I recently had an opportunity which I turned down to learn about writing memoirs. From rough draft to finished published tome. Although at first it seemed exciting to me, I suddenly had a moment of doubt, oh heck, it was the phrase, " you can be my beta tester." that threw me back into reality. What I wondered was a beta tester? Now I could have researched and found out but instead I quietly walked away, step at a time. Plus I was going to be pretty busy in the next few months and I am not sure that I would have the time to devote to it. Those are my excuses and I am sticking to them.
Since I'm lax in keeping up with the the three blogs I do have, I thought I would begin the rough draft on this one as let my life story is hardly front page news, more the next to the last below the fold of a community weekly. Nonetheless there is no time like the present to begin I guess, so I will use this format to begin the Memoir which is actually just a history for my children and grandchildren should the latter ever come to be. The title will come later.
So if anyone is following this.. feel free to abandon ship now or after the first draft of the early years of my oh so ( yawning here) exciting life. Or you can hang in with me and offer any advice, as I will either gracefully take any or all comments on this new venture.
So the next time I'll be here it will be to start this blogging memoir of my 62plus years. I am sure I will forget some things, and have poetic freedom with others. I have noted over the years that some folks in my life do not remember events as they occurred and I often wondered if we actually are focusing in on the same events. But hey this is my blog and my memories. I just hope I do it justice.
So for now I'll bid adieu.
Maybe next time I"ll have a title.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Hello Spring or We are planting a garden again?
Well spring has done sprung here in my little neck of the woods. The noses are running from a major pollen outbreak and no rain to wash away the sneezes. The cars are yellow from whatever tree decides to share it's bloom residue. Even the pets have sneezes.
Spring, that wonderful time of the year when days can reach into the eighties, and we don't have our summer duds out yet, and the discussion is, should we turn on the air or open the windows. Well we open the windows, but now there is that pollen seeping in through the screens.
We rush to the garden supply store and to the farmers auction to buy flower and plants. It's warm, and look at the perennials pushing up after a particularly long cold winter. If they survived, can summer be far behind.
We prepare the little garden, add some new soil, repair the fence, anticipate the fruits of our efforts, whether visual or by taste when it happens. The dreaded frost warning. Well it was brisk today. The sky is clearing so any heat will dissipate and it could frost. So luckily this year, so far at least, nothing was actually put into he ground yet. No tarps necessary, we can move them into the garage for the night.
I've learned living here that weather can be a fickle girl. Mother Nature likes to toy with me, from the first fourth of July I lived here. That fourth when we needed sweatshirts and a fire in the fireplace. Now I always keep warm clothes close by in case they are needed. Even in May, June or July.
So we patiently wait on the long term forecasts, as we debate the number of tomato plants to put into the ground. We always plant too many. The herbs are flourishing. I know that by the end of May, I will have my plants in the ground and the flowering plants set in their pots. Then comes the daily watering plan... not too early but never at night, supposedly that isn't good. Because you know it never rains at night. I guard my flowers and plants from the deer who have invited themselves as they do every year to the garden patches, a smorgasbord of goodies, deer food, don't you know.
If the garden gods look down on us.. we share our tomatoes, and our corn, and the summer is good. The song is wrong though, the summer ain't ever easy here.
Spring, that wonderful time of the year when days can reach into the eighties, and we don't have our summer duds out yet, and the discussion is, should we turn on the air or open the windows. Well we open the windows, but now there is that pollen seeping in through the screens.
We rush to the garden supply store and to the farmers auction to buy flower and plants. It's warm, and look at the perennials pushing up after a particularly long cold winter. If they survived, can summer be far behind.
We prepare the little garden, add some new soil, repair the fence, anticipate the fruits of our efforts, whether visual or by taste when it happens. The dreaded frost warning. Well it was brisk today. The sky is clearing so any heat will dissipate and it could frost. So luckily this year, so far at least, nothing was actually put into he ground yet. No tarps necessary, we can move them into the garage for the night.
I've learned living here that weather can be a fickle girl. Mother Nature likes to toy with me, from the first fourth of July I lived here. That fourth when we needed sweatshirts and a fire in the fireplace. Now I always keep warm clothes close by in case they are needed. Even in May, June or July.
