Lazy Dog

I changed and laundered the bedding one day this week and before I had a chance to get the spread and multitude of pillows back on, guess who plopped down on my side of the bed? Yep, the skinny bitch Hildy. What a sweetie she is though and I just can't get upset with her. She wakes me up with the most loving of hugs and is truly a wonderful creature. She understands quite a few words of conversation and is the most brilliant of dogs. That said, we had to take our cat, Hojo to the vet as he has a tumor on his leg and there is a possibility that he may need an amputation. We take him back Monday for removal of the tumor and will know more about what to base a decision on then. Poor baby. He is 11 years old and has been a great cat.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate way too much but were able to share with a very good friend. We missed friends who usually dine with us but had to make other plans this year. Times are difficult for lots of folks and we are thankful for our good fortune, our health, our friends and our freedom and remember the less fortunate, the sick, the lonely and the enslaved.
Despite the economy, we do live in a great country.

Now, the cute little make-do is a pincushion mounted on a piece of metal which allows it to be attached to a table with a threaded screw-like mechanism. "Make-do's" were those items made from odds and ends which would normally be thrown away, but by combining one or more items could be used for another purpose. Until recently, I had not heard this term, but being the thrifty daughter reared by my thrifty parents, I realized that I had been doing this all along. I have a real difficult time throwing away a perfectly good part of something that is still good. My storage bins and plastic buckets are full of old hardware, keys, knobs etc. which served a purpose in a previous life that I just might need to reinvent something else. I believe that creature is called a "pack rat"---GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!

Giving Thanks

Not your typical Thanksgiving bird. Being involved with a few projects this past couple of weeks has caused me to resort to an archive picture from July 4th. A nesting osprey with offspring resided at an area south of Saratoga...Cow Creek. There are several homes there on small acreages and the osprey was none too happy about having her picture taken. She was very vocal, but like the sitings of the moose, deer and other creatures co-habitating with us, we continue to marvel at their existence and are thankful for the opportunity to be an observer in mother nature's scheme of things. We are all leery of what the future will bring in this shaky economy and I am very thankful for the way my parents prepared me for survival. One very important thing I have come to realize is that what you THINK you need and what you REALLY need are two very different things. Take pleasure in simple things. Be thankful for family, your health, your friends and don't lose your sense of humor. It may be the only thing to get you through some difficult times.

This past two weeks have been crazy. I stripped the office of 4 walls of horrible wall paper only to find a bright pink paint underneath. Not only was there pink paint- there were craters where nails had been and a section behind the door where the wall had been pathetically patched. Now though, it is a pale shade of buttery yellow and much more pleasant in which to work. (Another notch on my tool belt!). Today I began to paint the floor in my studio in the basement. It is a large room and a wonderful place to work.

Most of this week we have had construction in our back yard. The power is being upgraded in our neighborhood and our yard was selected to be one of the points to bore in both directions for the new lines. First we had all of the utilities marked which involved people with funny flags and bright paint lines everywhere. Then the actual equipment and workers arrived to bore holes and that brought big trucks and equipment of all sorts. My poor dogs didn't know what to think.
Today they finished here and as compensation for the inconvenience they moved a pile of dirt from our front yard to the back to fill a hole back there for us. Unlike most of our neighbors, our yard has not been landscaped and it really caused no damage to have all of the equipment there. They expressed their thanks to us several times.

Then, since my poor old body is aging, I am fighting the process with all available medical help I can get. Luckily we still have insurance and I am trying to get all of those ugly tests and procedures the experts say you should have (and we all dread) before the end of the year. Maybe, just maybe I will meet my deductible!! Sooooo...I drank the half gallon of gook (it used to be a gallon), and starved myself for a day and a half, and spent a lot of time in the bathroom and had my colonoscopy like a good girl. Every one over 50 should have that done. It is one of the procedures that can detect cancer in early stages. I am thankful that my pipes are fine!

