2 Fred Gwynne's today

Thought I'd post a couple of Fred's pictures today as they're tied in with each other.

a man held up a bank

and spent two years in the pen

Called the doctor this morning to see if it's okay to just take one pill a night instead of trying to work myself up to six a night.  The cramps eased up remarkably after the second night so I guess they're doing the trick.  It's such a relief.

I'm having a fairly relaxing day so far.  Very thankful the heat spell is over.  I spent a couple hours working on my book, but as usual, I was  easily distracted as one memory or another would spark my curiosity and I'd have to go online to see what I could find.  I'm up to the Kirkland days and they're a lot easier for me to remember.  Partly because I have a few diary notes to jog my memory. Most aren't worth a darn but they're better than nothing. I printed off 11 pages so I can refer to them easier than having to stick a disk in each time.

I lived in Kirkland for five years.  A fun period in my life. 1968-1973.  I love Google Maps.  I just pulled up my Kirkland address and printed off a picture of how the house looks now.  I went back to the neighborhood a couple times over the years to take a picture as it always fascinates me to see the changes taking place.  Here's some time change photos...

 this is how the house looked when we were leaving in June of '73. For the first couple years or so, we didn't even have grass planted in the sloping area in front of the garage.

 I don't remember if the blue house was before or after the brown house but both places look so different from our yellow. It was brand new when we moved in. Always hated the sloping driveway.



This was from the Google maps page today. Wasn't as clear as I would have liked but I was able to scroll all up and down the street.  I like this retaining wall the present owners built. Wish I could see the backyard. It was small and ugly when we lived there. And the freeway was close.

I went out on the deck to tidy up the flower pots a bit by snipping off dead flowers. A cute little green frog was underneath one leaf and scared me half to death.  Decided I would garden another day.

I had a note from Ebay this morning that Hunter sold another car part and paypal had deposited money in my account.  I had to print off a UPS label (thank God they had easy directions) and Wayne will come by to pick it up later so he can mail the fender off.  Hunter sold $273 worth but has to reimburse me the postage costs as he listed it with free shipping. 

I was wearing crocs and sandals and no shoes part of the time during our heat spell and now my feet are uncomfortable back in their sensible and heavier sneaker shoes.  Am tempted to take my shoes off altogether as it feels like my feet have swollen but I don't suppose that would be a good idea.  I hope most of the body parts are in a healthy state come Saturday when I'm walking around the county fair for a couple of hours.  I'm taking a walking stick this time as I think it's easier strolling around on the uneven grounds. Looking forward to the picnic at Port Ludlow afterwards.  I sent out reminder postcards this morning to the half dozen who don't have computers.

Wayne had to go back to work this morning so I drove over to pick up Sammy at 8 a.m.  He was sure excited to see me.  Wayne will head back out to the KOA camp after work to help Jenni and the kids pack up to come home.  I walked out in the front yard this morning and noticed the dandelions are coming on strong again. Damn weeds!  Seems like weeds are the best things I grow.  All the weeding I did on the curbside dirt area did little good. I suppose I should have gone the extra mile and laid down black plastic and bark but I didn't have the energy or money.  All that horsehair grass is returning.

I pulled a few dandelions that were especially high and took them to the backyard to put in the trash.
Noticed all my red flowers that I had transplanted from the front because the deer were eating them aren't doing too well. In fact, they may be dead.  I don't understand why. I'm pretty sure we dug the holes deep enough and I used new dirt.  Kept them watered too.  I wonder if the heat did it. 

Probably my doing since the same flowers that I kept in pots on my porch are okay.

I'm definitely hiring a professional gardener when my numbers come in with the lotto.

Off to the kitchen now.  Quilt squares await their turn to be sewn to one another.  Glad the Olympics are on to track events now. I was bored with water and sand volleyball.  Swimming was getting boring too.  Enjoyed watching the girls gymnastics but I do get annoyed with the U.S. commentators who are obviously biased.  Which is okay except when one of our girls falls on her butt and they continue to say she has a chance for  gold and start to nitpick at the other country's entrants. Keep your stupid opinions to yourself and let us make up our own mind who deserves a medal.

