getting old

getting old magnifies all the faults of yesteryears. once i was able to write a menu for the week down on a piece of paper to take to the grocery store. after one look in cupboard and fridge i was able to go to the store and pick up the items i needed. now i have to write down all the items needed to complete the menu.

now under stress i often misplace my keys. i have one set of car keys lost right now.

and i have lost my cell phone. it has been gone for a week, but i called the phone company and nobody is using it so it is in the house someplace.

my eyesight is worse, i am going deaf, my joints and feet creak, walks are shorter, and i almost fall asleep in church.

and you know the old ladies who wear so much perfume it knocks you out....yeah. well, now i know why. they can't smell it unless it is turn up. i try not to do that to my coworkers.

but what about the good things, do they get accentuated too. am i going to draw better, be more patient? be more sure of myself? hmmmmm

keeping up

From a distance you will see tall silos and some metal buildings and it looks pretty nice. as you drive closer however you see that there is a struggle to keep things in order. it seems as soon as something is new it starts deteriating. it is just a few magical moments that something is almost perfect. this door had been minorly attacked by students driving a little front end loader carrying feed to the cows, but nothing like the attack by the feed truck delivering the feed to the building. you can understand 14 and 15 year olds not quite making it through the door, but a licensed driver? what was he thinking?

the next question is how long will the door look like this? will it ever get fixed. there may have been an actual door that could close the opening, but that was long gone by the time i arrived. i wonder how it disappeared? there are so many things that need fixing around here. windows replace, roofs fixed. the art room roof finally is fixed so it doesn't make lakes in the room when it rains or the snow melts. needs more loving care though. mice can come in in droves under the front door. sometimes when we are working i will see one race along the wall, very fat--actually it is a waddle run. once we made paper machie masks and set them out to dry and when we came back the next day the mice had eaten all the paper off the wire structure used to shape the masks. buggers.

artic freeze and never say never

some old sayings are just old sayings, but some old sayings have some truth. red sky at night sailor's delight~
red sky at morning sailor's take warning.

after this hazy red prairie sunrise, we have had, it seems like, ages of cold, snow, and no sun. i had to go out and buy a parka so i wouldn't freeze on the two block walk to work.

for a person who needs the sun to be cheery it is dreadful.

i said i was never going to retire where it was cold....so what did i do... i bought a house 100 miles farther north than i live now that generates it own little storms and weather patterns. .... just north of the black hills.

isolation

where? a warm pot of chocolate in a french window? a forgotten crock in a miner's cabin? too white..the clues ambiguous..the window rain scared. the frame metal so not old... a new alone pot
but on the inside i know there are kids making there hands as nimble as possible polishing holes in fishing weights...piece work.
hopefully it is an electric kettle for warm tea to cheer the task in a room with metal air

view point

if i have my camera with me, i am more likely to see the beauty around me and also the details of the ordinary. one evening as i was walking to the cafeteria ...with my camera... i saw the sunlight reflecting through the wings of a small crowd of insects. they would have probably been unnoticable if the light had been different. the LIGHT makes many things beautiful and many things seeable.

design crash

when two strong personalities get together, well, there is some adjusting to do. like opposites on the color wheel...for example. red and green. my sister has beautiful green glasses...a lot of them. i have dark red plates plus some blue things and cream, and yellow. so the the question is can they go together.. i think so, if those strong colors can make it together, so can we.

i found this pressed glass pitcher at pier one . it has no handle only the the pinched top which works and just a little tiny pour spout. it goes with the glasses. sort of ... same color only they are plain.

black and white

who can resist the rays of warm sun on cold day espescially when your owner keeps the house in the 60's. and if there is someone else in the basket even if it is really only big enough for one fat cat, well, somehow you can sort of fit in with your friend.

what to do with stuff in small space

just stopped in builder's warehouse to pick up plastic to cover windows. they had a little display of unfinished furniture in the very front. something new for them. anyway,, there was a cart like the small one pictured here with a side addition that was a cupboard with a door. i like that it is on wheels. i thought it might fit at the end of our island in the kitchen. kind of hard to remember the space. it is 14 inches deep, 30 inches wide and 34 inches tall. could use it to hold kitchen linen and little used utensils. could even roll it in the closet. well maybe.

wallpaper

well i just spent an hour looking for a border pattern because i clickedon the first selection after a google search. if i had read just a little farther i would have seen the home of the wall paper company and that it had super advanced search. after clickling on that i found the pattern in two seconds. i am thinking i could convince my sister to put the border up someplace in our house. not sure where. but it reminds me of pine ridge where she used to live and to the hills around where we live now. well, she lives and i will in a little while. the link is in the link box if you want to see what it looks like.

growing things

it is hard to think about growing things when it is cold and dreary outside. at least until the spring catalogs come. our resident home gardner has plowed all his garden plots and they are now covered with blown in leaves. the farm fields have been chiseled down to just dirt, not sure why, seems a little stubble would keep the dirt from blowing away. but in any case the fields are being covered with cow pow to meld in the ground over the winter. the new house has two new trees...a locust which will grow tall and because it has small leaves will give filtered light and won't leave much to rake up...especially if the wind keeps blowing like it has when i have been there. we could have picked a house that had a big cottonwood in the yard shading the deck. but my sister and i thought it was too old and would soon be causing problems....like falling into the house. our other little tree is a nannyberry. our great grandmother was called nanny by her kids and grandkids and great grandkids so we thought that was appropriate. i think we can make jam from the berries if the birds don't get to them first. now we just have to work on grass and those other little plants that will make the yard cosy. a little grape vine would be nice for jelly. and maybe a chokecherry or two for jelly. roses for fragrance. every house needs roses. gardening will keep us busy and young for the rest of our lives.

