Nov. 10, 2009
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Ode to the Mattress Maker
The greatest man-made invention, in my opinion, isn't the steam or gasoline engine, or the computer, or even airplanes. I think it's the mattress. The kind the would make Goldilocks very happy, not too hard, not too soft, but just right.
I'm incredibly fond of my bed, made up of a mattress. If I no longer had a computer I wouldn't cry. If flight became a thing of the past I wouldn't worry. If I had to start walking everywhere I would probably grumble and whine, but I would get used to it. However, if I lost the use of a good mattress, I don't think I'd ever get over that.
You may think that I'm a hard-core blogger, but I put more time and effort into being a napper. Sleeping at night is only intensive training for my napping, and like a runner after a good, long run, I find it to have been hard work but well worth it--it gives me a rush. It can be exhilarating and then my body is ready for a good nap to recuperate.
Before the modern bed was invented, people had to sleep on poky straw or feathers. Quite a problem for those with allergies and deadly for those with asthma. Before that it was soft dirt or hard dirt, but I doubt there was ever any "just right" dirt. That's why the bears lived in a house and slept in beds. It wouldn't have been the same story if Goldilocks had wandered into a cave and tested three different bear wallows.
I completely and totally love my bed and all of the cozy comfort that it has to offer. It's just fills my heart with joy to crawl under the covers and snuggle down. Waking up in the morning is most painful. At least I have naps to look forward to.
To whoever invented the modern mattress, I am truly grateful. I wouldn't be half the napper I am now without it.
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Nov. 6, 2009
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Grandpa and the Skunk
My grandpa, my Papafather's dad, was a country vet. He had a little office off the side of the house where he did small animal surgery, and exams. He made house calls all around the country, some trips taking him an hour or more to reach the animal in need of help, be it cow, horse, sheep, or pig. Very often he would have one of his children in tow. He had 10 of them so there was no shortage of helpers. It all sounds very James Harriot like, and in a way it was. James Harriot's stories are popular with that side of the family and each story reminds them of one like it that grandpa experienced.
Grandpa's office was, as I said, just off the house. Just off the kitchen to be exact. My grandma had a dutch door put in so that she could just open up the top half to talk to him and yet keep the little ones inside. Think about that. A vet's office, just off the kitchen. Do you recall how a vet's office smells? That smell still lingers in that office to this day and it's been over 10 years since my grandpa died.
Aside from the smell, I never gave grandpa's office much thought. We would traipse our way through it on the way to play outside, to gather in the clothes from off the line, to pick grapes, collect eggs, or to find grandpa. The office doubled as grandma's laundry room so I suppose that's why it didn't seem like a room that needed much attention. I never spent any time in it other than to get from point A to point B. Which is strange now that I think about it, all those fascinating instruments, chemicals, medicines, and the like just within reach. I never touched them or was ever tempted to do so.
One temptation I did give in to was a special barrel out back that held two skunks. Grandpa would warn us to leave those skunks alone. My numerous cousins and I would stand around the barrel peering in, and those skunks would peer back. The lot of us cousins would look for only a moment and then run away as fast as we could before we got sprayed. I didn't find out until I was much older that those skunks couldn't spray because my grandpa had "deskunked" them. I don't know if my cousins were aware of this at the time or not, they ran just as fast as I did. Grandpa's warning hadn't been for us, he had been worried that we would torment the skunks.
Skunks actually make a great pet and are positively darling, if you can legally keep them. My uncle kept one for awhile. She was just like a cat, had a litter box and everything. Her name was Rosie, and then some, but I won't repeat that part.
We have a family story, told every couple of years or so I guess, about grandpa and one particular skunk he was de-scenting. While in the process of removing the gland that contains the hideous skunk musk, it was ruptured. It squirted all of its contents right in my grandpa's face. He came into the kitchen to clean up and the only thing he said was, "It's such a beautiful color." Apparently skunk spray is an amber color, and my God fearing grandpa could still recognize the beauty of God's handiwork even in a skunk's musk.
Funny, while my aunts and uncles roar with laughter about this story every time they tell it, I don't remember anyone talking about the smell lingering in the kitchen or what on earth my grandma said or did. I'll have to ask them about that.
After the laughter dies down, someone will always mention how my grandpa was such a quiet, gentle, and patient man. Oh he had his moments when a cow would stomp him, but how many men do you know who would take it from a skunk and only comment on it's beauty?
