Have Fun and Be Safe.

Everyone have a great time tonight whether it’s going out or staying home, and remember to be safe.

I’m planning a big night tonight. I’m going to try and stay awake up to 10:30 pm. I’ll do my usual on New Years Day and watch what happened the night before.

Happy New Years to all!!!!!

Twas The Day After Christmas.

We all had a wonderful day yesterday. Just about the whole family was there with the exception of a few. I think I last counted 29 family and extended family at the farmhouse. I love these holiday seasons when the whole family gets together. Of course the few hold outs we had, I’m sure will be hearing from Fmom today.

As I've said before, I've never been able to get good pictures of the inside, so here they are. You'll probably notice there are no curtain on any of the windows. Since no one lives there, my brothers and sister decided that it would be better to leave the house open to view. BTW I'm being slackerly, so just so I don't have to type "Click to enlarge" under each picture, well you know what to do.

The Parlour and the corner where the tree is always put.
This is pre-decoration.

Center parlour looking out to the front porch.

Left parlour looking into the entrance hall.

Breakfast room looking out to back porch and smokehouse.

Grandparents bedroom fireplace
and travel chest of the great uncle I was named after.

Corner of grandparents bedroom.

Dining room looking out on the deck and kitchen.

Hallway leading out to deck.
Dining room on the right and bathroom on left.

Hallway leading to breakfast room.
Hallway leading to deck on left and entrance hall of right.
You might notice this picture kind of leans.
The house needs some serious leveling,
but I think I leaned a little on this one.

Back bedroom looking out onto deck.
Hallways above leads out to the right,
and this picture was taken in the parlour doorway.

Back of house with deck.

One of the flowers still blooming.

Well that's what I have. One day I'll break out the video camera and try to do a walk through tour. That may come out better.

Hope everyone's holiday has been going great!

Merry Christmas To All.

We’ve had family coming in at all hours and more coming in on Christmas Day. I hope I ran my last errand for the day, but I’m having serious doubts on that. Tomorrow we’re all supposed to meet out at the family farm and this year we’re not having the traditional Christmas meal. My brother’s and sister decided we’d have a Cajun Christmas meal. One brother is bringing BBQ and red beans and rice. My sister told me yesterday that she wanted me to make up a big pot of the stew I make, so I’ll be cooking tomorrow morning. I’m not sure what the rest of the family is bringing.

My s-I-l did her usual great job of decorating this house, but I’m not even sure if there are any decorations out at the farmhouse this year. It will be a surprise to see if there are or aren’t. And since you asked, yes there are still leaves all over the yard.

I’m hoping everyone’s holiday is great, and you all get what you wanted, whether it’s family all around or peace and quiet.

Have a happy and safe holiday.

The Ball Drops Again.

I went to a doctor’s appointment for my back yesterday. It has been giving me a lot of problems for about the last six months. This is the first appointment I’ve had with this doctor and I really like him. I thought he was through, and the big point is, he listened. Plus he talked. We got to talking after the examination about other things. I had told him about my time in Europe (as if I don’t tell any and everybody that will listen), and he told me that some years back he had been on an archaeological dig in Jordan for about two months. Then he got to talking about Italy and other places he had been.

Now I already think he’s a good doctor because of the examination and his listening. But I like him because instead of being an automation trying to get people in and out as fast as possible, he took the time to tell me a little about himself and let me get to know him. I felt much more relaxed and comfortable talking to him.

When I fractured a vertebrae last year, the doctor I saw told me my bone scan showed my bone density to be that of a 90 y.o. man. The doctor yesterday kept stressing that I have a severe case of osteoporosis, and asked if the other doctor had offered any explanation of why this was so. I told him no they didn’t, but said if I had anymore problems to call them. Well yesterday’s doctor told me it looks like a very bad pinched nerve, but he was concerned because of the vertebra below the one that was fractured. He set up some test, and a day when I’ll have to come in for an epidural steroid injection. Everything is going fine, oh yeah……….........…But noooooooo!

When I got home, the doctor’s office called me about a referral. They said they didn’t have one from my GP. I told them the GP had to have set up the appointment and I asked specifically, when checking in, if my insurance had approved it. I was told by the check in person, that yes my insurance had OKed it. The person that called me said no they hadn’t and that the new doctor didn’t even have the referral. So I call my GP’s office and I find out that the nurse had set up yesterday’s appointment, but had not routed it through my insurance. I asked my GP’s office to please set up the referral and to get my insurance’s approval. If they don’t approve, then the test and other stuff will have to be put on hold, and I’ll have to work out some plan with yesterday’s doctor.

