Blah, Blah,Blah

 

  Since not much is going on here, I am living vicariously through other’s blogs who ARE doing something…The weather has been great here and we finally got all our flower and vegetables planted…I have all the bird feeders out and have had some really neat birds  here…but they never stay long.

This male Rose Breasted Grossbeak and his bride were here for a couple days for meals…then they disappeared.  I believe they ended up in Bayfield at Kelly and Al's house…

 

 

This baby Robin could barely fly, and he acted like he was lost….Soon after I took this photo his Mom showed up and pretty much told me to “stay away from my kid!” So apparently, I must look like a bird molester…Sheesh!…I was actually very surprised to see a baby Robin this big out and about!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every time I go outside to fill our bird feeders, I feel like someone is watching me..

You have no doubt heard that “the walls have ears”..Well, the trees have EYES!!! This Maple tree is freaking me out with the hairy eyeball watching my every move!..This “eye” is meerly a place where Dennis trimmed one of the tree’s limbs…I promise that we have not enhanced this in any way, shape or form!!! Isn’t is just TOOOOO neat???? (I do find myself watching over my shoulder every time I walk under this tree, and I’m pretty sure this is who is reporting my “evening wear” to the fashion police…creepy city!)

Remember that MacGyver had taken down our flagpole for a much needed paint job….Well, he got it all finished and our son, Kelly, came by to help him put it back up…

I offered up  my own rendition of Kate Smith singing a bar or two of“God Bless America” ….Dennis didn’t seem to impressed.

Our next project will be to replace the screens on our front porch and then paint it…Not exactly my idea of fun, but it needs to be done…I really would prefer to just move into the Hiker and ease on down the road.  After getting our Real Estate Taxes, that SHOULD be on our “to do” list…Up $400 last year…Up another $400 this year …AND.. our assessment of our house went down $14,000!! Just how does that happen???…..As Desi Arnaz would say, “SOMEONE HAS SOME ‘SPLAININ’ TO DO!!” ( If you don’t know who Desi is…I really feel you missed an iconic TV show of the past)

I want to welcome a couple new followers to the “boring as watching paint dry” Cave Dwellings…Tammy and Art Fletcher are new to full timing an work camping at Hardin Ridge in Indiana…Janet and Kevin Shaw are hoping to be debt free and retire to full time RVing in 2014 or 15…DREAM BIG, I always say!! And also a “Wecome aboard” to Jimmy Sikes..Jimmy doesn’t’ appear to have a blog, but he jumped in the back seat of the GMC anyway!! Now, if we can only GO somewhere to make this blog more interesting!!

“The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ~Ronald Reagan

Busy few days….

  It seems that the minute the weather warms up, the sun shines and the birdies sing…I get waaaay more energy!! It seems that MacGyver is much the same as I…

 

Friday we picked up Terrie and Tim’s dog, Bogie….and we were “driving Miss Bogie” to our house for the weekend.  We use to have a Black Labrador Retriever named Gypsy..We got her (the kids got her) for Christmas in 1981.  She was a great dog and lived to be 12 years old.  She gave us 2 litters of puppies.  One was a litter of 8 and the next was a litter of 9.  Her name was Hi-Tide’s Gypsy Queen (got her from Hi-Tides Kennel) and she came with registered papers..on the floor AND in the drawer..pure bred Lab, yes she was!  Gypsy’s mother was a Yellow Lab and her father was a Chocolate.  When we had her bred, she was bred to a Chocolate pure bred Lab named Gentle Ben.  Gypsy’s first litter of pups were chocolate and black.  Her second litter were chocolate, black and…yellow…all colors of the breed!!!

Bogie, (in above left photo…wearing her pink sports bra) is a rescue dog and is deaf…I hate it when she makes a jail break into the backyard..You cannot call a deaf dog…Nope..just doesn’t work ..Ya gotta get out the lunchmeat and bribe her back with her sense of smell…Works every time!!

We have a few rules at our house when it comes to dogs, always have….No dogs allowed on the bed…and no dogs allowed on the furniture….

 

“Yeah, I’m on the couch…..I was tired….What’s your problem, Grama???”  Spoil the grandkids and spoil the granddog, right?

