Combining The Blogs

I have decided to combine my two blogs now that my focus in life has changed.

Dust Bunnies of the Mind and Recipe Junkie will be merged. Recipe Junkie will still be up, and I will crosspost those articles that have recipe blog relevance. I expect to be tweaking the format of this blog as well.

I'll still occasionally bloviate on line about random thoughts and my pet peeves and try to avoid political brain farts.

What Did I Do Today

Now that I'm retired, what in the world do you do all day long. I've been busier than ever. What did I do today?

Dear Diary

Chemo Hat

I have a dear friend who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a terrible thing. OK...all cancer is a terrible thing. Breast cancer is especially terrible. First, you have your breasts amputated. For many women (and their husbands) breasts are a part of your sexuality and a source of sexual pleasure. Part of the image of who you are as a woman.

Next. A year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments to try to kill the rest of the cancer. As a result my friend will lose her hair. Fortunately, she is a strong willed person with a positive attitude and has a supportive and loving husband. I feel confident that she will make it through this and pray for her recovery.

To help in a tangible way (as prayers are intangible), I have made a hat for her. Chemo hats need to be soft and without seams.

I used the pattern from this web site: Confessions of a Maniacal Thrower

Made with a soft merino, cashmere blend from Cascade Yarns. Cash Vero. It was a pleasure to knit with. Soft and buttery. And ended up with a lovely hat.

Everything Old is New Again

UPDATE:  January 18/2015
Sue Doran has given us a link in the comments to where the pattern for the shawl shown below can be obtained.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/125740185/pdf-crochet-pattern-vintage-70s-piano?ref=market

She is our hero.  I've looked and looked and decided that my pattern must have been one  lost in a flood a few years ago and where my boxes of patterns got soaked.   Check out the link on Etsy.  We bow to Sue


Knitting has suddenly become a revived craft. Everywhere you go, you see women and young girls knitting. Scarves, fingerless gloves, hats, sweaters. Knitting has become a cool and hip thing to do.

Well, it seems that everything old is new again. We are going through a resurgence of crafting. Knitting, sewing, quilting. Just look at the magazines and see the numbers of specialty publications

I credit the economy. When times are hard, people become thrifty and resourceful. Reviewing my collection of craft magazines from the 60's through the 90's, I can see that everything old IS new again.

I learned to knit from my Grandmother back in the early 60's as a pre-teen. The Hippie culture (n which I was briefly immersed) prized homemade and handicrafts. The Carter years brought austerity, stagflation, unemployment, high costs and crafting became even more mainstream. Of course all the Grannies who learned to be thrifty during the Great Depression already had the skills. Nothing new for them however, the young generation during the Carter Recession relearned the crafts. Now.....during this current Great Recession, yet another generation is taking up the sword...I mean the knitting needles. Everything old is new yet again.

I've started scanning the clippings,craft books from my collection. Scanning some of the sketches from my own designs that I've kept forever. First of all to have better organization and access to the patterns and ideas. However, the main reason is that some of those older magazines have become fragile and are literally falling apart.

Really dated ideas that just SCREAM 60's hippie stuff.



Others are just interesting (to me anyway) because they are ideas, colors, techniques potential for other projects.



And some things are just timeless.



I'm making this one for myself now.

House Cleaning Music

Today when I was rocking around the house, dancing......cleaning, dusting and messing around in the kitchen, it struck me that there are just some songs and music that make the work go faster and make it FUN.

Tell me you can't work faster when you listen to this.




Rock on!!

I think I'll make a clean the house CD....turn up the bass and crank up the volume.

Anything Robert Palmer.

Ace of Base.


Nothing like that pulsing beat to keep you motivated.



Hot CHA!!

What's on your "working it out" CD?

Catching Up

Wow. Long time no post.

Has it really been 8 months since I retired? Time has just zipped by. People keep asking me if I'm bored or miss my work. Like I said in my Every Day is Saturday post.....are they NUTS? No way. I have more to do than ever and the bonus is that it is things that I want to do.