So we patiently wait on the long term forecasts, as we debate the number of tomato plants to put into the ground. We always plant too many. The herbs are flourishing. I know that by the end of May, I will have my plants in the ground and the flowering plants set in their pots. Then comes the daily watering plan... not too early but never at night, supposedly that isn't good. Because you know it never rains at night. I guard my flowers and plants from the deer who have invited themselves as they do every year to the garden patches, a smorgasbord of goodies, deer food, don't you know.
If the garden gods look down on us.. we share our tomatoes, and our corn, and the summer is good. The song is wrong though, the summer ain't ever easy here.
Friday, May 8, 2015
Politics, Local style
Politicians. They deliver their spiels and promise the world and how things will be better if you just vote for them. They lean left. They lean right. Some are wise in the ways of the political game. Some are not as wise but hopeful and work hard to honestly give their all as they somehow are seen at every function, getting their name to match a face online.
Then there are the supporters behind the scenes. Running the phone banks, putting out the signs, arranging the fund raisers and the meet and greets. Small town politics are an entity like no other. The letters to the editor, the sudden scandal, all add to the flavor of the spring primaries. Ours are next week. School boards, commissioners, township folks, even judges and recorders of wills.
While most of the country is making a recovery, slow and steady, and the attention is on the big boys and girls getting into the race early, hundreds of small counties like ours, will be casting the vote to make things better. To bring living wages into an area by bringing in businesses that will offer more than a minimum wage.
Keeping the funding for the schools while lowering property taxes to free up money that will stimulate the local economy are issues are our minds.
I'll be voting to clean house. The dust has been settling for too long and it's time for a change, time to let new faces tackle the status quo. They have come to love this area, and I don't believe they will just settle. Like the good ole boys in office now.
Come election morning I will go to the polls and cast my vote for change. For the future.
Then there are the supporters behind the scenes. Running the phone banks, putting out the signs, arranging the fund raisers and the meet and greets. Small town politics are an entity like no other. The letters to the editor, the sudden scandal, all add to the flavor of the spring primaries. Ours are next week. School boards, commissioners, township folks, even judges and recorders of wills.
While most of the country is making a recovery, slow and steady, and the attention is on the big boys and girls getting into the race early, hundreds of small counties like ours, will be casting the vote to make things better. To bring living wages into an area by bringing in businesses that will offer more than a minimum wage.
Keeping the funding for the schools while lowering property taxes to free up money that will stimulate the local economy are issues are our minds.
I'll be voting to clean house. The dust has been settling for too long and it's time for a change, time to let new faces tackle the status quo. They have come to love this area, and I don't believe they will just settle. Like the good ole boys in office now.
Come election morning I will go to the polls and cast my vote for change. For the future.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Spring has sprung
After a particularly cruel, cold, snowy, and prolonged winter, spring has sprung in all it's glory. Well, let me say it has arrived. The grass is struggling to recover, the bare patches show how often the dog goes in the front yard, the flower bed is still empty and in need of prep but it looks like spring has returned. I had doubts at times, and I like winter weather, but even I was getting weary. I look good in turtlenecks and hats, but enough was enough.
With spring here in the Poconos, comes awakening bears getting into the trash cans and strewing the carefully bagged garbage and sharing it with the neighbors. The birds are returning, hoping to reap the benefits of the bugs making their way out for another season. The bugs. We have a variety and most at some point find their way into the house as most do. They crawl, they fly, they creep up on a person when you least suspect them. We have deer, still being lazy and eating anything they can reach, an occasional skunk, raccoon or possum.
Every spring though what amazes me is how we have nothing on the trees one day, and the next morning the trees are alive with blooms, and buds, and pollen. The dreaded pollen. The scourge of my home. When you can do graffiti in the yellow that covers the car every morning, it's a lot of pollen. So we take pills, spray anti pollen up our nostrils, and buy huge warehouse club size packages of tissues.
I relish spring for it's moderate temperatures in the day and the cool nights. For the chance to bring out the short sleeved shirts, and smile when I realize that I really do not have to buy new sandals this year again. Heck I may even shave my legs. It is spring after all.
With spring here in the Poconos, comes awakening bears getting into the trash cans and strewing the carefully bagged garbage and sharing it with the neighbors. The birds are returning, hoping to reap the benefits of the bugs making their way out for another season. The bugs. We have a variety and most at some point find their way into the house as most do. They crawl, they fly, they creep up on a person when you least suspect them. We have deer, still being lazy and eating anything they can reach, an occasional skunk, raccoon or possum.