The reason we were babysitting Bogie was that our 2 daughters and their hubbys were running in the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon …13 miles…Ter, Tim and kids all went to Zionsville and stayed with Chris and John to run the mini…

The guy on the left is one of Tim’s cop friends…then Ter, Tim, Chris and John..

Yep, those would be the Cave sisters….Wonder where they get that silly side????

As I said, Dennis and I got a burst of energy this week…Lord knows, our house and yard could use some bursting lately….

Our flagpole was due for a much needed paint job…This included wire brushing, priming and painting..The hardest part is getting the darn thing DOWN!!This is a 2 strong men job, and our neighbor helped Den take it down and carry it out by the garage..I’m happy to report that it is now back up, thanks to our son, Kelly, for helping stick it back in place…Keep in mind, MacGyver MADE this flagpole..and it is a real heavy pipe!!

And then there was changing the oil in the GMC…and turning our ‘ol blue rust bucket truck into a “tailgate” potting bench…Den helped me plant lots of flower pots from that tailgate!…And what was I doing????

 

 

WHY, ….SUPERVISING, OF COURSE!! (YES, I KNOW…ANOTHER STUNNINGLY FASHIONABLE ENSEMBLE.)

  This Sunday is Mother’s Day and I want to wish all of you ladies a wonderful day…My plans include Memphis style BBQ’d ribs , prepared and cooked by Chef Dennis (who insists that I am NOT HIS mother)……but tolerates me by agreeing to be my personal “pitmaster” for my special day…

 

 

 

 

Above left, Den’s Mother and Father, Cam and Katherine Cave..both gone now…  Above right, is my Mother and Father, Don and Cora “Corky “Ross…also both gone long ago.  To all of you who still have your parents, you are very blessed…Enjoy them..including all of their funny little idiosyncrasies…Embrace their uniqueness, crazy logic and little quirks…Someday you can reflect back and smile, as Dennis and I do now…Love you and miss you , Mom and Dad…All four of you were very special and “one of a kind” people, for sure…

…I gotta end this on a laugh…Here is a quote from one of my favorite “mothers”….

“My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.”
― Erma Bombeck

Cinco de Mayo…MUCH more than a reason to drink Margaritas!!

  Perhaps many of you know the reason we celebrate May 5th every year…I had no idea what the big deal was until we visited Goliad, Texas…All I knew was that it was a reason to eat great Mexican food, listen to Mariachi music and drink Margaritas!!!! The town of Goliad has soooo many historic places to visit, and hundreds of ghosts of the past to re-visit…one being General Ignacio Zaragoza.

  In 1829, Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza was born outside the walls of the Presidio La Bahia, in what is now Goliad TX.  Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza would eventually become a general in the Mexican army.  He was born in a small house much like this one…

 

I took this photo when we were there in March of 2009.  We stayed at the Goliad State Park, and the Presidio is a short walk from there…

“During the years of the War of the Reform (1857-60), the struggle between conservative powers and liberal forces led by Benito Juárez, Zaragoza took part in a number of military engagements. During Comonfort's rebellion in 1857 he led forces in defense of the reformist principles of the constitution. He fought in the battle of Guadalajara, and in 1860 he participated in the battle of Calpulalpan, which ended the war.”

“Zaragoza served as Secretary of War from April through October 1861 in the cabinet of President Benito Juárez.
When the French forces of Napoleon III invaded Mexico, Zaragoza fought them, first engaging the French at Acultzingo on April 28, 1862, where he was forced to withdraw. Zaragoza understood the favorable defensive position outside of the city of Puebla, where with a smaller and more poorly equipped force he beat back repeated French assaults on May 5th.”
“As the French retreated from their final assault, Zaragoza had his cavalry attack them from the right and left while troops concealed along the road pivoted out to flank them badly. By 3 p.m. the daily rains had started, making a slippery quagmire of the battlefield. Lorencez withdrew to distant positions, counting 462 of his men killed against only 83 of the Mexicans. He waited a couple of days for Zaragoza to attack again, but Zaragoza held his ground. Lorencez then completely withdrew to Orizaba.”

“His famous quotation, Las armas nacionales se han cubierto de gloria ("The national arms have been covered with glory"), is used to remember the battle, and comes from the single-line letter he wrote to his superior, President Juárez, informing him of the victory. It is included, along with Zaragoza's likeness, on the current Mexican 500-peso banknote.  Ignacio Zaragoza was known for visiting his sick and injured soldiers, and shortly after his famous victory he contracted typhus, of which he died at the age of 33.”