So many reasons to be thankful.....I remember a story my Dad used to tell about a couple of people who had gotten snowed in for the winter in the far north somewhere. After being rescued, they told of having survived on only dry beans to eat. When asked if they were sick of beans their reply was "no, we were thankful for them-----the beans saved our lives!"

Perhaps this year with so much unknown about what our future might bring, we need to simplify and take stock of what really is important and be thankful, truly thankful. Have a nice Thanksgiving and eat a piece of pie for me!!!

Friends

I don't have a picture to post today. This weekend I made a trip south, well as far as Colorado, my old stompin' grounds. I stopped in Nunn to see a dear friend whom I haven't seen for several years and we had the best visit. Thanks for being home Pam (and for answering the door). You see, my visit was unannounced and I am sure she thought I was a solicitor. Hope your anniversary was a good one. Then I trekked farther south to my sister's home and spent the night. We then went to Denver to see a cousin who will be 83 this month. She sent my uncle's rocker with me which I will cherish and we then met a friend at a craft fair. It was a good weekend!! Today, we had a visit from Rawlins friends. The Mr. and I are so very blessed to have such good friends. Even though we have moved, they continue to stay in touch.

Today I embarked on another room to paint and started to strip off wallpaper in the office. Luckily though, this paper stripped with ease, however you should see the walls. Pink, Pink, Pink! I asked the Mr. what color I should paint and he said "anything but pink!" Thank you for following my blog. Sometimes I don't get much done here, but I plan to start doing better. (famous last words)

~~"A friend is like a good bra, close to your heart, hard to find and supportive."-anonymous

Memories

See what I scored at a cute little shop here in Cheyenne this week. These little Christmas ornaments are covered with seed beads and brown feathers. This is the beginning of the craft show season for the holidays and I hit three Saturday. The weather has been absolutely unbelievable for the first of November in Wyoming. Usually we have snow, snow, snow by now. The temp has been in the upper 60's every day.

This is as far as I have gotten on the quilt top but it was so much fun to see it come together so easily. As I recall my grandmother and her friends sitting around her dining room table and quilting, I wish I had been older and could remember more of those quilting bees. I don't think she called it a "bee", but there were 6 to 8 women and her frame always sat on the table with these ladies visiting and I was always playing under the table. My memories are so faint though, because you see, I couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years of age and that was nearly 60 years ago. Wouldn't granny be amazed at the techniques and speed with which a quilt can be assembled now!! I hope to have it ready for an actually quilting class---it will be machine quilted I am sure. My poor ol' arthritic hand just couldn't manage I am afraid.

We had another pleasant happening this weekend also. An old classmate from grade school, through high school stopped to visit. Understand that I grew up in a rural community where many of my classmates were children of farmers. It was a small community and every one knew everyone else, sometimes generations of families continued to stay. They were strong, hard-working people. As a child, I remember that he worked as hard as a grown man and there were times when he stayed home from school to work in the fields. If a kid stays home today, you can bet it is not to help the family in their business or trade. Not many small farms continue to survive there today though and the values instilled in this man have made him a success in his own right. Anyway we were a small class of kids and I remember so many times that one of their parents would volunteer to haul the same bunch to Greeley to the skating rink or to the movies. A real treat for me as we didn't get to do that very often. We had so much fun!!! There was not much money either for those kinds of frivolities, but my folks always managed to find a way to let me go. Not very many of us still stay in touch, but I treasure the friendships of the few who do still take the time to do that. There were kids who came and went, but for the most part there were about 8 of us, 4 boys and 4 girls who were just pals. From 1st or 2nd grade we had a bond of sorts unlike any other. Not all, but most of us even went on senior sneak together and that was a kick. I don't think a trip like ours would be done today. (Maybe that will be another blog.) Oh, to be 12 again! Memories!!! You can't take those away.

~"That's the trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be twelve years old."-----Walt Disney