A Little Boy and a Mud Hole

A Little Boy and a Mud Hole
Mud was made for little boys and big boys too. When they get big and get a driver’s licenses they can drive through really big mud holes and steep mud banks. Have you ever seen those hi-rise jeeps and Pickups. I don’t know what the real name is but they always have mud splattered from bumper to bumper. The mud is like some kind of trophy because never seem to wash it off. It all starts when they are little boys such as Jesse. He is standing here studying the mud hole. There are so many options; he doesn’t know where to start.
Jesse is my sisters’ great grandson. Is he cute or what.

The Dark Ages without Phone Service

I know what’s happening! We are slowly regressing back into the dark ages, one dodo at a time.
I tried to order something online. My Visa wasn’t accepted and I would need to use another card or call my bank to find out the reason. I called the bank and was told that I would need to call Wal-Mart and tell them that they would need to call them, the bank, to get a manual authorization. There is no problem with my visa, it’s just that they want to make sure nobody is using my name and etc. The only number I have for Wal-Mart.com is the number for the local store. I talked to four people there. They told me I could come in and buy a gift card and order it with that. I thought that was rather clever. Who, in a million years would have thought of that. Nobody had heard of the policy about calling the bank, but they found a number for Wal-Mart Dot Com. I called the number and all I could get were menus. There was no way that I could find that would connect me to a human being. I am not exaggerating one little speck. I need to get out my horse and buggy and trot on down to Wal-Mart.com and see what’s going on.
Nobody is manning the phones I already know that.

I finally found an email address for them so I wrote a letter and explained how and why they need to remedy their phone system. They didn't even answer the letter. I even put it to the attention of "Somebody Important". They're probably still passing the buck.

Home Sewing Project

I keep reading Cora's blog about some of her sewing projects and it sort of inspired me to take up sewing again. I decided to make myself some pants and get back into sewing so I would have something to do. It might just be a new hobby for me.
NOT IN THIS LIFETIME !!
Let me tell you why I came to that decision. I am a former sewer. It must have been back in my first lifetime. First off, it took hours to trim off the excess from the pattern pieces and get rid of the paper mess. Then it took about two days to figure out how to pin the pattern pieces to fabric. The pattern didn’t come with pockets. I have to have pockets. There should be a national law that lady’s pants should have pockets. Why should men be the only one’s with pockets? That’s discrimination. So I had to find a pair of my pants and figure out how to trace the shape of the pockets on paper so I could make a pattern for the pockets. That only took another week. I finally get all the pieces cut out. Now it’s time to get out my 1975 model portable sewing machine. I keep it in the garage because I never use it. The sewing machine has gained weight like I have. It now weights at least 100 pounds. It took every ounce of strength I could muster to even lift it, much less carry it all the way to the spare bedroom, but after much grunting and straining I finally got it in there. I used to pick it up with one hand and carry it around. I finally got it set up and I’m ready to start. So I sit myself down. How do you fill a bobbin? "I asked myself". "Darned if I know" I answered myself. So now, where is that darn sewing kit. The sewing machine manual is in there, I think. It was finally found in the garage after much digging and moving boxes around. The manual was found and I read instructions and slapped myself in the head for not remembering something so simple. Do you want to know how long it took to thread the needle. No, you don’t want to know so I’ll skip that part. I read and re-read all instructions on how to match and sew up seams. I wanted to be sure I sewed the right seams together because even in my better days I’ve been known to sew the wrong seams together. I was in no mood to do any ripping out seams. I completed the project and even hemmed them with the blind hemstitch and they looked perfect so I tried them on. They even fit perfect and I was so proud of me. I tried to reach into the pockets. What pockets! I had concentrated so hard on making sure the seams all matched that I forgot to add the pockets. That part wasn't in the instructions. I hung them in the closet with all the other pants that I accidentally bought with no pockets.
That’s all the sewing I’m going to do.