Having worked since the age of 15 and with the exception of a few months of maternity leave 33 years ago and a 5 month stretch of unemployment, when the government regulated my job out of existence, I have worked straight through for 47 years. 47 years of working for other people and for myself. 47 years of structuring my life around other people's work schedule, other people's demands and trying to squeeze in the fun things, recreation and the necessary household chores that keep the house from crumbling around you into big dust bunny piles.

So to recap....what have I been doing and what has been happening in the last 8 months in no particular order

1.This one IS the most important however. I became a grandmother to the most adorable, gorgeous, smart,talented etc etc grandson. I've been able to see him once. But now that my daughter and family are moving back to the Bay Area....I will be able to visit more often.


2. Yes. We did get a refrigerator. And we are keeping the little fridge on the deck for beer and wine.








3. Started knitting again and made a pair of nice wool socks to wear around the house. I plan to make many more pairs for myself and for the Dumbplumber so that when winter comes our feet won't have popcicle toes. Also some hats for a dear friend who is going to have chemo treatments soon and will be hairless.

4. BIG PROJECT!! Went through my craft magazines and clippings that I have been collecting since the early 1960's. Organized them by publisher and by date and put them into containers that can be stood upright on the shelving in my personal (not work) office. Now in the process of scanning the projects that I want to start on and categorizing by type. Knitting: hats, scarves, sweaters. Sewing: toys, aprons, decorative. Weaving. etc etc etc. This is a project for the winter months.

5. Gardening. This is something I rarely had time for and this year I was able to really utilize the raised beds and realized that the deer are eating up all of my hard work. It is WAR!! Oh YEAH its on. Next year......a fence around the garden. Maybe something like THIS.....
Ok....dream on.

6. Speaking of office. When I closed my financial planning practice, we transfered all of the furniture upstairs into my husband's, and now my office, for his business. In addition to all of the fun stuff, I am also the bookkeeper, record clerk, ordering clerk, banker and bill collector.

Part of office set up before decorating.

Our next goal for the office is to find a neat art deco style buffet to turn into a wet bar where we can display our collection of crystal decanters and have a cocktail at the end of the day.

Cooking, organizing recipes (another collection years in the making), canning fruit, sewing aprons, making stuffed toys, cleaning. I know, most of those things sound like work and not all that much fun, especially the cleaning, but when you have never been able to really get to it.....it is satisfying to accomplish that closet cleaning and pruning that hasn't been done for years.

SO much to to. SO much fun. Everyday seems like Saturday.

Retirement IS everything it was cracked up to be.

Camping out at home

Yesterday, the refrigerator died. It wasn't a sudden death. It had been ailing and giving us warnings for about a month, which we hopefully and delusionally ignored. "Maybe it is just a glitch?....Maybe it will get better if we just crank the dial to the coldest setting."

The first warning signs were the juice bars becoming a bit slushy. Or maybe the ice in the icemaker periodically slightly melting and reforming into a block of ice. The ice cream was soft....but .....hey.... I kind of like my ice cream soft.

Well, all the ignoring and pretending has brought us to this. We are camping out in our house for the next couple of weeks, until we can get to an appliance store or get the repairman to come up from the 'big city'.

After The Dumbplumber determined that the compressor was dead, dead, double dead, we had to move all items from the freezer to the big freezer in the shop and from the refrigerator side to the small refrigerator in the shop. Thank God we have backups. Once of which is an almost 40 year old Montgomery Wards upright freezer that hasn't missed a beat since it was plugged in. So much for our new and improved Energy Star pieces of crap that the government insists we have to purchase. Progress......my......ass.

In a way it was like an embarrassing archeological dig. "Wow....I didn't know we had THREE half filled jars of grated horseradish and two opened bottles of sweet pickle relish. And how old IS this cheese.???"

