Your Mother's a Nerd!

Pure Nerd 69 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 30% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations!

Reunions

Hoo boy!
Snow in Denver--we know it snows there.
Why did it have to dump all at once in just one spot?
Melanie and Bebo we hope you can get out soon!
Jason and Leanne are expected to be here Friday night.
Hope their flight is not delayed because of repercussions from the Denver fiasco.
Megan is coming home tomorrow too. We just have rain here so she shouldn't have any weather preventing her homecoming.

Here's to hoping everyone gets home save and sound.

Love
Mom

Birthdays

I don't mind getting older, it's just that I don't want to do it while I'm still so young.

News from Home

All of you probably know already, but Caroline (Mike) & Susan (Brandon) are with child. Anyone else? You know how Cecile & I love surprises.
I think that my outside (between holiday) chores are finished. I got all the leaves in the compost. For the first time, all the leaves are out of the pool area. I have most of Cecile's rose bushes transplanted to the south side of the pool. (between the grasses) Most of the Cana bulbs are in the basement. If you want some, you can take them back w/ you at Christmas. The Christmas light are up. I had to buy 6 more strings of lights because the trees keep getting bigger. We are going up to see My Dad & Marge probably next weekend & take him his late birthday gift / early Christmas gift. Megan is home for the weekend YAaa. Christina comes home on Sundays and has dinner w/ us. I need to talk her into coming home for dinner a couple time a week.
It' a long story, but I have a new riding lawn mower. Take a guess how many lbs. of crab are in the freezer?

Change is sometimes good

The American people have spoken. That is what these elections across the USA have said. I hope & trust it will be for the best. There have been other times in history where one party controls the Presidency and the other party controls either one/both or the House & Senate. It might just be what this country needs. That is what I love about a democracy. We do have a voice, but it takes a lot of us. I don't say very much about politics or religion, but most of you are not shy about speaking your mind. A lot of what has happened to our Country is about growing pains & change. I could elaborate, but it won't help anything. People (just people) run our government. They do the same things to live, every day, just like all of us. They one way or another attained a position where they are deciding policy on things that affect our lives. That doesn't make them better, or smarter. Any of you in time could do what they are doing. I never wanted to be a politician, but I have wondered if I would have sucumbed to the same pitfalls that most of them do. Big business runs this country, or any other democracy. It is dificult at times to maintain what we believe, when the pressure is on. I have been in that position many many times.

Rare American Chestnut

The loss of these trees is considered by some measures to be among the greatest environmental disasters to befall the Western Hemisphere since the last Ice Age.
The trees could be giants. In virgin forests throughout their range, mature chestnuts averaged up to five feet in diameter and up to one hundred feet tall. Many specimens of eight to ten feet in diameter were recorded, and there were rumors of trees bigger still.

Native wildlife from birds to bears, squirrels to deer, depended on the tree's abundant crops of nutritious nuts. And chestnut was a central part of eastern rural economies. As winter came on, attics were often stacked to the rafters with flour bags full of the glossy, dark brown nuts. Springhouses and smokehouses were hung with hams and other products from livestock that had fattened on the harvest gleanings. And what wasn't consumed was sold.

The tree was one of the best for timber. It grew straight and often branch-free for 50 feet. Loggers tell of loading entire railroad cars with boards cut from just one tree. Straight-grained, lighter in weight than oak and more easily worked, chestnut was as rot resistant as redwood. It was used for virtually everything - telegraph poles, railroad ties, shingles, paneling, fine furniture, musical instruments, even pulp and plywood.

Then the chestnut blight struck

First discovered in 1904 in New York City, the blight - an Asian fungus to which our native chestnuts had very little resistance - spread quickly. In its wake it left only dead and dying stems. By 1950, except for the shrubby root sprouts the species continually produces (and which also quickly become infected), the keystone species on some nine million acres of eastern forests had disappeared.

Grandpa gave us a seedling and it grew. Our tree is now over 20 feet tall and bearing seed pods. But the seed pods are sterile and don't give us any nuts. So we planted another seedling from Grandpa and are waiting for it to mature so we can have two chestnuts with nuts.

