NO MORE WHINING….WE ARE BLESSED.

  We were very happy and surprised to see one of our friends back on the blogosphere yesterday…They are selling their motorhome (which is VERY nice) and bought a home in Arizona .  For anyone interested, here is a link to Robert Nilson's blog about his motorhome…Good luck to you two…Hope to see you again someday!!!

  Well, I got my MRI on my foot done today…I’ll be excited to see if there is anything major wrong, or if I just gotta get through this…I used the MRI as an excuse to make a Target and Kohl’s stop on the way back from Yorkville.  We have to drive at least 15 miles to get ANY kind of big box stores.  A strip mall was built about 4 years ago, with a Home Depot, Target, Kohl’s, Marshals, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and a few small shops…but I AM NOT complaining!!!

One of my Ya Ya’s brought me a little gift at our weekly coffee session yesterday….

NOW HOW DID SHE END UP PICKING THIS PARTICULAR CUP OUT?…HMMMMMMM??????

After seeing the total devastation in Japan, I made up my mind to get a better attitude and “GET OVER YOURSELF, DONNA!”…I promise to make a much bigger effort to quit whining about mundane things like a small foot ache and the weather.  As they say, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, it’s ALL small”… Watching the earthquake and then tsunami footage on TV made me cry.  It was similar to watching the towers fall on 9-11..except this was and act of nature, not terrorism…I knew I was actually watching before my very eyes,  as thousands of people were fighting to stay alive, and losing that battle…Sometimes, things are just too much to bear, but for some reason, you just cannot turn away.  I was humbled.  Therefore, I am adjusting my attitude.  It is insane to complain in the wake of such tragedy.

  We are getting wonderful weather yesterday and today…There are still remainders of last fall mixed in amongst the teeny weeny signs of great things to come….

 

 

A few left over pods on my Rose of Sharon bush  make for a neat little photo op….

 

 

 

 

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP (LITERALLY) HERE….LITTLE SPOTS OF GREEN AND PINK AMID THE BROWN.

…AND, AHHHHH, THE PURPLE FINCHES ARE STARTING TO DO THEIR COURTSHIP RITUAL….

I NOTICED SOME LIPSTICK ON THE POOR “PLAIN” FEMALE…HEY AT LEAST SHE’S TRYING…BUT HE’S IGNORING HER!!!

 

 

Every year since we have lived here, McGuyver and I have planted a vegetable garden…McGuyver rototills, and I plant…Last year was our first  year to plant potatoes, and MAN!..those suckers were sooooo good!!  So this year I got my seed potatoes early, along with some onion sets, which get very hard to find if you wait too long. I also plant tomatoes, jalapeno and green peppers, spinach, and sometimes lima beans.  Our garden isn’t very big, so I have to pick and choose carefully. We used to plant squash and pumpkins, but they nearly took over the yard, and Den had to mow around the vines.  But, boy, I can’t WAIT for those home grown potatoes!!

I SEE TWICE BAKED STUFFED POTATOES IN MY FUTURE!!!

 

There is some action going on across the street from us today, too.. After this long winter of cold and snow, it seems kinda neat to see a tree being taken down….well, SOMETIMES…

 

 

…. I don’t like to see a tree cut down unless it’s dead…and this one wasn’t..But it is VERY tall and quite spindly.  I guess the neighbors didn’t want it to fall on their house in a big wind, therefore …..TIMBER!!!!

 

 

 

Dennis and I are going to take a drive to see some of our fellow bloggers who are going to be in our area this weekend…John and Bridget, (FD5), will be in Marseilles, IL, a town about 30 miles South of Sandwich.  They have graciously invited us to stop by and visit, so tomorrow we are hauling our butts down to have a great “tongue waggin’”, as Al  would say.  Hey, if I can’t GO camping, at least I can SEE camping, right?? BUT I AM NOT COMPLAINING…NUHUH..NOT ME, NOT ANYMORE…NO SIREE BOB!!!!

“AH, SWEET MYSTERY OF LIFE AT LAST I’VE FOUND THEE..”

SEE YOU AGAIN IN A FEW   :-)

MEMORIES OF FALCON LAKE

  Well, this month of March is just about half over and Winter just won’t let go of our behinds!  We woke up yesterday morning to 29 degrees and frost on the pumpkin….and everything else.  I looked out our bedroom window and… yup, sure enough, we had another “killer frost”..Killer as in “Come ooooon….this is killin’ us here.  I got potatoes to plant in the garden soon…sheesh!”