Every spring though what amazes me is how we have nothing on the trees one day, and the next morning the trees are alive with blooms, and buds, and pollen. The dreaded pollen. The scourge of my home. When you can do graffiti in the yellow that covers the car every morning, it's a lot of pollen. So we take pills, spray anti pollen up our nostrils, and buy huge warehouse club size packages of tissues.
I relish spring for it's moderate temperatures in the day and the cool nights. For the chance to bring out the short sleeved shirts, and smile when I realize that I really do not have to buy new sandals this year again. Heck I may even shave my legs. It is spring after all.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Sticker shock
Well there certainly is enough to comment on in the news lately, but most if not all the finger pointing is taking up front page space. Although I mentally make a list of topics for this blog, I really should write them down as I never seem to remember them when I finally block out time at the keyboard.
So today I've decided to rant a bit on sticker shock. Not the price of retail goods or cars or even groceries, but where manufacturers, drugstores, grocers, almost any retailer or wholesaler opts to place a price sticker on an object.
This sticky tactic first came to light for me when I realized that the drugstore that I occassionaly used as a quick shop pick up, knowing full well I would be spending more money there, opted to start putting the price sticker on over an important part of the "directions for use". Now obviously some things we already know how to use, but there are times when we would like to reinforce this knowledge as ingredients do change as does how to use a product.
Not only does the offending drugstore employ bad placement but uses a sticker that defies removal without destroying the label beneath it. We should all have access to such adhesive. It could be used to mend everything from a broken piece of china, to patching a hole in a bike tire.
It is science at it's finest.
Then there is the bagged product, an ice scoop I purchased yesterday at a restaurant supply store. It was protected by a fine plastic bag. Was the price sticker on the bag? Nope. It was firmly adhered to the heavy aluminum scoop itself, defying any normal attempts to remove it without leaving the inevitable sticky substance behind. Now had I been at home I would have used any number of sticky removal tricks, but I was not, and so soaked it with soap and proceeded to scrape away the residue as best I could rinsing it many times over in the process. All the while wondering who had the idea that the sticker would best be placed on the scoop and not the bag.
Lets talk about plates or cups or glasses. Seems to me that the perfect area to place a price sticker on the aforementioned items is on the bottom of such an item. But noooo...I think major and not so major retailers train their staff to adhere those offensive little squares on used areas only. They must feel that we need the challenge of scraping off the stinky stickers, before we can wash them and use them. Goo gone has become a staple in my household, but then requires an open window as well as a double wash to remove that residue.
Now the final pet peeve of mine doesn't really fall into the category of stickers, but printed dates and information on plastic bags that keep our breads, rolls and other items fresh. If the use by date is stamped on a bag, why would not the manufacturer place a date where we could actually read it. Instead I have been noting that more often than not, this special little code that lets us know if the bread will make it through the week without turning a lovely color of blue, is placed in an area of the bag which makes it virtually impossible to see. I am then forced to go through the shelf until I find one that is legible and meets my requirements of purchase.
So that's that. Not earth shattering by any means, and in the grand scheme of what is happening in our country right now, truly way, way, way down on the list. Isn't it the little things that irk us, that truly make or break our day. We cannot do anything about grown elected officials who seem to be having issues playing nice with each other, and therefore causing more mayhem, at least until the next election. Perhaps we can make our daily life a little better by a well written email complaint, or a call to a store. A little reminder that there are a whole lot of places to shop and perhaps we will start buying the products or using the stores that make it easier for the comsumer. Now where is my list.
So today I've decided to rant a bit on sticker shock. Not the price of retail goods or cars or even groceries, but where manufacturers, drugstores, grocers, almost any retailer or wholesaler opts to place a price sticker on an object.
This sticky tactic first came to light for me when I realized that the drugstore that I occassionaly used as a quick shop pick up, knowing full well I would be spending more money there, opted to start putting the price sticker on over an important part of the "directions for use". Now obviously some things we already know how to use, but there are times when we would like to reinforce this knowledge as ingredients do change as does how to use a product.
Not only does the offending drugstore employ bad placement but uses a sticker that defies removal without destroying the label beneath it. We should all have access to such adhesive. It could be used to mend everything from a broken piece of china, to patching a hole in a bike tire.
It is science at it's finest.