Information taken from the American Chestnut Foundation Website

The autumn leaves are beautiful and Poncho is fat

How can we be so Booooring if we are so busy all the time?
Randy at least has end results for his time that you can see and feel.
He just finished another chess/Chinese checker board with drawers. It's beautiful. He's working on a Christmas gift for someone now and busy racking wine and mowing leaves and playing in the compost heap.
My time is spent on the... well .... intangible. :) And not very timely either.
Aunt Valorie and I are working on a project for Grandpa for Christmas. I bake pies and they disappear. I made two biiiiig pans of meatloaf thinking to freeze some, but it tastes so good that we are still eating it - every day.
Christina is in the process of moving to her first real apartment with a friend named Andy.
Her room looks more empty than Megan's even though Megan took more stuff with her.
Randy and I can never move, we have too much stuff. I try to throw something out and Randy scrutinizes everything in the trash and suggests other uses for it.
We would love to build an addition onto the house. One with room for storage. Think it's possible? The addition, yes. Room for storage, Ha! never enough room for stuff.
Gotta go bake some more pies.

My wonderful gransons

Two little bubbies sitting at their table
Being such good boys eating peaches and peanut butter and jelly.

Warm Feet

Cecile & I went to see Joel,Kara,Aidan,Theo, & Marissa over the weekend. We left Thursday morning (Megan (Cecile) Time) and arrived around 9:30 p.m. We played card games and Chinese checkers. We went to BW3 and watched the Michigan / State game. We also got to go to Chuck E Cheese. Sunday Joel & I donned our worst grubbs and entered the crawl space under the front of the house. Some of the things that we encountered will remain hidden forever right where we left em. I think it will be the start of "Joel the Handyman". He was a slave driver. He wouldn't let me take breaks, no naps, no drinks. We were is some tight spaces. Besides the sore muscles it got done. When we finished Aidan told me "Grandpa you need a shower" Most of it washed off. It was wonderful to see the Atances. Aidan is growing up so fast & Theo is walking all over the place. Marissa seems to be keeping her sanity. Kara probably needs more sleep. Theo is a eating machine. We came home through Columbus. It might have been a little shorter. We probably won't do it very often.

Randy

Dealing with Adversity

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first, she placed carrots; in the second, she placed eggs; and in the last, she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed a hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softenend and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean? If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you."

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so, at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

This concludes today's sermon.
Love
Mom

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails....

Theo needs a puppy.!.

Mel's bed

Here is another photo of Melanie's bed. I am finishing up a checker board for my Dad. I am also finishing up a frame for a picture of Cecile & me that is going to work. Then I am going to start on a coffee table for our living room. Beside all that, life is routine in the bear den.

Eat Your Vegetables

Sunday we took a carload of "essentials" to Megan. Then we took her to dinner at a restaurant called La Shish. The menu was a blend of Indian and Middle Eastern foods. We ordered 2 entrees and they came with soup and salad. The salad was your typical greens with Greek style dressing minus the spinach leaves. Then they brought the bread which was the naan that Jason makes.
The main dishes were very delicious. One was rice with grilled shrimp and vegetables. The other was a thick ring of hummus surrounding a stew of lamb and vegetables. You dip the naan in the stew and hummus and eat it. Yummmmmmeeee.

We dropped Megan off at her photo lab and went to Whole Foods Market. The superstore for organic and health freaks. We love wandering around in there. Randy tastes the cheese samples and drools over the huge cheese selection. I search for all the different soy based products to stock up on. Like soy yogurt(it doesn't taste like yogurt but it's smooth and creamy and fruity).
Then we checked out their cafeteria and deli. Wow what a lot of yummy looking stuff. I got ideas for foods I've never attempted before.