Adding a wing to the house

Page from Fred Gwynne's book:

It's 9:30 a.m. and I can tell it's going to be warmer than it was yesterday.  Sigh.....  I am thankful, though, that should this heat wave continue, I've got the option of wheeling my air conditioning unit into my bedroom. It's a nuisance to attach the hose to the window but worth it if you want to get a good nights sleep and avoid becoming the witch from hell when your personality changes.  Ha ha

Turned on my Pandora music to "shuffle" and the first song out was an old favorite of mine......



I suppose if I intend to get anything done today, I'd best do it early as the late afternoon and early evening will make activities difficult.  I don't see how all those people back east and in the midwest survive the heat year after year.

I don't know what my problem was yesterday but I nibbled all day long. I don't usually do that but I guess if I don't make a habit out of it, my dress size won't go up.  Not that I wear dresses all that much.  My pant and shirt size is already as high as it needs to go but we're not walking down that road today. No way I need to discuss those nasty numbers!

I had a sensible breakfast.  V8 juice, coffee, one piece of toast, and a bowl of yogurt with chopped walnuts, berries, and bonemeal sprinkled on top.  I went outside to give the flowers and bird baths some water and discovered, to my complete disgust, that I'd left the hose running all night.  I try so hard to never forget to turn off the water but sometimes you get distracted and while those nozzles that allow you to stop the water  yourself are handy, they're also a hindrance to those times your memory forgets to stay on top of things.

The few places I surf on the computer each morning include...the Leader, the PDN, Facebook, my hotmail, my Gmail, and the lotto numbers.  Depending on whether or not I have chores I'm trying to get out of, I may spend more time looking at the news channels, ebay, and other peoples' blogs.  I saw on Facebook today that they have an app you can download that allows you to post a memorial of a loved one.  I think that's a great idea.  Newspapers charge too much.

Carol Colby:  Thanks for the tip on the Miles Kimball catalog having that CD holder I wanted.  I did go to their website and the carrier was on sale for less that $5.  I was thrilled but by the time they added shipping (which should have been super cheap since we're talking about a flat piece of see-thru plastic) and their $2 handling fee (which always ticks me off!) the price shot up to $11.  I decided the hell with that!  I'll continue storing my CDs in boxes.

Hmmm.. this guy has gone by my house three times in a row.  Driving an old 50's or 60's car (which looks kinda cool) but I wonder what he's looking for.  The road more or less deadends a block from me.  I could get on my bike, I suppose, and investigate but I'm not that curious or energetic in this heat.

Sure hope it's not hot like this next weekend. I'm going to the Jefferson County Fair for a couple of hours on Saturday morning and then heading out to Karen and Dick Jovag's for a class reunion picnic. Looking forward to that as I hear Bob Blaurock and Gene Peterson might be playing.  Have to make sure my camera is charged up so I can take pictures and video for my blog.  I hear they played last night at Rich Stapf's house.  Apparently, music can carry down the hill off Hastings quite well as people could hear the party for several blocks.  Police made a stop to tell them to tone it down.  Damn! I miss all the good stuff!

Guess I'll go wash the dishes I have soaking in the kitchen sink and then see about writing a page or two on my autobiography.  I'm at the part where we left California and are living in Seattle.  Later, I'll go back over the whole thing and edit more and add various things I forgot.  And then I'll begin the picture inserts.  That will be the fun part.

Lions Pray

picture from the second Fred Gwynne book I bought:  (I just love this one!)
LIONS PRAY ON OTHER ANIMALS

It got a tad warm today. It's only 4:30 so I suspect it's gonna get warmer.  I've got a fan running in here or I'd never be able to sit and type.  Also have a couple going in the living room.

I started sewing some quilt squares together again but I'm just sewing a little at a time in a running stream so I can leave it whenever I get weary and pick it up again another day.  These squares are 2-1/2" square while the last batch was 2". Still going to take me a while but that's okay.

I made an early morning run down to the health store to pick up some bone meal powder. Thought I'd give it a try by mixing it with yogurt or other morning food.  Last night (or I should say this morning) was the first time in over a month that I didn't have to get up early because of foot and leg cramps.  I don't think it's the pill I started taking as it's too soon but whatever the reason, I'm happy about it, and hope it continues.  I'm drinking vinegar twice a day too as I read that can help.

Printed off some poems a cousin in Bend sent me of my grandpa's sister, Elizabeth. She wrote them in 1916 and while they're kind of simple (and a tad corny) I'm still thrilled to have them. Especially since it's in her handwriting.  One was printed in the newspaper. I'll see if it will cut and paste here. If you click on it, it might be legible enough to read.