Why is it that when you come away from something feeling good, especially something as stressful as seeing a new doctor, there is always something jamming up the cogs? It’s as if the FSM was saying, “Ah, he’s starting to feel good about something - now’s the time to lower the boom.” What got me is I even double checked to make sure it was approved, and I was given the thumbs up all the way.

Gadgets.

I like gadgets. I love to get a new toy and figure out how it works. I think that’s one reason I like computers. Back during the old days of DOS, I would sit for hours knowing there was a way to do something, but I just hadn’t figured it out yet. I’m one of the few people I know that read all the manuals back then.

But I’ve found I get a little impatient when I’m figuring out things for other people. My sister and bil who have had a computer for about 5 years, know hardly anything about it. When it gets to the point where it takes about half an hour to boot up, they’ll call me and expect it to be fixed in about five minutes. At my brother’s house during T’giving, I spent a good bit of time trying to get a mal-ware program off his computer. I couldn’t do it and told him to get professional help.

Now Fmom’s cell phone finally died and I got her another one yesterday. She wanted to use it right off, but it had to be charged. Since it’s different from the one she had, I have to read the manual and figure out how it works. Now this isn’t a big thing, but I’m not looking forward to it. I had all the families cell numbers programmed into the old one, now I have to find all of those again and put them in the new one. It’s a basic model, but comes with all these things that it will do. Fmom will only use the receive call and off button.

I guess I get impatient when I’m learning gadgets that I don’t use. If it’s a gadget of mine, then I know I’ll have plenty of time to figure it out. When it’s someone else’s gadget then I’m always hearing, “Is it ready yet. No it’s not. Is it ready yet……..”

This one is for Olivia.

Yesterday while waiting in the doctor’s office with Fmom, I was thumbing through a Southern Living magazine. They usually have a lot of recipes in them, and I ran across one for triple cheese pimento cheese. I pointed it out to Fmom and told her I would find it on the net and send it to Olivia. She asked me if Olivia was interested in pimento cheese recipes, and I told her that they were almost Olivia’s whole world. I then told her the truth that Olivia had never heard of pimento cheese until we were talking in the café one day. Fmom got this look of horror on her face and asked me in a small voice, “She had never heard of pimento cheese.” I told her yes and that it was joke between us about pimento cheese and poutine. Then Fmom asked what poutine was and I explained it to her. The first look of horror was replaced by a second look of horror when she realized what poutine was.

I have to admit I was proud of Fmom though. She didn’t blurt out something like, “How can they eat something like that.” She just said, “I think I would pass on that.” However, the look on her face told me everything I needed to know on how she would approach poutine. I’m sure it was the same look on Olivia’s face when I’ve told her about some of the Southern delicacies down here.

BTW I wasn’t able to find that triple cheese pimento cheese recipe on the net. Sorry Olivia. :)

Tagged.

Manny tagged me yesterday for seven things about myself. I’m supposed to tag seven others, but honestly the people I would have tagged have already been tagged. So here’s my seven things.

1. I constantly loose my glasses. Even though I have bifocals, I take them off to see things close up and forget where I put them.

2. I know how I’m going to feel the rest of the day by how well I towel my head off after a shower. Weird I know, but when I do a very through job of drying my hair I know I’ll have plenty of energy for the rest of the day. When I just hit at it, not so much energy day.

3. When I take George out to the back yard to do his bidness, when I know he’s done, I’ll call him gently to come on back to the house. He’ll usually ignore me until he’s ready to come back. However, after I gently call him back repeatedly, I’m usually saying under my breath, you little bastard get your butt over here. Yes, I’m not proud of that.

4. I’m totally non-combatant. I’ll go out of my way or just not say anything before I would argue or hurt someone’s feelings.

5. I’m a worrier. I constantly worry about my family and friends. So if I haven’t heard from any of you in awhile, expect an email from me.

6. Lotteries are stupid, but everyday I expect to see the PCH van outside my front door. If wishes were yada yada yada.

7. I’m thankful for the day I met all of you. Sometimes when I get cynical about human nature all of you bring me out of the pit.

Well I’m off to take Fmom to an appointment. Hope everyone has a good day.

Bright Light.

Last night while Fmom was watching the local news, the weatherman kept saying something about people calling in asking about a very bright light they saw in the sky. Now Fmom being the curious person she is had me go out and look. I looked and looked and looked and didn’t see it. I ended up going out three times, but nothing.