Update: I asked one of my aunt's if she remembered grandma's reaction to grandpa coming in smelling of skunk that badly. She didn't really remember, she figured grandma probably dealt with it in stride. Believe it or not there are a lot worse smells a vet can have lingering about his body. My aunt remembers one smell that caused everyone near grandpa to be physically nauseous. Grandpa had to clean out a cow whose calf had died inside her at near full term. The calf had become a decaying mass of jelly, with only bones left. The smell lingered on grandpa for quite awhile--no matter how often he washed or what he tried, the smell wouldn't go away. He actually got infected pores on his arms from cleaning that cow out. |
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Nov. 5, 2009
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Y.oung M.inds C.acophony A.lbum
When I was a young and silly girl I really wanted a certain record. Yup, I said record. They still existed even though cassette tapes were beginning to make their appearance. The problem was, I didn't own a tape player, I owned a record player.
I can't even remember now how this record made it to the top of my wish list. I'm guessing that what really happened was that I had seen it while digging through the records at the store and it called to my fickle heart. I trotted off to the nearest money source, which just happened to be my Aunt Sissie. I was spending a couple of weeks with her during the summer. Her children were all grown and possibly gone, that part of my memory is a little fuzzy. Anyway, I guess Aunt Sissie saw nothing wrong with indulging me and she bought it. Oh, I was a happy music lover! I listened to that album for years. Perhaps all of two-years.
I have no idea what my mother thought of this present. I don't recall her ever expressing it to me. I may have to ask her about that. I do remember that my aunt loved me and wanted to give me something simple, like a two week invasion of her home and privacy wasn't enough. She was just like that, quietly giving.
So what record sang to me and held my attention for so long? Irwin the Disco Duck In the Navy.
Groovy! Here are the popular titles on this record that I boogied to:
- In the Navy
- Macho Man
- Y.M.C.A.
- Music Box Dancer
- Last Dance
- Knock on Wood
- Le Freak
- Instant Replay
- I Love the Night Life
- Goodnight Tonight
What a horrendous track of songs! I think the only reason they threw in Music Box Dancer was to appease parents who thought the record might rot brains. I know it did mine, but at least I still love Music Box Dancer. Believe it or not this album was made by Peter Pan Records, a company that made records for children.
I'm sure it was that dashing figure of a duck in his sailor uniform that caught my eye in the first place. I wanted to join the Navy after all! As one of those grown cousins that no longer lived in the house was in the Navy, it was probably what tipped the scale in my aunt buying it for me. I wouldn't buy anything like this for my own children, let alone my nieces.
It is however a somewhat fond memory, mainly because of my Aunt Sissie. I can't ever hear Y.M.C.A. without thinking of this record, and I can't think of this record without remembering her.
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Nov. 4, 2009
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The Common Thread that Weaves My Memories
"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ~Erma Bombeck
That common thread, I know what it is. It's love. Not necessarily for each other, but for the same group of people. For instance, my sister and I are very opposite from each other, but our love for our mother is the only thing that keeps us together. We also love the same aunts, and uncles, and cousins, but it's our mom that keeps us in communication.
I pray that I will always remember the fun my family has had. I don't ever want to forget the good times. I'm going to be writing some of them down, more for my benefit then yours, but I hope that I write them well enough that you can enjoy them too. I want to weave my memories together on "paper" before my mind unravels. I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon, but I've already noticed that a few strands have been pulled and the edges are wearing.
My mom keeps a box full of all the comic strips that made her truly laugh. She wants to read them when she is old and feeling unhappy. I want the same thing of my memories. In case I can't remember, I can pull one out and hopefully it will help me to remember and I can be happy because my life has been so truly blessed. I may even pull them out before I'm very old, because so often lately I do forget just how blessed I am.
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Nov. 3, 2009
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Butch Bills and the Sundance Sagerats
Why on earth do I feel like a criminal on the run while keeping one step ahead of financial ruin? To date I've done nothing criminal, nor do I plan to, and yet I feel like I am dodging "the law" of creditors. Just so it's clear, we actually still have good credit, but only due to the grace and mercy of God.
Still, there are days when I think it would just be a whole lot easier if I turned myself in and went to debtors prison. Not that we have that anymore, but I am so weary of this flight into financial freedom. Flight might be a strong word for it--it's more like dragging a penguin on a leash.
On the whole I have no one to blame but myself, we gambled and we are losing, but there have been outside influences that have played their part. Just as a farmer must still depend on the weather in order to produce a good crop, while doing what he can to help it along. Frost, tornados, and hail can all destroy a crop, it shows no mercy to a dedicated farmer or a lazy one.