birds & berries

cool dusky air settled over the campus today. everybody seemed a little sluggish and unperky, except the birds. they were swooping all over the campus as i walked out of the cafeteria. birds mostly are silent during the middle of the day, but these were chirpping here and there as they swarmed from one tree to the next. maybe it was the chill signaling that they needed to be packing up and leaving. one funny shaped juniper that had been topped out by lightning and now has two tops and is filled with clusters of frosty blue berries. after standing still under the tree for awhile, i could see that the branches were filled with young robins, their breasts just turning to rust, gobbling up berry after berry. there was such a glut to choose from they would pick the best from one bunch and then flit to another to rob that bunch of the prime berries. they were either chirpping from just being happy or maybe the berries had ripened a little bit beyond perfection.

water

if you look closely you can see the green grass floating around the lighthouse in the middle of the plates which matches the green glasses. every since my sister visited her son in maryland and witnessed pony penning, she has been pining for the sea.

there is something about the smell of salt in the air and the feel of water settled in space, and the sound of lapping water against the shore that calls to the soul. evolutionists would say it is the cradle calling us home. maybe. but is only soothing when not storming. tourists probably remember the gentle waters and sweet sun. most are not around when the tropical storms whip in. so in the middle of the prairie - which some say--probably true--was once a sea, my sister's house is inhabitated by shells, lighthouses in various guises, and other things nautical; but not fish. she doesn't like fish. i however like their looks, colors, designs, and i have to admit, how some of them taste. they are designed so beautifully. on the other hand she is a swimmer, once she belonged to a sync swim team. but i am afraid to be in over my neck. we will have to make some comprimises when we live together, but that is just like all people living in the same space. i will probably have to keep my fish in my room. i will have to try and convince her to eat fish as it is better than chicken and beef in a thousand ways.

paradoxically, people who have lived on the prairie--true prairies--most of their life, make very good sailors. they are used to waves (of grain) and wind and being able to see for miles. the life on the ocean is more like life on the praririe than moving to anyother part of the country. where you live also influences how you look at things in your life. being able to look forever helps you see the the overall picture, you become less focused on minutuia. well, maybe that is a bit much, it doesn't matter where you grow up if you grow up poor and with second stuff--you want all the minutuia you can get---stuff and more stuff. but that is another whole discussion.

waterpark fun without water

when i was young a long time ago i went to a small school in a small town. shop was downstairs (really a half basement similar to the one in the picture), the first floor was four rooms -> 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8. Then the 9-12 was the next floor up and a half floor up was a little castle like turrent where the principal lived. Outside of a boy who was sweet on my sister (5 years old in first grade) running down the picnic table at the end of the year celebration, i remember sliding down the fire escape once a year for fire drill. of course back then we girls had to wear dresses. i remember somebody sort of waxing it before the drill so we could actually slide down and the teachers at the bottom to catch us smaller ones. it was quite a trip trying to get down and your dress down too.

i am not sure if they still use this one. it looks well kept, but if there was a real fire would someone have to run around to the back of the school to unlock the grate? not a problem if it is a drill because you can do it ahead of time. maybe they have a kick release so the first one down can push it open. or perhaps it is just there for reunions so the old folks can slide down and remember trying to either keep your dress down or sneak a peak at the girls coming down.

the last time i took a trip down one gas was 16 cents a gallon. entertainment is lot pricier now!

outside

hopefully, we will have grass next spring. we plan to put rose bushes in front of the porch. easy to care for ones with great fragrance. probably reds and pinks.


there are two steps up to the deck/porch. the inspector said not to put anything on the wood until next fall. guess the wood has to season. there is no step into the house. just right for two old ladies. :)



the two chairs on the deck are my sister's. my two are still in nebraska in the back yard next to the fire pit. you can see a little bird house sitting on the railing. in the back is part of the landscape we see. deer still come out there to graze. i don't know how long that will last when the rest of the houses are built.

getting comfy for a good read

above left is the chair that once belonged to my great grandmother, nanny. my sister own's it now (i have nanny lapel watch) and had it recovered in a whitesh tapestry that is called snowflake.

to the far right is the chair that i saw in the second had store, although i am pretty sure it is an overstock from somewhere. i laughed at it when i first saw it, but then sat in it and it is perfect for watching tv or reading a book. comfy first class. besides it has funky legs and above all it is GREEN!


this is the free green couch that goes with t he navy blue color scheme for our new house. notice the little kitty scratches right under the curl of the arms. it is chunky and comfy. just in case you didn't notice the glasses on the table are green, the receipe on the bookcase is framed in green and the plates on the table have green grass growing around the lighthouse.

we found the bar stools at Martha's place. the end tables are on loan from my nephew.

house chairs

So I get easily distracted. My sister gave away her nice walnut table and chairs because of the memories associated with set. With no money to really buy a new one, her son offered her a "classic" from the 50's. Well, the chairs were from the fifties. The chair on the right shows original condition. The grease was so thick on the plastic you could cook fries for a year. ugh. The padding was so old that it was like sitting on the wood. There was no way I was going to sit on that even for a minute. So I bought some padding, vynal, and tacks at wally world and spent a day and a half redoing the chairs. Probably should have thrown them out and just bought folding chairs. Would have been less time intense and probably a little cheaper.



The bookcase behind the chair is my sister's ex. It is on loan for the occupancy of the house. Notice that it has a drawer in the bottom which mine does not.

