WE’RE SURROUNDED..

   Sitting in the house for virtually the entire Winter, McGuyver and myself have NOT been entirely alone….We are joined by some very dear friends who “hang around” our house..We enjoy their presence, admire their spirit, and hope some of their great “medicine” will be soaked up by our pea brains…

WE ARE SURROUNDED….BY MY FAVORITES IN AMERICAN WESTERN HISTORY…

OUR NATIVE AMERICAN FRIENDS

     We are enamored with the old American West, and the long plight of the Native Americans to keep some of it… Not unlike The Bayfield Bunch , the Western part of our great country beckons us to explore all of the history we can get our hands on.  As you can see, I have chosen to make that part of US History part of my décor….

 

Sooooo…Not much new here….McGuyver cooked on our charcoal grill Tuesday evening.

 

…But last night I spared him the drizzle of rain, and put some Italian Turkey Sausage in our crockpot with some spaghetti sauce, onion, green pepper and wine…FABULOSO!!

It has been so darn crummy and cold this winter, we have gone through a TON of firewood…I really can only think of ONE evening since Jan 1st that we HAVEN’T had a fire in our fireplace…

And we are loaded up and ready to do it again tonight….

 

We have a little old wood stove in our kitchen that Dennis found in his Mom and Dad’s basement when his Mom moved out of their house…I need to also say that his Grandma and Grandpa lived in that house first (which is just across the street from us), and then Den’s Mom and Dad had it until his Dad passed away in the late 70’s.  It is missing a few pieces, but we had it sandblasted and painted it…So now, it sits in our kitchen, and we pretend it has a fire…

See what a cheater I am??? Hey, it looks pretty neat after dark…Every once in a while the fire goes out, and I have to buy a new “fire bulb”….We have NO idea how old this thing is, but it is solid Cast Iron…I know because I have dragged it across the floor a few time when “re-arranging” the kitchen….

 

 

Speaking of kitchens, our kids tell us we should do some remodeling in our kitchen..It is vintage 1970’s, and very well worn..I’ve given some thought to re-facing the cabinets, getting new pulls, countertop and sink (all very much needed)…The Health Dept. would close our kitchen if they ever got a look at our 30-some year old floor…REALLY BAD!!

I also need a different table and chairs…All this adds up to a pretty penny and makes McGuyver VERY nervous…..Here’s the big question…Are we going to live here forever?…or downsize and get the H--- out of Dodge…No need to sink tons of buckos into this place if we aren’t gonna be here to enjoy it, right…Food for thought.

HERE IS MY EXACT THOUGHT ON THE SUBJECT….

SHORT BLOG….SHORT ATTENTION SPAN….SEE YA IN A COUPLE!!!

Montgomery IL Festival Grand Marshal…

  We got a phone call from Aunt Jeanette the other day and she sounded all excited..Let me just say that any time we get a phone call with caller ID saying “Clarence Bark”, we slightly panic…At ages 95 and 87, anything could be happening at their house!.!!(and HAS!!)

At any rate, Aunt Jeanette had some really great news…It seems that Uncle Junior as been chosen to be the Grand Marshal of the “Montgomery-Fest” this August.  They have lived in Montgomery ever since they were married, 52 years, when they built the home they are still living in.  Uncle Jr. has also served on the Village of Montgomery Planning Commission for the same length of time, so he is well respected by the citizens of Montgomery.   We are REALLY excited for them.  He and Jeanette will be riding in the parade and oversee the entire celebration as local celebrities…I see a spectacular blog coming up for August…

 

We are sooooo very pleased and proud to be in their family loop!!

 

 

  The past few days have been cold and damp.  The sun hasn’t peeked out for at  least 3 or 4 days ..and I really don’t blame it…I would love to be anywhere but here this winter..as I have said many times..(yes, I AM whining again….I’m cold, crabby and cannot do my daily walks…)

 

LET’S SEE…WHERE WAS I ON THIS DAY FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS????

