Back in our Ruffing it Days

My Grandpa Lockwood lived with us when we were growing up. Or I think I should say we lived with him, since he is the one that owned the house. He must have been permanently depressed. I don’t remember ever hearing him laugh. Or maybe there was nothing to laugh about. It was his house and his wife had passed on and sometime after that we moved in. There was my Dad and Mom and three brothers and myself.  That was no laughing matter. He was extremely deaf and if somebody did happen to say something funny he wouldn’t hear it.  He kept the fire going. He sat in his rocker, which sat as near to the stove as possible. The stove was a pot bellied wood stove. He fed the stove wood almost constantly. He would bring wood in from the woodpile each day and he would split the wood and stack it and whatever else you do with wood. That was his job. I think he assigned it to himself. When it rained he would get up and go to the front door and open it and turn around and say, “It’s raining”, and go sit down again. Ten minutes later he would get up and go open the door and turn around and say, “It’s still raining”. Out side of giving us a weather report on a regular basis and taking care of the stove, he didn’t have much else to do. In decent weather he would take a long walk each day. He walked with his fingers locked together behind his back. He walked all over the farm and when he returned he would lie down under a shade tree on the hard ground and take a long nap. He lived to be 89 and that was a very long life in 1941. He never went to the doctor that I knew of. Except one time when he was chopping wood the ax head flew off of the handle and hit him in the head. It caused a large gash and much bleeding. Dad took him to the doctor and he came home with a large bandage wrapped around his head. I hope he got pain medicine from the doctor. Nobody went to the doctor unless you were seriously ill. For one thing doctors didn’t have the medicine or tests for everything then as they do now. We gripe a lot about our medical care and those things, but we still are much better off now than back then. In those days if you were ill a family member would go to the doctor and explain the ailment and if there were a medicine for it, the doctor would give it to you. I am not positive about this, but I think the doctor kept medicine in his office instead of writing prescriptions. I guess I could have researched that, but I don’t have time. I’m busy writing this for the blog. This is all for now. 

Pain Killer

When everything goes wrong and you can’t stand the pain anymore go to the hospital and they will take care of it for you. My DIL fell and hurt her back. The pain was so bad she went to ER. They took care of the pain and gave her pain medicine that made her so sick she had to go back and get something to stop the nausea. They tried so I give them E for effort. 

Life as I know it

This cartoonist said his cartoons are free. Since he used my  picture in this one, I thought I would use it. I went to the doctor today. When you get my age going to the doctor is like being on a treadmill. It just goes on and on. I need a secretary to keep track of my appointments.
Mother nature decided we need to be cooled down a little. It was 8 degrees when I got up this morning.
Nothing new in my world.

So Be Good

Even Snowmen have something to protest.

For so many years life ran rather smoothly, but that has all changed. All you hear are price cuts, cutting back, raising rates, tax increases, lay offs, bankruptcies and all those negative things.

 

Keep your smile smiling, a white-bearded plump man in a red suit is coming to town and he may bring gifts if we are good. 

Remember Pearl Harbor

War and destruction never ends. Loss of life and a million tears shed. Most of the Veterans that survived this have now passed on.  New wars and more tears. It never ends. I was 13 years old when this happened. I had a brother age 19 that was in the middle of it. He was reported missing in action, but the report was a mistake. He was later reported okay. He has now passed on.

Dancing Leg to Leg

I once attended a dance when I was young and agile, and a man in our group asked me to dance. I told him I didn’t know how and I was just watching. He grabbed my arm and said, “I’ll teach you how.”  We went out on the dance floor. He pressed his leg into mine and said, follow my leg, and away we went. We went everywhere his leg said to go. I am not kidding you by the time that dance was over I knew how to dance. I had just never tried before. It was a two-step or a waltz, depending on the music. Sometimes there would be a couple that knew how to do the ballroom dancing. I wasn’t one of them.  At another dance I was dancing with a man who was extremely tall so I made a comment about how tall he was. His answer, “I was born in Texas.” So I said, “ I bet you’re glad you were not born in Rhode Island.” He said, “How come?” I said, “Oh, I’m just making small talk”. I think only one of us was sober and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t him.  I don’t dance anymore. I do well to get to the mailbox and back.
I don’t know how or why I thought of the dancing after all this time. Right now I am going to dance off to bed.  

Great Grands

It's just another day. I have my therapy behind me. Nothing to look forward to but a blood test and another doctor appointment. That is what happens when you reach the golden years. There is nothing gold about it. Here are pictures of my two little Great Grands.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habit.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
~Author Unknown~

Basic Cream Pie

I have this cookbook from the olden days, and it has this wonderful cream pie recipe in it. I have used it so much the page fell out of the book. So for you that are not on a diet, I took a picture of it for you. It’s a basic cream pie recipe and you add whatever you want it to be. I usually make the chocolate Pie.  I have never made a peanut butter pie, but here is the recipe.