I guess this is one way to completely clean the refrigerator, however.....I can think of more preferred (and less expensive) ways than having my refrigerator die.

Because these next 12 days are completely booked with business trips and my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party in Oregon and the closest appliance store is about 90 miles away, we are just going to have to make do with ice chests on the back deck for items we need immediately and the back up appliances in the shop.

No more automatic ice maker for now, so we break out the trusty vintage West Bend Penguin Hot Cold ice bucket (also good for keeping biscuits hot.......how do it know!?!?) and fill it full of ice from the chest so we can still be civilized and have our cocktails.

Just like the good old days when all people had was an ice box.....with nothing but ice to keep things cool. When you lose an amenity like refrigeration, electricity or hot water on demand for a while, you do appreciate just how much we have in our lives. The luxuries that were unthinkable just a generation ago that we take so much for granted. Luxuries that are really quite fragile. We should be more grateful for our lives.

Shutting Down the Government.....Meh

Since our brilliant efficient (sarcasm) elected leaders in Washington haven't seen fit to make a budget, something that every business and private household has to struggle with, they are threatening to ......ominous music inserted here......SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT!!!!.

In addition to neglecting to create a budget for the Federal Government, they are also putting their heads "where the sun don't shine" and refusing to deal with the excessive spending on entitlements that is guaranteed to doom us into bankruptcy and permanent serfdom.

Their way of dealing with the ginormous deficits that are extending into Infinity and Beyond!!! is to borrow more money from China and other countries that really don't like us much.

Instead of dealing with unpleasant reality, they want to threaten us with a Government shut down.

Oooooh.....really? Is this a threat? Really?

Remember when you were a teenager or if/when you were a parent of an unruly defiant teenager? Making threats to get discipline sometimes just backfired. You have to make a threat that means something and that you are going really carry through. "If you don't clean your room, I'm going to shut down the television for a week!!". All the time you and your teen know this is an empty threat. You aren't going to deprive yourself of your favorite shows. Result. The room doesn't get clean and you are shown to your teen to be a weak sister.

The other thing that can backfire in making a threat to withhold something, take something away, is that suddenly....you realize that you didn't need that something so much anyway or you can make alternative plans. Like the wife who is spitefully withholding sex....guess what, the husband will find another way. Maybe even a BETTER way.

So, let's shut down the government. I think we will find that, other than some essential services, we won't miss it so much. I've thought about it in regards to the State of California going bankrupt.

There are many things that the Government does that we won't miss or that are so intrusive in our lives it would be a relief if it were to go away.

SHUT 'ER DOWN.

The Demented Robin of Spring

Aaah.... Spring. After a long cold winter, and this one has been particularly long, wet, snowy and cold, who doesn't look forward to those first harbringers of Spring?

The daffodills and crocus bravely poking their heads above the melting snow. Those rare days of warm breezes and dappled sunshine that tease us with the promise of more to come. The feeling of renewal as we watch the trees bud out and bring the hope of a crop of apples, prunes, quinces, cherries.

And who can forget The Demented Robin of Spring.
(cue scary Chuckie movie music)

For the past few years The Demented Robin has plagued us. He sits on the tree that is just a few feet from my office window. Peers into the house, looking for the cat, and flings himself over and over and over at the window. He goes from window to window around the house in his never ending search to seek and destroy the cat.

Hmmm.....He seems to be holding quite a grudge against the cat. Perhaps this has something to do with her goal of eating his babies?

Later in the Spring and Summer, while we are lazing on the deck on a sunny afternoon, cocktails in hand, The Demented Robin will search for the cat while threateningly brandishing a wad of worms or bugs in his beak, all puffed up and chirping at her.

Hopping after her while she is trying to nap (between searching for her latest outdoor snack). We imagine him saying: "LOOK AT ME!!!.. I have worms. And you don't. Big juicy worms. Bwhahahahah!!"

