We had a really nice weekend.  It was 60 this morning and shouldn't get over 75 today.  Stan was off this morning to get my car inspected and have the oil changed.  The visitor to the engine compartment apparently is alive and well and brought a few peanut shells in and ate a little more of the poison.  I don't blame him, the poison smells like chocolate.  I just want him to go away somewhere and go to sleep forever.  We take the poison out before we drive the car.  I'm afraid it will fall out and a cat or dog will find it in the road and eat it.

We got a new bird feeder yesterday.  We had been using a flat feeder but the squirrels were taking it over.  We got a normal feeder that is supposed to be squirrel-proof.  So far, it's working.  The squirrels aren't happy!

Stan got his new weather instruments set up yesterday.  It is a Weather Channel model with wind speed and direction, humidity, barometric pressure, alarms, rain gauge and probably more that I can't remember.  We had an old decorative windmill tower from one that the bearings had gone bad on.  We couldn't find a replacement ring for it.  It makes a wonderful mount for all the monitors.

Today is market day and we/I will be off when my car gets back.  I love my car.  The paint job makes it look like new.  It still runs like new despite over 200,000 miles.  We had a back-up camera with stereo and Bluetooth capability installed last spring.  We can talk hands-free and I feel better backing up knowing I can see any children or critters behind my car.  The 4-Runner came with all that and I was a tad jealous. 

I've heard rumors that colder weather is on the way this week.  It was uncomfortable yesterday.  I finally gave up and shut the windows and turned the A/C on. 

Posted by stormi36 at 10:15 AM CST

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Our former neighbor Shena stopped by for a quick visit.  She had been in town for a very short time to finish up some business here in Texas.  She said it is cold in Wisconsin.  I'm contemplating shutting the windows and turning on the A/C.  She is very happy with her new job and mostly with the improved benefits.  Jeff got a job immediately with UPS.  We are so happy for them but sad for us.

Walter lost his brother-in-law this week.  He stopped by in the afternoon to tell us about the arrangements.  He was married to Walter's sister Fay for 70 years.  We had organic made-from-scratch chicken noodle soup for lunch.  I sent two servings home with Walter for his dinner.  Since the surgery, he's been able to eat whatever he wants without the interference of the hernia. 

The box of photos Stan retrieved from the storage building was still on the ottoman where Stan put them to look through.  He pulled out a few of Mother and Walter when they were much younger - Walter had dark hair and Mother had red hair.  I told him I would give him all the prints once I get them scanned.  That gives me more incentive to work on them.  I will add any new ones to the years I already have on the web page as I go.

 I did laundry while I was cooking and Stan cleaned the garage.  We ate our soup on the front deck, enjoying the lingering summer weather.  I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

Posted by stormi36 at 6:52 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Yesterday we went to Foreman's for traps and bait for the car invader.  They had a sign on their marquee "Ask about 5 lbs free bird seed," so Stan did.  They all looked at each other in amazement.  Turns out the sign had been there for three months and he was the first customer to notice it.  We got free bird seed.

We were near Tom Thumb and it was lunch time so I suggested we go to the deli and pick out something for lunch.  I decided Chisholm Park would be a good place to have a spur-of-the- moment picnic.  It was wonderful out.  I'm told it got up to 93 yesterday but it wasn't that warm yet.  We were almost through with our sandwiches when a bee started buzzing my head....then another....then another.  They were small like honey bees but darker.  They were a little too aggressive for me, so we put an end to the picnic just in case they were bad bees.

Later that afternoon, Stan was looking for something in the storage building.  He found one of my boxes of photos and brought it in.  I went through the envelopes, then he went through them.  There were so many memories in that box.  I found the two photos I had been wanting to share with my nieces and nephew and put them on Facebook.

I had gotten a little burned out on my web page, but this may give me new inspiration.  There are hundred of photos to get scanned and sorted.   There were photos of the day Tawnya came home from the hospital.  There are photos of Jerry Jeff and Kirsten's wedding.  There are pictures of me skiing in 1979.  There are pictures of my sister's kids before the last one was born.  It was a time before digital cameras and cell phones.  You had to remember to take a camera and then remember to take the film to be developed.  It will be fun remembering and scanning.

Posted by stormi36 at 7:04 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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!

Posted by stormi36 at 7:46 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink