thanksgiving holiday

my sis and i spent thanksgiving day with her family and their extended family. it was quite a group. everyone from the oldest (100) to the youngest (7) was at the same table (the reg table plus kitchen table plus a folding table). when i was young.....well, the kids sat at a different table. i am sure that was to enable the adults to tell stories not meant for little ears. it was a very pleasant day. of course, ate too much. will have to make sure and walk today.

the little green couch is gone. we have a small house and so we are trying to maximize the space by the choice of our furniture. the couch only sat two people so it was replaced by two wicker chairs. the room already looks bigger. we decided we wanted to have blue as our accent color. so the green must go. green is nice, but we both like blue better.

when i was christmas shopping i saw this little lamp for half price so i picked it up. thought it went with our western cottage theme.

today we are not shopping even though it is black friday. we went wednesday. today we are cleaning the chicken house and putting up christmas decorations and my sis is babysitting her two grandchildren. i think we will get our assigned 3 tasks done today. mom (when she was older) always bragged when she got three things done in a day. i was teaching at the time so did a lot more than 3 things. so it became sort of a joke, but now as my sis and i are getting to be that old, it is not quite the joke it used to be. we, however, still easily get our 3 a day in everyday, not just once a week or once a month.

the light saga

my sis hated my experiments with the lights in the dining room. she did not like the copper/bronze faux finish or the collage on the glass. sigh...... so now we have new lights . we both like the design because it is woodsy. and it will increase the value of the house.

happy day

sis and i are going to town today. not that i have any money to spend. i am happy just because i like to go to town and window shop...see pretty things. and more importantly, the sun is out today and it is not too cold out. i was out in my fluffy robe taking pictures; brisk, but so much better than previous days. the door to the deck was not covered by blinds and the blinds were up on the front windows so you can see the sunrise through both windows of the house.

a little sunshine

i looked off the back deck this morning as i was filling the bird feeder and spied our "doctor's" (pa) peacock in the neighbor's yard. when the doc bought the farm north of us the seller said the peacock was included. no choice. i don't think he minded as he has several horses and dogs. he looks terrible right now. his tail feathers are a sad mess....no feathers. when he is in fine feather he spends a lot of time announcing it to the neighborhood. i don't know if there is a mrs peacock around.

when the sun goes down now it does not linger. there is no soft evening glow. it hits the hills and then it is gone. my sis and i tried to capture the light on the bluffs and hills but we were not to successful. i am really glad there was sunshine today even if only for a little bit. i am trying to convince my sis to move to a warmer climate and one where the sun shines a lot more. maybe grand junction. it is on the train line west. and they have bookstores. new and used.

habits

i think it is harder to build a habit than to break one unless you are dealing with something addictive. sis and i made our third mile walk today. we want to try and do 4 a week which probably doesn't sound like much to people who walk all the time. but if you haven't been walking, getting into the routine and finding the right time can be tricky.

many of the places we want to visit in england require walking...walking to see the sights and walking to get from the train station to the attraction. we don't need to walk fast; we just need to be able to walk for a long period of time.

staring ....again

my sis has been trying to get me to sign up at the local rec center for 6 months now...more or less. so today i went down and paid my dues. we walked a mile on their indoor track after work today. it is so much easier on old joints than concrete. it took us half an hour to do a mile. don't laugh. it is a start. they have a great pool which my sis loves...me ...i am not so fond of water.

help for the older persons

some days are down days for me so thursday when we had a snow day i sort of collapsed into nothingness. my sis had a great burst of energy: worked on sewing project, painted a picture, and i don't know what else--she was busy. friday was another snow day. some people were returning to work, but there was no school. sis had a party planned for some of our after school kids, but that was canceled. she went out to tackle shoveling the driveway. i was inside cleaning out the fridge. i asked if she could take out the garbage sacks when they were full since she had volunteered to do it the day before. well, it was a bit much to ask just after she had worked on the driveway. she was really mad at me. BuT, we were saved by the arrival of her grand-kids and her son. he took one look at the driveway and the ice on the sidewalk and went home to get his little front loader that he, his brother, and their dad had bought. there was probably a 4 foot drift all across our driveway and the snow was really wet. in fact, if you look at the snow picture you can see a blue air pocket. my nephew said it is because the wet air is so cold that it turns blue. not quite sure how that works. after the driveway was cleared, he and his dad finished our little water diversion project so that the water from the roof does not drain onto the sidewalk. the ice that formed every snow storm was pretty dangerous. formerly the water that was coming down the gutter was too much to go unde the sidewalk as planned and it would spout up at the connection at the sidewalk and spill out and then freeze. we have a couple of cracks in the sidewalk that have to be mended. so we rerouted the gutter over the sidewalk. next spring we will plant a vine to grow up over the gutter. it should make a pretty entrance to our little house.

mini vs 4x4 truck

okay....here is the controversy. i say my mini is safer on snowy and snow packed streets than my sis's truck.

first blizzard of 08-09 winter

snow day! yeah!
it is all sort of fun until you have to go out and shovel off the deck and driveway. i went out and fixed the bird feeder so the birds could eat. my sis tossed some seed on the concrete below the deck. why it doesn't have snow i don't know. from the picture you can see a huge drift of snow right at the edge of the concrete. dennis the cat wanted to go out until he realized what was out there. so he sits by the sliding doors downstairs and watches the juncos through the glass.

theme dinner - halloween

well, my sis and i did it again. another theme dinner. it is a lot of work, but it entertains us old folks. one of her sons does not do anything for halloween, but the other one who lives in town takes his children out trick-or-treating. so we had a halloween themed dinner for the kids. we bought a hairy spider to hang from the light and made ghoulish food--bleary-eyed potatoes(potatoes with olive eyes and guacamole sauce and taco sauce, gruel (thick broccoli soup with half a boiled egg as an eye; it also had an olive pupil), mummy meatloaf (meatloaf with two slices of round motza cheese eyes with olive pupils and then wrapped in noodles), and carrot cake with a spider web on top.

sis bought lots of candy for trick-or-treaters. we lighted the tiki torches and put little battery tea lights inside paper sacks. but not many came. we should have read the paper first as they reported that nationwide, trick-or-treating is way down.

i had to take a picture of our very own halloween cat. he sleeps a lot and is not at all scary. he is the nicest of our 3 cats.

the dining room light

this is the light....one they always take down on the redecorating shows on tv. trying not to spend more money, it has been altered by paint, taking off the rims on the shades, and by putting maps on the shades. still thinking about doing more so we can stand to live with it.

sunday dinner

i am not much of a social person, but my sister is, plus she has family in town. so we had one of her son's family over for dinner sunday evening.

it turned out to be a little stressful because we did not clean house on friday. on sunday we were cleaning and making dishes that we had not made before.

sis made a super raspberry cheesecake...one you bake...for dessert and i made souffles, salad, and steamed asparagus. note: we picked things out of season so paid dearly for the aspargus and the raspberries. the salad was spring mix with toasted pecans, blueberries and a parmesan like cheese with a simple dressing.

actually i shopped friday morning at walmart for groceries, but had to stop at safeway for the raspberries and aspargus. they have just remodeled the safeway store in spearfish and it is really nice. sort of a little like the whole foods thing; but the best part is they have a starbucks. my sis and i still like to go to the locally owned coffee places though because of their unique style. my sis's daughter-in-law works at one in belle--she like to go there, of course--and i like to go to the one down town in belle---it has art work on the wall.

we had lunch friday at the downtown coffee shop; sis had california chicken salad sandwich which she said was really good and i loved my three cheese tuna melt. i don't fix fix in the house because sis does not like it much. i think i would it more fish and less other types of meat.

we have been totally disatisfied with the chandelier over the dinning room table. it was brassy gold and most ordinary. i started by painted it to look coppery. then i tried winding stuff around the arms to disguise it. was just ok. took off the stuff then i painted the shades brownish..turned out ugly. then i got the idea to collage maps on the shades. seems like we can live with that for a while. need to put in smaller bulbs so they don't show as much.

the true price of eggs

as i mentioned before, my sis decided to buy chickens while i was in california. it is nice to have home grown eggs....organic and all that. but at what cost?
1. chicken house
2. fencing
3. feed
4. treats - cracked corn
5. feed holders
6. water holders
7. horse tank for the ducks to swim in
8. straw for the nest
9. glass for the windows of the chicken house
10. plastic for other windows
11. new silverado truck to haul feed
12. wellies to walk in the chicken yard
13. bedding for the chicken house - cleaned once a month
14. gloves for winter time
15. hat for winter time
16. electric cord from the house
17. heater for the winter
18. two water jugs to carry water for the winter
19. hose for summer water
20. more fencing to make a bigger yard
21. latches for doors

family together

maurine

the memorial service for my great aunt maurine was early sabbath morning...9:30. the graveyard was once attached to a luthern church, but because of some split in the church, the church moved and many of the original persons buried in this grave yard were moved to the new church. all that remains are a few graves scattered through the yard. the memorial service also included a service for maurine's sister in law. the land was originally donated by her sister in law's grandparents or great grandparents. the land is located just outside valley springs, south dakota. maurine and oscar once had a farm nearby and their sons, marsden and richard with his wife shirley are buried there also. maurine lived to 104.

it was a lovely setting even though a little chilly and misty.

road trip across south dakota

last weekend my sister and i loaded up berti and took off across the state of south dakota for our great aunt's funeral. just because, 1. sioux falls has really grown since we were kids 50 years agom(hedged on that a little), 2. we aren't as quick as we used to be, & 3. we don't have our laptop connected to bertie so we can google maps while driving; i bought a gps. we really didn't need to get it to go across the state, but it was extremely helpful in finding various locations within the city: hotel, grave site, church, and bookstore.

i named our gps sheila since she has a female voice and those of you who have a gps know that her favorite word is 'recalculating.' we didn't have time to read all the directions before going so we don't know all her tricks yet.

i was very careful driving to sioux falls. drove 65 most of the way. filled up with gas before starting and actually made it to our hotel without a refill. yeah! go bertie. did have to fill before running around the next day. i think using cruise from the very start was also helpful. my sister is not fond of cruise, but because i have a bone spur in my right foot, the p.a. suggested i use it. so i do. helps my foot! on the way back my sis read commentary from roadside geology of south dakota. all this time i thought all s.d. road engineers had some basic lack of understanding regarding bridge approaches. every one you cross seems to bump up and them bump down. turns out, according the geology book, that most of the roads in the state are build on pierre shale which expands after rains and snow. it also corrodes concrete and metal. somehow the expansion is uneven around bridges (more concrete in the supports) which causes the bridges to rise up or fall depending on the moisture in the shale...hence the bumpy approaches on bridges. many of the roads are not concrete but asphalt because of better stretchability.

anyway, i became so involved with looking at roadside geology sites i forgot to watch the gas tank. what with running around sioux falls after my fill up and going just a little bit faster going home, bertie ran out of gas about 10 miles from home. had to call a nephew to come and rescue us. so embarrassing. i cannot even remember the last time i ran out of gas.

one unexpected pleasure, besides visiting with all the relatives, was the gift of a loki zip up jacket. i was standing with just a sweater on in the mist and chill around the grave site and my cousin came up with one of his jackets and loaned it to me. i gave it back as i thought it was a loan, but it came back to me with a lecture about never driving around without being adequately prepared.....jacket and sleeping bag in the car. if you have never seen a loki product, check out lokiusa. my nephew designs and markets the clothing line.

he and my daughter must have some gene in common. she recently gave me the lecture about wearing seat belts; not just on trips but also around town. my sis and i have done better. it is almost like we can hear her voice every time we get into the car. i could not repeat exactly what she said, but she did make an impression. now we will also make sure to have something to keep us warm in the car also. i already have two fold up chairs, a small tool kit, a swiss army knife, flashlight, and i always carry my phone when i drive.

October snow

it has just been two weeks since the lovely drive up spearfish canyon. this morning wet snow covered the yard and caused are little trees to bend to the ground. my sis was out in her slippers and jammies shaking snow off.

we had already planned to go to rapid and since the snow was not sticking to the roads we went. sis worked on her christmas shopping...i think she already has it 2/3 done. i am just starting to think about it. we both bought merrills (not the same style, although it was close) for our winter walking shoes and to use for our trip to london. once you have a pair on, your feet don't want you to take them off. they are the kind you can just slip on and off. i found a shawl wrap to take. i think it can work as a wrap and as a blanket on the plane. and you can crunch it up ....and it is very light weight.