Tonight's dinner:
Lembas (Elven waybread)

grated daikon radish, one
grated carrot, 3/4 of 1-lb bag baby carrots
minced onion, one
minced garlic, 2 cloves
sea salt and ground pepper to season
Steam 8 minutes.
Cool.
Add:
cilantro, 1 bunch leaves removed from stems

In separate bowl mix:
1-1/2 C. flour
1/2 C. cornmeal
2 T. olive oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1-1/4 C. soy milk
sea salt and ground pepper to season

Fold vegetables into batter. Mix well.

Put large spoonful on waffle iron or panini maker and cook until browned.
Serve with favorite condiments: butter, catsup, sour cream, Ranch Dressing or salsa.
It stores well and can be reheated in toaster oven.

To pan fry, use only 1 C. milk and fry in about 4 T. oil until browned on both sides.

A box without hinges, key or lid
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

Answer: egg

Laters,
Mom

Fall Rituals

As the fall leaves are thinking about changing colors, mama & papa bear are preparing for something much worse. Angel dandruf!
Papa bear bought a large grass colored rug to put on the pond where all the animals bathe and drink. Hopefully this keeps all the critters & leaves out, especially the cats that can walk on water.
Today we are going up to the next valley where all the animals buy produce in larger quanities.
I have to get a couple of bushels of "Granny Smith" apples for you know what.
We are starting our fall ritual of eating less & more healthy, knowing that during the winter we don't get out as much and like to store up extra cellular structures that aren't necessary.
Tomorrow we are going to see baby bear and take her some stuff that she will need during the cold months ahead. They have a "World Market" in her valley not too far away from her cave. We will have to stop there and browse also. Gota go! "Growl"
Papa Bear

No Worries

For Labor Day Weekend we went to Grandma and Grandpas house to hobnob with the relatives.
Aunties Valorie and Tara were there working on homemade Christmas cards. When they weren't paperworking they were crocheting dishcloths. Aunt Valorie plans to open a craft store in the little barn on her property. She also plans to teach lessons in a variety of crafts.
If you have any little crafty objects you would like to sell, she is willing to take them in to her shop and put them on display.

Nellie was there and was busy knitting a sweater for a newborn girl she knows. She used a thick soft chenille yarn in pastels and white. When it was done it looked so soft and cuddly you just wanted to squeeze it tight.
Nellie has been taking monster antibiotics for the H.pylori bacteria that has given her stomach ulcers. Her 90 year old father is causing her a great deal of anxiety. She'll come home from work to find his tractor with its nose half up a tree trunk or the back end in the trout pond.
He'll extricate it and get it into another predicament the next day. She is in constant fear of what she may come home to one day.

There was plenty of good food as usual. Granpa rigged up a homemade chicken rotisserie for slow roasting his homegrown chickens over the fire pit.
His garden is huge. The corn stalks must be over 10 feet tall. He rigged an electric fence around the corn to keep the varmints out. It's a bare wire poked into the outlet of an extension cord! Mmmm... electric fried racoon.

Grandma's hand is still healing from the surgery so she has not done any sewing lately. She goes to therapy 2 times a week where they stretch it and press it until it hurts. The scars are in three places, the palm and two on the finger. They are not neat scars either, they are all jaggedy. It'll be a while before she has full use of it again.

Randy's toenail is still hanging on by a teensy bit of skin. He protects it with a bandaid. You can see the new nail growning underneath. It's grown out about half way.
We don't see Christina anymore. She gets up about when I go to bed and comes home just as I'm leaving for work. I'll have to settle with reading about her in her blog.

Until next time
Cec

Nothing Much

Nothing exciting going on with Randy or me.
I did watch Randy pull out tons of English ivy from under the old maple in the back yard though.
He's an animal! Grrrrr.....
He let me pretend to help by rolling the ivy up with the use of a pitchfork. Then he used brute force to yank the roots out of the ground.

It's been raining three days straight. Good for the saplings we planted. Grandpa gave me some American chestnuts and some acorns last fall. I planted them and voila! Trees!
The American chestnut we have is not self-pollinating so we planted a mate for it by the relocated compost pile. The oak is planted just in front of the back fence.
We are officially finished planting any more trees on our property. Within another 10 years we won't have any sunny spots around.