Now of course you know the imagination gets to going when something like this happens. I kept thinking of two things. Is it a UFO and are aliens going to take me away and show me the wonders of the universe? Is it a comet coming to crash into the world and somehow the world leaders forgot to tell us?

Now the comet one doesn’t appeal to me too much. Death, destruction and all of that never sounded like too much fun. But the alien one didn’t sound too bad. I obviously don’t want those aliens that do the probing. Plus any alien worth their, uhmm, antimatter would be using a handy dandy scanner. No need to take out organs just to replace them. Nope I want the aliens that would say, “FM because of your superior intellect and understanding of the universe, we’ve decided to pick you.” Of course I’d turn around to see if there was another FM there, and then I’d say, “Sure, OK.” Pretty profound huh.

So I came back into the house and told Fmom there was nothing out there. As I was going to sleep I thought imagination can be wonderful, but sometimes, it really lets you down. Oh BTW, I also thought I’d beam all of you up for a fast ride around the planet.

Christmas Traditions.

I was going to write something different for this Christmas, but you know me, I'm lazy, so here's from last year. I hope you enjoy it as much as last year, and this year I'll be taking pictures of the farmhouse decorated for Christmas. I would say please forgive me for being so lazy, but Hah! you all know me. :)

When I was a kid, we would always come home to my Grandparent’s house for Christmas. My Grandparent’s house had been built in the 1850’s, and we were the newest generation coming together to celebrate our family and the holiday. All of my Aunts and Uncles and Cousins would converge to this one place so that three generations could spend the holiday together. We would usually be the last to arrive either on Christmas Eve or the day before. Back then I can remember my Grandmother, Mother and Aunts staying in the kitchen cooking and catching up. My Grandfather would always wait until all of us were there and then we would go out into the woods and pick the perfect Christmas Tree. The tree was always put in the parlor, in a corner with two windows. It would sit there all day without an ornament or tinsel until just the right moment. After one of my Grandmothers big wonderful suppers and when the kitchen was clean, my Grandmother would pull out all of the cherished decorations. Some ornaments were made in the late 1800’s and had been my great Grandparents. Once my Grandmother had all the boxes she had packed so carefully the year before opened, we children were allowed to start decorating the tree. The grown ups would sit and watch and direct our decorating. As a child this was the most magical part of Christmas for me. The smell of the tree, the familiar decorations, the tinsel and lights. The tree was never finished until Grandma gave her approval. Grandma always approved our childish endeavors to decorate and I can remember the tree always looked different in the morning. I always thought Santa came behind us to make it look better.

Well being a child we had to go to bed right after the tree was decorated. Being told Santa wouldn’t come to the house unless we were asleep was enough for us, but once my cousins and I bundled into the big bed all we could do is talk and wonder if we would get what we wish for. Grandma would come in a couple of times and do the Santa/sleep thing, but she would finally hit us with Mr. Wilson. He’s sort of the resident ghost of the house. I think I wrote about him some time back. Anyway that was enough for us. As I grew up and joined the ranks, I found out the adults would stay up late in the night wrapping presents and putting together toys.

Next morning guess who was up first? Yep we kids would be dragging all the grown ups out of bed. The door to the parlor was closed and we knew we couldn’t go in until everybody was up. Once everyone was up my oldest Aunt would always be the first to go in with all of us behind her. She was the presenter of the family. The adults would sit in chairs and the couches and we child would be on the floor around the tree. My Aunt would pick up one present at a time and call out whose it was. The anticipation sometimes was maddening, but it was so wonderful when your name was called. When it was something like a bicycle it was always saved until last and up until that time you thought Santa had forgotten about it. When just at the last it would be rolled in. When all the presents were opened my Grandmother, Mother and Aunts would start a big breakfast for all. We kids had no interest in eating at all, but the adults would get us away from whichever toy we were playing with and to the table. My Grandmother was such a wonderful cook that I think back and look at all the great meals I just wolfed down, but at that time it was THE TOYS!!!!

Every family creates their own traditions and every grown up remember those wonderful times of being young and the wonder and surprise. We still celebrate holidays at the old farmhouse, although no one lives there anymore. My Grandparents traditions run firmly in us and now my sister is the presenter of the family. We are now the adults staying up late into the night and the next morning sitting in the chairs and couches. I watch the newest generation and see the wonder and surprise in their young faces, and I remember.