Meanwhile: The cat heaves a big sigh and goes to her favorite hidey hole under the deck.

We are easily amused.

Every Day is Saturday

I've just figured out what is so great about being retired.

Every day feels like it is Saturday.

Work is behind me because it isn't Friday....it feels like a perpetual Saturday.

No stress about having to rush get things done on one of only two days off like before. It used to be that because tomorrow will be Sunday: and we all know that Sunday is the day before Monday and THEN ......back to work......the weekends were full of work. Different work than the weekdays at the office, but still work.

NOW.....every day is Saturday with a long endless string of Sundays to follow.

An afternoon nap is perfectly fine: in fact almost mandatory. Lazing and finishing that book that I never had time to finish before. A little afternoon 'delight' whenever possible. Perhaps bake a cake or try out a new recipe. Maybe start that quilt project which I have been putting off for years..... Ho hum. When the spring and summer comes, an afternoon glass of wine on the deck curled up in the dappled sunlight with a good book on the chaise listening to my collection of jazz recordings on the wireless speakers.

People ask if I'm bored. Are they nuts?

Every day is Saturday!

How Quickly It Turns

Just a few weeks ago, I was reveling in the beautiful warm weather. Ah...how quickly things can turn around.

Snow...snow..and more snow.



The "yard art" garden chairs look like they have snow people sitting casually in the corner. Yard art is the term that we use for the old stuff that we leave outside to weather and serve as background for plants and flowers.

After the snow, cold and clear with not a stirring of wind. The breathtakingly blue skies show off the snow that covers the trees.



And from my office desk, I have a lovely view of a wooded area just outside the window. We feed the quail and other birds daily in the winter. They are just feet away from my chair and provide endless hours of amusement. Little bird dramas every day when the several separate quail coveys descend on the grain. A wonderful window into nature.

With the snowy weather, we have been visited more frequently over this last year by a small deer family who must feel safe on our property. A doe and her two children, one of whom is a runt. Unlike the quail, we do not feed the deer. Not only because it is illegal to do so, but because I don't want to encourage them to be near the highway. However, they seem to have decided that our yard is a smorgasboard and are awaiting, eagerly, the garden that I plant in the spring.

Here they are checking out the Dumbplumber's truck coming down the driveway, deciding whether to run away or continue pruning the bushes. Deer butts right out my window.



Even though we have gone from a false Spring to real Winter in just a few weeks, it is all worth it. When Spring comes to stay and the trees bud out and the busy bees buzz over the blossoms creating fruit that we will harvest in the summer, it is always a miracle. I love the seasons and changing from Winter to Spring to Summer to Fall. It always makes me think about the fragility of life, the incredible variety of life on Earth and how amazing it is that we exist at all.

How boring it must be to live in a place that doesn't have the Seasons that go round and round.

California Dreaming

While the rest of the country is snowed in and paving the way for the latest Ice Age, in California, we have been having phenomenal weather.

Looking at the weather forcast I decided it was a good time to visit with family in Pacific Grove.Warmer than usual, clear skies, balmy breezes. If you have never been to Pacific Grove, Carmel, Big Sur.....don't miss it. One of the most beautiful places in the world.

We stood on the beach and watched the waves eroding the coastline. The winds felt like being in Hawaii.



Marveled at a bridge that was built in 1932.



With all of the EPA rules, prevailing wage requirements, engineering studies needed, governmental hoops to jump through, red tape we could never accomplish this today. This project put people to work in the Depression and created a bridge of lasting beauty and usefulness. Unfortunately, the ability to create and build has been smothered.

We laughed at a cheeky bird standing on one leg.


Admired the strength and beauty of the trees that withstand the punishing waves at high tide and the salty winds that bend and twist.

Benefits of Retirement

I decided to pull the plug on my business as a stock broker in December of 2010. Since then, there have been a lot of changes and unexpected side benefits to being retired.

