Eventually I suppose I'll get the hang of this and begin to post regularly, not that it really matters.
I need to learn more about cars. A light came on the dashboard to alert me to something wrong. When I looked in the owners manual it said that little icon referred to something to do with the electrical exhaust system. When I got to the dealers and they ran a diagnostic check, you know what it turned out to be? The cotton pickin gas cap was not screwed on TIGHT! I was told to tighten it until it clicked several times and wouldn't go any farther!! I have never ever tightened it down till it clicked and besides, if I did that I'd never be able to get it open again. Oh, adding insult to injury, that cute little gal who waited on me was so sweet and she said that little icon indicated the engine! Check the engine!
I had them change the oil while I was there. The dealer sticker indicated the oil hadn't been changed in 17,000 miles but I know that was wrong. Finch was a stickler for oil changes and I doubt if I have even put 1,000 miles on it in the last year so somewhere there is a sticker saying when the last change occurred!
I payed the bill thankful there was nothing wrong with my car and thankful as well they only charged me half the normal fee for that diagnostic. They really shouldn't have even charged that because the not really tight enuf gas cap showed up right away!!!!
I need to learn more about cars!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Birthdays are mileposts
This photo is of distant ancestors
This was last summer as you watched sea life swirl around your feet.
These weren't exactly the photos I wanted to include but after two hours of trying I finally had to send out a cry for help. The new Iphoto just would not co-operate with me and I was worn out. Not unlike the day I gave birth!
Great catch Eddie and Grant
Granddaughter Addy
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SON GRANT
TC siamese
TC just appeared one day.
In learning how to download pictures to my post-as it is called- I pulled this photo from my desk top. Have to figure out how to retrieve them from Iphoto!
TC did just appear one day when he seemed to be about 3 months old. Somehow he knew that he would be taken in without question. What a love he was - and the only kitten I ever knew whose tail touched his head when he walked. Alas it wasn't my house he came to but Susan and Eddie's! I do believe there is something invisible to us that leads cats to certain houses particularly where Susan and Eddie live. He wasn't the first by any means and not the last . The next cat arrived a year or so later, fully pregnant, and ready to give birth which she proceeded to do the very next morning after Susan left for school. She teaches morning classes and Eddie teaches in the afternoon at Johnson & Wales Culinary University. This left Eddie and Isabelle, their dog, to be midwives to the birth of 6 kittens. I'm not kidding. They performed admirably with Isabelle helping the mother , later named Jinxy, clean up the kittens. The runt had to be eye dropper and bottle fed to survive and was named Peanut who turned out to be a munchkin. You know, short legs, staying small. The other kittens were eventually adopted by adoring families with Peanut and her mother joining Sprout who was a former doorstep adoptee and the last of the brood of 7. So if you are a cat in need of a home just appear at Susan and Eddies.!!
Bulletin just in! The monster feline, Ralphie, next door got into a terrible fight early this morning with TC and tore into him pretty badly, Susan said.
In learning how to download pictures to my post-as it is called- I pulled this photo from my desk top. Have to figure out how to retrieve them from Iphoto!
TC did just appear one day when he seemed to be about 3 months old. Somehow he knew that he would be taken in without question. What a love he was - and the only kitten I ever knew whose tail touched his head when he walked. Alas it wasn't my house he came to but Susan and Eddie's! I do believe there is something invisible to us that leads cats to certain houses particularly where Susan and Eddie live. He wasn't the first by any means and not the last . The next cat arrived a year or so later, fully pregnant, and ready to give birth which she proceeded to do the very next morning after Susan left for school. She teaches morning classes and Eddie teaches in the afternoon at Johnson & Wales Culinary University. This left Eddie and Isabelle, their dog, to be midwives to the birth of 6 kittens. I'm not kidding. They performed admirably with Isabelle helping the mother , later named Jinxy, clean up the kittens. The runt had to be eye dropper and bottle fed to survive and was named Peanut who turned out to be a munchkin. You know, short legs, staying small. The other kittens were eventually adopted by adoring families with Peanut and her mother joining Sprout who was a former doorstep adoptee and the last of the brood of 7. So if you are a cat in need of a home just appear at Susan and Eddies.!!
Bulletin just in! The monster feline, Ralphie, next door got into a terrible fight early this morning with TC and tore into him pretty badly, Susan said.
Responsibilities
I didn't take the time to post something yesterday because I felt the need to finish a letter - what I consider a real letter - on paper - to a friend I had neglected since my trip to Oregon. Billie has been undergoing chemo and radiation and surgery for multiple myeloma in Florida which i can only imagine is hell on earth! Not knowing when she would feel up to talking I emailed her sister with whom she is staying while undergoing the treatments at the cancer center in Tampa. She filled me in with the progress Billie has made and said today would be a good time to call!
