Good bye, October

Good bye October...

 I hardly got to know you.

And you are throwing us into November.

The race to end this year. One family gathering

after another and it will be good bye... 2013.

I don't know why it seems this month went fast.

And summer seems like so long ago.

Maybe because summer lingered on, but then in

a flash we had temps drop... and fall rushed in..

Then Indian summer came with foggy mornings,

and then sunshine afternoons... and here we are

hit by dipping temps again...

I have so much to do before the end of the year.

I haven't even gathered my stuff for Thanksgiving

dinner, which will be here in a short 3 weeks.

And then there is all the baking for Christmas baskets.

I haven't even thought about what I have to do for those.

And they blend in with my Thanksgiving dinner prep

work as well...

Guess I should be doing that instead of writing this

blog today... Making a list of what to get and etc.

So HAPPY HOLLOWEEN...  we will get our usual

1 to 8 trick or treaters, and the rest of the candy heads

to the King's job for the workers to finish it off...  

Reincarnation...and people's names

I really don't believe in reincarnation...   but if I did, then I think I was a gunslinger. When ever I go to a restaurant, I want to sit in the seat that has the wall behind it.  Always sit in the back of the church.. Or any other event, if there is a chair and wall, that is my seat.

Also, when you meet people...  do you remember their names? Or do you figure you will never see them again anyway.. so why bother?

Or do you make a conscience effort to remember them?  How do you do? Are you successful?  I worked in a place that had a huge turn over... and it was hard to remember names.  About the time you finally got it down pat, they left.  Also it made it harder, because we were switched

around the building so much.. you were lucky if you had the same partner.

In later years, it was more consistent. And then I worked the Noc shift, so that made it easier, because there were only 12 of us in total.. and only 6 of us on shift.

I have never been great for names, but was for faces.. I could tell you 10 years later, where I knew you from, how I met you... and the last time I saw you.  Not anymore..  Now the King is my guide, but even he is having

trouble now... So I just fess up at the start and say, I am sorry, but I know your face, but can't recall your name.  

Computer headache....

Why is it working on the computer gives me head aches...

I am a reasonable sane, intelligent person.. things should be

fairly simple.. yet. not...  After all if it says import or export

email address, if it doesn't have what you have....

at least give a space for you to type in what you do have...

after all your computer should recognize it...

It gives me a headache...

And it kind of reminds me of bookkeeping... as it just takes a

mere miss spell or capital to foul up the words.. and if it is a password, then you really have a problem.. finally have decided to

type out the password on a separate sheet, and then copy paste it

into the slot. that helps... sometimes. And like bookkeeping when

you realize it was a simple mistake, you hit your head with the DUH.. remark.

My windows live mail has been fouling up.. so changed things

to another system called Thunderbird... but the head aches that came with it.. had me almost thinking of putting up with the original mess and just work around it. I guess like any other

new association... it takes time to get comfortable... and the New

England of me, likes to stay in the old rut and cuss it than change.

But change I have done..

Pictures from around the yard...

As the year starts to end... there is still some plants hanging on. 

The colors are beautiful... and with the turning back of the 

clock it is a sure sight to get ready for winter, even though it does

start for another month and half... 

One of my favorites is Johnny Jump ups and pansy These all seem to be a hardy group...

Here we are at the end of October and they are still blooming. 

 Johnny Jump ups......

 These are some of the hanging baskets who are also still hanging in there.. some are half dead, yet still has blossoms on over half of it..

 Now this is one clematis  that has had it.. this is the first year for it..

 Yet this old clematis still has life to it... and even has a few deep purple flowers on it. 

 The last rose of summer... fall?

 The burning bush is getting past its prime...

 This is my neighbors maple? tree... I love it... and I can see it from my kitchen sink window

 Even up close and personal.. this tree pleases me... love the contrast of the yellow with the brown trunk

I heard it on the grapevine....

Yes, there is a song by that name.. danced to it many times.

But it refers to getting information from the grapevine..

or some say.. a little birdie told me.. or rumor has it...

That is all old hat...

Now it is.. where did you find that out at? And the answer

is... and if you own a computer.. you know the answer...

I heard it... or saw it... on FACEBOOK. 

Found myself saying the exact same thing the other day.

And it is true.. everything that is going on in your family..

or your friends family.. you find out about it... from

FACEBOOK.

FACEBOOK is the new gossip over the fence of old.

And like the old fence.. some fences heard more than

others..

OH, MY..GOSH, I'VE BECOME.......

No not my mother, although there has been tinges of that from time to time.. Like every time I say.. this too shall pass.

But no, I have become my grandfather...

When I was young... when I was a kid,  way back.... and etc.