We bought some black folding chairs at Martha's place to fill out the set. We had eight people around the table and two sitting on bar stools at the center counter for our first meal. I made colcannon and my sister made a lentil loaf.

more trains at gibbon

the cat cranes arrived on a big truck. it didn't take them long to be on the ground crunching over piles of coal and debris in preparation to lift cars out of the way. i wasn't able to stay and watch as i have a job. as i was talking pictures all sorts of vehicles and equipment arrived including a semi loaded with concret ties. in a couple of days i will go and take some pictures of the repair.

even though the train crashed, hundreds go by every day without incident and so i am thinking of traveling west to reno during spring break to visit my family. i think i was on a train when i was about three or four, but at sixty-four i cannot remember the experience. i think the prices are a little less than air and it takes longer, but i think i would like to experience a train ride before too much more of my life goes by.

emily and nina

i met two nice, well one nice cat and one wild cat during my stay in illinois. emily decided that my suitcase was a good place to sleep, rest, and check out the world. she is a nice gray and orange tabby who has been trained to stay off counters, but likes to be in the bathroom when someone is taking a shower, sort of like dennis. she had a little kid's canvas chair bought for her, but didn't seem to like it. it has since been taken over by the little squirt--nina. nina's pupils are never tiny.... it is like she is on a permanent adrenaline rush. once when she was chasing emily she jumped staight up in the air from the floor onto the couch. her feet are pretty big so she might turn out to be bigger than emily. her tail is in a constant fluff. i am not sure it can lay down. neither are real snugglers to strangers. i think only sam, who is has his own issues is that friendly to strangers.

big crunch

it didn't happen close to campus or i am sure we would have heard and felt it. twenty seven cars crushed into each other destroying cars, dumping coal, closing a side road, and attracting sightseers. by the time i arrived they were busy fixing things. you can see the cat picking up wheels and moving them off the track. while i was taking pictures two cranes on cat treads arrived to pick up cars at either end and move them around. by the time i got back from a visit to my son and daughter-in-law in illinois--5 days later--only 6 cars, empty, were left. new track had been laid and most of the coal hauled away.

what people think we are

it is interesting to here what people think about you. most of it is based on bits and pieces of what they think they know. once i was deemed unfit to teach in the church school because the people of the church did not see my children with me in church not understanding that they were always with their dad on that day because he always worked on sundays. i had a cousin who was a minister's wife who people thought spent all their money on clothes,but she had excellent taste and was a great seamtress. currently my peers think i know a lot more about computers than they do only because i helped them find lost files a few times---they couldn't find their draft mail, or had changed the home view of their grade program ---and i just called someone to find out how to print report cards from our networked data base, something last years registrar couldn't figure out. it doesn't take computer know how to pick up a phone and ask for directions. i just wrote them down. and it worked. in another environment i would certainly not be considered expert in any fashion whatsoever. i miss the college town. hopefully when i move to belle there will be enough intellectual stimulation in rapid where the school of mines resides. it actually has a world wide reputation, so i would expect the town to be more interesting than being in the middle of the cornfield. maybe i need to look deeper.

soft touch

i ran into town the other day to deposit my check--i miss direct deposit--when a train came to a halt in the main part of town. i could see that some switching of cars was going on so when i could i drove to a crossing--which was blocked by the train, of course,-- and watched the engineers at work. it was a short train of cars to be deposited here and there pulled by two engines and as far as i could tell run by two engineers. one of the engines was number 813 which i have seen go by often. both the engineers where out walking and switching the tracks. as i watched they deposited one grain car by an elevator i thought no one used and then remotely backed up the forward part of the train to the detached back of the train. i waited for the crunch of the couplings, but none came. the engineer with his remote backed up the two engines and about ten cars so sweetly that there was not a sound above that of the engines as the train was rejoined. they walked back to the engines, each getting in there own, the train starting just as the forward engineer stepped aboard. no sound of jerking cars crunched the air waves as they slipped on to the next site. not everyone is so skilled as i am often awakened at night by the patterned staccato of cars being jerked one after the other forward.

sweet summer nights

last evening i rode the yellow bus into town with chattering teens. the windows were down and the warm air blew nicely through the bus. the teens had were in a party mood and had prepared with baths, clean duds, and maybe a few with a bit too much deoderant or perfume. but no cow smell for this group. a few were brave enough to sit as couples in the front of the bus. :)

as i snaped pictures at the mini-gulf course, some tried to hide, others kept checking the results and asked for retakes until they look perfect in their overly critical eyes. but the air was the same summer air that i remmebered as a teen. it was the air of wandering through the neighborhood, looking for friends, for hanging out, for driving to the a & w for a rootbeer float. nobody should be in school yet, air.

spare body parts and telomeres

now that i am soon to reach a certain age where i am told that i should not tell my age i am wishing for a few spare body parts stashed away that i can use as needed. like new ears. the last docotor...who i shall not return to...did not help my ear. i found out from the real ear doctor that i have a fungus in my ear. it seems a hearing aid creates a closed system of nice warm moist stuff just right for a fungus. sigh more meds and a return next wednesday. now if the solved the problem of the ends of the telomeres falling off and people loosing part of their instruction codes i wouldn't have to worry about the spare body parts. lets see.... what else should i replace?

fighting pink

well, except for a black photographer who doesn't have to come to meetings.... the yearbook staff is all girls. save us from themes about rainbows and dreams. and layouts like cosmo!

silliness

how often do we know what is really going on and just close our eyes. ha! the kids were treated to a movie last night for evening entertainment. it was a cute idea. psuedo drive in movie theatre. shark tales was shown agains the wall of the old gym with the kids sitting on benches and couches and chairs draged out of the boys dorm. my favorite was the inner tube. plenty of off was available to discourage the bugs. christmas tree lights ran up the sort of aisle and over the posts that had the electrical outlets on it to keep people from hitting the post while walking in the dark....or was it to shed just a little light on the couples. some brought out blankets even though it was at least 70. were they to wrap couples in? .....alas that was forbidden...maybe it was to keep the bugs off. still it was dark and people sitting close together ... plenty of opportunity..for a little touching. they know it and certainly staff knows it. nothing serious of course, but it is always exiting if you think you are getting away with something.