“A state funeral was held in Mexico City with interment at the Panteón de San Fernando. On September 11, 1862, President Juárez issued a decree changing the name of the city of Puebla de los Angeles to Puebla de Zaragoza and making Cinco de Mayo a national holiday.
Zaragoza became one of the great national heroes of Mexico. Songs have been written in his honor, and schools, plazas, and streets have been named either Zaragoza or Cinco de Mayo. Each year on May 5, Zaragoza societies meet throughout Mexico and in a number of Texas towns, including La Bahia and Goliad. In the 1960s General Zaragoza State Historic Site was established near Goliad to commemorate Zaragoza's birthplace. In 1980 dignitaries from the United States, Texas, and Mexico participated in the dedication of a ten-foot bronze statue honoring Zaragoza, commissioned by Alfredo Toxqui Fernández de Lara, governor of Puebla, as a gift to the people of Goliad and Texas.”

This plaque is in the plaza next to Presidio La Bahia…Dennis and I have visited this on more than one occasion…

The Zaragoza Plaza is right next to the presidio (make sure you tour that presidio too!)  If you ever get a chance, visit Goliad…If you RV, stay at the state park…and…you need at least one week or more to visit all of the historical places in and around Goliad…I now have a very different reason to raise my Margarita glass on May 5th….I toast to a very brave Mexican General, who overcame an almost impossible situation and won the hearts of the Mexican AND American people…Viva el Cinco de Mayo!! VIVA IGNACIO ZARAGOZA!!!!!!

It’s Official..My first day on “Dreadicare”/Medicare!!

A long time from this….

To this…..

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THAT CUTE LITTLE CURLY HAIRED CHILD???…OH, YEA…THERE SHE IS..ALL GROWED UP!!!

A Performance of “Guys and Dolls”, and One of the “Dolls” was Our Granddaughter!

 

  Well, FINALLY, out weather is acting as it should be…warm and 72 degrees today.  Den and I got lots done outside.  I washed windows upstairs and down, got out our birdbath.  Den cleaned out the gutters with the hose and then he rototilled out garden…I planted lettuce,spinach and radishes…so far.  We still have Yukon Gold and Red potatoes to plant, plus some tomato plants and pepper plants.  I also got our cactus out of the basement and hung up the hummer feeders (they had better be  here soon!!) ….But guess who just showed up at our feeders…

I was soooo excited to see these birds finally made the trip!! We have had Purple Finches already, but the yellow ones must have missed the first flight!

I feel like my attitude is much improved with the improved temperatures…Last week, I was dressed like Nanook of the North for our morning walks..

   Our basement is now dry, and so it Jr. and Jeanette’s.  (This , too, will improve one’s bad attitude!)…Sooooo, all is now well in Casa la Cave ( for the time being).

Yesterday, the Harter Middle School put on a performance of “Guys and Dolls”…Some of you more mature adults might remember the movie, (done in 1955)…starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Vivian Blaine and Frank Sinatra.  Who can forget the classic songs, “Luck Be A Lady Tonight”, Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat, I Love You, A Bushel And A Peck”…and many others…Our granddaughter, Taylor, had a roll as one of the Hot Box Girls, which allowed  her to do some dancing and singing…Did I take pictures? ….Do birds fly??? YOU KNOW I DID!!!

Tay is the one in the white dress that looks 12 years old and is really 14 1/2….

I cannot believe how many very talented kids there are out there…Everyone in this performance was “spot on” in their singing, dancing and acting!  The following is a 49 second video.  TURN UP  YOUR SOUND AND ENJOY THESE TALENTED KIDS…

The grand finale of the musical!

We had a great time….and of course her Dad presented her with flowers afterward….

LIFE IS SOOO GOOD FOR THE CAVE FAMILY..WE ARE BLESSED! (and I’m not PROUD at all, right?

Get out the “high water” pants!

   Just for one day, I would like to have the life of this little guy….