Surprisingly, being retired hasn't translated into a leisurely lifestyle. No bon bons or lounging around in silk pajamas for me. Have been able to squeeze in the few occasional naps once in a while and a nice afternoon glass of wine in the sunshine on the deck on the rare moment when the sun has actually out been out this winter and when I'm caught up on chores and errands :-)

I have been more busy now than I ever was in my office environment. The Dumbplumber (my ever lovin' husband) has expanded his business and I have picked up all of his bookwork, banking, post office and errand running, telephone calling and in general freeing him up from these hated and mundane tasks.

It is a very strange feeling to not have an office to go to every day. Not have a time schedule for meeting with clients, making phone calls. My time is my own. No demands from others......well.....except for The Dumbplumber. In the beginning it felt like I was playing hookie or shirking something.

Because I'm home now, I can do more than just pay surface attention to the house and the yard. Busy busy there too and I love it. All the things that I want to do at home that were neglected or just half assed taken care of.

Benefit #1: HEALTH I'm losing weight from all the activity. Seriously!! 8 pounds so far without even trying. No more sitting at a desk all day. No more lunches out. No more frustration eating. Now I'm up and down the stairs, walking from one end of the property to the other. Lifting.... bending.......moving around. My energy level is higher and my motivation to just DO is higher.

Benefit #2: ORGANIZATION: The ability to have the time to focus on a task and get it done. The low priority things like organizing my home office that I put off and put off until it becomes a monumental intimidating task. Catagorizing my enormous collection of cook books, recipies, craft books and patterns. Previously, who had the time? Not me. Side benefit is that I've been able to purge, throw away, lots of items that I had just stored away. Purging and lightning the load feels great.

Benefit#3: COOKING: Sort of a side benefit of #2. I love to cook and since organizing and purging; I have been able to plan new and exciting (and sometimes not so exciting) meals. Instead of sticking to the tried and true, old faithful recipies for expediency, I can experiment. Cooking is a creative and to me Zen like activity which leads me to the next benefit.

Benefit #4: CREATIVITY: I've alway been interested in arts and crafts. In fact......and I know it seems strange with my occupation as a stock broker, I was an art major in college. Over the years and as my business became more and more demanding, I stifled my creativity. NOW....with time being my friend instead of my nemisis, I can bring out the crafting supplies. The oil paints, the clay, stained glass, yarn and fabric and pick up again the creative outlets that I let languish and wither.

Benefit #5: CLEAN HOUSE: Feminists are probably having their heads explode right about now as I am reveling in my ability to do housework. The laundry is folded, closets are clean and organized, kitchen is sparkling, counters are cleared of clutter, floors are kept as clean as can be until it isn't muddy outside anymore, bathrooms are gleaming, dusting, polishing.........

I'm not a 'feminist' in the Gloria Steinham,(hate men, men are the enemy) mold. I am a feminist in that I held a sucessful job in a profession designated to and dominated by men. I am a feminist in that I feel that women can and should do whatever they are qualified to do. I am also a feminist in that I love my own femininity and enjoy being around men without feeling that there must be a competition. I see no contradiction in feminism and being happy to be at home with my family. I see no betrayal of feminism to be 'house proud'.

Instead of just skimming the surface, now I can take the TIME (see a common thread here?). Surprisingly, it seems to take less time to do the job throughly than it did to just haphazardly, slapdash through the chores.

TOP BENEFIT: TIME WITH MY HUSBAND: The number one top benefit of retirement, is that I have more time to spend with my husband. Quality time we have both been missing.

Previously, we would have some time in the morning over coffee before both going out to our respective businesses. Me to my office, he to his truck(s) and the various job sites for his plumbing and well jobs. In the evening, we would meet again at home for some de-briefing of the day's activities. Perhaps a cocktail or two before dinner. Maybe some television and then early to bed so we can go out and work again the next day. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Now, we often go together on the preliminary inspections for his work. Driving through countryside that is beautiful and pastoral.



Going from one job to another, we can revel yet again in the beauty of our adopted home, reminding us just why we are working so hard. We can spend time talking and laughing with each other; stopping at the local "Frosty" for an ice cream cone or a quick snack and then on to visit the next job. We never get tired of each other's company. It is almost like dating again.

Instead of being trapped in an office, looking at the four walls, I get to see THIS:



And at the end of the day we can sit on our deck, cocktails in hand, satisfied with our life and view THIS.

Compare and Contrast

This has nothing to do with policy. It is all about class and being appropriate for the situation.

Have you ever had a job interview for a very important job? If you have, you know that appearance and first impressions are going to make or break you. You wouldn't show up in jeans and a sweatshirt. You would make sure that you are 'dressed for success' and dressed to the level of the job.

Once you have the job, say as a stockbroker, which is what I used to do before retirement, you continue to dress to impress, not only your boss but also your clients. How you look is a reflection of your job competence, your pride in the important job that you have worked hard to obtain. It gives your clients confidence that you are going to be paying attention to them, to their needs. It assures your boss and co-workers that you have the 'right stuff' and will bring pride and not shame to the firm that they also work for.

Isn't the President of the United States (and by default the First Lady) one of the most important jobs that we, as the voters, hire a person to fill. The President and First Lady represent the Country and represent us as a people. We want our President and all associated with him to bring pride and respect to the Office and to the Country.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: which of these look Presidential and bring pride in your Country and who ARE you are proud to have representing you?

THIS

OR THIS

'

The couple in the tailored clothing that is appropriate for the weather. The couple who have taken pride in their appearance, care in what they have chosen to wear and who look happy to be returning to work.

OR...The couple in the sloppy wierdly fitting sweatpants and who can't take the time to check and see if the buttons on his clothing are actually buttoned correctly. The couple who look pissed off and miserable to be returning to work. This couple looks like they got dressed in the dark.

These are both returning from a winter vacation to their very important jobs that YOU have hired them to do.

Which one gives you PRIDE to be an American. Which ones do you want to represent YOU as an American.

If you said Obama....you are either lying or are you are blind.

*******************

One More!!

Here is our classless and clueless President and First Lady. Check out the respect and admiration that they are getting from the crowd who are honored to have their picture taken with the Leader of the Free World.

Is it any wonder that other World Leaders look upon this administration and are laughing up their sleeves at us. Would you take these people seriously for any reason?

Also, in the dictionary under "Thunder Thighs" we have Michelle in these horrific pants. Do they ever look at themselves in the mirror? EVER?

The Obamas and the Gansta Wannabes

Weep for our Country.

Retirement----Sort Of

To retire or not to retire. That is the question.

A few months ago, I made the big decision. After 20 plus years as a financial advisor and insurance agent, it was time to slow down and semi-retire. Semi- because I will still be keeping for a while my insurance business.

Semi retire because my husband is purchasing another business and I will be keeping books for his two businesses as well as our personal finances.

DECIDING:

How did I make the decision? Time and Money.

1. We only have so much sand in our personal hourglass. At 60 I can see that there is more sand in the bottom than the top. It is time to enjoy the sand that I have left.

2. I'm going to be a Grandmother, for the first time. And again....time....it goes by so fast. Do I want to spend my "sand" on shepherding my recalcitrant, balky and frankly ungrateful clients....OR do I want to spend time with my husband, grandchild, my daughter and her husband and my Father who just turned 82 (who also has a limited amount of sand left)

No contest. Family wins out.

3. Time. I haven't had time to do the things that I enjoy. Hobbies that I have let languish over the past 10 years of self employment. Cooking, Quilting, Painting, Gardening, Sewing, Knitting, playing my guitar. I am sooooo...looking forward to being able to exercise my artistic and creative side, instead of my analytical and managerial side.

4. Money. While most of my clients have done very well, even through this latest downturn and many have actually made money, I am just sick of dealing with everyone's problems. Holding hands. Trying to keep people from running off of the rails. Frankly.....I'm sick of most of my clients. One positive sign that it is time to quit.

5. Money. The fees and charges to doing business have gone up and up and up. A 25% increase next year for basic services from my Broker Dealer. Fees added to fees. Not to mention paperwork and compliance up the boo yang. Add in the office overhead, insurance etc. It was a no brainer.

So....I have moved my office to my husband's business. Upstairs above the workshop. Despite his whining that he is going to lose his 'man cave', he admits that it does look pretty nice, manly and .....bonus!!!.. I will be cleaning the office so that there aren't as many manly dead spiders, flies and cobwebs. Another bonus. I plan to set up a wet bar and get some nice recliners and a flat screen television so we can watch movies and just relax.

MOVING:

OMG. The pain of moving almost 10 years of office accumulation, files, supplies, decorations. And moving all of it UP a flight of stairs. I'll tell you one thing. After all these trips up and down the stairs carrying my end of the furniture and boxes of stuff......I will have buns of steel. Right now I feel like someone has kicked me in the rear.

Throwing away items. It is liberating!!. Anything to do with securites. Trash it. Have I looked at it in the last 2 years? Nope....trash it. How many of these pens, folders, whatevers do I really need? Trash half of them. Dumpsters full of trash.

ADJUSTING:

So far, the adjustments to retirement has been a bit strange because we have been so busy with moving and repositioning.

First thing to deal with is the idea that "I don't have to be anyplace at any particular time". I don't have to get up and be in my office at 8:00 am. My time is going to be my own!. At first I felt like I was shirking something.

I don't have to get dressed up into work clothing, which is for me heels, suits or nice pants outfits. Looking forward to the transition into more casual, less make up, less jewelry styling......while being careful not to transition into slob.

Because my time is NOT structured and I don't have multitudes of client obligations, right now, I feel like I should be doing something else. Something constructive.

I know.......I'll bake some bread and settle on a new knitting project, open a bottle of wine and sit in the easy chair and listen to some Coletrane, while the Dumbplumber is busy with his latest book and nap.

Ahhhh.... retirement. I think I can learn to like you.

I'm Jammin' ..Hope You Like Jammin' Too

You can feel Fall in the air. The mornings are crisp, cool and clear. Some of the trees have even begun to turn color. The fruit trees are loaded and people who have gardens are desperate to unload their excess onto anyone who will take squash, zucchini or anything else.

After our war with the robins and race to see who would get the cherries from the sour cherry tree....we won by the way.... we have been inundated with wild plums and peaches. Hating to see this bounty go to waste, I've been canning and jammin' (Bob Marley reference here)

Wild plums are something that you have to experience and are hard to explain just how fablulous they are.



Slightly smaller than ping pong balls, they are sour. Pucker your face sour. However, once made into a jam or jelly. They turn from reddish yellow sour balls into the best sweet and tart reddish orange jam. Some years we have a lot. Some years, not so much. It even varies from tree to tree. One tree will bloom and bear fruit, while the tree right next to it will be just a week behind or ahead on the blossom schedule and be barren. Timing is everything.

This year I made two batches of wild plum jam. We gave most of it away as gifts and ate it all up.

Peaches Galore

My husband oversees some properties that are owned by absentee landlords. This year one of the peach trees was loaded, almost to the breaking point, with small peaches. Since no one is going to be coming up to use the fruit, we get to harvest it when we can. From the peaches I made Peach Jam, Sour Cherry Peach Jam and Peach Barbeque Sauce. There were so many peaches we gave over half of them away to other ladies (gluttons for punishment) who also like to cook and can.

These are just a few of the jars of the different jams. All in all about 4 dozen jars.


I love the jewel tones they have when the light shines through. Almost like a stained glass window in a church. The miracle of being able to preserve the bounty of summer and fall and enjoy throughout the cold winters.