Thought I'd share some pictures I found online that this guy in PT took. I can't remember his name but we had some dialogue going on the Leader website about the mill noise.  He told me about his website called grindphoto.com.  I think these pictures are terrific. He took them with a remote control airplane.  There's a video on there too.  Took me a while to figure out how to find and run the video but you should look it over. it's interesting.  Here are the pictures I especially loved...
(click on to enlarge)

Back to the living room now. I'm loafing the rest of the day.  My daughter lent me four seasons of "Weeds" and I'm totally hooked on it now. 

and here's a group from the past that is unique.... theVillage People and YMCA!

A Mole

A page from  Fred Gwynne's book...  tomorrow I start his second book  (good stuff)

I've had a pretty nice Friday so far.  Went outside early before it got too hot as I had a little weeding to do and then came back inside to run the washer, dryer, and dishwasher.  (I don't take my appliances for granted either!)  I love our modern world.

I spent most of the morning (after running to Safeway) on my autobiography.  I finished up my California years and will start on my Seattle days tomorrow or whenever I get to it again.  Have had Pandora music streaming in over the television set and it's been DELIGHTFUL!  Hearing a lot of singers and tunes I haven't heard before.  Like this one....



Also heard 'Stand by me' by Otis Redding and 'God walks the dark hills' by Iris Dement.

I finished a quilt for my cousin that I'm going to hook up with next month when she comes to PT for her 79th birthday.  The quilt is unremarkable ('cause I'm just not that great at sewing) but I kind of liked the tag I sewed on it.  Took me a while to figure out how to run her picture through my printer with a piece of material but I did it!



I just saw a message on Facebook from a cousin in Bend, OR (that I haven't met yet) that she found some poems written by my grandpa's sister, Elizabeth.  Some were printed in the paper. I'm so eager to get a look at them.  I'm going to have to sign up for Ancestry.com again.  The genealogy bug is starting to itch.

Posted on my Leader blog about an hour ago. Sure hope I get some replies as I think it would be a good subject.  And please don't hesitate to send in one yourself if you think of something fun to write.

The kids are back from camp. Maddie's already posted several things on Facebook--one being that "she's in a relationship."  She cracks me up.  Hunter was looking around the house to see what went on while he was gone and he saw the paperwork for his folks' new car.  Then he went to my blog as he figured I'd have a picture.  Ha Ha  He just called and said he'd seen the ebay account and was pleased he's made over $100 on his car parts.

I've got one disk left to listen to on this audio book I checked out of the library so I guess I'll get to that now.  Took the first pill of my prescription last night but I knew it wouldn't work that fast. Woke up several times with foot and leg cramps and they remained most of the morning too.  What else can go wrong with this dang body of mine?!  Lots of things really.  There's a ton of things to choose from.

Made a yummy potato salad for supper with leftover chicken and some beans.

takin' revenge

Saw this video on YouTube and I couldn't figure out who was going to take revenge on who. I thought the driver in the SUV was trying to cut in and was the rude one but apparently whoever posted this felt he should have been allowed in.  Which he probably should have.


The first thing I noticed this morning when I opened the front curtains was that the pretty yellow flowers I enjoyed looking at were gone.  Yvonne didn't think the deer ate them but they did. That's the only thing I can think of as I know they come right up to the window in the middle of the night.

Here's my before and after....

Took a Benadryl last night to see if it would help me stay asleep and not wake up with foot cramps. Nope.  They arrived right on schedule. Guess I'll start the prescription drug tonight.  Gonna have to do more research on Restless Leg Syndrome. I'm not entirely sure that is my problem.

Made a quick library run, shopped at Albertsons and then Yvonne picked me up to go for a burger at Frugals.  We sat down on the lookout over the water and had a raccoon come up to the car begging. I was too hungry to share.  I scanned in a few pictures from Fred Gwynne's second book that I ordered. The first one was "The King who Rained".  Have two more pictures to share from that one and then I'll start posting from "A Chocolate Moose for Dinner."  Fred actually wrote and illustrated all these pictures.  Here's todays....

Time to get some sewing done.  I finally moved the fan I had in the living room back to the guest bedroom.  Am thinking I might not need my fans this year.  Maybe in September.