Remember how I said that our good credit is still only good because of the grace and mercy and God? It's true, but I have several friends who were finally captured by the credit Pinkertons--Bankruptcy and Foreclosure. In no way do I think that God's mercy and grace were pulled away from them, although I'm sure they may feel that way.
I just don't understand how I can feel like I've done something so morally wrong, as if I committed first-degree non-payment, and why I have to keep looking over my shoulder and dodging the long arm of the law, certain that I am about to be caught.
While I know that the enemy can beat me up, there must be a reason why I feel so guilty. I don't think it's all the bad guy in the black hat. No, we didn't spend our money on extravagances instead of paying our bills. I'm not saying that we have always spent our money wisely, but we've not been neglectful either. Yet, have I been a good steward? Sadly, no.
There is only One who can grant me immunity, riding the white horse, swooping down, scooping me up, and riding away into the sunset. Okay, I don't have to wait for the Rapture, He can still save me, but it painted a good picture for my theme, don't you think?
Christ is who I must run to, instead of dodging from payday bush to payday bush, and hiding out in dark caves of no cell-phone service so the creditors can't call. He won't tell me that I don't have to pay my bills and He won't actually pay them for me like He has my sins, but He can give me much needed rest and focus. He still answers prayer! If only I would take the time to actually look for Him instead of at how far away the next payday bush is.
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Nov. 2, 2009
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Holiday Idea Book--No Charge
Unwrap our beautiful holiday gift
for you!
The staff and friends of The Old Schoolhouse® have come together to share their favorite family traditions, recipes,
and more with you.
It's your FREE gift . . .
Get ready to . . .
Wrap your family in a ribbon of thankfulness and joy and
season your holiday with laughter, love, and togetherness.
Start planning now for a wondrous holiday season with . . .
The TOS 2009 Digital Holiday Supplement
WOW . . . a gorgeous Holiday/Christmas Digital Magazine filled with a fabulous lineup of planning, recipe, gift, and craft ideas you'll love.
If you're looking for inspiration to get your holiday spirit revived for the upcoming season of festivities, you've come to the right place. TOS has put together a gorgeous, full-color, digital magazine filled to the virtual brim with traditions-in-the-making.
"This is TOS's gift to the homeschooling community, and anyone is welcome to it. The 2009 Digital Holiday Supplement will fulfill your yearnings for fresh and original additions to your long-treasured, family customs, and maintain Christ's honored position first, and foremost, in your celebrations."
-Gena Suarez, publisher of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine.
Don't forget, this holiday idea book is free--no strings attached. Feel free to share it with your friends, homeschool support group, family, church group, blog visitors, customers, newsletter subscribers, and anyone who would enjoy making memories of an unforgettable Thanksgiving and Christmas..
- Open and browse the Holiday Digital Supplement.
- In the top toolbar, click the Download link. A dialogue box will appear. You will want to use the first option that is listed. It will have a small PDF icon to the right and the file size-35 MB. The radial button next to "All Pages" should be darkened. If it is not, click on it to darken.
- Click the "Download PDF" button in this first section.
- A download dialogue box will appear with options to "open with" or "Save" the PDF. Click on SAVE. Please do NOT try to open the PDF before downloading.
- Click on OK.
- You will be prompted to select the directory on your hard drive where you wish to store the Holiday Digital Supplement PDF. Make a notation of the directory you select.
- Click SAVE.
- This is a 35 MB file and many people will be accessing it, please allow extra time for the download-especially if you have dial-up Internet service.
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Oct. 31, 2009
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My 4th Blogiversary
Wow. I can't believe it's been 4 years since I started blogging. A lot can change in a year, think of what can change in four!
When I first started blogging I was a small time homesteader. We had goats that we milked. (We had chickens, too, but that was before the blog.) We also had two dogs and three cats. We don't homestead anymore because I have asthma and even walking into the barn would make me sick due to all the hay and straw. We now have one cat.
When I first started blogging I lived in Oregon. Now I live in Kentucky. I lived in the country, now I live in town. The economy was a lot stronger four years ago.
When I first started blogging I was homeschooling my four children. Now I only homeschool three because my oldest is a homeschool graduate.
When I first started blogging I had a staunch supporter in Nanna Nina. She read my blog daily, encouraged me, and told her friends to come read my blog. She died 2 years ago, and oh how I still miss her! The pain is still so fierce that I can't ever think about her without crying. I've also lost 3 other family members but I've gained 2 with the birth of a cousin-once-removed, and a great-niece.