Now that the weather is cooler, and as soon as the rain stops, we will get back to work on our variegated brick patio. I don't know if I like it or not. But it will be a pleasant place to sit even if it looks strange.

Randy and I have been watching some ooooold movies. Black and white ones. Some Hitchcock and some Paul Newman ones. Some Shirley Temple movies just came in but I doubt I can get him to sit and watch those with me. :)

It's great to read your interesting blogs. Keep up the good work!
Cec

New again!

Here it is. Jason left a dark brown (stained) coffee table in storage when He & Leanne left for Washington. Megan & I went to storage to browse. She thought she might need a coffee table, so we took it home and she helped me strip it. It's just pine, but it should get her through the next couple years.

Baby bear - over the far hill

As the bears sat in front of the den last night, baby bear said, " I want to go back to Learning Academy" This will be her 3rd year. Papa & Mama bear don't know what else the old wise bears can teach her. She is getting so grown up. They decided if she is willing to learn, they must let her go. (maybe this year she will decide if she wants to be a public nurturing bear, a medicine bear, Pi-bear, or whatever she wants bear) They decided that they will take her over the big hill and get her settled in to a den with 5 other wild creatures. They don't know who will fix all the evening meals now. They will worry about her all the time. There are stories about those learning academies, and the wild "old honey" gatherings that take place. Well, Papa bear has got to go see what his friends, the bats are doing.
Papa Bear

The Grand Valley

Long before the sun rose in the morning sky, Mama bear rolled out of her cozy bed of goose down and pine boughs & headed for the waterfall to wash off the spores, lint, bugs, beatles, old hair. (you get the picture) She then rummaged around for a nest of ants or some juicy berries before she headed out across the forest. She could tell when she got close to the mail route, because the pony express houses would run faster down the trail. She knew that she was an important part of the fastest mail in the northeast central territory.
Papa bear would amble down to the valley on a totally different mission. He would organize all the creatures he could find, to gather all the poo pies to save for recycling. He also would caution all of them not to pee in the lakes and streams.
When mama bear arrived back at the den, she, Papa bear, home care bear (if she's home) and baby bear would sit in front of the den and watch the scenery across the valley. Tonight they are thinking about their older bear cubs that have their own families and baby cubs. They can't see them because they are past the farthest hills.
Papa Bear

Chestnut Tree

Some day I might suprise everyone and write an interesting blog, but not today.
The chestnut tree is dropping it's nuts. I have been reading about them. This year it has hundreds of nuts on it. Some are double, some are single. The double ones have a chance to be healthy mature nuts. The single ones, from what I understand have not been polinated. We have another little chestnut to plant this fall. When it is big enough it, they will pollinate each other. Chestnuts are the fussiest nuts to harvest and keep from rotting.
The bat house is ready to put up on top of the shop. It hsould be fun getting the bats out of the chimney. I do have a plan. Hopefully in another week we'll have all the weeds and grass out of areas where they shouldn't be. When I find the camera I will post a picture of Jason's old coffee table.
Randy

What?!?

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

It sounds so permanent - "You Are Bert", not you are "like Bert" or that you are a "Bert-type".
NOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAaaaaaGH!

Cec


P.S.
Found the perfect link to a test for Megan to take

http://www.blogthings.com/whatshouldyoumajorinquiz/

Cooking Again

This evening I made Vietnamese cabbage salad to take to Grandpa's birthday party tomorrow.
Megan was shocked when I dumped the rest of the delicious fish sauce she made all over the huge container of salad. I can't seem to get the hang of cooking smaller portions. The salad filled the largest Tupperware container we own. It tastes very good so it probably won't last long.

We've been eating bun with eggrolls for every meal!
You all have the recipes.....

Sunday we will be making 2 to 3 batches more in order to store them in the freezer for the holiday season.

