Back deck was pretty wet looking this morning so I guess the rains are continuing. I did get outside to cut the second half of the back lawn during a sunny spell. Gonna run across town this afternoon for car maintenance and will probably stop at Wal-mart to pick up a few items.
Oh, ick! The Today Show just ran a piece on the cicadas on the east coast. The apparently come out of hibernation below ground every 15 years. They mate and then die off while their eggs lay dormant underground again for another 15 years. What a life!
Watched a fun movie last night. The Outfit from 1973. Fun to see all the old cars, people smoking, and always having to go to a phone booth to make a call. Starred Robert Duvall, Joe Don Baker, and
Karen Black. Hard to believe that Duvall is 82 years old now.
I've got half a dozen solar lights on my deck and just love to see them when the night is dark. This picture doesn't do them justice, though.
Well, I had to turn off the news again. Earlier than usual today. Am so sick of stories about companies cheating people, people killing other people, mother nature killing people, and really stupid people around the world who are determined to kill as many people as they can. Why can't we just get along? Yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Guess I'll get going on ancestry now. Here's another PT picture from Mike McAndrew's collection.
And here's that Derek Hough & Kelly Pickler dance they performed in their final presentation. Everyone was moved. Move the play button over to 2:22 minutes to see the start of the dance.
And while I'm at it, here's the Alfred Hitchcock Psycho routine Derek did with Ricki Lake two years ago. FF the play button to about 1:30 to see the start. It's fabulous!
Just dropped the twins off at junior high and made a quick Safeway run. My groceries cost more than I thought they would. Spent abut $30 and easily carried my bag out the door. I looked over my receipt when I got into the car and realized the few things I bought were pricey. Maple syrup, honey, grape nuts, all bran, and a big bag of frozen berries. Was surprised how expensive honey was. I want to make some bran muffins, though, and my recipe calls for it.
I morning-surfed over Facebook to see what was there, and was delighted to see this photograph Mike McAndrew took that Lois Venarchick shared. I went to his page to see more. Fabulous stuff of Port Townsend scenes....like this one of San Juan Grocery. Go look at them. They're wonderful!
I'm taking the car in for an oil change tomorrow afternoon. Free where I bought it across town. I've had the car for 11 months and have only put on 4800 miles. I don't travel much.
Looked over this trivia website I refer to sometimes and put in today's date with a 1961 search. Gas was 31 cents a gallon; stamps were 4 cents, and a loaf of bread was 21 cents.
I decided to switch back to my Iphone yesterday instead of my flip phone. I prefer talking on it with the speaker and people were having a hard time hearing me because of an echo. Now I have to relearn how to use it again. My ring is 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.' That was one of the top songs in 1961.
Watched Dancing with the Stars last night. Was pleased that Derek Hough and Kelly Pickler won. They certainly deserved it. I could watch Derek dance all day long and Kelly is quite good as well. My favorite was the one they did Monday night. As soon as it's up on YouTube, I'll post it. Meanwhile, here's another... (you have to FF through two minutes to get to the good stuff.)
Spent most of yesterday working on genealogy again. I think I'm getting closer to figuring out how I want to put my information together. The first draft was kind of "all over the place" with census lists but now I'm going to TRY and make individual bios of various people and just write about them in my own words, following what and where the census took them. Irritates me that I can't get to the 1950, 1960, and 1970 census. When I get to run the world, I'm changing that system!
I'm lookin' out on blue skies right now. I wonder if that means the lawn will dry out. I need to get the second half of the backyard cut but.....if I don't, I don't. There's always another day. Here's another of Mike McAndrew's photos that fascinated me. Washington Street view which I know well but barely recognize from this angle. I would LOVE to be able to wander Jefferson County (mainly Port Townsend) and take photos with a really good camera.
It's 9:30 a.m. and I've been up for 3-1/2 hours already. I've tossed and turned for two nights trying to see if I would sleep better on a firm mattress. Have decided this old body of mine prefers the memory foam to drift off into dreamland. Pulled it out of the closet and put it back on the bed. Am already looking forward to bedtime tonight.
Fixed some scrambled eggs, toasted bagel, V8 juice and coffee for breakfast and then sat down to begin my morning office work. Sent off three postcards and two letters, deleted a ton of pictures on Facebook, updated my address list (amazing how quickly they become outdated), and went through Susan's reunion pictures to make a reprint order at Walgreens for her.
Sat here looking out the window at the yellow scotch broom as it continues to grow and grow and grow. I even walked up the street and around the corner to take some shots showing out it's taken over the neighborhood.
This is from my front window. I got the lawn cut yesterday and it looks sooooo much better.
See those tire marks on the street? I can't figure out why anybody would go into that little trail area but whoever is doing it, continues. With my suspicious nature, I sometimes wonder if it isn't a drug deal going down. Perhaps I watch too much tv...or perhaps not.
This is the short alley/trail. Doesn't go anywhere except the other alley that runs down along all the houses on the street.
This is M and if I follow it up and around, it takes me over to the fairgrounds, airport, and Jenni's house. More scotch broom all the way.
This is M looking in the other direction. I walked down to look in the field beyond and it's full of the yellow stuff too.
This is the view from my back deck across the neighbor's yard. I'm surrounded by it.
When I noticed caterpillars taking over my two little trees a couple weeks back, I took action right away. They seem to be doing okay. Unfortunately, the neighbor's cherry tree just over my fence didn't fare as well. They aren't home often and I don't think they were even aware the nests were there. Here's before and after....
And here's a picture of a tire on the truck parked next door. I happened to notice how large it was when I was outside walking up the street. I'll take a photo of anything for my blog these days. It actually looks much bigger in person.
My pansies on the back deck are looking pretty healthy so I moved one pot to the front porch. Course I'm so paranoid about the deer coming in at night, I have to go out and move them closer to my front door before I go to bed. Sounds silly, I suppose, but I don't grow pretty flowers that well and if I get any, I'm keeping them as long as I can.
I went on a blind date Saturday night. Yeah, I thought that would raise some interest. Hang on, though, it was just to meet a new lady friend. Jenni has a friend whose mom has just moved here from Idaho and they both decided we needed to meet. It's not easy to meet new people these days. Course it would be easier if I made an attempt to get out and about and get involved in something. Mary Alice is three years younger than me and we have a lot in common. She's into volunteering now and then so maybe she'll motivate me to get off my butt and do the same.
Meanwhile, I'm continuing to occupy myself with more than enough activities around the house. Mary's son-in-law (a computer guy) was able to help me figure out how to number pages when the paper is mirror framed for a book. I was having a heck of a time with the help columns. I'm having a lot of fun editing Town Kid and What Do You Say. It'll keep me busy for weeks. Still hunting around to try and figure out the best way to get it printed.
I think I'll just order 5 dozen books to start. So hard to tell if your book will generate enough interest. I'm fairly certain, though, that I could get 60 books sold. All I want to do is sell enough to get back my printing costs yet still keep the book at a low price. Since I'm including all the comments people posted online, I'm hoping at least those people might buy a book.
Genealogy searching continues as well. My cousin, Linda, in KY called the other day and said she was always told her grandpa (her mom's dad) was a professional hockey player. I couldn't find anything to reflect that in the census rolls but his obit did say he spent ten years in Canada so maybe that's where he played hockey. I contacted a friend who has an ancestry.com international subscription to see if she could find something for me. My subscription only covers the U.S.
I let my oldest daughter, Sue, borrow my camera and car for the weekend so she could attend her 30th high school reunion in Port Townsend. Since she doesn't have a computer, I posted the pictures on my Facebook page. Here's a few...
Some of the group on their Sunday picnic at Cape George Community Club
Sue and Paul and Cindy Brown and her husband
My nephew, Eddie Forcier playing at Hilltop Tavern
Ken and Helen Brink, teachers, at the Bayview
Mary Gaboury, in town for Rhody, who stopped in to see who she could see
I did a lot of taping of tv shows yesterday. Billboard Music Awards, Alaska shows, The Waltons.
I stayed up to watch Mad Men but I think that was my last show. I've noticed the past few episodes have left me cold and last night's show was STUPID! My list of shows that I'll tune is seems to be growing smaller each season.
Right now, I really like Call the Midwives and Doc Martin. And if I can find it on YouTube, I'll post the ONE THING that made me laugh out loud yesterday. Here it is.
Every time I hear this commercial, I'm wondering what they're talking about. Anybody know? Besides the dental insurance, that is.
Except for the fact I spent entirely too much time on ancestry.com today, I did get a few odds and ends done around here. Edited my 6-month long blog called "What do you say?" and got a few postcards made up. Hmmm...well, I guess that doesn't amount to much production, does it. Oh well, who gives a rip?!
Goldfinches have been active outside my window all day and they even brought a couple of pals to eat this morning. The quail woke me up right on schedule as they emerged from under my deck. A couple of them have been coming right up to my sliding glass door and looking inside.
Right now I'm watching a deer across the street to see where he goes next. Doesn't look like the scotch broom is his cup of tea. Too bad 'cause I see the stuff has now made its way down to the curb. Every day it seems to grow more abundant.
Not much planned for the weekend. Just more genealogy and more editing. Think I'll get busy on these little pillows I'm making too. Gotta run out and get a power ball ticket in the a.m. I don't usually buy the power balls but I will when the jackpot gets as big as it is now.
Oh dear, the yawns have started. I hope that doesn't mean I'm going to bed before I want to. Started a new book yesterday - Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. First few pages are looking pretty good.
Time to head to the recliner now. Doc Martin's about to make a showing.
I wonder if I'll ever see a day when I wake up really peppy and bounce out of bed with vim and vigor, ready to start my day with a vengeance. I sneezed three times while typing that sentence and that tells me my general feeling of morning blahs is probably allergy related. Especially when the view out my front window is a wall of very high yellow scotch broom. It's also on my side of the street on the vacant lot on the other side of my neighbor.
I woke up at 5, 6, and 7 -- each time going back to sleep to have yet another weird but interesting dream. My final wake up call (the one that made me crawl out of bed) was the sound outside my window going... ka cooo, ka cooo, ka cooo. I stumbled out to the living room and there was a quail strutting across my deck. I thought I would retrieve a handful of bird seed in the large storage box next to the deck and as I made my way down the steps, more quail came fluttering out from under the house....the last one almost between my legs. Scared the hell out of me!
They all took off in a loud flutter and that got the neighbor's hound in the alley excited enough to add to the mix. HOW ALLLLL! HOW LLLLLLL! Nothing like a basset hound's howl to echo down the street.
I turned on the television and was immediately reminded (as if I could forget) that we get to be subjected, yet again, to NON NEWS! OJ Simpson, lookin' older and fatter but smiling and singing the blues about how he needs another trial cause his lawyer said it was okay to do what he did. And then poor ole Jodie Arias calming saying she'd welcome death as that's the ultimate freedom. And then the topping on the cake...the kid molested by Michael Jackson who always claimed he wasn't molested has now seen the light because he had two nervous breakdowns and had a son of his own. That's all it took to help him realize that yes, he was molested. Oh boo hoo hoo! Everyone knows Jackson was weird and "off." No big mystery there. Never fails to amaze me how much coverage (for years!) we give to people who are liars.
One of my favorite things to do now is to click on Google Images and put in a name. I'm never sure who a lot of the pictures are of that I've typed in but every now and again, you get something very interesting. Yesterday I put in the name of this "less than desirable guy" my oldest once dated back in the 80's. Low and behold the two pictures that came up (with accompanying story) were of the police looking for him in a murder case in Everett and the judge giving him 13 years when he was caught.
Today I'm going to continue work on genealogy studies and edit my old Leader blogs that I plan to put in a book. Here's two of my favorite pictures from Facebook yesterday........
