GOOD BYE, SUMMER….

GOOD BYE, SUMMER….

I have been hanging on with my tips of fingers to summer.

Still wearing shorts and tank tops.. but instead of the early

morning… it is more like noon.   As the mornings are averaging 55.   The hot sun is gone… went somewhere during our smoke outs from all the fires in Idaho and the ones drifting down from Canada and across from Washington state… 

The smoke got so bad that people were wearing mask to the stores… my heart really went out to those with breathing problems in the first place and the smoky days almost did them in. Mandatory staying in their houses, with windows shut and curtains to help keep the smoke out of their houses. 

But now we are heading into September, and the temps are a lot lower than 3 weeks ago before the smoke.

It always makes me sad when summer winds down, and fall starts. Fall is beautiful with all its glory of colors.. but I prefer the summer temps, and long days of sunshine.  I live for sunshine.  And as you age, the summers seem shorter.  

I am not ready to put my tank tops and shorts away, quite yet… hoping for a long Indian summer… but in my heart of hearts I know that winter will be upon us before we know it.

These legs…

I like my legs.. in fact I love my legs…

They look like they belong to a 24 years old in the morning.

They look like they belong to a grand piano by 1pm.

True they are fat and short…but they get me to where I have to go… 

We take our legs for granted.

I stop taking mine for granted years ago, when I stabbed

My toe with a fork.  And couldn’t do anything.. Walking was a hardship….. So I take my legs very seriously…

Legs give you independence… you can come and go as you please… get up, sit down, walk outside, walk inside… yep.. legs are pretty important..  Don’t think so.. just think about trying to find someone to take you to the bathroom.. that is when you really know.. you take good care of yours.. 

Everyone deals with it different..

Everyone deals with it different.. 

Over time I have heard the phase, “you would think they

Would get over it by now.” …  usually to do with someone who has lost someone in their lives..  A spouse usually is what they are referring to.   This angers me..  They obvious have never lost a spouse.   If it is a child.. you NEVER EVER get over it.. you learn to deal with it..  so you can continue on.

But a spouse, it depends on each person..  Some who have a spouse that was ill for many years and especially at the end was quite painful…  they feel it is a blessing that they love ones no longer are in pain.  For those who lose a spouse to an accident.. it is hard because you don’t have closure.

But how long does it take to “get over it” is as different as there are different people.   What those who ever lost a spouse don’t under stand is… the emptiness. 

You get up each morning.. those who are married… and say good morning to your love one. You might grumble about them taking too long in the bathroom.. or a quick kiss good bye as they or you head out the door for work…..  that is now GONE.   Every night… we head to bed.. we say good night, even if one of you goes to bed earlier than the other.  Even a kiss goodnight…. As you lay in bed, you know your love one is just inches away from you.. without thinking, there is security in that…  Now that is GONE… 

So no matter how many family members there are, no matter how many children you have, no matter how many friends you have…..  there is NOTHING to fill that void each morning and each evening.  No one else can fill that… for quite some time.    And if life comes around again for you later.. you hopefully will find someone to fill that void.  They won’t be a replacement, but an addition to that person.. A different kind of love, because it is a different person.

So unless you have walked in the shoes of losing a spouse, for the love of God, keep those words to yourself.  Because you don’t have a clue.

SMOKE SMOKE that SKY....

Smoke, smoke that….. sky… 

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.

So these should be worth 11 thousand, right?  

this is an early morning (about 5:30am) picture of the sun coming up thru the smoke

Those of you who follow my blog, know that normally there is mountains thru there. Lots
of mountains...  skiing mountains, and low mountains.

where oh, where have my mountains gone?  In between the red building and the blue building on the right ... there is a building behind there..   look below and you will see it..

 this is a day and half later.... see below, the white building between the red and blue buildings?

 these heroes have been flying in and out from the lake  along with two others. picking up water from the lake that is just to the south of us.. about 1/2 mile... taking it to the fire that is 25 miles east of us.

this is the sunset from last night...... you can see the foothills.. and make out the ridge of the lower mountain

 but even with these .... it is nothing compared to Washington state which is where we are getting a lot of our smoke as well..   as well as some coming down from Canada....  and then on the news you have seen California.. which looks like 1/8 of their coastal area is on fire up and down the whole coast...    While the East Coast is flooding...  weird weather...

