WE KNOW A TURKEY'S ANSWER

Question Of The Week 11-25-13

CATNESS CONFESSION

Grandson Michael (right with cat) and his friends want to take Catness back to college.

Most of you will remember when Catness was born.  We had a naming contest and from all the suggested names my granddaughter Hope chose Cube's suggestion. Anyway, as soon as Catness was able to be on her own, she disappeared, as my cat's often do.  

A new kitten was born on our place and it looked so much like Catness, I named it Catness II.  All was well on the home front and the family that had adjusted to Catness  being gone, accepted the replacement.  

One of our cat loving neighbors visited us and when he left, lo and behold, Catness was back.  She must have been living at their home and hitched a ride in his truck.  We rejoiced in her return...at first.  She returned a horrible and needy young cat.  Her mother David was not even very happy to see her.  Catness had been spoiled by the neighbor's granddaughter and expected the same from me and from Slim. 

Granddaughter Hope renamed the second kitten Cuteness.  Isn't that clever?  Anyway, back to the prodigal cat.

Catness was forever at the door and attempting to enter the house.  Definitely not allowed.   She would circle the house at night, crying loudly to come inside. She would appear out of nowhere at my feet when I walked around the property and try to trip me.  She climbed me like a tree when it was meal time and left scratch marks all over me.  Plus she would jump in the middle of the pan while I was carrying it and spill the food all over the barn floor. While Slim usually enjoyed the attention and playtime with cats, even she became annoyed by the forever pestering of Catness.  

When my grandson and his friends visited and wanted to take Catness back to school with them, I really wanted to let them have her, but they would have to hide her and could get in trouble for having a pet so I had to say no.

This past Thursday the neighbors drove over to bring me a light for my hen house.  We visited for a bit and when they got ready to leave, Catness hopped into their van.  They started to shoo her out but I insisted they take her back with them, so they did.  I know their granddaughter will be thrilled to see her and  if she misses us too much she can come in the morning with our cat Boomer who was born here a few years ago and moved to the neighbors but shows up for breakfast almost daily.


Okay, okay, truth be told, Slim and I both miss the little pest.

THE DIRTY DOZEN

I bought myself a Christmas present this week.  Actually ten Christmas presents.  Ten beautiful, large laying hens.  They are already hard at work and there is no waiting and wondering.  These girls know exactly what to do and perhaps they will influence the others to get to work.

It will always be a learning experience for me to raise chickens.  I started when Ron surprised me with a hen and six chicks.  I did not even know that I wanted chickens and certainly did not know what to do with them.  Three of the chicks did not survive and the other three turned out to be roosters, Claude, Hannah and Brittany. Theirs is a story on its own about how they came to be known as the Hole In The Wall Gang.  Meanwhile, here is another remembrance from my old blog of my second batch of chicks who were the Dirty Dozen.


October 24, 2004
SOGGY FEATHERS

Friday the chickens were out for a walk when a sudden rain storm hit. Ron and I were on the porch, dry and cozy but could see all twelve of my chicken-children huddling under the pickup truck. They wanted to get back to their house, but as soon as one would venture out it would return as quickly to the cover of the truck.

How could I help these young birds? Suddenly a light-bulb moment had me heading after my umbrella. Taking the point at the back end of the pickup and calling to my chickens, I ran toward the chicken house. Glancing back over my shoulder there were twelve wobbly young chicks following close behind me despite the pouring rain. Soon they were all safe and warm in their house. This human mother-hen emerged victorious. 

Ron met my return to the dry porch with his big ass grin as he had observed my entire performance in utter dismay. 

I have to tell you that this story is especially funny now (as I watched all of my chickens out in the rain yesterday) that I know chickens can and will stay out in the rain and I never needed to make that crazy run in the first place.  Of course Ron knew that:)

JUST ICE

Entering a restaurant the hostess will inquire, "How many?"  You respond two or three, etc. and you are led to a table.  If you respond "One" the hostess will ALWAYS reply, "Just one?" in an accusatory tone. (I think we all know how Riot Kitty would handle this.)


My last Question Of The Week caused  heartinhand  to comment:   "I was once asked what I did for a living and I said 'I'm just a waitress.' The lady who asked said 'Oh honey, you're not JUST anything. Be proud of who you are!' I still try to remember that in times of insecurity."

I can remember saying "I am just a  housewife" when I was a stay at home mom, but I can never remember saying "I am just a banker" when I worked outside the home. 

