It's still morning but not for long. It's a beautiful day although it's only 32*. The sun is a welcome sight. In just a little while I'll bundle up and go do my chores. I walked a mile and a quarter this morning. Yesterday, a mile and a half. I'm determined to walk OVER a mile every time I walk. 

  The cats are on a terror. Running and playing. Poor dogs just try to stay out of the way. 

  Spring cleaning is on my mind. I'm still thinning this place out. Still have throw away Thursday. One day I may be finished. lol I think I have one room done and dang it if I don't think of something else I could live without. I think it would be easier if I could just throw it out but some things need to go to certain people so that kinda slows things down. 

  I also need to get started on Walker's quilt. His birthday is in April! 

  I've almost got this year's calendar done too. Got 7 months done yesterday. A few more and I'll be done with that little project. It's no big deal now that I only make my own instead of 15 of them for family. 

  Genealogy has slowed to a crawl. It happens in spurts. I spend a few days doing nothing but research and then quit for a week or two. Of course that will never be done. 

  Guess I'll post now. It's almost our bedtime and I'm just now getting back here. Had a diamond day! Later

Last day of 2012

  Well, I figured I'd better at least post on the last day of the year. I did better this year than last on the number of posts I think. I'm not going to bother deleting this year. At least not any time soon.
  Between laundry, cooking tater soup and the phone I'm not sure I can get this posted before the new year. lol
  T wasn't feeling so good today so he's resting. Not being able to edit photos on this laptop makes it a pain to post pictures. I hate to have to download on the pc, edit and then download or send them to this one. How silly.
  The past few weeks I've been down. Between the season and the weather I guess. I so wish it was already spring time!
  We got the cats all fixed! Yay! No babies now. You couldn't even tell they had been operated on. That same evening they were running and playing like crazy. Hoping to get the dogs taken care of this year. It's just healthier for them. Well, maybe not Misty as she's too old I think for surgery unless it's mandatory. You know what I mean?
  Jeanne is still having trouble with her feet. I know sometimes it takes months but I hate seeing her in such pain.
  My sister and I went to see our step-mom at the home and went grocery shopping after. Had a quick visit and spent the rest of the day shopping. My dogs were barking when we got home. My feet, not my real dogs.lol I had already walked a mile on the treadmill before she picked me up. Two stores later and then I had to feed the horses again after dark. Dang what a long day but had fun.
  Our "storm" turned into a nice cold rain but it will freeze tonight and make it slick by morning. Although it's already dark and the temp is still at 33*. I wish the horses would stay in the barn but they prefer the woods.
  Well, here it is another day has passed. It is now Jan 1 ! A brand new year, a fresh start for us all. My friend Jan called this evening. Sounded sad but hopeful. Life wears you down after a while , you know what I mean? It was nice to hear from her. We don't talk much these days. Her phone is limited on minutes.
  We had a nice quiet day. A perfect way to start the year. We don't do the "new year's dinner" superstition thing. We had spaghetti for dinner. This morning we had creamed eggs on biscuits. Good stuff. Not real healthy but good anyway.
  Enough rambling. Maybe this year I'll have more to say.

Monday, Monday

    Here I am again. Mornin'! With the storms up north somewhere I'm wondering if my brother is doing okay. Keeping cozy in his truck I hope. He was getting it fixed last time I talked to him. It'd be nice if he was able to spend the winter in Arizona liked he talked about. Or, maybe he could come here for the winter. It's supposed to be colder and wetter than normal - should make him feel right at home. lol

  From the way back album ....I love this picture for several reasons. Came home from work to find my son had built himself a jump with 2 buckets and a board. Deleted the rest of the comments about this photo and on to more pleasant things.

 Just the year before. He broke Pegasus to ride . What fun he had. 

 Pegasus, a couple of days old and his momma, Sugar White. 

 A picture that my brother sent to me a few years ago. Taken somewhere in Utah or Nevada - some place out that way. It's actually a cell tower but the locals didn't want some ugly thing so they made the cell phone folks make it look like a tree. How funny and how interesting. They should all look like this! 

  I can not think of one single thing that might be interesting. You all have a diamond day! I'm going to, no matter what!  

 

Saturday .......

   Hard to believe it's just a few weeks away from another new year. As they say, the older you get the faster the time flies by. If the political idiots of the world play there cards right they might just be able to destroy the world this month. Chemical weapons! It's all insane. Never mind.....not worth the time spent to think about it.
  T is working OT today. Was off yesterday. We messed with the horses some and just messed around the house. He went to the feed store so I wouldn't have to. I did my treadmill and just finished it for today. 2.1 miles in one hour.... I'm now resting my bones...lol

 5# apples

 finished ! 

 pumpkin finished!

  I get no respect! That's her tongue sticking out! 

  

    It's going to be a diamond day. Gonna take a nap now before it gets too late.   Oh, the pictures are my pies from Thanksgiving day.

Wednesday

  I think it's finally going to turn fall/winter. It's 38* right now and of course still dark outside. T is back to work this a.m.. the last couple of days were really nice. We had some ran night before last. I've been anxious to see if the roofing stuff worked. I know of one place that it did not. Insert very sad face here. Our bedroom still has a leak. Granted it did rain hard when the storm came through but it was supposed to work! Dang it! We got about 2" of rain though. Always need it for the grass. Maybe another layer like T thought in the first place but dang that stuff was $600.
  I had another birthday since I posted. Getting old ....
  Better get on the treadmill - will be daylight soon.
  Had a whole page written but lost it when I was going to add a picture. Oh well

It's all good.

