Category: Local

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Carving Our Pumpkin Today

Every year I buy a pumpkin to carve for Halloween from a local farmer who has a produce stand a few miles from my house. This year he had a small crop of pumpkins for sale, and they seemed to be a lot higher this year than last. I asked him about that and he said that the drought we had this summer really took a toll on his pumpkin crop. Evidently, the crop was only about one quarter of what it was last year, because growing big pumpkins requires a lot of water and we just did not have enough rain to make a good crop.

With that in mind, I had to decide if I wanted to be extravagant and buy a big one from the few, expensive big ones that he had, or settle for a smaller one that fit my budget. It also occurred to me that I could just not buy my pumpkin from him this year and go to WalMart to buy one for about ten bucks. But I really don’t want to give my money to WalMart when I have a good local option, and I believe in supporting the local businesses and farmers as much as possible. I decided to buy a smaller pumpkin and stick to my budget, and hope that next year’s crop is bigger and better for everyone.

I’m going to carve something like the design on this photo. I like the idea of a more intricate design than just a grinning face. I’m not sure how to make this work on a smaller pumpkin, but I guess I will figure it out tonight when I carve the pumpkin and put it out on my front porch.

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Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year, the kids are in school so I have a bit of free time during the day to keep caught up. The weather is wonderful with warm days and cool nights perfect for sleeping with the window open, and most of all it is the time of year that the leaves turn, the only downfall is that the leaves also fall into my yard and have to be raked up and hauled off. Other than that this is the best season by far. I can wait for the real cold weather I like it like it is now highs in the 60’s and the lows in the 40’s with fall getting the least amount of rain of all the seasons it is a perfect fit.

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Damage

Almost every house along our street has some damage from the wind and rain last night. It hit here about 5 pm and we did not get our power restored until about 9 last night. We have a couple of small limbs torn down that fell into our yard, but just a few houses down a whole tree came down barely missing the house. I am glad we did not have any drama like that and they are calling for more storms tonight, lets hope they are wrong. We have had a storm filled June and I for one will be very happy to get on further into July and see if the weather will calm down a bit with summer getting here.

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Changing internet services

For quite sometime I’ve not been happy with our internet server and I have been seriously thinking about changing internet service. I can’t see paying a whole lot of money only to be totally dissatisfied with a service that doesn’t help with questions, nor do I get the service I want for the cost I am paying right now. Sometimes the server crashes and is down for anywhere from an hour to three days. When I call to complain, I am promised that I will be refunded on the next bill but so far I’ve never gotten a refund of any kind.

When my work depends on the internet and ability to get and keep a connection, and I can’t…well, I seriously am thinking about switching to a more reputable dial-up internet. I have had a lot of folks tell me they like it, but on the flip side there are some folks who have told me it takes too long to get online and also that they have had problems with it. I think  in the long run I’d  have to try it out myself and see if I would be comfortable with it.

I have been checking out various companies who offer dial up and have found that I can save a great deal of money if I were to switch. I know from experience that I would actually have to have it set up and use it for a time to find out if indeed I will be happy with the results. Trial and error I suppose, which I’m more than willing to do since I am not happy with the service I have now.

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Earth day clean up

Today my grand daughter’s girl scout group and the parents and grand parents were invited to help clean up a short road near the school.  There were other groups from the school who also were assigned roads to clean up…at least the debris on the sides of the road.

I couldn’t make it, as I have just gotten out of the hospital and am not supposed to do much of anything for the next week. Since I had thought I could go along, I had packed snacks in little recyclable bags to give the girls and my daughter picked them up to take along. They all looked so cute and ready to do their part to keep the earth clean.  I’m so proud my grand daughter is involved in caring groups like this.

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Thunderstorms and Puppy Jake

Last weekend I found out our 7 mo. old puppy Jake, is terrified of fireworks. He doesn’t even have to see them, just hear them and he freaks out. I had wondered if he also would be afraid of thunderstorms when I was looking at the skies early this morning. My body felt a storm coming on and I think the dogs knew something was going to change weather wise just by the way they were acting.

Sure enough, it started getting darker and the skies looked a grey black. I saw the first bolt of lightening and counted to three… BOOM! My poor puppy went ballistic. I felt so sorry for him. He nearly flew under my desk, spinning my chair around and I almost tipped over. He was under there shaking so hard I think I heard his teeth even clicking. I went under the desk to him…which was hard to do even if I’m small. Jake is just a pup, but he is BIG and it was a tight fit under there for both of us. Still, I held him and kept telling him everything was okay. He didn’t stop shaking though.