 

He just takes life slowly, going along at his own speed…No huge commitments, no big rush, carrying his house on his back, no real estate taxes, and no worries…

Oh, I know this is not realistic and “if wishes were fishes we’d all take a swim”, but it seems ever since we came back from Florida, we have been chasing our tails here in Illinois.  And as for the weather, we came back to a snowy February and March, a cold April…and a few days ago, we had lakefront property in our basement. The good news here is that we weren’t on the road somewhere when our sump pump failed!!!

Our basement has had water a few times, and in some instances it came up our drain ..So, a few years ago, McGyver and I hauled chunks of concrete from our basement floor out the basement window in a bucket, and he made a hole for a sump pit…He put the pump in, installed a pipe to take the water out the window, and assumed the next big flood it would kick in and we would be in “fat city”…You know what they say about that word, “ass u me d”…

 

Luckily, Dennis had built shelves all across our North basement wall…That white thing behind my beauty shop chair, tipping on it’s edge, is our little chest freezer…doing the back stroke.

Before MacGyver could do anything, he had to run to Rural King (farm store) and get himself a pair of boots!!!!!

To top it off, Uncle Jr. called that morning with the bad news that they had water in their basement too….SHEESH!…We told them we would be up as soon as we got our basement under control…Dennis figured out that the sump pump switch was stuck, and that’s why our pump never went on…the switch was never tripped…About 10AM, we felt we had the pump working and there was nothing more to do at our house, so we grabbed some tools and headed to Montgomery to see if we could get Uncle Jr.s basement under control…

Left, we encountered some almost flooded out roads on the way.  The fields looked like lakes. I took the photo on the right as we were crossing the Fox River bridge.  I have never seen the river so high.  Jr. and Jeanette live on the Fox River, but their house sits up high on the East side of it…apparently not high enough!  Their house also overlooks the Montgomery Dam.  In fact the road that goes by their home is called River Road…That name pretty much says it all.  River Road was closed due to flooding at the South end, so we snaked our way on back streets to get to their house..

River Road in front of their house was open. The left pic is looking at their house from across River Road.  Pic on the right is looking at their house from the end of their neighbor’s drive.  They have a lovely home, but we found 5” of water in their basement when we got there…Dennis got their sump pump out, and found the hose to hook onto it overhead in their garage. They have not one, but TWO drains in their basement and water was coming in both…The rain Gods were definitely laughing at us…I didn’t have any boots with me, so while Dennis was sloshing around in their basement, I took the opportunity to walk across the road to see the dam.  I noticed many cars stopped and people getting out to see the water coming over the dam.

The water was RUSHING over the dam…and both ends of the walking trail were impassable..

I walked as far as I could and looked up the river North toward Aurora….

….this is the view I saw on the other side of the river…How awful for those poor people. Suddenly, I felt very small and ungrateful.  I realized just how lucky Dennis and I, and Jr. and Jeanette really were!!

  Finally, about 4:30PM, Dennis had done all he could at their house. He plugged the drains as best he could, I helped him get the hose out their window and the sump hose into the street.  The water was still bubbling up some around their drains, but the sump pump was keeping up with it…Once the water went down a few inches, MacGyver relit their hot water heater and the pilot light on their furnace (the water had gotten high enough to put them both out).  On our way home, at the main stop light in Montgomery, we saw 2 of the sanitary sewer manholes at the stoplight….

…You can see the water boiling up around both of them!!! Until that sewer water begins to go down, everyone’s basement drains were in jeopardy!!!!

So, that has been our excitement for this week.  I am happy to report that our basement is dry again today, and so is Uncle Jr.’s…Aunt Jeanette (age 97) was in their basement all day yesterday sorting through her barrels of clothing (yes , she really does have barrels of clothing) figuring out what to pitch and what to keep. I told her to wait until we come up tomorrow, but she said that it keeps her busy…And I will NOT argue with her…

Today the sun is shining and Dennis is installing new garage doors on our garage.  I actually think we will be mowing grass today, too.  That sunshine sure makes one’s mood improve.  I no longer want to be a snail.  Now I want to be Fred, the dog .  Fred belongs to bloggers FD 5 and Bridget, ( Travels of John and Bridget)..or should I say that John and Bridget belong to Fred..Now THAT dog has it made, and lately, I would be content to just lie on the couch and be fed 3 “squares” a day…yes I would!!

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

                                              ~Allen Saunders