Beautiful Thursday!

  It was so nice outside today. Shoot, has been nice for quite a spell. T has been off the last two days. We've spent some time taking the Escort back to the shop, broke down in the Jag at the auto parts store. T walked over to the shop and took back the Escort, we went home and got the pickup, took the Escort back to the shop and dropped it off. Drove home and T had already called for a wrecker. Dang it ! Raining and pouring......Oh well, hahaha you can't take it with you. Just thought I might buy Christmas presents this year but guess it's not in the cards... that's really okay, no one would know how to act if I gave presents.
  Went to Lee and Brenda's for lunch with Mike and Linda on Tuesday. Hope I didn't already write about it. We had quesadillas. Turkey I think. Sure were good. Had just the right amount of kick to them. A little pico de gallo (sp?) and sour cream on the side. Yummy! My spell check didn't know how to spell it . I was correct. lol
 We had a short visit and then Mike and Linda brought me back home and dropped me off. At the north end of S ,where the eagles always fly, eagles were sitting in the trees just hanging out. About 8-10 of them. How neat that was! I love seeing them no matter what they are doing. Not everyone gets to see them and not everyone that sees them actually appreciates it. Nice day all in all.
  I'm so loving this weather. Gonna be nice for days. They have said on the news that our winter is predicted to be colder and wetter during Dec Jan and Feb - glad it may wait another week or two.
  Not much else going on around here. It's been a diamond day and will be a nice evening. A little tv and/or working on family trees.
  Have a diamond day!

Last day of vacation....

...was Sunday. Tim offered to go for a drive. I took him up on that offer and we decided to make a round trip to Eureka and back. Hadn't done that all year. We used to do it quite often on the bike. Sunday we took the car. Was nice and sunny and about 55*! Pretty nice for mid fall. We dropped a couple of things off at Lee's and headed to Eureka. I was surprised that some of the shops were open. Back in the day you could walk the streets alone and window shop on a Sunday. Guess they had their Black Friday crap too. We kept going instead of stopping. didn't even bother going to the Crescent this time. That place has changed too from what I understand. It was still a wonderful drive . Our next stop was Ann's for a short visit. They were both sick with a virus that drs say can spread like wildfire! Didn't know that at that time. I sure hope we didn't catch it. We served ourselves some drinks so chances are pretty good that we didn't. Although it seems that Tim has caught a cold. Yuck. Poor guy is sneezing a lot.
  Back in the car to continue the short road trip. Only about 100 miles. We skipped Roaring River and stopped by my sister's place for a short visit. Hadn't been there in a month or so. The place is looking good. She was able to have mom Pat for Turkey day. She did well. No trouble taking her back to the home. I'm sure was a very long day for her. For sis too. I did dog nails while I was there. They are such good dogs to work with. All of them.
  Made it home after a stop at Pizza Hut. A salad and personal pan for me and rotini for him. Good stuff. T fed the horses and closed up the chickens etc. I still felt pretty good for a change. Yay for me. Chronic pain for 30 years is still hard to deal with sometimes.
  Have worked a little on my family story. Only 20 some pages so far.

  Here's one of the last photos of James O. 

I'm guessing since the other picture of him was around 1906 and was taken before he went to Oklahoma this was taken between 1906 and 1920. Aunt Jo always said that James O took off to Oklahoma to be with "that woman". Or "a woman" . The story on that end says he was living with his son Charles. How many other stories were left out or misunderstood? The more you hear, the stranger the family is. I guess not really strange. Just more of the same - dysfunctional all through the years . Just not "talking about it" like so many other families. lol 

 Funny, these guys look like brothers or even the same person but this James Samuel Rethford. Our other elusive ancestor. On momma's side. The one that also "ran off" with another woman. He probably did though. lol He deserted Ira's dad as a young boy and I believe started another family over in Wright county. Which is where they started out in Mo....

  Maybe it was just the times... or maybe they shared things like PTSD. They were both in their mid twenties when the war started.  James Samuel ran off just after 1860 while James O was in the 46th Mo Calvary during the war. In his case it was brothers against brother and father! Maybe as he got older he just wanted to be alone. We'll never know. 

  

  See how easily I get distracted? lol 

 It's that time of year! I'll be warm if it's the last thing I do hahahaha.... That wind is sooo cold. 

 Jeanne is still having trouble. Still giving her antibiotics and pain killer. I feel so sorry for her. She is still showing some improvement. Wish it was more. 

All the rest are fat and sassy. We still have hay and enough to last til the end of Jan so will have to get more some time between now and then....not too bad all things considered. 

  I put up a couple of quarts of turkey for later. Sandwiches and turkey and noodles. That's what I made for dinner. A medium pot of turkey and noodles. Was real good. Also baked two loaves of white bread yesterday. Today I'll bake a loaf of rye for Tim. 

 White bread from last year

Rye from last year. 

  Haven't taken pictures of yesterday's bread haha. I could make banana bread but think I will opt for banana pudding instead.  A small one for two. Tim is putting on weight since he quit smoking. I haven't shrunk his pants no matter what he says. haha

  Better get to the laundry...

  Gonna be a diamond day! Hope yours is too!