This old house has seen my family through many good and bad times. I wished I knew more about the day to day lives of my ancestors, but I don’t. I do know that since the beginning, that one room, the parlor has celebrated Christmas and family for about 153 years. I hope that the future generations of our family will come there to celebrate and enjoy each other. It makes me feel good to know that past, present and future generations have and will enjoy Christmas in that house.

Trend Setter.

I knew I was a trend setter. Well I guess my nephew I talked about a couple of days ago is. Yesterday afternoon when I ran an errand, I saw my neighbors across the street had some people power washing their house. They couldn’t stand it and I guess they had to do the old saying:

Keeping up with the FMs. Hah!

My Old House.

I’ve told the story of the dilapidated trailer I rented for a number of years after my divorce, but this is of the house of my dreams as Nancy was talking about the other day. It wasn’t actually the house of my dreams, but at that time it was as close as it came.

It had five rooms and a carport. There was a wash/dryer/work room off the carport. The living room, kitchen/dining room and master bedroom were large. A small guest bedroom, so as not to have people wanting to stay too long. There was a normal sized bathroom with linen closet. The house was on a corner and it had a medium back yard with two apple trees and an aluminum storage building.

I really did love that house. It was the perfect size for George, Henry and me. Small enough to keep clean and large enough not to feel cramped. It had a large plate glass window in the living room and I placed my recliner by it. I had vertical window blinds on the window, so I could look out and see everything, but people had a hard time looking in. There were windows everywhere, so I had more than enough light. The town was very small. Downtown was a block away and I could see all that was going on there from my recliner.

It’s hard to explain how the house was, because it had just about everything I wanted. It wasn’t luxury by any mean, but it was very comfortable and easy to take care of. I really do miss sitting in my recliner with George and Henry watching TV and looking out the plate glass window.

I’ll admit, I enjoyed living by myself. It seems to me that a lot of people can’t handle this. They have to have someone there. I’ve known people that rushed out and gotten remarried after death of a loved one or divorce just because they couldn’t take living alone. I look back and think how nice it was to just have myself to clean up after. To know that when I placed something somewhere, it would be there later. There are definite advantages to having people around, but there are also advantages to solitude.

Carport Cleaning.

To have the energy of the kids now of days. One of my nephews was here yesterday and Fmom was saying she going to get someone to come and clean out the carport. It’s packed with all sorts of stuff and I’ve been meaning to clean the spider webs and leaves out. Now my nephew might not know it, but I think this is a lie. She hasn’t mentioned a thing to me about it. So my nephew told her not to even think about something like that. He just happened to have his pressure washer in back of his truck along with his leaf blower. He moves everything out of the carport, which is a lot of stuff, and blows the leaves out and then pressure washes it. He’s out there for over an hour and I’m thinking he’s really doing a job on the carport. I go out and see he’s done the entire house. Now before you get to wondering, of course I was out there with him for awhile, but I was more in a supervisory role than the physical labor part. All that energy has to have some direction, and I was glad to help.

I got to really feeling lazy when I heard the lawnmower. He decided since he did the house the lawn should be done too. I felt I should have been out there helping him, but he appeared to be having so much fun, I didn’t want to bother him.

Now if I can get my nieces to come over and clean the whole inside of the house before Christmas, I think everything will be set.

A New Cat In Town.

There’s a new cat in town. It has decided to place itself outside of my window and meow. With Tom being the outside cat and Cat being the inside cat, I decided I can’t adopt anymore. I’ve seen it over at a neighbor’s house a good bit and I’m not sure if it’s theirs, but I haven’t noticed it before. Right now someone’s dog is howling and the cat is meowing loud.

I never have been a cat person although Cat and Tom are different to me. The other day I went out while the new cat was meowing and instead of running away it stood there and let it pet it. I already have Tom’s food outside and I don’t know if the new cat is eating that. I do know we have a neighborhood possum that drops by from time to time.

I’ll keep the cat food outside for Tom and if the new cat wants to eat it I guess it’s OK. The last time a new cat dropped by to sample Tom’s food, I saw Tom chasing it across the yard and down the road. I wonder if he’ll get along with this one? I do know I don’t want anymore catfights. The last one had me carrying Cat to the vet for an infected tail she got from a bite.

So I’ll sit back and listen to the meowing and hope that the new cat is the neighbor’s cat. If not, it does have food outside and the carport is warmer than the open. For some reason I beginning to feel like I’m uncaring, but I’m really not. I just can’t see taking on another cat with vet bills and all, plus George is starting to feel outnumbered.