I also had to finish a thank you letter to my children and grandchildren for making this Christmas the most wonderful one ever. They did something Finch had wanted done instead of gifts for him for years only they did it in spades. When you get older and you really don't need anything - doing something for someone else in need becomes much more important. My family went together and adopted a whole family with a special needs child and made their Christmas. It still brings tears to my eyes and I get choked up thinking about it. I still had some presents to unwrap but the note as to what they had done in my name and Finch's memory meant the world to me so I felt that a real letter to each of them was important as well.
I had been thinking back to all the letters my sisters and I would write to keep up with each other after we married and ended up scattered so far away. So often our letters would be written in stages chronicling our busy lives with our offspring, sometimes weeks going by before it got mailed. Not all of those letters were saved but seldom do email letters ended up being saved. I have copies of letters my grandmother and grandfather wrote before they were married! This electronic age is fast and expedient but lacks the personal touch of a hand written letter, wouldn't you agree?
I am writing this instead of being out in the cold doing my morning walk! Several months have gone by and it looks like my walking buddy and I have come to the end of our daily 7:30 AM walks which started in the spring of 1974. Bad weather has kept her from continuing because the cold is not good for her body these days. She will be 90 this Spring. She has been the catalyst for my jumping out of a warm bed and dashing out into the cold when my body would rather be still snuggled under the covers. I really need to develop some willpower and get back to walking. The biggest problem is walking back up my hill. I tried it the other day and I huffed and puffed twice as bad as in the past. The early morning walk was good to get me jump started in the mornings and we both felt that our good health was attributed to those early morning walks! Perhaps I can pick a little later time and get back in the routine! Perhaps I can make it to 90 if I do so!
I also had to finish a thank you letter to my children and grandchildren for making this Christmas the most wonderful one ever. They did something Finch had wanted done instead of gifts for him for years only they did it in spades. When you get older and you really don't need anything - doing something for someone else in need becomes much more important. My family went together and adopted a whole family with a special needs child and made their Christmas. It still brings tears to my eyes and I get choked up thinking about it. I still had some presents to unwrap but the note as to what they had done in my name and Finch's memory meant the world to me so I felt that a real letter to each of them was important as well.
I had been thinking back to all the letters my sisters and I would write to keep up with each other after we married and ended up scattered so far away. So often our letters would be written in stages chronicling our busy lives with our offspring, sometimes weeks going by before it got mailed. Not all of those letters were saved but seldom do email letters ended up being saved. I have copies of letters my grandmother and grandfather wrote before they were married! This electronic age is fast and expedient but lacks the personal touch of a hand written letter, wouldn't you agree?
I am writing this instead of being out in the cold doing my morning walk! Several months have gone by and it looks like my walking buddy and I have come to the end of our daily 7:30 AM walks which started in the spring of 1974. Bad weather has kept her from continuing because the cold is not good for her body these days. She will be 90 this Spring. She has been the catalyst for my jumping out of a warm bed and dashing out into the cold when my body would rather be still snuggled under the covers. I really need to develop some willpower and get back to walking. The biggest problem is walking back up my hill. I tried it the other day and I huffed and puffed twice as bad as in the past. The early morning walk was good to get me jump started in the mornings and we both felt that our good health was attributed to those early morning walks! Perhaps I can pick a little later time and get back in the routine! Perhaps I can make it to 90 if I do so!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A way to journal?
I woke up with leg cramps - the kind where you go ah--ah--Ah--Ah--AH until you can work your way out of bed into a standing position. I thought my watch indicated it was 2AM as I snuggled back under the covers. While I lay there listening to my talking head I thought that this might be a way to journal if it was merely rambling - not too personal. By using the computer I can change what I write by merely using the delete button! So much easier - erasers on pencils are worthless!
I kept a journal at one time but destroyed it so it would never be seen by anyone else - much too personal in a time period where I had difficulty verbalizing. Dalton Roberts is a great advocate of journaling. I enjoy his columns.
I joined several other artists one day last week for a shot at plein aire painting at Chicamauga Dam. This has never been my cup of tea because the light changes so rapidly and I do not work fast at all! Besides, people and animals are my forte, perspective my shortcoming. We split up - to find our own inspiration. I challenged myself to do the railroad bridge with the little white house on top of one of the towers where the drawbridge tender would hold forth. My daughter later reminded me that the structure that had been on the other tower had disappeared in the freak tornado that hit the dam previous to the April one that devastated this whole area.