Then there is the bagged product, an ice scoop I purchased yesterday at a restaurant supply store. It was protected by a fine plastic bag. Was the price sticker on the bag? Nope. It was firmly adhered to the heavy aluminum scoop itself, defying any normal attempts to remove it without leaving the inevitable sticky substance behind. Now had I been at home I would have used any number of sticky removal tricks, but I was not, and so soaked it with soap and proceeded to scrape away the residue as best I could rinsing it many times over in the process. All the while wondering who had the idea that the sticker would best be placed on the scoop and not the bag.
Lets talk about plates or cups or glasses. Seems to me that the perfect area to place a price sticker on the aforementioned items is on the bottom of such an item. But noooo...I think major and not so major retailers train their staff to adhere those offensive little squares on used areas only. They must feel that we need the challenge of scraping off the stinky stickers, before we can wash them and use them. Goo gone has become a staple in my household, but then requires an open window as well as a double wash to remove that residue.
Now the final pet peeve of mine doesn't really fall into the category of stickers, but printed dates and information on plastic bags that keep our breads, rolls and other items fresh. If the use by date is stamped on a bag, why would not the manufacturer place a date where we could actually read it. Instead I have been noting that more often than not, this special little code that lets us know if the bread will make it through the week without turning a lovely color of blue, is placed in an area of the bag which makes it virtually impossible to see. I am then forced to go through the shelf until I find one that is legible and meets my requirements of purchase.
So that's that. Not earth shattering by any means, and in the grand scheme of what is happening in our country right now, truly way, way, way down on the list. Isn't it the little things that irk us, that truly make or break our day. We cannot do anything about grown elected officials who seem to be having issues playing nice with each other, and therefore causing more mayhem, at least until the next election. Perhaps we can make our daily life a little better by a well written email complaint, or a call to a store. A little reminder that there are a whole lot of places to shop and perhaps we will start buying the products or using the stores that make it easier for the comsumer. Now where is my list.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
The Ride is Chosen
This is an update on the replacement issue on a new/old set of wheels for my youngest daughter.
Turns out that after much searching, researching, kicking tires, and test drives, the decision reached turned out not to buy a car. Thus was the text I received, late this afternoon, after mounting yet another internet search for a car to replace the last lost to lightning.
What...what...no car. This just wouldn't do, and I expressed my displeasure through a return text. There has to be a car. What could he be thinking, plans were for her to take the car to school to enable ease of coming home, without someone to retrieve her.
Perhaps our heat wave has worn down the effort, but I was determined before the week ended we would at least have a line on a vehicle.
As I prepared my argument, and settled in the shady, yet still hot lawn chair, I listened to the decision. Before I could even present my opinion, a lovely little new car pulled into the parking spot, driven by my smiling daughter.
Seems as though after much forethought about repairs possible with an older vehicle, and being five hours away, the decision was reached to not buy a car but lease one instead. Any repairs would be covered, the gas savings would be substantial, and the warranty was great. After I thought about the choice, I could see how this would be a reasonable conclusion.
A new car, perhaps a little smaller than she had hoped for, but with enough style and bells and whistles to satisfy my tech savy kid.
So although I would preferred an older prepaid car, guess the payments will do and we can decide in three years whether we want to keep the car or find another.
So no true lies where thrust my way, we did not buy a car, but leased a new one. Thus the search has ended and we can now move on. Thank goodness.
Turns out that after much searching, researching, kicking tires, and test drives, the decision reached turned out not to buy a car. Thus was the text I received, late this afternoon, after mounting yet another internet search for a car to replace the last lost to lightning.
What...what...no car. This just wouldn't do, and I expressed my displeasure through a return text. There has to be a car. What could he be thinking, plans were for her to take the car to school to enable ease of coming home, without someone to retrieve her.
Perhaps our heat wave has worn down the effort, but I was determined before the week ended we would at least have a line on a vehicle.
As I prepared my argument, and settled in the shady, yet still hot lawn chair, I listened to the decision. Before I could even present my opinion, a lovely little new car pulled into the parking spot, driven by my smiling daughter.
Seems as though after much forethought about repairs possible with an older vehicle, and being five hours away, the decision was reached to not buy a car but lease one instead. Any repairs would be covered, the gas savings would be substantial, and the warranty was great. After I thought about the choice, I could see how this would be a reasonable conclusion.
A new car, perhaps a little smaller than she had hoped for, but with enough style and bells and whistles to satisfy my tech savy kid.