Life In the Slow Lane

I still have one friend left from my ancient past. We have been friends since the 1940’s era. We went to school together. We are the same age, 80ish. She has lost most of her family, her only son, brothers and husband have passed on. She has two adult grandchildren left. She lives in my home state of Oklahoma. We still exchange snail mail. She is now in a nursing home because she is unable to walk. Her last letter said she had not heard from any of her family in over a year. The daughter-in-law and grand children live in another state and I’m sure they don’t realize how lonely she is. She has a tiny room, which she shares with another lady. She doesn’t have much to write about. On Sundays they sometimes fail to make her bed because they have a small staff on duty. An aide is supposed to walk with her each day to strengthen her legs so she might be able to walk again. Sometimes the aide just doesn’t have the time. She looks forward to the walks and is disappointed when they don’t help her. Meals are something else. The menu said a grilled burger on a bun. She got a boiled wiener on a bun. Little disappointments are huge when your world has gotten so small.
When we come into this world everybody loves us and can’t give us enough attention. The tables sort of get turned around. Isn’t that odd?

The following is a quote.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."

The Wild West

Life goes on here in the wild West. It didn't seem like Palm Springs today. I didn't see the sun all day. Very rarely does that happen around here. Even in the winter you see the sun. Rain is always welcome around here. Not much news. I have decided to wait for the computer that I ordered from the store. It was a good deal and they sold a lot of them. Now I will have to wait until Sept 30th. In the meantime if I find another one of equal worth I can still cancel that order.
I miss Miss Minnie more than I ever imagined I would. She never got more than a few feet from me. She was like my shadow. Now my shadow is gone. I think the more time you spend with them the more you will miss them. I have lost pets in the past, but nothing ever hit me nearly as hard as this one has.

Minnie Pearl

15 years 4 months and 19 days

Everything in this life comes to an end at some time. It was time for Minnie to move on to her new home. I am left with many happy memories and the knowledge that she is not suffering anymore. It is a sad day for me, and my house has never been so empty.

Frustrations of TV

This is the last straw regarding the violation from the package deal on my TV, Internet and Phone service. Read my previous rants below this one. The bill was not lowered by $15.00 as promised each and every month since February. I won't repeat the whole story, but this was the excuse this time when I called them.
Mark said:
It was a promotional and informed me that I should have filled out the form
"online" when it first came out to be eligible for it and since I did not do that, I do not qualify for it. It is now too late. Nothing can be done about it.
This was the first time I had ever heard about a link on line that I was supposed to fill out. I was quoted a charge for the complete bundle when I signed up and each and every month it was $15.00 more than the price I was quoted. I complained each and every month and was told each and every month that, "yes, I should be receiving the $15.oo discount".
End of story:

They won, I lost.

One Horse Town

I live in this little one-horse town and if you buy something, don’t expect them to have it in stock. I ordered the laptop Saturday because they didn’t have it in stock. Even though it just came out that morning in the Ad’s. They said it was coming from Kent and would be here Tuesday or Wednesday. Kent must be a one-horse town also because they didn’t have it in their warehouse. I called and found that it is on back order. It has to come from still yet another warehouse. My grandkid’s offered to take me shopping in another town. It is, at least a two-horse town, and I’m sure they would have had it in stock, but I didn’t know it would not be available here.

Fishing Buddies

Mel and Nancy went fishing again !

My Birthday Party

My 80Th Birthday celebration:

Isn't this cake just beautiful? Not because it has my mug on it, but it is so unique. I was impressed! Do not dread turning 80, you’ll get more attention than you ever had in your life. I want to thank all of my wonderful family for being so thoughtful and generous. The party was at my house and even though it is small we had a marvelous time. Everybody seemed to enjoy it. My son, Mel prepared his fabulous salmon that Nancy had caught. It was delicious. Jim had made his super killer potato salad and another great salad. We had all kinds of food. Much to my surprise a Laptop computer fund had been collected for me. I wasn't excited or anything, but I went computer shopping that very evening. The next morning the newspaper had an ad for a laptop computer that had just been put on sale. It was just what I wanted and was in the right price range. It couldn't have been more perfect. I was a little disappointed when I went to buy it because they didn't have it in stock and I will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. The computer just happens to be red, my favorite color. I hope nobody thinks I bought it because of the color.

The One That Got Away

I ask a simple question
The truth I only wish
Are all fishermen liars
Or do only liars fish