MARCH 8TH, 2006…CLEAR SPRINGS CAMPGROUND, WRIGHT PATMAN LAKE, TEXARKANA, TEXAS

(WITH THE “OL KEYSTONE COUGAR)

 

 

MARCH 8TH, 2007, POTTERS CREEK CAMPGROUND, CANYON LAKE, TEXAS

(I WOULDN’T EVEN MIND THE RAIN…)

 

 

MARCH 8TH, 2008, POTTERS CREEK CAMPGROUND, CANYON LAKE, TEXAS

(I’M KILLIN’ MYSELF WITH THESE PHOTOS)

 

 

MARCH 8TH, 2009, OYSTERFEST, FULTON, TEXAS…(BOO HOO)

I LOVE FESTS OF ANYKIND….OBVIOUSLY!

 

MARCH 8TH, PANCHO VILLA STATE PARK, COLUMBUS ,NEW MEXICO

(STILL TRYING TO GROW FIGURE OUT HOW TO GROW THESE AGAVES IN ILLINOIS……JUST HAPPENS TO BE WHAT THEY MAKE TEQUILA FROM )

 

MARCH 8TH, 2011, 518 W. CENTER ST. SANDWICH, IL

(HO HUM…..)

LET’S GET THIS SPRING-THING GOING SO AT LEAST WE CAN GO OUTSIDE AND DIG IN THE DIRT!!!!

“…THIS ONE’S FOR THE GIRLS”

  Yesterday I actually got off my dead behind and did something GOOD for me.  I had received a flyer in the mail a few weeks ago about a women’s health fair to be held at the medical building behind our hospital…The asked that you sign up ….sooooo..before I could think twice about it, I signed up online…and yesterday I attended “This One’s For The Girls”..health fair.

..They had diabetes screenings(I passed), sleep apnea info, (not me), blood pressure taken ( 117/70), information on eye health (definitely needed that), nutrition info (REALLY needed that), massage therapy (didn’t do that, the line went around the room), a fake breast to see if you could feel the “lumps”..(Now that one made me a little uncomfortable…I prefer NOT to massage any breast but my own, thank you very much..BUT, I did find all the lumps!!!)

They also had a bone density screening…I signed up for that, but after I filled out their form saying I had been diagnosed with Osteopenia, the told me I didn’t qualify because I had already been diagnosed…WHATEVER!. They had free samples of things (SCORE!)..There was also free food, and a young lady was even selling handbags ..BUT….. what REALLY caught my eye was this display..

SOUVENIER PHOTOS….WITH PROPS TO WEAR …NOW, THIS IS LIKE CANDY TO A BABY FOR ME!!

 

There were lots of women “buddies” who were getting their photo taken together..They would pick out their “prop”, go into  a little photo booth…and CLICK!!…a FREE goofy picture to remember the event !!  I didn’t have a buddy with me, but you all know me well enough to know that I just CANNOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS!!!!!

I KNOW, I KNOW…WHATEVER YOU’RE THINKING, I AGREE WITH YOU…….

BUT LET IT NEVER BE SAID THAT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO  HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!!!

 

Now that I have further shown that I LOVE to dress up and play different characters, I shall segue to the birds in our backyard,  and our quest to attract them…

McGuyver is quite handy…and over a period of the last 30 years he has been piecing together a Purple Martin Condo…..(a huge apartment for many Martin families,as in BIRDS,  to live in )…Well, he finally finished it and it is ready to paint…

….I do believe painting this dwelling is MY job.   The big problem is exactly how to put this thing at least 10’ off the ground on a pole…and be able to hinge that pole so it can be brought down and cleaned yearly…McGuyver is working on that..HOWEVER,  if it takes as long to get it mounted as it did to build it, we will be watching the Purple Martins in their new condo from our wheelchairs on the deck.

A sure sign that Spring is on the way…. The Cardinals are getting very “frisky”, and suddenly seem to like dining together at the “La Cave Café”….

A ROMANTIC TABLE FOR TWO BY THE WINDOW, PLEASE…..

(You may notice the light snow falling in these pictures…AGAIN!)

  So, this weekend has been fairly exciting..at least for “one of the girls”….I had a great time at the health fair, and learned some beneficial things about women’s health..Number one thing I learned???  I learned that NOBODY knows your body’s “normal” better than you.. (this also applies to men.)  If you think something is “just not right”..GET IT CHECKED OUT!!!! Better to error on the safe side of health issues.   The words you NEVER want to hear are ,” If you had only come in sooner….”  Enough said….except for…..