I get so bored

Winter and Other Headaches.

Today it decided to snow some more. I think it's because I had a medical appointment with  a  pain clinic at 9:15. I left the house about 45 minutes early because the streets looked very icy. The streets were somewhat icy, but we have a wonderful street crew in this town. They get out early and start spreading the sand/deicer. It's very much appreciated. By the time I got out of the place, the sun was out and the streets were clear, but wet. I can handle wet.
I was so early, I told the man next to me in the waiting room that I was prepared to camp out there for a long while. I no sooner got the words out of my mouth and I heard my name. I looked around to see who had the same name as me. Then she repeated it with my last name. "Do miracles ever cease" I said to myself. They have a blood pressure machine that almost squeezed my arm off. Other than that things went okay.
I was so glad that I didn't have to hang around for a long time because the last shot I had was terrible painful. So I was really dreading it. The shots (they always give me two) Maybe if you buy two, you get one for free. Anyway the shots today were not nearly as painful as the last time. The doctor is either getting better or I'm getting tougher. That's all the news in my town.

What Makes People Tick

A judge arrested for DUI.  He will soon be back on the bench judging other DUI people.
He’ll have sympathy for them now because he has walked in their shoes. Just who we need in our judicial system, somebody who has been there.

A mother murdered her 13-month old baby with her bare hands because he would not stop crying. She won that round, he won’t cry anymore. People that have anger problems and uncontrolled temper issues should have themselves sterilized. The going trend seems to be, if you have killed your child just throw him in the weeds some place and tell authorities he was kidnapped. 

A man fires a semiautomatic rifle at the White House. Ingenious thought out plan. He can spend a little time in prison contemplating what he could have done differently. He believed attacking the White House was part of a personal mission from God. Well, think again Bubba, if God wanted the White House attacked he wouldn’t need your help.

Now that takes me to Herman Cain. God convinced him to enter the race for president, but God must have forgotten about all those women that were sexually harassed. Or maybe they are just making it up. Stick to your guns Herman, they can’t prove anything.

And then there was Penn State. Thank God, the victims are finally being heard.  Does it seem strange to anyone that so many pedophiles, scammers, and cheating swindlers are being exposed. It’s about time. What makes people tick?

Update on a Boring Subject

This picture is not me, I wish I looked like her. My therapy is going along quite steadily. Three times a week. I was very skeptical about it when I started. I  honestly thought it was a big waste of time. Well I have an announcement to make. It has helped a lot. I can even walk better. I don't feel like I'm going to fall over any minute. It's really strange how it can help that much. My knee is much better. I no longer have that 'restless leg thing' going on while sitting. You have to do a lot of counting. Do this and hold for five seconds for 10 times each leg and do three sets. It gets confusing or am I just easily confused. I was glad to hear that I will not need surgery on the knee.
I have been to the pain clinic and had a shot in each hip to block pain. It has helped a little, but it is supposed to take awhile. Then I get one in the back and knee if I still need it. They are very painful..

Service with a Smile

I ordered something from a catalog. They send me the wrong size, not the size I ordered. I send it back and asked for the correct size. I didn’t have to pay shipping to send it back. I wait and wait and wait for the item to come.  After about three weeks I get a bill from them. Charging me for the amount of the item. I call them to find out where my order is. I have received a bill and no product. After being on hold for a time, I am told that the item is out of stock and they cannot fill the order. I explain to her that they have charged me the full amount. She tells me that I will only need to pay the shipping charge. “Shipping charge for what, they haven’t shipped anything, but the wrong size and that was their mistake”. So she needs to discuss this with a superior and asked me to hold again. Finally she comes back on line and tells me that as a one-time courtesy they will waive that shipping charge.   I guess that means the next time they goof up it will be my responsibility.  Oh well, as my mother used to say ''It'll all come out in the wash"

Halloween Pumpkins

Just some random pictures of Great Granddaughters.

Nancy, Chloe, Cora, Leah, Molly

Time Marches On

Charles Lindbergh

I have just been sitting around thinking that when my knee gets on the mend I need to find some interesting things to do.  Other than house cleaning that is. House cleaning is something that really needs to be done. Just in case somebody drops in. If the house is clean you do not have to smile and bear it; you can smile and mean it.

I could join the Senior Center and take up something. I wonder what they do over there.
I am not necessarily inclined to volunteer for a job. I know somebody has to do it. Well, let somebody do it, I won’t stand in their way.
We hear a lot of complaining about how bad things are today compared to a few years back.  I guess it depends on how far back you want to go.  I remember when toilet paper was an outdated Sears Catalog. To go to the bathroom, meant a few yards out back to the little brown shack. It didn’t matter if there was three feet of snow. You had no choice. This was for the little kids as well as the older folk.
Another, not so fond, memory was the schoolhouse. Ours was located exactly one and a half mile from home. You had to hoof it because there was no yellow school bus. Again it didn’t matter if there was three feet of snow. Nobody had a cell phone so the parents could be called to let them know you made it okay. They knew you would be safe.