This got me to thinking about the negative connotation the word "just" can bring with it.  Have you ever said "I am just....."

It is a bit of a cold word that seems to demean us in some way. Perhaps we should start a campaign to eliminate its use as an adverb:)

AS THE WORLD TURNS

Question Of The Week 11-18-13

A SUNDAY REMEMBRANCE

This is a post from my first blog SPONTANEOUS OVERFLOW OF A POWERFUL FEELING that ran from May 1, 2003 to February 10, 2005.  We lived in Kansas in a one room school house that Ron had remodeled and made into a cozy home.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

THE THRESHOLD OF AN EMOTIONAL OUTPOURING

Last night the chickens were put to bed. The door was closed and I told them all goodnight, I listened to them moving around trying to get the best roosting position. I listened to them whisper in their subdued clucking. It reminded me of girls at Camp Egan getting settled in their cabins. They were all accounted for and told “lights out”, but the rustling and jabbering continued. . I sat down outside the chicken coup to reflect and remember. Next I heard a flock of geese flying overhead. Soon the train chugged through my revere. This is my absolute favorite time of year in our Kansas home.

Today at church we sang congregation selections. They picked hymns out of the old hymnal and I blinked my watery eyes when we closed with WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER. If you every heard P.G. (My paternal grandfather) harmonize on this one, you would know right where I was coming from.

Now Ron is napping and I’ve been working in the kitchen cleaning up and peeling potatoes and making hummus and listening to bluegrass on Sirius cable TV. Our furnace is kicking on as the weather is growing colder and colder. I can hear needle tapping of the beginning of freezing rain. 

Thank you God for these framed moments to reminisce.

THE LADY IS NO LADY

They arrived this beautiful, warm weekend.  I actually know a bunch of nature worshipers who opened their windows and invited the girls in.  I did not, but many got in the house anyway.  Lady Bugs, Lady Beetles, whatever you call them, they are annoying beyond belief.  If you don't know anything about them, you can read here and learn what happens this time every year.

Thankfully a freeze followed closely on this year's invasion and we may be through for this year.  Oh I know they are helpful for plants and kill aphids so please forgive me for wishing them away but I'm wearing my vacuum cleaner out trying to keep ahead of them.

Don't blink or you might miss seeing the arrival caught on my video surveillance camera.

Looks kind of pretty and harmless on the porch doesn't she?

Then she finds a way in and starts bringing her friends.

Did you have the pleasure of the company of these lovely ladies this year?

S.O.G.W.P.I.P

S.O.G.W.P.I.P stands for "Silly Old Grandma With Pictures In Purse".  

Not all seniors have grandchildren or even if they do, they might not carry pictures around.   

I had a dear friend who loved it when people began sharing family pictures.  She would grab her purse, pull out her wallet and proudly display a small photo.  

"Have you seen my pride and joy?"  she would ask with a delightful twinkle in her eye.  Then she would pass around this small picture.

"Allow me to show you my pride and joy!"

GIVE US A NAME

Question Of The Week 11-11-13

WHAT IS THE FIRST NAME OF MILITARY VETERANS YOU WOULD LIKE REMEMBERED?

Put his or her first names in the comment section and I will add them to this blog page as a way of saying thanks for their service.

"A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'  " ~ unknown

HONOR WALL

                                                     Ronald L.                                                   

                                                     James M.                                                  

                                                  Henry G.                                               

Martin M,

Mike L.

Paul V.

Juliette V.

Frank C.

Frank C. Jr.

David R.

Ralph C.

John L.

Douglas M.
Yancey M.
Buck J. 

Fred C. 

Joe K.
Jason B.

Leonard E. 

Alan B.

Mike
Alex
Joseph

Larry H.

Dale K.  

Walter C. WW1
Bill C. WW2 Korea
Michael C. Vietnam
Randy M. Vietnam
George B. WW2 Korea
Matthew M. Iraq
Gene O. Vietnam
Jeff C. Vietnam
Robert L. Vietnam
Tom K. Vietnam

Percy T.
Peter T.
Bill F.
Darcy W.
Frank S.

Jack H.
Dale B.
John N.
Paul W.
Robert C.
Jason M.