“THIS ONE’S FOR THE GIRLS!!!!!”

 

A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW..

  Let me just say that my foot is somewhat better….However, this comes at the expense of other “daily necessary habits”  that I should be doing regularly!!!  Steroids, shmeroids…. as they try to heal my foot, they are interfering in another very important area..This new development is not good/no fun/not tolerable/NOT HELPING!!(grimace)  Sorry, but I AM behaving very much like my alter-ego, Maxine…What would Maxine do??  I KNOW….she would make herself a milk of magnesia martini in a fancy cocktail glass, throw in a prune for garnish, and flip the “bird” to the world…HMMMMMM, this could easily be my last resort…

Enough about my lack of “process of elimination”….What goes in MUST come out, right??

I told you all about McGuyver and his buddies making an aluminum can crusher out at Conveyor Eddie’s shop….Well, I finally have a video of it….(don’t be scared…it’s very short).

The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys!

I’m thinking that these guys need to find more things to do….WAAAAAAY too much time on their hands, no??

  I ran across a plaque in our basement that I forgot we had… Let me preface this by saying that Den is a HUGE NASCAR fan…sooooo…. in 2003, for Dennis’s 61st birthday, I surprised him with a “ride along” in an official NASCAR at the Chicagoland Speedway (which is just about an hour from our house).  It was called the Richard Petty Driving Experience..You could also buy the package to DRIVE the car, but I wasn’t that flush with funds, AND I wanted him to LIVE through his birthday…Dennis had to wear the helmet,  the fireproof jumpsuit…the whole sexy looking outfit (ME THINKS ME LIKES THIS NEW “HOT” LOOK) …He also had to literally “sign his life away”….He was probably wondering if I had ulterior motives….At any rate, here is the plaque we bought with a photo of him in the car, decked out in his little race car driving outfit…This was taken just before they sped away down the track…ZOOOOOOOOOM!!!

THAT WOULD BE “NASCAR MCGUYVER” LOOKING LIKE A DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS..

 

 

HE HAD TO CONTORT HIS 6’2” FRAME, BIRDLIKE CRANE LEGS AND ALL, TO CLIMB INTO THIS CAR…WE ALSO HAVE A VIDEO OF HIS DRIVER AND HE,  ZOOMING AROUND THE TRACK WITH MCGUYVER RIDING SHOTGUN..

DEN SAID THAT WHEN THEY HIT THE TURNS HE FELT LIKE THE CAR WAS GOING TO GO “AIRBORN”…YOWZA! …AND THIS WAS HIS IDEA OF A GREAT TIME!

BOY, THAT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY IS REALLY NEAT!!  WE ACTUALLY WENT TO A RACE THERE A FEW YEARS AGO….LOVED IT!!

  Yesterday was another yawner here at the Cave…I did my usual Thursday “combat grocery shopping”.  I intended to drive the 15 mile drive to the Jewel for a few things, but the price of diesel was not conducive to that idea…not at $3.80 a gallon!  Pretty soon I’ll be riding one of those old bicycles, pulling a cart along behind it to do my grocery shopping…

Terrie, our oldest daughter , stopped over today.  We don’t see as much of them since she began teaching Monday through Thursday at the school in Sugar Grove.  I had some of my genealogy stuff spread out on our table, and Terrie helped me identify the same gentleman in 2 different photos…

 

I am really enjoying this family tree stuff.  I found out that my Great Grandpa William Harnish, my Grandma Ross’s father,  was in the 23rd Battery, Indiana Light Artillery in the Civil War..He was born in 1842 in Indiana and died in 1895. I am awaiting a copy of an obituary about a possible nephew of my Grandmother’s , another Harnish connection, who may have been in Texas at the time of his death, 1982…at age 74..SOOOOO MANY MYSTERYS….

We had a new visitor in our suet feeder today…I have been anxiously waiting for them to arrive…and today one did…

 

    I DON’T THINK THIS IS A DOWNY WOODPECKER….BUT HE DEFINITELY IS A WOODPECKER!