in the nick of time

i sit here with my real coffee late in the evening listening to vivaldi.. i am not supposed to have cafine after lunch if i want to sleep, but i am addicted. mostly i don't have any in the evening but it is the end of the week, i worked till five, still have a meeting to go to, and coffee goes well with the sun skimming the top of the corn tassels and the four seasons. dennis cat is warming my left arm as i type. there were a few house keeping tasks to do before sun down so i put the clothes in the dryer, started filling the sink to wash dishes, gathered all the trash and then decided i need a little jt blocks. after one game something niggled at the back of my mind and i went to the kitchen just in the nick of time. both sides of my double sink were full to the top and the water still running. sigh that's when i decided i needed a little caffine.

i love the way eugene peterson has translated (loosely) the psalms. in chapter 107 he describes some of the fixes people can get themselves into or find themselves in. and there it is-- at the end of each dilema..... then, in your desperate condition, you called out to GOD. He got you out in the nick of time; i just wonder how many times we get rescued in the nick of time without realizing it. i wander around oblivious to lots of things. i never hear the dryer bell ring telling me to get my clothes out now so i don't have to iron them... i always have to iron. pots boil over. once my truck ran out of oil. once i had to surriptiously go down to kings and buy cat food on the sabbath. if that happens in my physical life, what is going on in my spiritual life which is even less tangible?

i need his parenting always.

TIARIA FRIDAY

slimbolala.blogspot.com A CURIOUS PLACE

flying sorties

because i have supervision duty every thursday evening, i found myself setting in the sunset rays slipping through the thick cover of fog and clouds that have taken up residence. it was just enough light to glisten on the wings of a small squadron of heavy duty dragonflies buzzing the football field for flies and small no-see-ums. you know they are big when you can recognize them in the middle of the field from the bleachers. i am sure that they were bigger than some hummingbirds. they are quite interesting to watch but even more interesting is close observance of the crystaline patterned wings. i have a dragonfly string of lights...lights wound with wire to look like dragonflies courtesy of pier one --a few years ago. my cat who when he was young could jump high in the air and catch moving dragonflies has managed to unwind of few of the psuedoflies. maybe he is dreaming of his youth.

less students - smaller excursion

there is a rhythm to everything i think. we move along lines without thought or knowledge. we have fewer students this year and usually the outing to the camp is all day friday and sabbath with sunday being spent at a lake nearby. this year the camp only had a half day of work so the students went to school for half a day and then to the camp. it worked out perfectly as it rained all morning long and just quit before the arrival of the troup. because of the small number it was easier to pack up in the evening and travel back to school where the plan is have a mini olympics on the ball field or the gym. then sleep late and have a 10 o'clock brunch... good idea.... then go to island oasis water park in grand island. there was never that much to do at the lake ... mostly staff had to walk around and make sure there weren't groups of kids in secluded areas. so everything meshed together rather nicely. now if my mind can tune into the rhythms of setting up the grade program tomorrow morning. i will be happy.

there is something about that camp my body does not like. the first year was okay, but last year something was wrong with my inner ear and everytime i stood up i felt like throwing up and was very dizzy. went away after i was back on campus. this year i have an ear infection for which i am talking medicine that cost 100 dollars. thank goodness for insurance. i only had to pay 16. am allergic to penicillin so he gave me a cephalosporin antibiotic. hope it works, my ear is weeping. maybe my body is in tune with glacier view and can't adjust to a flatland camp.

point of view

once upon a time sam and dennis viewed the world outside from the ouside....a lot. i guess as they have gotten older they have the attitude that they have seen it all and it is quite nice to sit in the warm sun watching the birds outside on the back porch.

i think we need to have a change of view every once in a while....not to often...too stressful... but just often enough to keep us growing and our brain working, to keep the fires lit.

i am reading THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell and it has really opened up a new way of looking at things. weirdly it is applicable to the situtation our school has lasped into. his thesis states that there are three rules for the tipping point---the law of the few, the stickiness factor, and the power of context. and it is back up by some studies. just a few statements

....a child is better off in a good neighborhood and a troubled family than he or she is in a troubled neighborhood and a good family

....our immediate social and physical world play a huge role in shaping who we are and how we act.

...simple physical movements and observations cn have a profound effect on how we feel and think.

he proposes that the crime rate in new york went way down because one... the director of the transit system attacked the graffiti problem and made the cars nice and stopped the sneaking on the trains free. then the police chief attacked the small crimes of the neighborhoods.

so small things can make a big difference.

we need a tipping point here. i sneaked in a flower arrangement in the business office, traded out the ugly bell for a pretty one , changed the rack that held small papers. clean the counter which was really sticky. someone else cleaned the spots on the rug. now if i can just get rid of or paint the rag tag collection of tables. to have people perceive you are successful you must look successfull. you can't be niggerdly.


got the cell phone thing done.... a little thing, but i think it will help make a big difference.

the maintainace man is working mega hard to make things work... help moral of teachers which will make teaching better.

i thought we would need some charisma....but i think we just need the right connections after reading the book.

old wise and old hat

the gentleman who is head of education in the central united states is old, very old, he is 70 and still going. they asked him to stay for a little longer past retirement. a testament to his wisdom. he is soft spoken and absoutely non accusitory. still he can lay things on the line. quite a talent. he never raises his voice or uses body signals to undermine his statements. he admists his bias, ie couldn not work on west coast with its liberlism, but absolutely recognizes jewelry etc as cultural not salvation issues. old wise.
i am being good and fitting into a conservative place. i don't wear jewelry, not even my pins. save that for trips. don't think of it as being hypacrital though. if anyone asked me views i would tell them. only trying to be fittable into this culture. i am not completely silent...ie the cell phone thing. but i didn't say anything about egw on our little heritage trip, like her family eating squirrel and such while they were in colorado and supposedly eating meat at the end of her life. you never win firends or converts by tearing down heros or heroines . some of the campus team remind me of persons who figure out stuff in high school, ideas, hair styles, religious beliefs etc, and never revisit them... old hat.