Speaking of holidays.... Now is the time to start shopping for Christmas(or making things if money is in short supply). How about some requests for things you would like me to make for your household? When the weather cools down, I'd like to start sewing again. Just need some requests.(Insert reasonable here.)

I said I'd make blueberry pie didn't I?
Gotta get going, it's awful late to start a pie.
Cec

Aidan Eating Peanuts (NOW WITH VIDEO)

EggRolls

I think the title says it all. Tonight we had bun cha za & egg rolls. It was wonderful. Chris, Megan, Leif, Kyle & Mom rolled & I fried. The plan is to keep making them for awhile and freeze them for Xmas.
The bat house is cut out. It should be glued together by the week end.
Randy

Aidan Eating Peanuts

I am trying to fix this video. It's been deleted and reloaded onto Youtube and still is not available.
The server may be backed up. I'll let it sit and see what happens.

Theo Plays Peek-a-Boo with Marissa

Great Grandpa is 80 years old today!

The great storyteller will be accepting a pie from each family at his party Saturday. Everyone will also bring a dish to pass. All the kids and grandkids and Great-grandkids in the area will attend. We'll probably take blueberry.

Megan has been a wonder to have around. She cooks. She does dishes. She entertains.
Not at all like her stodgy parents.

Last night she made Pad Thai. We have had this dish a few times at Noodles&Co. and loved it. She decided to make it from scratch and it turned out fantastic and surprisingly easy to make.


PAD THAI
8 oz. flat dried rice stick noodles
1 T. tamarind puree' (she used apricot jelly)
1 small red chili, chopped (she used chili paste)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 spring onions (scallions), sliced
1 1/2 T. sugar
2 T. fish sauce
2 T. lime juice
2 T. oil
2 eggs, beaten
5 oz. pork fillet, thinly sliced (She used fried tofu)
8 large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined
3 1/2 oz. fried tofu puffs, julienned
3 oz. bean sprouts (she used alfalfa sprouts)
1/4 C. roasted peanuts, chopped
3 T. cilantro leaves
1 lime, cut into wedges

Put the noodles in a heatproof bowl, cover with warm water and soak for 15-20 minutes, or until soft and pliable. Drain well.
Combine the tamarind puree' with 1 T. water. Put the chili, garlic and spring onion in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind to a smooth paste. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the tamarind mixture along with the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice, stirring until combined.
Heat a wok until very hot, add 1 T. of the oil and swirl to coat the side. Add the egg, swirl to coat and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until set. Remove, roll up and cut into thin slices.
Heat the remaining oil in the wok, stir in the chili mixture, and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the pork and stir-fry for 2 minutes, or until tender. Add the shrimp and stir-fry for a further minute, or until pink and curled.
Stir in the noodles, egg, tofu and the bean sprouts and gently toss everything together until heated through.
Serve immediately topped with the peanuts, cilantro and lime wedges.

After Vacation blue's

2 weeks off was wonderful. Cecile called me when she got out of work today to gloat about being out of work before me. Actually I was missed at work, & that was kinda nice. I am going to make some bat boxes. Does anyone want 1? We have to get out bats out of the chimney, because I want their poo for my compost pile.
Megan made Guaq again tonight. It was very good.
We are getting ready to move Megan back to UofM. I got her bike ready to go. Her & I are working on a coffee table that Jason left behind. It will be beautiful when we get done. There are also a couple other projects in the shop that I need to finish, beside the yard. It was wonderful seeing Kara & Joel & the boys. We will have to take a trip down after Megan goes back to college

Megan's home

Yesterday, 8/9/06 Megan & I went blueberry picking. She picked as much as I did. I was impressed. We then went to storage where she picked out her furnishing for her house in Ann Arbor that she will share w/ 5 other students. It will take a couple of trips to get everything over there. We brought a coffee table back to the house & She & I started striping it. I'll keep you posted on the progress. She has been making Guaqamoli (spelled wrong I know, but thats how it tastes. GOOOOOOd) She also made desert last night and did dishes. I think I'm going to miss her when she goes back to college. While Megan & I were out picking and house shopping , Cecile cleaned the carpets w/ a rented cleaner. I think all the spots (who did??) are gone.