When I first started blogging I wasn't the Senior Editor of HSB or an Assistant Marketing Director, or any of the other things that I do for TOS. Sometimes, I really miss being "just a mom," but if I have to work, I'd rather work for TOS then anywhere else.
When I first started blogging I had a lot of good friends. Now I have even more!
For all of you who have been following my blog, thank you! Outside of family, I don't know why some of you would; I don't really have anything new or different to tell you then any other homeschool blogging mom, but maybe it's nice to know that there is one more, just like you, who loves what she's doing and wouldn't change it for the world. That's important in today's society where feminists rule the work place and stay-at-home mom's are viewed as ignorant and down-trodden. It's why I still read your blogs.
I started my blog on Halloween, for no special reason other than we don't celebrate the holiday and I had totally forgotten what the day was. Then and now, we still live our lives for Christ, the best that we can, and we let our little light shine for all the world to see.
Happy Blogiversary to me!
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Oct. 30, 2009
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Games My Family Likes
Did you read this week's The Homeschool Minute? It was about the games the families of the THM team like to play. As I'm a behind the scenes team member I'll post the games my family likes to play here. Don't get THM? Sign up!
When we lived in Oregon our family played a lot of the standard games at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma loves games! We would play:
- Farkle
- Yahtzee
- Uno
- Phase 10
- Chicken Foot
- Apples to Apples
- Crouquet
- Badminton
Which are all very fun, but the games I like the most are the ones my family made up or recreated.
- Famous Last Words--invent new and funny tombstone epitaphs or dying breath statements. Laughter or groans let's you know how well you are playing.
- Paper Airplane Races--My children would create several paper airplanes, drawing fancy designs on them, and then they would race them. After a few races the bad planes were auctioned off to the other players, and then they would race all of their planes again. The person with the fastest plane wins.
- License Plate Capitol--When we see a license plate from a different state the person who can call out the correct capitol of that state first wins.
- Name that tune--We hum a few notes of a tune and everyone tries to guess what it is. The person who guesses correctly gets to do the next tune.
That's all that I can remember for now, but I know we've made up a few more. I love how creative my children can be! We have many other things we play on a regular basis but they aren't exactly games. Like talking in a funny accent. Dear Man is good at Australian, Bluejane at Chinese (she's also very good at imitating movie characters), and Kekoa an English accent. I'm good at laughing at all their antics. Poor Eyebright has my talent for accents--nil. With all these ridiculous accents, conversations can take an interesting turn!
Families can be so much fun, take time to play with yours! You don't need to buy a boxed game or create a game night. It just takes imagination, a sense of humor, and an opportunity to stifle boredom.
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Oct. 29, 2009
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Street Legal Bumper Cars!
My cousin sent me an email yesterday with some pictures of these darling, street legal, bumper cars! I want one!
I tried to find a website for them to link to, but apparently they don't have a club website, or I'm not searching correctly. As it was it took me awhile to find a website that had several, decent sized pictures and didn't have nasty ads. Even so, click the above link at your own risk. I can't promise the language in the comments is decent. Scroll down and keep looking, past the really big picture, to see even more cool bumper cars. |
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Oct. 15, 2009
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Thoughts of the Seasons
Eyebright tagged me with this thoughtful tag. I won't tag anyone to join me, but if you feel like doing this tag you can. The rules are that you have to say things you like about the four seasons, not things you don't like.
In Spring, my favorite things are seeing all of the baby animals learning to walk, running, and frisking about. The weather warming up and thinking about summer. Flowers blooming.
In Summer, I love lazy days on the porch swing. Hiking, camping, and geocaching. Going to visit family and friends. Bright, sunny, blue skies! Long drives to nowhere, yet somewhere.
In Autumn I love the colors and smells. I like having a reason to stay indoors and slow down. It's exciting to hear the men talk of hunting! School is starting and that is always fun.
In Winter I love snow storms with big, fat flakes, especially if we are driving in it. I curl up and read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, no matter where I live and what the weather is like outside. I love going to my Papafather's hometown and spending Christmas with his family. This season, more than any other, fills my mind with warm and wonderful memories.
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Oct. 3, 2009
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Just Say No to Talent
A really neat family from the church we've been attending is, right at this moment, having a Fall Bash, and they had asked everyone to come ready to share a talent that others may not know about you. My first reaction was, "Hey! That sounds like fun!" In a split-second I changed my thought to, "I don't have an out of the closet talent, let alone a secret one." As you can see I'm not at the talent show, but that has more to do with having other things to do than not wanting to have fun watching our new friends come clean.