I had taken soft pastels to work with, sun glasses, for twas a bright and sunny winter day - not too cold as long as one had on many layers - and one of Finch's treasured ball caps from the Nimitz Susan had given him. I found it difficult to see detail across the river since I didn't have my prescription glasses with me and I had picked kind of a scrunched up view of the bridge to boot and had to create my own shade on the easel. I intended to return the next day and work on the painting some more but the wind was gusting way too hard so I took some photos which have helped me to see the detail I couldn't fathom the previous day.
This is the result of my first attempt at plein aire painting.
I kept a journal at one time but destroyed it so it would never be seen by anyone else - much too personal in a time period where I had difficulty verbalizing. Dalton Roberts is a great advocate of journaling. I enjoy his columns.
I joined several other artists one day last week for a shot at plein aire painting at Chicamauga Dam. This has never been my cup of tea because the light changes so rapidly and I do not work fast at all! Besides, people and animals are my forte, perspective my shortcoming. We split up - to find our own inspiration. I challenged myself to do the railroad bridge with the little white house on top of one of the towers where the drawbridge tender would hold forth. My daughter later reminded me that the structure that had been on the other tower had disappeared in the freak tornado that hit the dam previous to the April one that devastated this whole area.
I had taken soft pastels to work with, sun glasses, for twas a bright and sunny winter day - not too cold as long as one had on many layers - and one of Finch's treasured ball caps from the Nimitz Susan had given him. I found it difficult to see detail across the river since I didn't have my prescription glasses with me and I had picked kind of a scrunched up view of the bridge to boot and had to create my own shade on the easel. I intended to return the next day and work on the painting some more but the wind was gusting way too hard so I took some photos which have helped me to see the detail I couldn't fathom the previous day.
This is the result of my first attempt at plein aire painting.Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wednesday ramblings
I started off the day with a trip to Dr. Goodman's office to get my gullet stretched! Twas a success with only a slightly sore throat for my troubles.
My blog Guru, Bonnie, has been here for hours setting up a blog for me hoping I get the drift of it, patiently coaxing my brain to perk, to wake up and actually think, to respond. She insisted that after eating something that would slide easily down my esophagus , feeding the cat and seeing her off,I should return to this first of all blogs to make sure I remembered how to find my way in this new world she dropped me into. It only took me a few tries. I had no idea how many people start off with " ramblings of". Mine didn't show up until Google interfered making me verify my email address. Then they made the sight legal.
I already take myself off in different directions with my art wanting to experiment with different medium so here I go - off in another tangent. Hopefully it will be a challenge to keep my brain perking. Not much can be done to revitalize memory that has gone astray but I keep telling myself not to worry about that too much when so many of my friends much younger than I seem to have the same problem.
By the way, I did offer to feed Bonnie before she left.
Bonnie is a writer and a wizard with words so I know she would not approve of my convoluted extra long sentences but since I don't pretend to be erudite and stick to just rambling, I don't believe I shall worry about it at all! She and I happen to be the only ones who know of the existence of this blog anyhoo.
Know the anesthesia that took down Michael Jackson? That's what the anesthesiologist used to put me out for that procedure this morning. Tis marvelous, no after effects what so ever.
Signing off -- Jane
My blog Guru, Bonnie, has been here for hours setting up a blog for me hoping I get the drift of it, patiently coaxing my brain to perk, to wake up and actually think, to respond. She insisted that after eating something that would slide easily down my esophagus , feeding the cat and seeing her off,I should return to this first of all blogs to make sure I remembered how to find my way in this new world she dropped me into. It only took me a few tries. I had no idea how many people start off with " ramblings of". Mine didn't show up until Google interfered making me verify my email address. Then they made the sight legal.
I already take myself off in different directions with my art wanting to experiment with different medium so here I go - off in another tangent. Hopefully it will be a challenge to keep my brain perking. Not much can be done to revitalize memory that has gone astray but I keep telling myself not to worry about that too much when so many of my friends much younger than I seem to have the same problem.
By the way, I did offer to feed Bonnie before she left.
Bonnie is a writer and a wizard with words so I know she would not approve of my convoluted extra long sentences but since I don't pretend to be erudite and stick to just rambling, I don't believe I shall worry about it at all! She and I happen to be the only ones who know of the existence of this blog anyhoo.
Know the anesthesia that took down Michael Jackson? That's what the anesthesiologist used to put me out for that procedure this morning. Tis marvelous, no after effects what so ever.
Signing off -- Jane
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