It came up just the other day when we were talking about how nice

the weather is (in the afternoons). How great it was FOR OCTOBER. I looked at them kind of surprised... and said... when I was young....

We called this Indian Summer.  Well, we did.

It isn't unusual for October, as we moved here the first week of October in 1982.  We had traveled across the U.S. in a bus, and truck and towing a car, with all our belongings in them.  And for the first week and half, we slept in the bus, because it was warm enough. Cold mornings, but the days were in the high 60's and some low 70's... 

The other thing I noticed is baseball seems later this year. Not much, but I don't remember it being at the end of October. I can remember "when I was young" and we had headed back to school ... the talk on the school bus was about  the world series.. I thought in the end of Sept. or beginning of October.  Never mentioning our beloved Red Sox as we knew they wouldn't make it.. but of the Yankee's and what ever the most popular team was at the time.

Yep, "when I was young", when I was a kid"......thanks, Grandy.

(our name for our grandfather, but that is another post)

My Tombstone

Those who know me, know that I don't plan on being buried in a cemetery... that I will be cremated and blown to the wind..  

I have gone to the cemetery and put the flowers on the grave, like most. Usually the King and I do it the weekend before Memorial Day. He puts flowers on his parents grave and I put some on my husband who passed away in 1986, which is close by.  So I do know the routine.

But in this day and age, your kids are spread across the land. And I don't find it fair to make them feel like they have to either feel guilty because  they don't come to the grave and place flowers, or have to do so. 

So there won't be a tombstone in a cemetery for me.  What I have chose is a bench in a park... for everyone to sit and view the beautiful scene, that I so enjoy now.  It is also the place where an old wooden bench use to be.  And I use to take my grandson, Mike down there and have talks with him.  As he was growing up, and sometimes wasn't making the best of choices, he and I would talk about those choices. 

I also had him promise when he became a teen, that he was to bring me down there when I got old and in a wheelchair, one last time. So I could see the beauty of the mountains and the lake, one last time.

So this past summer, I had a bench placed in the park at the beach, where Mike and I use to sit.  As they had removed the old wooden one.

So I had the city replaced the old one with a metal one, and put in a

slab of cement big enough for the bench and a wheel chair next to it.. and it has my plaque on it..it says. 'NANA AND GRANCHILDREN BENCH.

and in small letters below.. is my name.

This way, grandmothers for years to come, can sit there with their grandchildren.. and talk... and look at the view of beauty... so you see this is what I jokingly call.... my tombstone.  So if you are ever in Sandpoint, Idaho, and go to the city beach... look at the bench on the beach side of the loop.  Near the kiddie swings.

Now I will see how many of my kids read this... as there is only one that knows about it and she lives local.

And this is the view...

Let the sun shine thru....

As I have ponder each morning for the past 3 days, of fog.

I think each morning.. oh, no.. not fog again... so dismal.

and I don't do well with overcast day and foggy days. Especially when it is so foggy I can hardly see the big red warehouses across the street.

But each day, around 11am.. the sun is out and I feel regenerated.

Which today made me think about how much that is like life.

We get so bounded up in the down side of things, that we forget, that this too shall pass, and sun light of life will come back around.

And if one looks at things in total instead of the fingernail print of now... we can see some good to each thing.

You have seen the remarks... " get sick of traffic until it dawns on me I am lucky I have a car to be in traffic with."  I see only hamburger in the refrigerator, then it dawns on me, I have food where there are a lot of people

have none.. and etc...

So when life hands you fog.... let the sun shine thru... as it will before the day is over.  

It is another band aid...

Well, are you happy with the new opening of the government

back up? Or are you just disgusted with the carrot that is held

out front again for the nation? The band aid to get it over to

January? 

You know, how the farmer held out a carrot on the stick for the donkey

to keep going down the furrow. 

The only good I see of what happen for the past 16 days, is that the

tea party candidates feel a little smart feeling. And I am not talking about intelligence. I am talking about the sting kind.

What part of the Affordable Care is here to stay, don't they get?

What 43 or more times they brought it up to be defeated...and got

defeated themselves.. Then blackmail the country to shutting down

the government with only Affordable Care as their item to discuss.

It didn't happen.  All they did was show the country what ass's they

are. Unless they were trying the Chinese torture...one drop/vote at

a time.

What is the saying.. the definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results ...

 

Party? What Party?

I am sure that like myself, you are tired of this

b.s. in Washington, DC.  So much standing in

in front of the television cameras with bumbling

words.  On both sides.

So here we are, what 29 more hours and then we

find out who is playing chicken and who flinches.

They say they are speaking for the American's.