It's not that I don't have hobbies. I've got quite a few in fact. It's just that they aren't something that I am particularly talented at. Take napping--even a baby and your common house cat can handle it. I don't think I stand out in the art of napping.
I can read, and while quite a few people can't and I have that edge on them, I don't read on a Shakespearen or legal paperwork level. Although only reading the KJV of the Bible has given me a boost and made it much easier to understand; instead of polluting my reading skills with dumbed down versions dedicated to an 8th grade reading level. Taxes still scare me to death though, causing me nausea, headache, and near shock. It's obvious that I have a tolerance level for reading and once I reach that thresh hold I am allergic, so I don't know how much farther I can go with my reading skills
I also write, but I'm a long way from the talent of Erma Bombeck or Mark Twain. I think Jane Austen is a great writer too, but really, back in her day, she was writing the equivalent of a Harlequin romance. Sure I write on this blog, but it's more a journal of my thoughts and opinions than an actual work of art. The problem with a talent is that you have to keep working at it. I definitely need to work on my writing (grammar, sentence structure, and the like), and writing is considered a craft of sorts, but I don't in any way enjoy the process of learning more about it. I think it's probably important for a person to at least like practicing their talent, sometimes.
Obviously having a talent doesn't mean that you have to be a genius at whatever it is that you do, but let's face it, I don't do anything worth promoting or working harder at. How would I perfect my napping technique?
Why is it that people insist that I have to have a talent, and they always want to encourage me in one? Seems like a lot of peer pressure to an addiction to me: always wanting more of it, spending lots of time with it, not to mention money.
Hey, I'm talent-free and proud of it!
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Oct. 2, 2009
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Homeschool Comic Strips, Videos, and Articles
This is going to be a post that I keep adding on to as I find more comic strips (and/or cartoons), videos, and articles. It's my online homeschool funnies and warm fuzzies collection! Why did I decide to do this? Every now and then someone would show me a comic strip or video about homeschooling and I enjoyed it, but then I could never find it again, or I'd forget about it. So I'll put them all here, for as long as the links work. I'll just share my favorites, although there may be many more by the author/illustrator/personor and other authors/illustrators/personors.
I'm only LINKING to the strips and aforementioned list of humor. I'm not going to steal the funny and paste it in here--they are copyrighted! Big no-no. Some comics are open domain, but to keep this post neat and tidy, and to make it easier for my readers and the creators, I will just link them. That way the readers can find out more about the creator, and the creator will thank me, one fine day.
Comic Strips
Schools are for Fish by Jason Holm
Rhymes with Orange by Hilary Price
Videos
By The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
By Tim Hawkins
By Thor Ramsey
By Natalie Criss and Julie Melendez
By ??
Articles
By Andrea Paul
If you know of any other homeschool related media, let me know. I'm missing a few of my favorites and I'm always looking for something else to brighten my day!
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Sep. 24, 2009
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It's Raining Sheet Rock and Sons
A little over a week ago my children and I had been invited over to eat breakfast with a new friend of mine. She made us nice fluffy pancakes and yummy sausage, and served it all with a smile and gracious heart. Now that's a good friend!
My boys had eaten first and while the rest of us were finishing up our meal they had asked if they could explore the upstairs level. My friends house is being remodeled, so we told the boys to be careful. Off they went, the big, brave house hunters to stalk their prey.
Next thing we know Happy Camper had come through the ceiling, just a few feet away from the table where we were happily eating and chatting. It was rather shocking to see small boy's legs dangling down and waving about. Thankfully he had caught himself on the rafters, arms akimbo. After a few seconds of startlement we all burst out laughing. Happy Camper wasn't amused but he didn't make a peep as he dangled there, hoping to be rescued and quite fearful he was going to fall causing him death and destruction.
Kekoa managed to pull him back up through the hole and they came downstairs rather sheepishly. Apparently Happy Camper had asked, "Is ziss stable?" He didn't wait for a response and before he knew it he was on his way to China.
While it was funny, and I was ever so glad that Happy Camper was safe, I was rather worried that my new friend would be upset. Instead she informed me that they had been meaning to take that sheet rock down and the next time they had something they wanted removed they'd be sure to invite us over.
Did I mention she was a good friend? Really, how many people do you know who feed you breakfast and then thank you for having your son come crashing down through their ceiling?