In the freezer are still more peaches and sour cherries.

As if this all wasn't enough. I have a friend who's husband made a huge and I mean huge over an acre garden. She has loaded me up with green beans. So.....spicy garlic dilled beans.

Shameless Plug: My Daughter's Website

Here is a shameless plug for my daughter's website.

Expecting Chic It is all about being pregnant and still retaining the ability to dress well, stylishly and inexpensively.



The internet is wonderful. Not only do we get to communicate by the magic of the Net, I can view her blog daily.

Am I a proud Mother and future Grandmother? ....you betcha.

Yikes!! A Virus Has Attacked the DumbPlumber

Be careful out there boys and girls. It is an ugly ugly world.

As I type, my poor husband is sitting,on the couch,in deep dark dungeon, pouting and angry because his laptop has been attacked by a particularly nasty virus. One of those fake alerts that hijack the computer and pretend that you are infected so that you will accidentally download their software which further infects the computer. The computer is literally unusable now. No programs will work. If connected to the Internet, it hijacks the browser and sends us to the website were we are enticed (yeah right real enticing) to buy their fucking software. I can't use the existing virus software because the virus has disabled that too.

These things are nasty nasty nasty. They originate in overseas locations. Dumbplumber says if he could find these %$#&*^*!! guys he'd string them up by the balls and slowly carve out their eyes.

I blame myself partly because I didn't upgrade his virus software to Kaspersky, which I use and really like. (Recommend to everyone.)

His main computer use consists of things like typing word documents and posting to his blog; suring news sites like Drudge, Instapundit, Lucianne and looking for car parts. No porno.....he swears, and I believe him. I keep warning him NOT to open jokes and attachments from his friends (which probably do count as porno). However, the broke dick lame virus software that he was using was supposed to pre scan for this....evidently not.

Sooooo.....now we get to take the computer to the repair/technician. No problem, right? NO! A big problem because in our rural area, we don't have computer techs. The one guy that we were using is in the middle of a personal meltdown and ugly divorce, child custody battle and is becoming rather unhinged. The closest place for computer repair is about 80 miles away.

Sooooo....now I get the privilege of driving about 160 miles to take the laptop to either "The Geek Squad" or some other technician. Now "I" want to hang someone up by the balls.

The alternative is to have the Dumbplumber stewing and pouting for a week or go now!! He says: that without his computer, he feels like Hannibal Lector in a straight jacket and with a grill on his teeth.


On my way!!

UPDATE:

I remembered that one of my friends has a teenaged son who is a total computer geek. With a phone call and some instructions, we were able to fix the problem without having to drive OR spend a lot of money. A $50 referral fee is in order. Woo Hoo. Dumbplumber is doing a happy dance

Buzzard Update

Well, the buzzards have taken off for other trees. We succeeded in discouraging them by sitting on the deck, drinking scotch, talking and listening to loud old rock and roll music. They evidently don't like Led Zepplin or Chicago. Also a few wacks from a pellet gun sort of helped them to get the hint.

I'm feeling better now that I have learned that the plague of frogs wasn't just in my office. On the other hand.....maybe I should be worried about the entire town?

Ominous Portents

I'm not a superstitious person. Black cats crossing my path...."Here kitty kitty". Breaking a mirror...."Damn, now I have to buy another one". Friday the 13th...."Whatever"

However, in the last 3 days some very weird things have happened.

First. The huge juniper tree that is next to our house has been full of turkey buzzards. I don't mean one or two, but more like 10 to 20. They have never roosted in this tree. They just sit there staring, and when they see us, lazilly fly off and circle around and around over the river below. Creepy.

Next. Yesterday when I came into my office, the floor was full of tiny frogs, some in a state of dessication and others hoping around. Ewwww. I swept up the dead guys and took the live ones outside into the bushes. Today. The same thing. FROGS!

Should I be worried? Anyone have a Gideon's Bible handy?