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Birthday Breakfast

Stan got up and made me a wonderful breakfast - perfectly fried egg, toast, suasage and hash browns - and the most important beverage of the day, COFFEE!  Our joint birthday present is the irrigation system that should be complete today.

Our neighbors and friends across the street will be leaving Monday to move back to Madison.  It has been so much fun having them here and they will really be missed.  This year, the Blands sold their house and moved nearer their children and grandchildren.  We almost lost the twins and their older brother next door to relocation, but they decided to stay.  Jennifer sold her house to be better able to help care for her mom.  We have new neighbors in Bill's house and in the Blands and they seem to be really nice people.  Stella, Armando, Kathy and Troy are the longest-term neighbors.  Sherry is still two houses down and is such a joy to know.  She is still recovering from a bad fall a few months ago.  We closed on our house December 29, 1981.  In those years we've had some really great neighbors.  Terry and Mary who had the house across the street built are still two of our favorite people as are Mike and Carrie who who purchased the house after a couple from Burlington Northern purchased it then moved away.  We seem to really like the couples that move into the yellow house across the street. 

I think we knew from the start that this was our forever home.   We've shared 35 birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases, Thanksgivings, and Halloweens here.  We've always said we'd never move because we'd have to clean out the attic.  The real reason is that we have made so many memories here.  We've hosted more or my family's events here than anyone else in my family except my mother and grandmother.  Those memories fill every corner.

It's nice to reflect on those memories on my birthday. 

 


Posted by stormi36 at 7:30 AM CDT
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Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Wonderful Day

The irrigation system is about 2/3 complete.  The lines are all in for the back yard and they are beginning to cover the trenches.  They spent several hours trying to get under the driveway.  The water lines was about 4' below the surface and the man digging it was about 5' tall.  

I made Pasta E Fagiola a couple of weeks ago.  I had enough left over for several meals that I put in the freezer.  Stan made cornbread and I got the soup out and thawed/heated it for lunch.  Freezing made it even better than it was the day I made it.  This is a recipe I will be making every time I run out of frozen.

I am having such a wonderful fall.   

 


Posted by stormi36 at 4:15 PM CDT
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Monday, 16 October 2017
Weekend Trip to Weatherford

I saw a FB event posting for Fright Night in Weatherford so I booked a hotel room and purchased tickets for the event at the Pythian Home.  (https://www.pythianhome.org/History.html)

The event was well planned and quite nice.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn and the staff there is really wonderful.  The hotel was completely full, partially due to a wedding, but it was so quiet we thought we were the only ones there.  The room came with breakfast and that got us on our way home with even more smiles.

We purchased a book called Unexpected Texas by Tui Snider from the author who quite graciously singed it for us. Yes, when we got back to the hotel, I immediately started reading about all the unexpected places in Texas.  The author is a really outgoing and fascinating lady and an award winning author.   Check out her website at http://tuisnider.com/.

Other than the burger place (Justice Burger) that had their doors open for business but told us they didn't open until 12:00 - it was 11:50 (we left and had lunch at Cracker Barrel), and the Dairy Queen who thought it was perfectly acceptable to serve fries that had black holes in them, we had a really great time. 


Posted by stormi36 at 7:40 AM CDT
Updated: Monday, 16 October 2017 7:43 AM CDT
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Friday, 13 October 2017
Where's Fall?

After a week of nice temperatures, we are back into the 90s until Sunday.  I've been trying to update our web page so I've not been updating my blog.  It was down due to something with the servers for about a week.  Tripod has done a really great job resolving issues I've had as I've gotten back into both the blog and the web page.  

I am doing the photo album buy years and the closer to present I get, the more digital suff I have available.  I shared some of the photos on FB and didn't have to wory about naming protocol.  To put them on the web page using Cute FTP, I have to make sure I am following protocol exactly or the photos won't transfer.  When I was learning all this, we had to use protocols but eventually, windows made it mostly unnecessary.  Spaces, dashes, etc. were OK.  Glad I remember the old-school way of doing everything, even html coding, because some of it still applies! 

Our neighbors across the street, Shana and Jeff, are going home to Wisconsin this month.  She accepted a job with the University of Wisconsin and while I am so happy for her, I am sad for us.  On the other hand, we want to take an extended trip to Wisconsin, so we will see them again pretty soon!

After 36 years of hand watering, we are finally installing a drip irrigation system.  I think it will be a good improvement.  The past several years, we've had stone walls and steps installed at the sides and across the back of our yard to terrace the steep slope.  I can now easily walk to the bottom of the yard.  The terrace gives us more opportunity for flower beds and borders.  The result has been an influx of bird, butterflies, and a plethora of honey bees.  We haven't had that many bees in years!

I am so happy with the many choices we've made over the years.  We actively planned for retirement for many years.  We have some minor health issues, but hey, we're old!  There's little else we really worry about.  We are doing a lot more together now that we are both retired.  We are doing things that we hadn't considered previously because they fall on a weekend and we had too much "work" to do at home.  I plan to sign up for classes in the Spring and reserve Summer and Fall for having fun.

I really want to pinch myself sometimes because this seems like such a dream after so many years of working.

 


Posted by stormi36 at 12:46 PM CDT
Updated: Friday, 13 October 2017 1:09 PM CDT
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Sunday, 8 October 2017
Retirement

I retired on July 7, 2017.  Lots of family, friends, co-workers and tenants came to wish me well.  So far, it has been wonderful.  I have time to sit outside and enjoy relaxing, taking time to do things I've always had to put off, and just enjoying life.


Posted by stormi36 at 1:26 PM CDT
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Friday, 1 April 2016
Friday
I'm glad it's Friday so I can spend time with Stan this weekend.  He is getting his "workshop" set up and every day he goes to one or another hardware store and picks up another something.  He's building work benches, putting up stuff to hold stuff, assembling tools he got for Christmas and generally is like a kid with a new playhouse.  I'm glad he's enjoying retirement.  Life is good.

Posted by stormi36 at 8:53 AM CDT
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Thursday, 31 March 2016
Thoughts

Love really is the answer to everything.  Hate is self-consuming.  Haters, bullies, fake Christians spiral down into an abyss of their own creation - lonely even in a crowd.  We are, after all, the person we create. 



Posted by stormi36 at 9:33 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, 1 April 2016 8:44 AM CDT
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