Friday 8/11/06 we will be going over to Farmington Hills to visit w/ Joel, Kara, Marissa, & the boys. I have a map of the Detroit zoo & a big park in Farmington Hills.

Standing on a Glacier!

Randy and I are standing in the middle of St. Mary's Glacier. It goes back about 1/2 mile behind us. The snow is dirty with the dust brought in by the wind.
The view from here is fantastic.
Bebo caught 5 fish from this lake and then panfried them for us right there. Yumm!
Randy got to eat steak since he is allergic to fish. Poor guy.
The lake was literally jumping with fish.
We took lots of pictures but none of them do any justice to the beauty of the area.
The climb up the hill was strenuous because the high altitude. 11,000 feet.
We took it slow and studied the pretty rocks that were too big to carry and enjoyed the scenery.
We met a guy at the top climbing down from the glacier with his skis. He said it was well worth the climb to ski the small glacier. No Tbar for him.
The air was so fresh up there cooled by the snow and sweetened with the scent of pine.
Everyone was smiles the whole time because of the beauty.
Maybe we'll hike a 14'er with Melanie next year.

vacation

Where do I begin? We had a great week. We took off saturday the 29th around 4:30 and drove out to Iowa the first night. We made it to Melanie's (Aurora) around 8:00 on Sunday. We went & visited Bishop's Castle south west of Colorado Springs on Monday. We took lots of pictures. Crazy castle and Jim Bishop (the owner) is crazier. "The journey to anywhere is usually what it's all about, not the destination". This is always true in Colorado. We went up to Estes Park Tuesday and took a road up to the gift shop at 12,000', then took 40 & 70 back to Melanie's. You'll have to see the pictures, although pictures do not cut it! Weds. Melanie went with us to Molly Brown's old house downtown & the Byers / Evans house. They were great. Thursday we went back up to Estes Park,but took Route 7. We got a lot of cool things in Estes Park. Cecile got out shopped!! Friday Melanie, Bebo, Cecile & I went to a Glacier. That was probably the highlight of the week. Spending time with Mel and Bebo was cool. We drove straight thru from Denver to G.R. (18 hours) We still have another week of vacation (to work on the yard)

What We Call Goulash

Bring large saucepan water to boil.
Brown 1-1/2 pounds ground beef.
Add 1 large can tomato juice to ground beef along with:
1T. dehydrated onion
3 t. Mrs.Dash
1 t. dill or oregano or rosemary or thyme or all three
salt and pepper to taste.
Heat through but do not boil. Keep on very low heat until pasta is done.
Add 2-1/2 C. pasta to boiling water and simmer 10 minutes. Drain. Add to tomato mixture.

Time to eat a quick and hearty comfort food.
Good with bread and butter.

The Journey of Life

Will Christina get that job at Taco Bell?
Will Megan ever make it home?
Will Randy's toe fall off?
Will the bathroom at Kara and Joel's ever be finished?
Will we ever hear from Jason and Leanne again?
Will Melanie ever hear from Megan?
My, my, my life is so eventful lately.

Christina just has to turn in her application to get the 3rd shift job at Taco Bell cause someone just quit. Just do it Chris! Just think, endless supply of tacos. Yum.

Megan misscheduled her flight times to and from Denver so had to scramble and reschedule. Now she won't have any time to spend with Melanie. Hopefully, she'll make it home without any more mishaps. Burned by a very difficult life lesson in LA. I'll let her update everyone with her own blog if she ever gets home.

Randy dropped a brick on his big toe. It swelled up and turned all red. He had to take vicodin to sleep at night and to wear his boots during the day. Would he go to the doctor? No-"they can't do anything for a broken toe".
He shoved a needle under the toenail to relieve the pressure from the swelling and it felt better for a day and a half. Then it swelled up again and the nail was looking black underneath. Downright yucky. The pain returned with the swelling so he gave in and went to the doctor. They gave him a big(he says 2 liters of fluid) shot in the butt and put him on antibiotics. Then took xrays to make sure the infection hadn't spread to the cartilage. Finally, it does not hurt so much(just don't touch it or breathe on it). The swelling has gone down. But the nail looks about 3 layers thick with the bottom 2 layers black. Really gross. He'll definately lose the nail. Thankfully, he'll keep the toe.