Gerald C. Vietnam
Darrel C. WW2
Averill C. WW2
Bill K. WW2 
William B 1813
Matthew G 1829
William M 1839
John N 1861
John Joseph Patrick D 1863
Andrew D
James D
Isaac John Joseph T
John T
Charles T
Alice T
James S
David H
Robert H
Wayne Tillitson. of Hopewell Junction Of Dutchess County NY
John Bear Of Albany NY.
 Joseph C.
 Waring H.
Buzz H.
Mary M.
Cody O.
Elwood C.
Don S.
Pat M.
Wayne M. 
 Rick
Kristie
Robbie
Cody
Bill H.
Glenn D 
Jack B.

THANKS TO EACH LISTED HERE AND 
ALL OUR VETERANS THIS DAY 
AND EVERY DAY!!!!

HELLO AGAIN OTIS

This is not Otis.  This is Joyce:)

One of my new found friends from the church is Joyce.  This is her picture from the Halloween party.  No one recognized her in her hobo costume.  She used Vaseline and coffee grounds to make her beard.  You can tell that Joyce is a hoot. We learned that we only live a mile from each other.

Yesterday I went to her home for the first time (I thought) to pick Joyce up to take her to the senior center for lunch. 

Has anyone noticed that I talk about going to "the senior center" like I'm a visitor there? I am a member:) Hello, my name is Annie and I am a senior citizen.

Anyway, lo and behold, I had been to her home before.  Ron and I had been there together.  We had been there in 2006 when we first moved to this area and from that day forth, every time we drove by their home we would repeat these words, "Oh no Otis!". 

When Joyce got in the car, to make sure she had lived there at the time of the incident, I asked, "Did you ever have a dog named Otis?" Yes they did.  And the incident was related and remembered and she had her husband come out and we all recalled the story together and laughed and laughed about a time gone by that they certainly had never forgotten.  After all they had the clean up job. Later that day Joyce actually took me to the grave of Otis who died in 2011.

(click the link "Oh no Otis" above to read my blog post in 2006)

DEPARTING WARMTH

Question Of The Week 11-4-13

As we approach Winter months, reflect on this question:

What was your favorite thing 

to do 

during your summers 

as a kid?

I'M SORRY, SO SORRY....

Guess you could call me blunt or you could call me a bitch.  One employee at the bank told me she feared me for six months before she learned to love me.  Yikes!

My heart is good.  My thoughts are well intentioned.  But sometimes my mouth goeth before the fall. Sometimes I don't realize people don't want to know what I think.  Perhaps that is why my father tried and tried to emphasize that I should first "be a listener".  Perhaps I should realize I'm not in the workplace anymore and I need to lighten up.

There were times in my career when being a good guy was not the object of my mission.  Completing a task in a timely manner was the mission and success was to be the final outcome and while kindness was a good thing, taking time for too much kindness just didn't get the work done.  I was not a slave driver and certainly rewarded excellence but sometimes I left some chop in the waves.

Maybe I raised my children the same way.  They seem to forgive me. If anything they take after me.  Ron definitely forgave me.  Actually he applauded me.  When I read the plumber the riot act for trying to stiff us on more money for something he screwed up on, Ron winked at me and said "good job". It was like winning the Gold at the Olympics.

My bathroom floors are two weeks behind schedule but they will be completed today. The foreman has had many ailments that have slowed the progress and he was starting to complain again. I finally suggested he  hire a third helper to come and I knew a guy willing to work.    Suddenly the contractor got into action and this morning it is complete except for moving things back into place. You think maybe he didn't want to stretch the quoted fee any further?

Sometimes I think it also has to do with me being a woman who speaks up for herself, do you?


(Today is All Saints Day and obviously I will never make the list but thankfully I have known many who do and my life is blessed because of them.)

WHAT INVITATION?

WHO'S WHO

Question Of The Week 10-28-13

What was your best 

Halloween costume ever 

and did you win 

a prize?

This wasn't my "best" Halloween costume ever but it was my most fun.  I went as a member of the Press and took a ton of pictures of the evening.  This church Halloween party included a hayride for the kids and lovely time around the fire pit for the adults.

My Press Pass design that I wore around my neck.  Plus I had a Press sign on my hat and cameras galore.

This innovative girl won the prize as Sly from Duck Dynasty.

YOU KNOW IT IS TRUE

What call center would you say this is?  I say US Cellular.

On August 9, 2013 I began what I thought would be a very simple process.  It was time to change from a two phone family plan with US Cellular to a single phone line.  Just cancel Ron's phone, right?  Wrong!

Multiple phone calls to a different agent every time were followed by four trips into town to talk to eight different representatives who ended up putting me on their phones to the call center.  Most of my phone calls mysteriously disconnected just as they would answer after I had been holding for 15 minutes or more.  Never once did I speak to the same person twice.