i also bought a cozy robe since we try to keep the temperature down in the house. the other day i bought a pair of fleece jammies. so...now i have fleece jammies AND a fleece robe. that should keep me warm.

when we stopped on the way back for chicken duty we discovered the male mallard was gone. jay later found that the neighbor's dog got it. the chickens and the ducks where penned in, but, of course, the ducks started taking little flying trips outside. jay is going to try to find a male to replace him to keep the female company. she sounded so sad when we fed and watered.

sunday drive up spearfish canyon

my sis and i were told....according to my sis...that we were going on a scenic drive up spearfish canyon this sunday to see the leaves. i am glad we went. the air in higher altitudes, with the water and the trees is so wonderful. aspen do not grow here as far as i can tell, but there were ash trees, birch trees, and some oak trees.

they had announced on the radio that this was the weekend to see the color so there were jillions of people with cameras and kids all up and down the canyon. the yellows are not quite as intense as the aspen in the rockies (as i remember them), but it made nice viewing and picture taking. there was a little park about halfway up the canyon with falls and walking trails. the little pond shown was attractive to children as it was home to several trout. don't know what kind, but they didn't seem to be rainbows.

the maple shaped leaves grew on a bush about 3 to 4 feet high and the leaves were the size of a dinner plate. have no idea what it is, but they were up and down the whole canyon.

multitude of meanings

my sister (who is way smarter than I) thinks i am a snob...maybe i am; maybe not. no one forced me (in the seventh grade) to sit by myself in front of the tv on sunday afternoons to watch greek plays. no one forced me to like classical music or to read satre. or to take baby physics after college to get a small, tiny idea of how the universe worked. (i don't do math well).

for most of my life i have lived in a university town where there were a lot of people who liked to study, mostly not the the same things that i was interested in, but certainly there was intersection. there were people working on their phd who also worked as grocery clerks to help pay their way, not because they thought it was their end job.

hence, it is taking some adjustment living in a community where going to college is not the understood goal of most of the households. my sister and i knew we were going to college from a very early age--it just was in our house even though our dad did not graduate from college and my mom only had 2 or 3 years of college.

in this community the majority of households consider high school as the end goal; if you a girl the end goal mght be getting pregnant. Since education is not high on the list, my afternoon interludes with third and fourth graders is much different that my interaction with students in the college town even when taking into consideration the age difference. i use to teach seventh and eighth graders.

i had a new student today in my little group and he is even more distant from my life than the others. he came from the south and believes that if you are under twelve you can hunt with out a license plus he can hunt any animal. i also learned that he (his family, i suppose) believes that the government owns all the property.

i knew when i moved here i the only people with higher education would be the doctors, dentists, teachers, and lawyers and maybe a few others (game warden, banker), but for the most part the hightest level of education is high school. i really haven't tried to make friends outside of my family; but probably i should-- although the process is sure to frought with stress. i have to be careful in picking topics of conversation.

i truly belived GOD puts people in places. i don't know what my purpose is here. maybe it is his purpose for me to learn humility, graciousness, patience, and acceptance of others.

animals

this week was animal fun week. our chickens started laying eggs....well, one did. you can just see her tail in the picture. she is buff with white in her tail. she is a red-sex link or red star. they supposedly lay about 300 eggs a year.

this thursday and friday, newell --the sheep capital of the west--(maybe, that is what the sign says when you enter town) hosted a show and sale. i convinced my sis to go with me to the prize ewe and ram sale. there were people and sheep from wyoming, south dakota, north dakota, and probably a few other places.

we passed a truck with this puppy. not at all friendly. i do believe he was a great pyrenees which were bred to guard sheep. the are very large, strong, and fierce and not suitable for a house pet. i have seen grown ones guarding sheep near the real center of the nation marker.

we couldn't get into the area where they were holding the sheep for sale. the picture shows only one of 3 double rows of pens. we really like the ram. i don't know what breed he is, but we liked his horns and his wrinkily nose.

dennis, the cat also added to our animal fun week by bringing in a tiny snake which scared my sis. it wasn't a common garden snake --- those have lenthwise stripes. it might have been a baby rattler! dennis followed me out as i threw it over the fence into the neighbors back yard. dennis is not very poplular right now.

there are also reports of a tagged mountain lion that comes into town during the evening. people are warned to keep their pets inside during the evening hours.