They are so into watching themselves on the

televisions, they surely can't be watching how the

citizens are reacting. Or they would be in there

getting their act together.  What part of "Affordable

Care, is not up for discussion" don't the Republican's

get. Sure there must be some sane ones there who

get that and have a voice.  Get it together.. work on

Affordable Care after.  Fine tune it later.. Let's get

with the rest of the decisions. Mainly, the debt ceiling.

Talk about a do nothing Congress.

In the old days, the Republicans and the Democrats

use to try to get along some what.. That is why Tip

O'Neal and Reagan got along... Kennedy with McCain

and many more, way before any of them. 

But this Republican party they have now.. has split

so many ways... I think there should be truth in parties. Meaning.. they shouldn't all run under the same umbrella when they can't get along with each other. Let them stand out there on their own.

There should be... the Democrats, the Republicans,

the Tea Party, the Conservatives, and what ever else

the Republican party has hid under that umbrella. 

Because I am sure there are a lot of old time

Republicans who are shaking their heads, and even

have their heads hanging low with all these others

invading their party.  It would be really interesting, if

they would all run under the headline of their interest,

instead of hiding under the elephant.  And really would any of them really get any real votes if they did? 

I saw on the news this morning, that there is a survey

that shows a wide berth in the middle.. really wide berth, of people of this nation who are sick and tired of both parties. They showed 1/4 Democrats(blue), 1/4 Republicans (red) and a grey area in the middle that was half of the voters who want no part of either party.

I am sure today, they are even more so.. and who knows how many from each side will jump to the middle?  I jumped there over 13 years ago.. with my joking of the Cafeteria Party... but now it is hard to find anything on either side to pick from.

So let's have truth in the parties... If you don't believe whole heartily in what that party represents, then get

you own.  And the Republicans should kick them out

of their party.. after all they are giving the Republicans a bad name...

 

YOUR OBITUARY...

With all the huffing and puffing coming out of Washington, D.C.

I decided to lighten up and work on my obituary... Now you might find that to be quite a downer... but actually it isn't..

 

When I took Hospice classes over 13 years ago, one of the assignments was writing up our own obituary... The teacher told us we could do it serious if we wanted to, but we also could have fun with it too.

 

Wish I knew where I put mine. As I decided to have fun with it. And if I can find it... I will probably use a great deal of it.  It started out with the usual...  You know.. when and where I was born... and to whom. Listed my one and half sibling (brother and half sister) and my 8 children,

and listed the number of grandchildren. Which has totaled up almost twice as much now and then there is the great-grandchildren.  Well, that takes up a paragraph in itself.... But the rest I had fun.

 

I told of the many jobs I had over my then 60 years. Putting on a spin, of how they help form my life. Among them was smashing cars for scrap iron. The waitress jobs... the starting out jobs...   Babysitting, working civil service (telling how it educated me to knowing what the ord insubordination meant. Being I was always questioning why, at my young

age and wanted things to be "fair") and how I came to smashing cars and burning them on purpose.  Before spending the rest of my life working in a nursing home and the love of the patients and what a great generation

they were.

 

I think a person should write their own obituary.  Too many times it is a family member who writes a flowerily one, that would embarrass the deceased. Or maybe not..

But one that was a hoot, was one I read this past spring.

She wrote her own.. and near the end, after tooting her own horn, she wrote.

"But there are some who I couldn't stand. and you know who you are"... I almost spit out my coffee... I didn't know the lady, but I had to give her a high five for a great obituary.

 

So what would you write about, if you were writing your own? Would it be serious? Would you tout all the wonderful thing you thought you had done over the years? Or would you write one that was humorous... After all, this

will be your last words... your last shot so to speak. 

 

I know I am going to make mine one that they will remember for a while. After all I won't have a grave site.. my ashes are going to be blown to the wind... going back to the earth that I came from.  And my tombstone is already in place in a park.  it is a bench for grandparents to sit with their grandchildren, to be able to give them words of wisdom.

 

See I am a control freak... of me.. Others I feel can do as they see fit. It is their choices.. but I am accountable for me.. So that means I hope to control what happens right after I leave this earth... then I will leave the rest up to you all. 

So if you hear that I have passed... try to find my obituary to see if they let me write my own... it ought to be a hoot. 

 

ALL OVER, BUT THE SHOUTING????

NOT HARDLY...  Some think that a compromise is coming this week.

Well, with part of the Congress who decided Columbus Day was a big enough holiday, to leave town.. it doesn't sound like they have the shut down in mind.  More like get out of Dodge while they are still able.

 

Even if you believe that the compromise is coming.. do you realize it isn't the shut down they are talking about? No, it is only the raising up of the national debt they are talking about agreeing on.  And that is only for a short

time.. weeks..  

Kind of like the carrot in front of the donkey, to keep him going. Or Lucy with the football, waiting for Chuck to run up to it.  