death of an old friend

my friend has been with me through thick and thin, summer and winter, town and country, chic and country. i thought a while about buying my shirt--50 dollars which was a lot for a denim shirt 10 years ago. but it had little brown piping around the cuffs, pocket flaps and collar. it was soft and had a worn friendly look. after going by it several times i finally gave in and got it. it has gone over dresses and jammies. i am wearing it right now. the edges are all frayed and there are holes in the pockets and the cuffs have started to break away from the sleeves. i might have to patch it and see if i can wear it a little bit longer. going to have to look for a replacement. sigh

finding stuff

i love the falling bubble girl and set games.... keep wondering how i never find anything so i typed in fish mud and found the following....not quite as amazing as falling bubble girl.
http://mudfishmusic.com/games/golf.htm the rest of site not cool except for hangaroo

then there is the actual picture of a mud fish under cheshire cat.... weird fishhttp://www.papercat.com/ForSaleOne.cfm?Item=CCA0218


AND THEN A CHINESE FLOOD STORY!!!!
http://lair2000.net/Chinese_Poetry/stories/The_Fish_At_Dragon's_Gate.html

big leap two or three

there is a drawing of my new house if check the link

i decided that when i went to belle this time i was going to get something. my sister really, really, needed a place to live. all the old house we looked at had issues. one was quite nice with two baths but on separate floors, but........ after the lady nicely showed us the house, she said she and her sister had accepted an offer. maybe she was expecting a bidding war... no way. it was across the street from a huge grain elevator of metal. besides that it was on an irregular lot and if the house burned the city would not let you rebuild.

the next one had real oder problems in the basement suggesting sewer problems.
the next one had crack issues in the foundation and sidewalks around. nice yard. big.. but no way.
the next one was really cute and had a place you could rent to a college student downstairs.
a nice basement apartment. but you know the saying location, location, location.
it was surrounded by commercial property.

for just a little bit more we decided to buy a new house... it is not first quality building but we are not putting out first rate money for the size. you get what you pay for. besides the tickytacky on dahlia did go up in value. you just couldn't remove the 2 x 4 under the sink in the kitchen or it wouldn't drain right.

so the new place is only finished on the main floor. 2 bedrooms, open area that includes living, kitchen, and dining. a laundry room and a bathroom. a front porch and a hugh double garage. a deck off the dining area.

the basement is walk out and roughed out for 2 more bedrooms another bath , family room and a sort of little study place, it has a place for sump pump.... all the house in area have them. our house is toward the bottom of the hill and we put in contract to make double sure the water drains away from house.

there are covenents about parking vehicles, pets, colors, yards, and fences which is good. not way upscale but enough to keep neighborhood from becoming a junk yard. our house is beige with darker beige trim. :) all the others are earth tones , too, but have white trim. each time i have been there i have seen a deer in the distance.

we are decorating western but not overtly.... coffee and cream rug(FRIEZE- good for pets) and vynal that sort of looks like quarry tile (color matches rug), hickory cabinets with dark blue gray mixed counter tops. and blue as dominate color. going to get some chairs recovered....they need it. to put in.

the bath on first floor is small because the builder wanted a walk in closet for bedroom. it is small too. but all is workable. i just hope the garage comes with openers. we have to buy appliances.

it has pex plumbing and radiant heat from the ceiling and a 1200 btu air conditioner that looks like a room conditioner stuck in the wall by the dining / living area. we will see how that goes. but there is no duct work. how weird. like the pex plumbing though.

we decided to pay cash so we won't have to spreading our meger retirement over house payments.

air

the good and the bad of owning a jeep without air conditioning

it was sooooooo hot on my last trip through nebraska to the black hills i tied back my hair and used enough clips to capture stray ends to hear messages from mars. because all the windows were open and when you are going 60+ the wind winds your hair into mesh if left free.

but as a consequence of all that air rushing about i could smell corn ripening in the field. i think if i wasn't deaf i could have heard the cells popping out new cells. i could smell the water in the air over irrigated fields. when the coal train went by i could smell and feel micro coal dust in my nose. i could smell air unadultrated by concentrated auto fumes, heat rising from acres of concrete, and the neighbors cooking whatever.

the best part was driving through the black hills....the long route.... through little scattered rain showers. the smell of water washed by pine ..... no one yet has reproduced that

i didn't mind that the wind was blowing mist on the inside of my windshield making wipers pretty much useless.

a best book

i am almost to the end of LOCAL WONDERS. since the words are like cream to be savoured on the tongue, i read in small snippets. the author's account of an one hundred and seven year old's rememberance of an indian dance reminded me of a story told me by my grandmother. she and her mother went down to the airport in sioux falls, south dakota to watch the flight of the plane carrying the first "air" mail out of town. they had had quite a long discussion regarding the sinfullness or not, of sending an air mail letter that day. it was the sabbath. they finally decided it would be all right to put a letter --which i still have-- on that plane.

having grown up in eastern nebraska and eating polish kolachies, the stories of party lines, wind, and outhouses are very familar.

fire fly nights

now when i am out in the evening i am in the midst of the crazy flight of fireflies. even though they are small and the light is very tiny, their sparkly selves are hard to miss. little missionaries of cheer in the rushing darkness. i once read a book about the greek experience that put forth the idea that the great ideas of greece, democracy and all that, was the result of the absolute clearness of the air. i have not been to greece so cannot attest to the air, but i have not every seen a cloudy picture of greece. i guess you wouldn't do that...take pictures of cloudy weather, if you wanted tourists to come. in england, well, not that many really clear bright sunny days. so how important is light, and where the light is? you cannot see the fireflies in the daylight, i am not sure if they actually fly around in the day time. Christians are to be lights. surely the brightness of the light partially depends on where you are. does it shine any less in goodness than it does in darkness. it is easier to notice in the night, but does it shine less in the day?