 

Any bird trying to sit on this roof and sing for Spring would slide down on his feathery little caboose and end up singing from the gutter…!(That happen a lot in the big city).

After we came downstairs and got a cup of joe, I noticed that the sun was actually going to shine today, so my mood vastly improved. 

Nothing much planned these past couple, except maybe some more genealogy research. McGuyver has been online looking for some steel to make some a pole for the Martin bird-condo he built. When he is using the desktop computer, I get out the laptop and use it at the kitchen table for my research..The problem is that our laptop is fairly old and we really don’t use it much, so it really resists my impatient key pounding.  This morning I was angrily banging the “mouse” on the table, wondering why it wouldn’t work…McGuyver came over and pointed out that I hadn’t plugged it in…DUH!! I HATE IT when that happens…and he LOVES IT and gets sooooooo smug. #%@!&*#!!!

  Today I am fondly remembering Falcon Lake State Park Texas….because I ‘m not sure WHEN we will be back.  We sure enjoyed it and went there the month of January every year for about 4 years.  But, now it isn’t advisable to go there, due to the drug cartel action in the area, and far be it for us to go against THAT advisory!! Here are a few photos I took there over a few years….sob, sob..

A

All of the sites there had a covered picnic table on a concrete pad, and they were all pull throughs.  There was also a campfire ring and lantern post….

 

OK, I’M OVER MYSELF NOW…GETTING ALL GOOEY AND NOSTALGIC FOR THE RIO GRANDE…

BUT, HEY!!! THINGS ARE LOOKIN’ UP HERE THIS AFTERNOON…

…WOULD YA JUST LOOK WHO WAS HAVING LUNCH IN OUR BACKYARD!!!!!

AAAAAAALL RIGHTY THEN…SPRING--LET’S GET IT ON!!!

THE BULL MOOSE BAR AND GRILLE…FINALLY!

  Last night Dennis and I made it a point to go to the new restaurant in town..They have only been working on it almost a year….I kept the workers nose to the grindstone , as I documented progress…

 

And here it was last November………….

AND NOW IT HAS FINALLY OPENED…AND IT IS NOTHING LIKE I EXPECTED IT TO BE!!!

COME ON IN WITH US….

My original thoughts on this remodel job was that it would be made into a “fine dining” bar and restaurant.  You know the kind…linen napkins, water goblets, table clothes, foo foo menu with sky high prices, and drink prices that will force you into sobriety….Well …it was NOTHING like that…

What this is…..is exactly what it says…a “bar and grille”…..The most expensive thing on the menu is $9.00, and it is totally sandwiches and bar snacks, like hot wings, burgers, chicken sandwiches….very casual.  A can of beer is $2.00, glass of wine was $4.00….and the place was packed with people..

 

SOME LOOKED MORE SUSPICIOUS THAN OTHERS..

(OUR SON AND HIS WIFE WERE THERE PARTAKING OF THE LIVATIONS…

IMAGINE THAT.)

 

 

 

  We grabbed our seat at the bar next to Kelly and Cindy.  (And by the way, Cindy’s ear is healing nicely, and she will get her hearing device soon.)  Unlike the stuffy expensive restaurant and lounge that I though it would be, this place was OUR KIND OF PLACE!!

There was even a pool table in one end of the train car…They have kept the original stained glass windows and beautiful wood in the train car part…Let me explain that the bar is in the “house” part, and the train car is tables and chairs to eat at… The front end of the train car houses a little private area with a large table and lots of neat windows…

Left, is Den’s cousin, “Linda Lou”…No, she is not from Whoville,  but from Plano, IL…Like I said, we ran into lots of peeps we knew…Picture on the right shows just how goofy people at the bar were getting…ROWDIES, I’D SAY!

We had a great time and finally bailed out (no, we weren’t arrested) to go to the Moose Lodge…Let me just say that the Moose Lodge was like walking into a morgue compared to the Bull Moose Bar and Grille…

 

On our way out, I took this photo of the end of the train car with the private room and all the cool windows…I gotta sit my behind in that room soon…

All in all, we had a really nice experience at our newest “joint” in town, and rumor has it that they will soon offer a Sunday morning “omelet bar” and Bloody Marys…COUNT US IN!!!!

 

 

 

THANKS FOR COMING WITH US…WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY FAUX PAS WE MADE…

SEE YOU IN A COUPLE!!!

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!!!!