And Happy Birthday to Bob Blaurock who hangs his hat in Sequim these days.
Warnie Erickson and Bob in the 50's
Bob at work at the mill in the 90's
Bob and Gene Peterson at Dave Marriott's place last summer. Their band will play at the alumni dance next month.
Decided to make a quick Walmart run as I had a pillow cover to return (broken zipper). Picked up a couple of solar lawn lights too as I love seeing them at night. Stopped at McDonalds to pick up a chicken wrap and man, was it ever tasty!
I also stopped at the police station 'cause I was looking for a certain address downtown and I couldn't find it anywhere. The lady at the desk couldn't find it either so I headed out to search again. And then I drove straight to it. It was on a deadend street near the post office and I got the picture I was wanting.
This is just another way I manage to get sidetracked on ancestry. I was researching my Aunt Lillian's family and wanted to see where her folks lived back in the 40's when her dad had a barber shop up on the highway coming into town. The City Directory for P.A. for 1947 showed an address on 2nd Street and I wanted to see where it was. I pass the barber shop frequently although it's not a barber shop anymore. Anyhow, I called the lady back at the police station to tell her where it was as she spent a bit of time trying to find it.
Watched a pretty interesting movie on Netflicks last night. "12 and Holding." About these three 12 year old kids whose life is changed when one of their friends is killed.
Interesting items on the news yesterday and today. Saw an interview with the two brothers of Ariel Castro and how their lives have changed because of their brother's evil acts. I felt sorry for them and that was something I didn't think I would feel.
Felt sorry for Angelina Jolie and her decision to have a double mastectomy too. It's no easy trick getting through this world unscathed by illness or accident. While buying my Hit 5 tickets at the local grocery this morning, a woman came in (she knew the clerks) and told them another friend of theirs just learned her daughter has a brain tumor. Sure seems to be an increase in brain tumors these days.
I got the statement from AARP showing what they paid and what Medicare paid for that brain stem MRI I had to have in March. I haven't quite figured out for sure if I'm going to have to pay something. I'm hoping not. I thought the charge was outrageous. $4800! And this for a procedure I would have given anything to avoid. Half the time I won't even open the medical statements because I don't want to see how much the charges were. They tick me off every single time!
I'm going to work on the 3 dvds Mary gave me for Mothers Day. I learned how to cut out the part I wanted so I should be able to figure out how to do it again. I don't do something new one time and have it down pat. I have to study it over and over.
I'm tired this morning even though I actually got to sleep until 7:45. That's a late start for me. I did wake up at 4, 5, 6, and 7, though. Was surprised I was able to drop back off to sleep. If I felt a little better, I'd go out and mow the grass but I have to be in the right frame of mind to perform that dirty task.
Got this cool coffee cup planter from Jenni and the twins for Mothers Day. Also one of those nifty 50' garden hoses that coil up into your hand.
My card from Mary, Andy, and Catie was a keeper too. It showed a little girl sitting on the toilet with this notation....
Hey mom! Thanks for teaching me so many wonderful things over the years. Especially that potty training thing!
(I can't tell you how many times that has come in handy)
I begun to edit my next book. I'm going to combine my Town Kid blog posts with that second blog I had for a short time called 'What do you say.' I've certainly got enough material to work with and I intend to insert photos as well. I'm still working on various genealogy searches too but I haven't made up my mind just yet how to put it altogether.
The most annoying "non news" I heard yesterday was that Barbara Walters plans to retire next summer. She's 83 for crying out loud! What's the big deal?! I'll tell you what it is. EGO! She knew that announcing her departure a year early would shoot out some media coverage of her career. Gag me with a spoon! Can you tell I'm not a fan?
Played around with settings and I think I learned how to edit a video down to the size I want. Still have more to learn but I practiced on this one of 26 years ago. I was at the Seattle Center with three of the kids and we decided to do a lip sync at this one shop. Unfortunately, we kept losing our place as far as the words went but it's still good for a laugh.