what life has come to

well, if you look at the link you will see a picture of ge's new engine. and links to pictures. i am so excited.... i saw a very long stack train go by the other day with 6 new engines. wow! i need a life

caught in the middle

several times as i have been walking home i have heard this scolding from up above. i finally figured out it was a bird which i think is a female oriole. turns out she has been fussing at a school who has been wandering around the tree where she has a nest. tonight she was in the tree above the squirrel and i was below. poor squirrel.... no where to go. at least the bird couldn't dive bomb him as he was in the branches of the tree. i am sure everyone feels like the squirrel at their work sometimes. bosses up above pushing and scolding and those below with expectations of behavior and performance. caught in the middle.

old dog new tricks

Ideas for cover of bulletin for next year. In the past it has been just one color, on shade of one color in fact on white. Looked kind of 50's. I used some backgrounds from the yearbook program and then added text and pictures. The one with the most color has a photo I took of the road into the campus on the right side of the layout. WHat do you think? The white lines in the blue one have been excised!!!

phantasmagoria

so, here i am in lincoln, sitting in a funky coffee shop when a notice a pair of leather sandals......and that they are worn by a young man accompanied by a young girl in flip flops, jean shorts and a white T. i am young again....notice, i didn't say pretend, or imagine....i am. i had a pair of leather sandals hand made to fit my fit up on the hill in boulder in a shop called phantasmagoria. i am young again with all those hopes and dreams laying ahead of me. thick hair, skinny bones, and reading lord of the rings for the third time and reading carlos castenda and looking up and seeing someone else reading the same book and in the same place in the book, and those gorgeous flatirons just outside of anywhere i am. and eternal sunshine. and funky shops.

well, i may have skinny hair and thick bones now, but there are still dreams ahead and my mind is not as old as my body. i am getting my passport renewed and putting on my walking shoes, not sandals this time but crocs

ps when i was young there were no funky coffee shops in lincoln, but a lot of funky in boulder.

loft ....maybe, maybe not

this is the hallway ... the little window in the left wall is left over from a pharmacy that used to be there. can you imagine going up stairs that are one and half stories tall to get your medicine?
the door to the left goes to the bathroom. unfortunately the original door was torn off.


the wall straight ahead is part of the wall of the next building over. it has kinda cool finish and texture when you peal off the wall paper. it would be the east wall of the eating area.



not sure who's rear.... but anyway, the dining area wall is to the left and you are looking straight into the kitchen area. someone already lowered the ceiling. thinking about putting corregated tin on the ceiling.... maybe... door to kitchen is against wall. could use it for the missing bathroom door.



the windows are on the front of the building. they would be replaced. the area to the right is the dining area and to the left is the living area. i didn't take pictures of the bedrooms because it was too dark. !!!! thinking of resistance heating, or heat pump, demand water heating, and pex plumbing., insulating to the max. will have two sets of french doors on the back out onto a deck. the front door...which is on the side of the building still has a glass on it with the words lawyers office on it... cool. the mail slot has been nailed shut. the stairs up are in a narrow passage between two buildings. will get estimates and a structural engineer to look at it.

two old ladies

you just don't know what will happen when you get two old ladies out in the back yard on mechanical equipment! don't know how i got the underline on! i have that feeling about running the three wheeler. if it stopped, jay had to start it. i never was out of first gear. but i did know where the breaks where! we went up and down the field picking up junk from an old car junk yard. when they took out the cars etc., they just covered the small stuff up with dirt, but just like rocks the stuff heaves up in the spring. we found hubcaps, trim, brake drums and pads, lots of rubber stuff like belts and trim around doors, a girl's purse---empty--but no snakes or animals. we filled three little trailors with stuff. the trailor was hooked behind my sister's four wheeler.





it was fun.... don't think i will ever go very fast on one of those things though....very tippy. even though it wasn't very sunny, my nephew thought i should wear a hat. his property goes down to the trees. he did offer once to let my sister and i put a trailor on it. he already has a nice one at the top of the hill in the direction we are looking.

flying ears

once again i am in the black hills, and it is rainy and cold. that probably explains why the hills are so green that they look black from a distance. during one of the breaks from rain, the families gathered on the ball field to put up advertising signs on the boards of the back field. the men used there power tools while the women stood around and chatted. the kids were all over the field. at one point my great niece had put her mini dachshound --spotted splashy black and white with blue marble eyes--- into her little doll stroller. he was sitting up and belted in as she when flying across the field. his long ears caught the wind and were sticking out straight on either side. a little faster, a little bit bigger ears, and he would have taken off.

to life

just trying to do that carpe diem thing... usually think of doing big things in famous places. but since i am in the middle of the flat plains i have to be creative. that means taking time to consciously appreciate even the small things like two sleepy cats in a sunny window. a little house finch pair started to build a nest on top of my porch lite which gave the cats a thrill. haven't seen the birds lately though, must have been too stressful for them having cat eyes watching them all the time. cats really know how to waste a day....napping here and there. there is a little straw basket with a snuggly blanket in it by my computer which was originally for the white cat because he likes to help me when i am working or playing. he is a little heavy to hold in my arms while typing, hence the basket substitute. however, the black cat took over control of the basket so now i have both of them around....helping. sometimes the black cat just hangs out in the basket when i am not around...likes the basket better than me... oh sigh.... anyway, three times now he has fooled around and managed to slide the basket off the table with himself in it. doesn't stop him though for getting back in. either really gutsy, has alzheimers, or is a few whiskers short of cathood.

trains and tracks

we expected to find something similar to the website....but we only could see bits and pieces of the yard and the engines and cars. we stopped at the first thing that looked like an office and asked where the viewing stand was.... they all laughed .... said it hadn't been built .. in a politcal battle about who was going to pay and who was going to benefit. so what we found was the following.