Your word..

YOUR WORD….  

Is your word any good?  Is it worth anything?

Promises kept?

Part of your character is your word.  And on that is whether people trust you or not.

I really tried to impress on my children when they were young, how important their word is .. seems simple enough.. but it isn’t always simple..  It is like trust.. you take a while to build it up, but one bad move, it gets wiped away.

If you give your word.. people who know your word is worthy, will trust you.  They know what you say will be true.  If you give your word, that you will do something.. they know you will.. If you give your word that a product you are selling, is of good quality, they will know they can trust it.

Just like a promise.. I never promised my kids nor my friends something… I would tell them I will try my very best to do what ever it is.  Or a promise with a disclaimer.. I promise I will do this, UNLESS, something comes up that prevents me from doing it. Because in life… one can never depend on everything turning out like you think it will. Things just happens.

These days, it is so important because to a lot of people their word isn’t worth the time to talk.  To some, they want your word, but they don’t feel they have to keep theirs.

So how good is your word?

Computer frustration

My computer over the weekend froze up. Nothing I clicked on reacted. Zilch!... 

So called my daughter, because there is a guy who works with her, that I have trusted my computer with before..  He is great.  So off to the computer whiz on Monday and Tuesday am, I had it back.

What dawn on me as I was waiting for it.. was all the information I have on this machine, that I should be copying down.  It isn’t the pictures so much as it is the information..  So I better get myself some disc and down load them..   That is on my chore list for the week.

Funny how we of the older generations, who use to write things down. .and file them.. Now we put them in a folder on the computer. And now if the computer goes dead.. there goes all that information.  Not sure if I like that or not. 

We are all, passwords and numbers.  Without them.. you can’t access anything that is your’s personal.  You can call on the phone but without your password/number?  You are done in.   I have a book with 99% of mine.  Crazy… I use to be me.. just me. My brain kept that kind of information. .. No more.

So on my goal list of things to do this week, is to make a copy of the information and also download my latest pictures.

Who thinks up these things?

Who thinks up these things?

And actually does it, the first time?

As I sit on the thinking throne (toilet to others) and see my husband’s bottle of Listerine.. I think …who said to himself… “let me mix  this and that.. then swish it around in my mouth? “

And was it  a drink he was mixing and when sipped, he  spit it across the room and said GROSS…. SPIT SPIT..  with thoughts of UGH.. what a horrible taste.  A friend near him said… Wow, but Joe, your breath smells great?  And then some how figured it out that it also killed germs?

Who first volunteered to have a lens of some thickness, put in his eye after some one slit the eye to put it in?  Was convinced that it would help his vision?    Who said, sure Fred, slit my eye and put that lens in, if you really think it will help my vision. Let’s see how it works out…. Knowing full well that it could also blind him.  Can’t see an animal being the first one.. how do you tell it’s vision is better? 

Who are these fool hardy people who step up and say.. yeah, try it out on me..   Who ever you are …over the years… thank you from man kind…  Also thank you from mankind to the ones it failed and gave up their lives or part of their lives.  I know they use to use prisoners who so called volunteered… but there were those who believed in the scientist… and that took a lot.   

Childhood memories flood the mind

Childhood memories flood the mind

Our bedrooms were upstairs.. my brother and I.

Neither of us was a great, heck, we weren’t even good housekeepers.  And Mom would make inspections from time to time. Especially while we were at school

After several raids, she decided to teach us a lesson, so she picked up everything we left on the floor and put it in a box. 

Then charge us to get it back.

I remember one ugly looking pink corduroy skirt that stayed in that box for quite some time. Mom caught on quickly that we would buy back what we like and left what we didn’t like.

So each piece came available by when taken. Meaning the pink skirt was top of the list of what I could buy back. Until I bought back the skirt… I could NOT buy anything else in the box.

Cost ranged from 5 cents to a dime each.  When your allowance was only a quarter a week, your money could go fast. And when you are a steady customer of the neighborhood penny candy store.. your funds would fade away.

AND buying from the box came first on allowance day.