We also had a new visitor to our flat safflower feeder today…One who almost knocked the feeder off it’s chain… This guy just about maxes out the load limit for our feeder..And I know that there is another one out there somewhere.  You never see just ONE Dove…they travel as a pair, and are never far from each other..A trait I like in my hubby, too.

I AM SOOOO GLAD TO SEE THE DOVES BACK IN TOWN…NOW LET’S GET THE TURTLE DOVES BACK TOO!!

OK, enough about the boring Cave Dwellings….However.. I did hear that the Bull Moose Bar and Grille (train car) might open next week..finally!!! That will be something new going on here in town….Oh, and also …we are awaiting the birth of our newest grandson, due in a month.  That will be worthy of a trip to Indy/Zionsville, where they will be moving about 2 weeks after Wolff cub no.2 makes his grand entry .…CANNOT WAIT!!  Just think, then I can further bore you all with baby pictures too!!!

A big “Come on in, y’all!”, to some new brave followers, Bob and Vicky , who are basking in the sunshine of Mission TX…BUT…soon to be headed back to Minnesota….Talk about a segue!!  Thanks to you two new peeps…and to all of you who are just nutsy enough to find this blog entertaining….See ya Sunday!

I’m Now On Steroids…Just What I need..Bigger Calves.

I first need to send a shout out to a couple new followers….Ronda..Ronda is Erik's wife…and they each have their own blog…Fat chance McGuvyer would do that…At his typing speed, he could only publish once a month…Also a big “hey” to the Beautiful Dees….all “D” names, living in Utah..with a lovely home!!  

I did get to the foot guy Monday..The Doc took a look at my foot and just shook his head, saying the words that were music to my ears …NO  SHOT!!! Instead, he gave me a series of steroids and Naproxen (500 mg Ibuprofen) , which is EXACTLY what McGuyver got for his back problem in Mississippi!! Oh well… sore back, feet, head, legs……pain, is pain, is pain….He also recommended physical therapy…not sure I’m in for that..If this doesn’t work, an MRI is in order….and I don’t think my insurance is in for THAT!!!….Time will tell….I’ve always wanted to try out for the NFL..these drugs might just push me over the top…the Chicago Bears could use me..

Monday when I took Sosa out for his constitutional I took my camera….There was some neat “icing” photo opportunities that I didn’t want to miss …it was melting fast…

OK, OK, I now KNOW I’m not Ansel Adams…..Keep in mind that I was taking photos while trying to hold Sosa on his leash, which was wrapped around my hand and leg….and he had just spotted one of our Al Qaida squirrels….If only I had a photo of THAT acrobatic act!!!

The weather yesterday was tolerable…starting out on a cold 20 degree note with 30 mph winds…But it did manage to get up to 40 degrees by 3PM, so I’ll take it….

Kelly and Cindy came to pick up Sosa Monday late afternoon…He was so happy to see them he wouldn’t leave Cindy alone….

 

NO…REALLY???? GOOD GOD!!! WHAT A PIECE OF WORK THAT DOG IS…I THINK HE TOLD HER THAT WE MISTREATED HIM…JUST LOOK AT HIS “SADSACK” ACT….THAT LITTLE LIAR…

 

WHAT A PATHETIC PHOTO…

IS HE ACTUALLY LYING HIS FURRY LITTLE MUTT HEAD ON MY TABLE??? YES…HE IS….IF ONLY I HAD GOTTEN HIM TO WATCH “THE DOG WHISPERER”……

 

 

I am still in pursuit of my missing family members, but found a possible gentleman on my Dad’s side of the family..I am awaiting a copy of the obituary being sent to me from The Tyler Texas Library…When I think of the many trips we made right near there (in Eastern Texas)…and never guessed that there was a tombstone I needed to see….and a family cousin who might be buried there…I am really excited to find out if the man is whom I THINK he is….

OK, not much to blog about..I’ve just about gotten as much “blog fodder” out of Sosa and the weather as you poor readers can bear….I shall not drag this on any longer…See ya in a couple..and thanks for tuning in!!