Sorry to hear about all the troubles with the bath/dining rooms. Just think Kara, you are getting two rooms done when you thought you were only getting one. I'm sure it hurts more that Randy's toe.

Jason and Leanne left a message on Randy's phone saying they arrived in the state of Washington alive and well. He sounded very upbeat. We wish them the best of everything and hope to see them again around Christmas time. (With lots of pictures and stories to tell)

Melanie, can't wait to see pictures from the 14er hike. Hint hint. We'll be seeing you soon.

I must go lay some bricks in the sand in as pleasing a manner I can.
The "design" so far is looking very patriotic. When enough bricks are laid I will send a picture. Ya git what ya git and ya don't throw a fit.

You have the whole rest of your life to use what you've learned so far.
I'm not done learning, are you?

Cecile

New patio

I was talking to Ken on the phone telling him about the bobcat. Alex was with him in his truck, and asked him what a bobcat was. Alex then asked him if I held the bobcat by the tail so it could claw the concrete.

I moved all the compost to the new spot in the northwest corner of the yard. All the sidewalk pieces (except the one I broke)that I took out in front of the garage are the two back sides of the compost site. All the topsoil from in front of the garage is now in the compost pile, and the sand we bought is leveled out in front of the garage for the new patio. Cecile worked very hard leveling sand and laying bricks. It will be colorful. We will be working on laying bricks for the rest of this week+. Someday I'll write a fun blog.

Randy is busy.

Randy is playing with a bobcat. Not the kind with claws and fangs but with a fork and bucket. He uses the fork to lift the old sidewalk sections out and place them in his new compost area to create a retaining wall. The bucket is used to haul huge buckets full of compost from the old pile to the new pile and so on.

You get the idea; he's playing in a big boys sandbox.
He's been out there at least 5 hours now. He trots by me with a grin everytime he comes in the house for a glass of water or a trip to the bathroom.
It's getting dark out now. He's going to put the toy in the garage in place of his truck so no one will "mess with it." Heeheehee.

Some People! AAARG!

My job requires trivial knowledge and lots of it.
I know which carrier delivers to which street for over 2000 street adresses.
I know the zipcodes of several towns and burgs in our state and some from other states. Name a town - I'll rattle off the zip. Ask me how much it costs to send a letter to Bangladesh or Nigeria. I know that too. What are the maximum and minimum dimensions of a postcard? got it for you.

But I don't know anything about passports. I've never applied for one myself. The people that process them receive several hours of training. I do however have a piece of paper that lists the names and phone numbers of the offices that do process passports. I even have the forms for you to take and fill out.

A lady came to the counter wanting help with the passport form for her newborn son. I gave her the form and the paper with general info and phone numbers on it and let her know that the people at the locations listed have the training and knowledge to answer her questions.
She looks at the front of the 3 page form and says it only asks for the date and name. I open it for her and show her the inside with all the info she needs to fill in and repeat that I have not had any training on passports and know nothing but that the people at these other phone numbers can help her.
She asked me how much it costs. ?!?! How long will it take. ?!?!
For the 3rd time I tell her she can contact the other offices and talk to knowledgeable people.
She tells me I am very RUDE! She takes down my name and goes off in a Huff. Pffff!

Spanish Rice

1-1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 pkg Rice-a-Roni Spanish rice mix
1 lg can tomato juice
2 tsp dehydrated onion
1-3/4 cups Minute Rice

Brown and drain ground beef. Add Rice-a-Roni noodles and brown them. Pour in the whole can tomato juice, dehydrated onion, green pepper and spice mix from Rice-a-Roni box. Mix well. Bring to gentle boil. Turn down to simmer and add Minute Rice. Let simmer 35-40 minutes until rice is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

We sliced the other half of the green pepper and ate it for the side vegetable.
Makes lots of leftovers for us to eat for lunch and dinner for a few days.