Recently a family finds their 10-month old baby missing from her crib and it is front-page news until another one happens. Back in 1932 a baby belonging to Charles and Anne Lindbergh was taken out of his crib and his body was found two months later. It made front-page news for years. Charles Lindbergh being a famous aviator was part of the reason it was talked about for so long. Famous aviator? do we still have famous aviators?  

Cars and Stuff

I have a car that is as bad off as I am, because it’s old. In people years my car is probably 90 years old. When things get old, they begin to wear out or become somewhat unhurried to say the least. An old person driving an old car is the thing that drives most drivers to the brink of madness. I drive the speed limit or not more than 5 minutes over, and I’m never in a hurry. This is the core of aggravation for the average driver. Go ahead and admit it, you know it's true. Most of them are very kind about it, as they tend to wave one of their fingers at me as they zoom past.
Everything on my car has probably been replaced at least 14 times. I have had a few replacements myself. My teeth, my vision as I had the Cadillacs removed and replaced with artificial lens. What I haven’t had replaced has been removed or rearranged. My battery has never run down, but the battery in the car has run down and been replaced numerous times. My battery has a lifetime guarantee. When it goes, I go.

It’s a boring Tuesday afternoon, but feels like Sunday. Since my Soap has been taken off the air, I never know if it’s a weekday or not. I like to sound dumb, I think people sort of expect it when you’re old. When you’re old you couldn’t possible care less what people think. You must have noticed that in your grand pappy and grand mammy by now.

This is a fun link. Just do it.

Stuff Happen

Stuff happens. I was reclined in my recliner when out of the blue a big brown spider found his way upon the arm of my chair. We eyeballed each other for a nano-second. I leaped out of my chair without the aid of the chair lift, walker, cane or any of those aids for the disabled. I made three giant leaps through the living room, kitchen and utility room, where I found the fly slayer. I returned very cautiously. That spider was on death row, he just didn’t realize it, or maybe he did because he was now on the lam. He had taken a hike so I decided to wait him out. Sure enough here he comes again. He is on the arm of another chair this time. I grab the swatter, take aim and swat, but I didn’t have a very good bead on him and it just knocked him across the room. At least he will have a good headache. I got up to look for him and there he was, just lying there, waiting for his doom very motionless. I took care of his doom. Bam! Bam! Bam! I wanted to make sure he was dead as possible and while I was beating him up I heard a ping sound against the wall. I had begun to calm down a little so I gingerly step over and bend down to get a better look and it was a little brown rock. The spider is still on the lam.   

Oreo Cookies

Woman can’t live by Oreo’s alone, but I am trying to prove that theory is just wrong.
This woman went to the doctor’s office today to get a shot of Vitamin B12. After that visit I turned West to visit the Wal-Mart to pick up some heavy double duty Vitamin D. (prescription type). It seems that when the body wears out it takes a lot of artificial help to keep it chugging along. On top of that I have this bummed out knee and all the limp parking places were taken so I had to walk five miles (seemed like) to get inside. I picked up some groceries while there and as I was about to check out, I noticed a big gigantic stack of Family Size Oreo’s right in the front of the store. You couldn’t miss them if you were half blind. I also noticed them when I came into the store. It’s about an hour past lunchtime and my brain went into idle mode and my gut took over. My knee is killing me by now, but I must have some Oreo’s and I am not going to hobble down to that cookie aisle to find a smaller package. I purchased the Family Size box and the cookies and me came home. Since I am on a diet I decided to skip lunch and just eat a couple Oreo’s. I deserve a treat after that ordeal.  A couple cookies turned into a half tube. But I didn’t eat any lunch. So tonight I made a very diet type dinner and for dessert I thought I would eat just a couple Oreo’s. Well the other half tube is almost gone. They just vanished into thin air. It’s the Wal-Mart’s fault. I feel like suing them for parking those cookies right in plain sight that way.

Life goes on

Great-grand daughter,Chloe and Brandon at Day care

Both Great-grand daughters

Not much news. I finally received a package in the mail after 13 days. It only came from Calif to Wash.


Oh well, it was a coat and I haven't needed it yet. Summer is hanging on. It started out by Fed Ex and when it got to my town they gave it to the Post Office to deliver. It's been cloudy all day, but I haven't noticed any rain. 
 I am going to have to ask for a rate increase. That is what utility companies do when they want more money.  I'll be lucky If I don't get a rate decrease from  Social Security, which isn't so secure these days. Maybe they should name it something else.