So, now I know Jake is terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks. I’ll bet he’s afraid of gunfire also. Living around here, all of these sounds are like an every day experience. I’m going to have to find a way to teach him that these things aren’t going to hurt him. Bless his heart!

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Winter storms and power outages

With the winds blowing fiercely and ice, snow and rain that continued to become layered in a very dangerous way for travelers. With temperatures in freezing mode, it seemed like a ghost town in the small village as blizzard conditions and treacherous ice took away any forms of communication and transportation.

Inside the small house, a fire in the hearth burned making a soothing crackling sound while keeping the lower rooms warm with also the help of the wood burning stove. The lighting of oil lamps and candles, produced a serene, cozy glow that looked enchanting, making one want to bask in it for the night…

NOT!!!!! Okay truth be known, after the power went out and I saw and heard branches breaking and power lines going down, I did light the fires and also the oil lamps and then placed candles in where I knew they’d put out the best light yet be safe from tipping. It actually did look nice and rosy in the house. But I was also in near panic mode since my sons were in town practicing music for their show and we live off of a very dangerous road in the conditions as we had last night and today, so last night I was fretting too much to give it more than a few minutes of liking said warmth and rosy glow. I can’t wait until summer and we don’t have to go though this stuff again for a time.

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Sunny skies but looks are deceiving

The sun is finally shining and all the snow and ice has melted, but it indeed is chilly outside. Much more cold than it actually looks, but one can dream that flip flop weather will soon be here. (Phil didn’t see his shadow, right?)

With the high winds we’ve had over the last few weeks, there is going to be a lot of clean up in the yards to do. My neighbor’s tree is nearly dead and the branches keep falling and then are literally blown into my side gardens. The neighbor just moved in last fall, and I rarely see her, but she should learn neighborly consideration. Of course she is indeed young, but that doesn’t mean she can’t pick up a few branches.

My yards are going to need the usual clean up, but with new gardens that will be dug and put in, I’m sure I’m going to be busy playing more in the dirt and  have the guys here do the clean up work for me. They’ll earn money doing it, and every year they do a really great job, so that is covered. Just seeing this sun shine makes me antsy to get out and plant things, but in the mean time I’ll stick to starting my seeds

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Garage sales in Feburary

I think everyone around here is starting to get a case of severe cabin fever. I went into the city and on the bulletin board at my local market, there were a slew of signs advertising garage and porch sales posted for this coming weekend. I have to admit that I’m totally temped to go, but I don’t need to bring anymore treasures and stuff that strike my fancy into this house, without getting rid of some of what I already have.

I hate to part with things that I someday may want or use. Yes, I am a neat hoarder. My house isn’t cluttered, no is my attic but I’m sure it would be if I was a hoarder of a high scale. After watching the hording shows on television though…I know I won’t ever let my home become uncomfortable and inhabitable.

Garage sales however, are a guilty pleasure of mine. Some ladies I know are exceptional garage sale arrangers. It totally amazes me how these woman can hold a yard or garage sale and make it look and seem so simple. Me? I’d rather just gather my stuff together and donate it or give it away to folks that want it. Still…if the weather is semi reasonable, I still may hit a few of these sales, just to look. 😀

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Covering a hardwood floor

As much as I hate to do it, I’ve decided to look at carpet for the living room floor, which is tongue and groove hardwood.  My house is very old and despite of the insulation in the crawl space, the floor in that room tends to make walking on it even with socks on, a chilly experience. I find myself hopping from area rug to area rug which I’m getting a bit too old to do. Besides I look like an idiot doing  this. Slippers are not an option as I have to take them off to put boots on when I take the dogs out. It’s a hassle. Especially when the dogs want outside at that very minute they have to do their business.

I was thinking about a Berber type carpet for high traffic areas, but I would like to look at other options. I love the hardwood floors so perhaps a rug that covers a good deal of the floor would be the way to go for that room. I could always roll it up in the spring and then put down smaller area rugs that I have. It would definitely save money.

At any rate, I’m up for some kind of change and warmer feet in the winter. There is a carpet outlet in the city I live near, but also I’ve been looking on line for other ideas and floor covering sites that may have delivery since I do know how to lay carpet and flooring. (Thank you Dad, for this knowledge!)