well you can see that you can't see too much from here. but we were able to see the little hill they created to push cars up and then let coast down into the classification yard. one by one and two by two the cars slowly pick up speed until they are somehow slowed down with much screeching and sent onto one of the many trains that are being built. they just sort of ghostly glide down the tracks. none of the ones we watch jammed into a car so i assume an engine has to come along and crunch them all together.

we finally found an overpass for cars and people and got out and walked to the top to take some pictures from above. still couldn't see a lot, but could see more. unfortunately my digital camera was full, but took some with my 35 mm. supposedly the yard is big enough to hold 3800 football fields. i couldn't prove that from what i saw though. glad i stopped by though.

we also stopped at buffalo bill's ranch. great house... could use a little work on the hall wallpaper...doesn't look authentic.... looks like kitchen stick on shelf paper. but i could be wrong. the horse barn was great. lots of harnesses, saddles, and great pictures. got to walk up to the hay loft.

i wanted to see the famous canteen of ww2 but it has been recreated in a museum.. i thought it was the original... oh well...

it was still a fun trip with friends :)

also on the way stopped at a neat little resturant. serves taco bell and pizza hut stuff. looks ordinary from the outside but decorated western style inside.. they did a great job. it is just off i80 at gothenburg and worth a stop.

visitors

today i have a visitor helping me with my blog. georgia lives next door with her parents, her brother, and her dog, well her mother's dog--molly. we are planning to go and visit bailey yards in north platte --the world's largest classification train yard. it is owned by union pacific. will let you know how it turned out. taking my digital camera. i hope they let me take pictures. they might not because of 9/11. and security issues. we will see. i might just have to stand out back of my house and take pictures of trains going by and pretend they are in bailey yards. ha ha.

birds in the tree

today i looked out my east window and saw redwing blackbirds sitting in a tree of unknown species, but with bright red coats over new leaves. what a picture. beauty is everywhere... you just have to look.

other people's cars

every once in a while i drive someone else's car...which i really hate. it takes a while for my body to learn something... don't learn things that are physical automatically. my ski instructor didn't think i was ever going to make it down any slopes ....ever

so when i drive someone else's car it takes a while to adjust to the brake... a few stops after everyone lunges against the seat belt... a while to stop putting my left foot on the nonexistant clutch .... fortunately most of the riders don't see that... and adjusting the sound of the motor to the speed of the engine.

today i drove a load of kids to lincoln in the ancient school van. it is such a joy.
it doesn't ride to badly, the engine seems good, but it does have a few quirks. there is no pointer on the gear indicator... so you have to count to right selection. not to much of a problem because you don't do too much sifing with an automatic. the other little joy is getting it started. you really have to put your wieight and strength into turning the key to start it. it starts right off if you can turn the key. not made for old ladies. everything else works fine. it is a lot quieter than driving the jeep with its cloth top. most of the kids were tired enough to fall asleep and they all had their own cd players and ear phones so i didn't have to listen to their music. ! :)

transplants & roots

it is the rainy season. our biology teacher managed to transplant 4 little evergreens before the rains started. there are little red flags usually associated with gas line markings on campus where more trees will be put if.... rain stops ...time to do it.... etc. i put out some wish flags in my front yard for bushes and a some trees. i do not like looking into my neighbor's front windows ... or they looking in mine. it looks like i will probably have to dig the holes or at least start them and hopefully shame someone to help the old lady... shame on me.... oh .well--old age ought to be good for something. plants around here need to be transplanted during the first few weeks of spring to get a good start... too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. in coloraod you could tranplant things almost any time during the spring, summer, or fall if you knew what you were doing.

it is also easy for people to be transplanted to colorado...any time in your life.. i came in my twenties and lived there during the middle of my life and raised my kids there. it called to my sould before i went there... especailly boulder. i am not there any more but my roots are still there. i didn't realize how much i am still there until i bought a pair of shoes the other day in kearney. they are green plastic sort of like garden shoes.. corcs... no one on campus has a pair. although a boy from connecticut has a pair of clog sort of shoes that he wears all the time. close.... anyway i started wearing them to school... they are so comfy and the seniors who took their senior trip to glenwood springs and denver said....hey all the people in colorado were wearing those. .. as they looked at mine in a 'i'll never be caught dead in those kind of look" i love them.. i may not be in boulder any more but boulder is still in my spirit. :)

sand hills trip tic

the first time i made the trip from the platte river valley, i was taking students west for break. it was september. no weather problems and i would get to see my sister on the rez. i was loaned a car which was okay. however, just at sunset it started to snow. quickly it developed into a full blown blizzard and i had to have the remaining student roll down the window to check out intersections and road signs. the window stuck down! which was okay because she had to tell me if i was on the road, but it was really cold for her and for me. after driving 15 and 2o miles an hour forever, i finally made it to my sister's. going back was pretty normal and the mechanic guy at the campus where my sister work temporarily propped the window back up so it was warm.

next time i made the trip it was summer--no problems--well except for the heat. each time i have a car i promise myself that the next time i buy a car it is going to air. but if you buy not during the summer time like i seem to do, i always forget. and it seems sort of silly to buy air when you buy a wrangler. next time.... i alsohad to gage when to get gas as i didn't know exactly where the stations were. driving through the middle of the sand hills is not like driving on the interstate..

the best part of the trip is always observing the sand hills themselves. i think they are the best part of nebraska. the shapes of the hills that vary from long and sweeping to funky little pop-ups with sand cuts allow the eye to see far into the horizon. and i love the way the grasses change color. expecially blue stem which turns a wonderful red rust in the fall. for probably 1/3 of the trip the road follows burlington tracks. towards evening on this last trip i came over a hill and saw a swath of rust blue stem following along beside four sets of characoal tracks.