Bricks

Cecile had mentioned that we got some bricks from Paul & Tara. We also had quite a few in our storage rental that Paul & Tara had given to us years ago. We moved those over onto the front walk with the rest of them. We also moved all the bricks from around the pool. Cecile & I added them up - 1600 aprx. Saturday when I was unloading some from the pickup truck I dropped 1 on my big toe. No I did not have my usual steel toed boots on. I will lose the whole nail whithin a day or two. I broke the knuckle again also. The whole toe is purple. I poked a needle up under the nail to relieve the pressure.

We got about 3" of rain last night so I won't have to sprinkle for another day or two.

Jason & Leanne moved yesterday (Monday) A truck and 1 guy came to load them up. He had to call for some more help. We took them to the airport around 5 o'clock. What an adventure.

Randy

I am also moving my compost storage. I am moving it over into the back corner of the yard. It will be a square shape instead of a rectangle. I am hoping to double the size of it. When I take the concrete sidewalk out in front of the garage this weekend, I'll use the sections (already cut) to line the bottom 4' of the sides with then I will have to put 4 x 4's and fencing up for the back sides. I hope I'll end up with another 2' of depth to this compost pile also.

I just got finished picking all the cherries. I now have about 2o gallons of Cherry wine working. I got some rhubarb from Cecile's Dad & added frozen berries fron the freezer (and my rhubarb)
That is about 3.5 gallons that is working also. The grapes suck this year. I won't get much off my vines.

Melanie's bed is done, I am just fixing up some shelves for the headboard. They will be ready by the time we leave for Colorado. Jason & Leanne got a new kitchen table. Some place we have some pictures. Cecile wants one too.

At Home in Michigan

It was hot as heck today but there was a brisk cooling breeze to make the shade beareable.

We had fun at the family reunion.
Aunt Alta's daughter Melinda sat at the "girl" table with Tara, Valorie, Nellie, Rosalie and me. We got to see pictures of last years reunion and Rosalie's kitchen remodel.
Cousin RuthAnn brought beautiful socks she knit. They are made with such tiny, delicate stitches in beautiful colors. The socks are works of art. But at a cost, because she is wearing a wrist brace for carpal tunnel. She will have surgery soon.
After the official reunion, Nellie and Uncle Gabe, Valorie and Stan, Randy and I stopped by Grandma and Granpas for more chit chat. We showed Nellie what we (mostly Grandma) have been working on. The Autumn Leaf quilt for Carolyn and Michael, the fabric bowls and boxes, and future projects. Grandma showed her beautiful green and pink and yellow quilt blocks she is making in class. Then we walked out to commune with the soon to be butchered chickens. The big white ones are so obnoxiously huge. Their legs are super thick yellow tree trunks that make them waddle in a painful looking way. They walk a few steps and collapse with a flump.

Grandma will have surgery on her right hand on the 18th. Valorie will take her in and stay with her and Grandpa a few days to babysit :). Dupuytren's Contracture causes a thickening of the inner layer of skin in the palm of the hand. This pulls the ring and pinkie fingers in toward the palm so they lose strength and the hand can no longer lay flat. Surgery is unsuccessfull 10% of the time so they wait until at least 30% contracture has occurred. Quite often the condition recurs or moves to another part of the hand after surgery. We wish her luck.

Tara and Paul built a brick walkway from the driveway to their front porch with recycled bricks from the gravel yard by their house. It is a gorgeous walkway and took them about 2 weeks off and on.
They offered the leftover bricks to us. We took them of course.
We are making a brick patio in front of the garage. The sidewalk is coming out and a beautiful brick patio will be laid on a bed of sand. There we can sit in the shade of the dogwoods and watch the local traffic.

This is the first "blog" of mine.
Randy will add next time.
Happy reading
Cecile