Mid week

Did a little running around this afternoon.  Went to the car dealership and got my plates. Now I have to figure out what the initials can stand for. AIE  That's kind of a hard one. Always In Ecstasy?  Nah, that's stupid.  Arthritis Is Evil?  I'll think of something.  I have four numbers instead of three. Is that something new or have I just not noticed cars with 4 numbers on their plate?  At least mine is easy to remember..5 (my lucky number) and then my birth month and year.

The dealer showed me a couple more things I didn't understand and I'm liking the car the more I drive it.  Unfortunately, I see on the news tonight I may have to take it in for work.  2011 RAV4 have been reported as needing to be recalled for a suspension problem.  That's just great!

Stopped at Walmart to get a prescription and bought a few groceries while I waited.  Doctor prescribed this drug called Gabapentin. I take it at bedtime as it's supposed to make you drowsy. I take one pill for four nights and then up my dosage to 2 pills for four nights. Then three, then four, working myself up to 6 pills a night.  First though, I'm trying over the counter benadryl just to see if that helps.

I was so thankful she said she didn't think an MRI was necessary.  Said if I was having pain in both feet and legs, it was very unlikely to be a pinched nerve as that only affects one side at a time. Jenni said she took this drug for her painful legs but it didn't work so they switched to another and it works much better for her.  Doctor seems to think I have Restless Leg Syndrome. 

I know two of my cousins have it. At least one still has it and it did enter my mind as I read about my symptoms online.  I dismissed it, though, as I thought it meant you just have a tendency to constantly need to move your legs.  The doctor said that's just one aspect of it and that cramps can also be a symptom.  Hmmmm... gonna be interesting to see if I get any relief.  I was a little nervous that the drug might be super expensive but thankfully, it was only $20.  I don't have drug insurance.

She ruled out other possibilities because I had just completed having blood work and all my numbers came back okay ruling out iron deficiency and such.

It's almost Wheel of Fortune time so guess I'll get my jammies on and head to my recliner.  Tomorrow I'll continue to sort through my memorbilia boxes and notebooks.  Posted a short blog on the Leader today too.

Wayne just called to have me print off another mailing label for Ebay stuff that Hunter posted.  I figured all his car parts that he found and cleaned up was junk but what do I know!  He's sold 4 or more items already and made over $100.  Easy to see that he's going to be a go-getter at making money.

Frog in throat

a page from Fred Gwynne's book....

I've been plowing along from one little chore to another all morning.  I have a package to mail this afternoon so I needed to reteach myself out to print labels.  Took me way too long so this time I wrote out the steps.  Should have done that the last time but I'm a slow learner.

Staked up my pretty new yellow flowers in the front as they were leaning too much.  Just love seeing them blow in the wind as I sit here typing.  I wonder if appreciating nature is something you do more as you age.  I never used to take such pleasure in trees, flowers, and birds.

Headin' in to the doctor at 2 pm and keeping my fingers crossed that she'll be able to explain what this month-long foot cramping is all about.  It hasn't let up once in the last 30 days or more.

Jenni went back to work this morning. I hope it wasn't too soon. Yesterday she wore herself out car shopping. I was really surprised when she dropped off the dog this morning and pulled into my driveway with this...

It's a 2011 Ford Escape. Paid about what I did for mine but I think I like hers a little bit more. Especially the gear shift area and front seat caddy--and color!  I love red.  She told me I needed to go back and trade my white one in for something else if I wasn't totally happy.  I'm kind of reluctant to do that. It took all my strength to get through it the first time.  I did notice this morning that there is a seat belt in the very far back of my car that I didn't see before.   You can open up the storage floor to put  extra things in a cubby hole like area,  and I suppose a person could sit back there with their feet in that spot.  At least Hunter did when he was looking the car over carefully.  Being able to have seating back there is an added bonus if you can use it for seating. I'll have to find out.

I've got a quilt to finish up today. Either tying it or sewing it.  If I opt to quilt it on the machine, I'll probably end up making it look tacky.  Most of my blankets end up that way anyhow.  I'm also going to work on my memorbilia and picture sorting project.  I still haven't made up my mind how best to preserve some of the odds and ends I've accumulated like newspaper clippings and such.  I do have to make a library run so perhaps I'll look over their section on scrapbooking and see if I can't get some clever ideas on how to preserve keepsakes without spending an arm and a leg on doo dads.

Guess I'll change the calendars now.  Hard to believe it's August already.