then there was the thanksgiving trip. it was a lot of fun being with my sister and her family but the trip back was a stresser. i left around five to try to beat the storm, but it started to snow seriously around murdo. after driving in icy conditions at a snail's pace and twirling off the road two or three times i gave it up and spent the night in broken bow. i should have known better, driving at thanksgiving is always risky.

this trip is only slightly risky as far as spring blizzards. i don't know what the trip home is going to be like, but the trip up was stressful. driving a jeep wrangler in wind with 50 mile gusts is tiring. usually don't drive too fast in those conditions. then outside of thedford i drove in to clouds of swirly white stuff. deja vu... thought it was going to be the blizzard experience all over again, but it was only a little stretch of sploshy stuff. after that there were only a few rain spots and the wind died down until i hit the hills. it was windy all day and it is supposed to be windy today, but last night it was clear for a little bit. who knows what the trip back will be like.

trips are always an adventure and a little bit of excitement along the way is not going to stop this old lady from checking out the country. besides if everything went smoothly, were would be the edge?

my march madness

it is march....in like a lamb out like a lion the irish month ie st patrick's day
murphy's law is in full effect
the bus has broken down 3 times in the last three weeks.....big time ...engine rebuild 2x
everyone has the flu or something just as bad
our 77 year old volunteer who comes to work everyday was home sick
our boss has been essentially out of town for 3 weeks due to unforseen circumstances
& an evaluation is being set up...i have no power to pull the paper work in
the yearbook is due next week and the seniors... half my staff... the important half...
have been gone for 2 weeks and they have a term paper due
i need a new job that pays real money
so if the stress wise .... if march came in like a lion... does that mean my life will become lamb like by the end of the month? at this point i don't care about the weather!

i am going to make a nice cup of coffee and read a dick francis book and escape

book report

every once in a while i go on a dick francis jag, even though i have read most of them at least twice, some i have read at least five times. they are always a good read. fonner park is not quite newmarket- where i actually saw a race- nor is it as great as aksarben, but it is racing.

at the beginning of the month i read show of ashland. it is an okay book but will not keep it. just doesn't have staying power. but the mystery book was great. there are more in the library so will try to read some more of those. but i probably won't buy any. i picked up a copy of the last juror by grishom.. so that will be my next book.

great stores

this is a treasure...john wayne cycle shop in grand island. just downright cool. i found it quite by accident. the school decided to declare february cancer support month so i was buying yellow livestrong wrist bands for the kids and this is the store that sells them. i didn't look at the prices. there are cool posters on the walls also but none from the coors classic.

racing in the muc

dairy workers think there job is hard... how would you like to ride two to three races in the mud having mud slather your face about an inch deep, tear off layers of throwaway covers on your googles, and still try to get your horse that doesn't like to run in the mud---horses don't like mud in their faces either, mostly--to the finish line. at least it was over 50 degrees. saw offspring of secretiat...handsome horse but didn't win. the center of the track attracts geese with its little pond. make lots of noise when the wheel around in the sky but the horses don't seem to mind! i had fun.... no mud in my face but did drop my program in a puddle. i think if you are just having fun you just need to pick the horse by name. works just as well as looking at the program.

tic time

i think people have forever tried to make sure the tic times--those moments you never want to forget - or shouldn't forget--are somehow bottled for future use. whatever the image it is never as sweet as the moment. after getting my jeep's oil changed this morning i stopped by the race track. it was chilly but not too, around 10 and the horses were just coming out. i sat there in my jeep listening to classical music watching huge canada geese fly little sorties around the track pond and fractious colts and fillies take their morning schooling. tic time. spirit revival.

it was truly school time for those four-legged aristrocrats. they have to learn how to run at a certain pace and change leads...you could tell some did not like the lead change as they came around the corner they were skipping and tossing their heads, but the jockeys were still in their seats and strong in their requests.

wreath

practice placing stuff. since my wreath that jennifer and i worked on for hours didn't go out on my email i thought i would post it on my blog. there is a new gimp, so i am going to uninstall the old one and add the new. it is really cool and easier to use than the old one.

train whistles

so i am just tooling down highway 30 listening to the radio when i hear this strange intermitent sound sort coming with the music on the radio only it doesn't quite fit. immediately because i am parinoid about keeping automobiles running i think soming has gone wrong with my jeep so i am just about to turn the radio off when a big union pacific engine sneaks right up beside me and whistles. scare me off the road...almost. it was going just only a little faster than i was going so it took a while for it to get right beside me. if you wonder why i couldn't hear it above the radio.... i am a little ...well a lot deaf so i turn up the radio LOUD.

then there was the time i was driving along, no radio and the engine came right up behind me just as we both got to a crossing and it blew its whistle... another jump in the seat. they don't do the whistle thing until they are almost on top of the crossing which i don't understand. a railroad safety man that was at school for safety day said that they are supposed to do 2 longs and 2 short blasts, but that is not what they do. i have heard all variations.

thanksgiving in belle

my sister and i had the same idea... it has been traditional in our family to have three football mums on the table for thanksgiving. it started when my dad bought my great grandmother a pretty glass pitcher with lilies on it with 3 huge yellow mums in it for one thanksgiving. my grandmother got the vase and the tradition and then i got it and the tradition. so when i went to belle for thanksgiving this year i stopped in rapid and bought three mums. she had already ordered 3 mums in belle plus a nice red vase (since i had given the orginal to my daughter). so this year we had three mums in a nice red vase for thanksgiving. the vase stayed at james'.



for some strange reason we had snowmen plates and table cloth for thanksgiving. everyone in town who was realted and friend came over. moms and dads and grandmothers and friends...so quite a crew.
i bought plates and table clothe and center pieces as a hostess gift. at any rate they will be ready for christmas too. it was a nice meal.