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Sep. 21, 2009
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Our First Civil War Site
One reason our family was excited about moving to Kentucky was all the historical sites we could now visit--budget allowing of course. After all, you aren't going to find too many Civil War historical sites in Oregon.
We have wondered what it would be like to visit some of the Civil War sites though, because depending on what state and which sideof the war that area was for, it could possibly tell the events with their own slant. Which is true for all moments in history, but we are from Oregon and while we care about what the Civil War was really all about, we weren't raised or educated to still harbor deep seated feelings about the events. If we have any family members that fought on either side of it then it's a well-kept family secret.
Now Bluejane has never really liked American History, except for some of what the west coast took part in, like the Lewis and Clark trail. She wasn't certain she wanted to go to a Civil War historical site. We all went anyway (minus Eyebright who was sick), because it was FREE and right now free is all the budget allows for.
We had seen some signs stating that there was to be a Civil War canon shoot, so on the appointed day we ventured off and found the Civil War Fort at Boonesboro:
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Sep. 19, 2009
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Good Meat for the Budget
First let me say that while I know that not everything I shopped for can be expected to be in stores clear across the country, I didn't quite expect it to be like shopping in a foreign country. Oregon has a lot of butter and margarine choices, Nucoa being our margarine of choice because it was truly dairy free. (Many margarines say they are dairy free, but they contain milk protein making it not a truly dairy free item.) Here in Kentucky there are only a few butter and margarine choices and I'm not crazy about most of them.
However this post is about meat and specifically ground meat. Sometime after Dear Man lost his job I found a blog post that mentioned getting venison very cheap at a local butcher because a lot of guys go hunting but don't want the meat. Living in Oregon, I don't know anyone like that, you go hunting for fun and for the meat. If by chance there was any person weird enough to give all their meat up, it still wouldn't have been cheap. The butcher is no fool and he'll sell it for about the same price as ground hamburger.
So, while I was trying to find a way to cut back on our grocery budget due to our lack of decent income, I thought about ground turkey, because once upon a time it was cheaper than ground hamburger. I found out that turkey has gone up in price and it, too, is about the same price as hamburger. One day in Wal-Mart I found some ground turkey for only $1.00 a pound! It wasn't on sale or clearance, and I checked the ingredient list to see if it had some fillers or something, but it didn't, so I bought some. That night we tried it out and it was good!
Pride of the Farm ground turkey
You'll note that it comes in taco seasoned or italian style chubs. There wasn't a plain version at the store I was shopping at. You'll also note that it says it is mechanically separated turkey. That had me worried that it might have bones in it, but if it does we haven't found any. One thing I need to tell you is that once you thaw it out and cut open the package (I cut off one end and squeeze the meat out of the tube), it looks like cat food. To be nice we'll call it turkey paté, because that's basically what it is, but when you see it you'll think "cat food." Still just cook it up like regular hamburger and it is great! Our whole family really likes it and since it is preseasoned you don't have to use much, if any, seasoning in your meat, which is another savings.
Now why am I telling you about this meat? I did find it here in Kentucky but I'm afraid they are no longer going to sell it. Isn't that just the way it goes? Whenever we find something we really like, they yank it off the shelves. So I'm telling you about this meat because if you are looking to cut your grocery budget at all, please go buy this meat! Perhaps if more people buy it and ask for it in the stores, they will continue stocking it.
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Sep. 11, 2009
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FREE TOS Resources!
Sep. 4, 2009
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Missiouri, er, uh, Kentucky!
For those who live in Missouri, I apologize that we did not take the time to get to know anything about your great state. We just drove straight through it, only stopping for gas. We were very anxious to get to Kentucky, and as I said in my Kansas post, were just about out of money. So no touristy activities for us!
I would put up the Welcome to Kentucky sign, but we did not get a picture of it. It was dark, raining, and we were all feeling a little befuddled at that point. We had not actually intended to drive all that way, and had looked for a comping spot in Missouri, but the only one we found was totally unsatisfactory. Thinking that RV parks were a dime a dozen like back in the western U.S. we moved on. We were WRONG! Apparently the eastern half of the U.S. isn't as keen on RV parks as the western half where you can find at least one in nearly every town.
So we spent the night in Paducah, KY. A nice place but it's rather hard to feel friendly toward an area when you spent several hours of the night wondering why your power just up and quit. I told Dear Man to just forget it and get in bed, he could research it in the morning when he had better light. He finally did so, but he was unhappy, and restless.