This is what our government has become.  No more decisions that last for years.. not even a

year.. These clowns that we all call Congressmen/women... can't decide or agree on much that will last for a year or more.  Each time they scare the daylights out of the elderly, make the vets wonder, and all of the rest of citizens of the United States mad as hell.  

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions... they are on the ship of fools...  Making agreements at the last possible minute or later.. and no conscience of what they have put the citizens of the nation thru.. only the selfish

meandering of their own existence.  Then have the guts to brag about how they help end the mess they made in the first place. 

These people make me sick... and our nation of short term memories, won't remember this come election time. 

 

HUNTING WIDOWS???

Today is the first day of hunting season.  So before the crack of dawn, many of men are on a road to seek their elk of the year. Some have their special spot.. and God forbid, if a rookie comes across it. Hunters are more guarded than mushroom seekers about their favorite spot.

 

There will the rookie, first time out guy... Who is partly scared he will mess up, and partly excited. A lot of times these guys are future son-in-laws who want to prove themselves to their future father-in-laws.

Or a new son-in-law.   Some are because the economy has been slow and need extra help with groceries.. And an elk would be a winter's meat supply.  Even halving it with a hunting buddy would help.

 

The rest are old pros. Been doing it since they were kids with their fathers. Lot of hunting camps went up last weekend, looking forward to the beginning of the hunt today.  Some will be getting their elk today. Those who have scouted

the area over the summer or while gathering the winter's wood. So will have a good idea where the elk are hanging out.  And if they are hunting with others,

the hunt isn't over yet. As that person becomes the driver. The one who drops off other hunters in one area, and goes to the other side to pick up those hunters. Also helps getting other's elk out of the woods, as well.

 

Now the wives.. well, life goes by ... like any other day. Maybe something will fall apart, or stop working an hour after the husband has left for hunting camp. Or it is the same old routine.. minus husband.

 

Then there are the party widows... While the buddies are drinking beer around the campsite, talking about their day in the woods, their wives are out at the bar, drinking and laughing with each other.  No foul play.. just ladies night

out.

Next you have the older hunting widows... like myself... This is where we call this time of the year.. PROJECT TIME.  This is where we tear some thing part, that we have been trying to get our husband's to do over the year. Be it a painting project, tear out a wall (for the more aggressive of us) move

the furniture..  OH, SO MUCH TO DO, IN SUCH A SHORT TIME. haha.

 

This year the King isn't doing hunting camp. He has decided to do nights at home, in his bed with a shower available.  We live only about an hour drive from hunting area... so it isn't a hardship.  So my projects will have to be small. BUT, he is going over to Washington, to be driver for his brother,

so he isn't hunting by himself... and that will involved days and camping.

ALL IS NOT LOST... I am saving up my most involved project for that time. But that is 3 weeks away... dang.. oh well, I can gather supplies for it, now.

 

So HUNTING WIDOWS.. do not despair... there is lots of fun things to do. Younger ones, can share babysitting, so each gets to get a ladies night out. Older ones.. do those projects, without having to argue over how it is done.

And be able to finish it.. eat meals when you want to.. and you get control over the REMOTE CONTROL... so you can watch those Lifetime shows, DIY and other shows your guy doesn't like.

Yes, I know there are women hunters too.. but this post is called HUNTING WIDOWS...  

 

Dividing up the state...

The headline read this morning...

Frustrated Rural Colorado Counties Want to Secede as 51st State.

Now where have I heard that before...

First, locally... if the people of Washington and Idaho had their way, there would be a Empire State.. at least that is one of the names.

It would take in Spokane, Washington and Northern Idaho..

Both areas feel that their capital has no clue, nor do they want to have, about the other side of the state. 

 

Spokane feels that the people in Olympia, are only concerned about the western side of the state.. mainly Seattle. And Spokane is the step-child of Olympia.  

Bonner, Boundary, and Kootenai counties feel the same

way about Boise. Out of sight out of mind. 

Although, in the past 2 years, Boise has been spending a lot of money up this way. With new highway work going on between Kootenai and Bonner county.  Sandpoint has

finally got their by-pass that they have been trying for... for over 50 years.

And Dover (in Bonner County) got a new bridge as well. Of course being called the worse bridge in the nation by Mechanic Illustrated and the Discovery Channel, kind of helped there.

 

Then I do remember way back in the 70's I believe, that Newport County was making noises of how they wanted to break off from Providence and have their own state as well.. Which sadly got a lot of laughter, when you

consider that R.I. is the smallest state in the union. And Newport was only about 28 miles from Providence.

 

Well, if nothing else, now that the headline has made it to national television by the way of ABC NEWS... maybe the Governor and their Congress will take note, that not all is happy in Colorado.