Ron's phone was not turned off.  Instead they kept the account for him as a single account and opened me a new account as well.  This was after I had taken in proof of death to their office as required.

I had to get a new credit line because they said the other phone was primarily Ron's, though I had originally opened it as a single phone in 1998 and added him in 2000.  Never had one single payment been missed as they debited our checking account monthly. That didn't count for my credit history and I had to start over. 

We have over 12,000 reward points that they were supposed to transfer to my new account.  That was not happening either.

They owed us a refund then they billed us $216 in error when I showed the automatic payments had been made but that didn't keep them from closing my account for several hours before I realized why I wasn't getting any phone calls.  They apologized.

There is not room to list all the problems, but I did finally get "almost" everything resolved by threatening in an email to file an informal complaint with the FCC to then be followed with a formal complaint if matters were not resolved.  Results began to pour in that very day. 

So far they owe me $52 credit balance on our original account.  I can only knock on wood that everything else if finally resolved.  It is time for me to get a new free phone but you can bet your sweet bippy that I'm going to wait at least a year before I contact these people again for any reason.

(Oh, why don't I change carriers you ask?  Well US Cellular is the only cell service that can be accessed in my area.  When my family visits no one can use their phones. Not Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T.)

GET ME TO THE CHURCH ON TIME

Ron loved this 3 piece suit. He wore it on many a special occasion and I'm not sure what this important day was.

Yesterday I mowed for the last time of the season. It was sad to put the mower away because mowing has been a big part of my communion with Ron. It was like I was putting him away too. I know that I really must at some point but I cannot imagine being able to.

PARDON MY SKEPTICISM

Two emotional stories are in the news on Facebook today.  

One is about a young lady from Guthrie,Oklahoma who had her wallet stolen in the grocery store.  She approached the thief and offered him two alternatives.  He could quietly return her billfold and she would buy his groceries or she would call the police.  He took the free food offer and shared his very sad hard luck story with the young girl.

The second story is about a Miami-Dade county sheriff officer who arrested a young mother for stealing groceries, listened to her hard luck tale and saw the woman's starving kids.  She let the mother go and bought her $100 of groceries instead.  The story got out and people donated more money to the thief plus they gave her a job.

Is this the United States of America in the 21st century and not dust bowl times or some third world country.  What town does not have a place where our homeless or those in need can go for help.  What church would ever turn away people in need and what about organizations like the Salvation Army? Plus we do have this thing called Welfare that provides especially for single moms with children.

Tell me what justifies a person stealing and why would we want to assist them breaking the law and be applauded for it?  

(And yes I have been at poverty level with two small children and on government assistance.  And yes, I have had a gun placed to my head by a gun crazed robber who said, when captured, that he was needing to buy Christmas presents for his children.)

ON THE ROAD TO EERIE

Question Of The Week 10-21-13

Tell us a strange, spooky, or eerie event that has occurred in your life and cannot be explained?

HELLO MY DEAR

Ron gave me a good luck token when we were dating.  It was a 1918 half dollar and he told me to keep it with me always.  I carried it religiously until a couple of years ago when it suddenly disappeared.  My first thought was that I had accidentally spent it as a quarter.  I tore the house apart looking for it as if I had lost a diamond. Ron thought I was acting crazy but it was precious to me.

This week my most admired 95 year old uncle died.  I said this about him on my Facebook. "A wonderful Uncle, mentor, supportive friend who shared his strength and love with all of us. Our mom's "favorite" (and only) brother:) God bless and keep his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the days ahead. One of the greater of The Greatest Generation."

Not only did I love him, Ron admired him a great deal also because they were both Navy men.  Uncle Jim had many close medical calls but always bounced back and kept moving forward.  Still Ron and I believed the day would come when we would attend my uncle's funeral.  

One of the things I dreaded most about going to the funeral tomorrow was going alone.  I was getting clothes ready and thinking about shoes, dress, purse, etc.  Suddenly I looked in the center of my closet floor and there it was.  The coin Ron had given me.  Ron will be going with me tomorrow to pay tribute to my Uncle Jim.

GIMME A BREAK

Did you have a Fall Break when you were in school?  I don't remember having one, but am sure glad my granddaughter does.  Hope is with me this week and it's time for a good spoiling for this youngest grandchild:) 

Hope enjoys noodles at the China Buffet.