Next we went to visit my friend Nancy Carter. She is everything I thought she would be; kind, fun, gracious, and cute as a bugs ear.
Nancy lives on very cool farm and it had lots of photo opportunities that the girls took advantage of.
After our short visit, we moved on to our new home area. Again, RV parks are quite scarce and the closest one we could stay at, was nearly an hour away from where we wanted to be.
To keep from getting too lumpy, or rather more lumpy, after a long day in the motorhome sitting around, Dear Man and I went for walks.
Kentucky is just so beautiful! We really enjoy the scenery. It hasn't been too terribly humid this year, and everyone tells us this is not normal for Kentucky! We're glad though, as I'm sure even the locals are.
Now one thing you have to try, if you ever find yourself in this grand old state, is a beverage called Ale 8 One (A Late One). A friend of ours gave us a six pack as a welcome gift.
At first we weren't too crazy about it, but after a grueling hike it was the cheapest beverage to be had, even cheaper than water, and boy did it taste good! Now we're all die hard Ale 8 drinkers.
What crazy hike did we go on that near to killed me? Natural Bridge State Park! It was a humid day, for us anyhow, and I puffed my way up and up to a truly awesome landmark. On our way up, and down, we had to pass through this narrow pass.
Just like anywhere else in this great world, some people are rude and when we were half way through the pass we had to turn around and go back because some teens were coming back down. They just stood there staring at my over heated self and waited for me to go back instead of going back themselves, and instead of making way for the obviously sickly and "elderly". To be gracious though I should not say anything bad about them, but Bless their Hearts.
After our hiking back up, and then back down, we then fell in love with Ale 8s. While purchasing them, the rather grumpy man who had nothing kind to say about the State Park system told us to go eat at a place called Bruen's. We decided to take his suggestion. After all, it didn't sound like he offered his praises to just anything.
During a long and vexing attempt trying to locate Bruen's, Bluejane decided that it was some sort of Kentucky hoax and that people here would send you off on a search to Bruen's but there is no such place. By the time you are ready to ask for directions the person you ask will laugh and say, "You've been Bruened!" Then they would hand us a t-shirt with the same proclamation.
I did finally get out and ask for directions and they lady said, "It's r-eye-t be-hind-us." Sure enough it was.
As the little man at the Park had said, the food was good! It was also very well priced, it cost us less to eat there than it would have cost us to eat at McDonald's! Definitely go to Bruen's if you are ever near Stanton, KY.
I have tons of stories to share about our life here so far, I can't wait to post them. So far, we like it here very much!
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Sep. 3, 2009
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Kansas Isn't Flat--at Least, Not the Part I Saw
All my life I've heard how flat Kansas is. How you can see for miles and miles, right to the horizon. So when we started into Kansas I thought it must be so because their welcome sign was very . . . flat.
As we drove through I kept waiting for it to be flat. While there was certainly some flat areas, I could always see a hill or two or three, somewhere. I think maybe I was taking people a little too literally when they said that Kansas was flat.
We had a mission in Kansas. Two in fact. First up was Dodge City.
Dear Man really wanted to go to Boot Hill. It was a very good museum, with a movie to watch, a reproduction of Dodge back in the early years, a shoot out at high noon, old-time photos, a gift store, and just some neat stuff to see and do. We did get our pictures taken old west style, the whole family as a group and then just the children. They are now hanging on our living room wall along with a WANTED poster with our name on it and our alias, The Tumble Weed Gang.
That's Dear Man and I at Boot Hill Cemetary, as the sign so plainly says.
Eyebright got some good shots of the shoot out at High Noon but this was my favorite.
That is the Sheriff of Dodge and he was about to take on two unruly cattle drivers who wound up robbing the bank.
While we were checking things out, we met a neat little man named Charlie Meade. He gave us his business card and if we mail it to him he will send us a package of materials about the history of Dodge. Charlie is a Special Deputy US Marshal. Be sure to ask for him if you are ever in Dodge and get his card!
It was time to get out of Dodge and move on to Kansas destination number two, Independence. Yes, that's Independence Kansas, not Missouri. The home, or near home, of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
That's Dear Man standing in the doorway. As you can see it was not a very tall house. It was small inside, of course, and I even checked to see if the bedstead had rope run across the frame, just like in the book. It did. There was even a China Shepherdess on the fireplace mantle.
At this site there is a school and a post office, brought from other places and to just give you an idea of what those would have looked like from that time period, or so. The gift shop was pretty nice as well, and we bought the Little House on the Prairie audio CDs to listen to in the car.
The town of Independence was NEAT! We liked it very much and it has a great city park with a small zoo, water park, tennis courts where people actually play at 8:00 at night.
While in Kansas we did two other things. Took a picture of our dear Mouse the Motorhome Cat. She traveled very well and we were pleased with the arrangements we had made for her commode. I'll show pictures of that another time, for the traveling curious.
The other thing we did was get those car window paint markers and put this on the back of the motorhome.
In case you can't read it, it says, Kentucky or Bust. On the car side windows we put, Look out Kentucky, here we come! Eyebright didn't get a picture of that evidently.
Don't ask me why, but I liked Kansas. I wouldn't want to live in Dodge, but I could easily live in Independence. We were anxious to get on with the trip though, and running out of money, we had only one more state to get through before Kentucky and we couldn't wait!
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Aug. 31, 2009
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Colorado--Land of a Million Raindrops
As usual, let's start off with the state welcome.
We didn't get out and get our picture taken with this one because we came upon it so quickly and there wasn't much of a spot to pull a motorhome over. As you can see it is a rather gray day. It poured rain that night, and nearly every day while we were there. It's a nice sign though.
The above picture doesn't exactly show just how bad the rain had been on this particular day. There was an actual tornado watch, I had no idea that Colorado even had tornados.
We spent several days in Colorado Springs visiting with some blog friends and we were thrilled to finally meet them in person! Awesome family, wonderful time, and some pretty serious silliness took place! Too bad I can't show you.
However, if you are ever in Colorado Springs, one super place to eat is The Airplane Restaurant. We enjoyed it very much, it had great food, and was well worth the stop.
Colorado Springs was also where I was introduced to Chipotle Mexican Grill. Oh YUMMY! Chipotle is now my favorite "fast" food restaurant.
We went to see the Garden of the Gods but that was the day of the tornado watch and rain, rain, rain. I did take a picture of the Kissing Camels, but my picture turned out to look more like kissing squirrels. Once again, I saw a piece of Oregon. There is a rock at Garden of the Gods that looks like it was plucked out of Smith Rock State Park. I don't know what happened to the picture I took of it though.
We liked Colorado, especially Colorado Springs, and if Dear Man could get a job there we wouldn't be sad about it.
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Aug. 21, 2009
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Wyoming in a Nutshell
I can finally put some more pics on here and get on with talking about our trip to Kentucky! After Utah, we traveled into Wyoming.
Isn't this a nice sign? As you will see in future posts, not all states take such care and pride in their welcome signs. When we made our quick stop to get pictures of the sign, we had to wait for another family who was taking pictures of it too. We made a deal with them, take a picture of us and we'll take a picture of you. Perhaps there picture is on their blog somewhere in the blogosphere!
Wyoming was pretty at first and again I was reminded of Oregon.
What doesn't show up very well here are the painted hills of Wyoming. I don't remember now what they called them, but that's what we call them in Oregon. The clay and dirt is in layers of color, and some of the hills are just one solid color of red, green, or yellow.
However, after about an hour or so, Wyoming gets incredibly boring. How boring? Even the billboards on the side of the road complain.
I don't know how well you can see the children on that billboard but they are getting rather grumpy. As the sign says we still had 20 miles to go and this was only one of a series of these signs for Little America.
It was so boring that I ate two whole bags of Cheetos in order to keep myself awake while driving and that was just during the time I drove. Eyebright managed to drive for quite awhile herself but finally had to beg me to take over before she fell asleep. Aside from these billboards, there was nothing to look at.
See,that's me eating a Cheeto. It was so, so, boring that Eyebright had nothing better to take a picture of.
After several long hours though we finally got into Laramie and the Rocky Mountains. Something to see, finally! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, or if we did I didn't remember where they were from.
We had hoped to meet a friend in Cheyenne, but it turned out that she wasn't home due to a bad mold. Cheyenne was nice though and we have some other friends from Oregon who have just moved there, after our drive through. It's amazing what this economy is doing! Friends and family scattering to the winds in order to find work.
We were also going to camp in Cheyenne, but the campgrounds were all full due to Pioneer Days. We had to push on to Colorado to find a campground.
I keep hearing that Wyoming is beautiful, so I'll give it another chance on our trip back through, but we'll head up farther north then the route we traveled this time around. First we'll stop and visit my friend though, who had the bad mold. Hopefully she won't have a recurrence of it.
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Putting the powder in
Inserting the fuse
The canon is shot
Removing the tinfoil that held the powder