So although I would preferred an older prepaid car, guess the payments will do and we can decide in three years whether we want to keep the car or find another.
So no true lies where thrust my way, we did not buy a car, but leased a new one. Thus the search has ended and we can now move on. Thank goodness.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Looking for a new ride
This must be the time of year when new car models are starting to roll out on the lot, and car sales fill the want ads of the local paper, and television commercials extol the value of auto shopping at Uncle Henry's Wheels for less automart. Then lest we forget the articles on line, opening our minds up to "The Ten Best Cars to Buy" and still have money for food.
I normally wouldn't pay any attention to this as car shopping is as rare here as a day off, but we just happen to be in the market for new wheels for my youngest daughter. Well new older wheels.
Her last car, a hand me down from her older sister was hit by a school bus and then one of our many deer in the area decided to give it up on the front of her car less than a mile from our home. Since the car seems to have a large bullseye, invisible to the naked eye painted on it, and she needed a reliable car to travel to work, and drive to friends houses, movies, and places eighteen year old girls travel, it seemed prudent to look for a newer old car.
Right around her high school graduation, her father took her out on what we will refer to as the GREAT CAR SEARCH. Amazing as it sounds she got a car within a few days, one that I would have liked to own myself, and one that she never expected to get until she graduated college, and had a job for a while.
Her father seemed to have a weak moment, and she became the proud owner of a nine year old Volvo SUV. What a smart buy except for the price, the gas mileage, and the fact the vehicle had three rows of seats. But she loved the car, note the word loved. After owning this dream ride for a total of two days, we left town for three, leaving her precious set of wheels in the capable hands of her father to be taken back to the lot to have a few things tweaked.
Before the aforementioned vehicle could return, our area had a set of thunderstorms. Here comes the target thing back to haunt us. Mother Nature decided to lay down a bolt of energy, which hit our well, disabled the brain module in the car, and disable some phone lines. In the big scheme of things we are grateful our home wasn't hit.
Well as the title of this blog infers, the car was deemed unfixable within the budget for the insurance company, and car number two was totaled.
So the car hunt resumes. Should it be an suv, a sedan or my choice, a small efficient car with a low repair rate?
I am nothing if not sensible.
Car lots, internet searches, still not a car that will satisfy budget as well as criteria that my daughter has deemed as important. I have noticed as the search continues, her criteria has been adjusted somewhat. Now she just wants a car and soon. Her summer is slipping away and without her own set of wheels, there are few mall visits, or even a day at the beach.
So we continue to look, and we will step up the search.
Wish us luck as we look for a new ride.
I normally wouldn't pay any attention to this as car shopping is as rare here as a day off, but we just happen to be in the market for new wheels for my youngest daughter. Well new older wheels.
Her last car, a hand me down from her older sister was hit by a school bus and then one of our many deer in the area decided to give it up on the front of her car less than a mile from our home. Since the car seems to have a large bullseye, invisible to the naked eye painted on it, and she needed a reliable car to travel to work, and drive to friends houses, movies, and places eighteen year old girls travel, it seemed prudent to look for a newer old car.
Right around her high school graduation, her father took her out on what we will refer to as the GREAT CAR SEARCH. Amazing as it sounds she got a car within a few days, one that I would have liked to own myself, and one that she never expected to get until she graduated college, and had a job for a while.
Her father seemed to have a weak moment, and she became the proud owner of a nine year old Volvo SUV. What a smart buy except for the price, the gas mileage, and the fact the vehicle had three rows of seats. But she loved the car, note the word loved. After owning this dream ride for a total of two days, we left town for three, leaving her precious set of wheels in the capable hands of her father to be taken back to the lot to have a few things tweaked.
Before the aforementioned vehicle could return, our area had a set of thunderstorms. Here comes the target thing back to haunt us. Mother Nature decided to lay down a bolt of energy, which hit our well, disabled the brain module in the car, and disable some phone lines. In the big scheme of things we are grateful our home wasn't hit.
Well as the title of this blog infers, the car was deemed unfixable within the budget for the insurance company, and car number two was totaled.
So the car hunt resumes. Should it be an suv, a sedan or my choice, a small efficient car with a low repair rate?
I am nothing if not sensible.
Car lots, internet searches, still not a car that will satisfy budget as well as criteria that my daughter has deemed as important. I have noticed as the search continues, her criteria has been adjusted somewhat. Now she just wants a car and soon. Her summer is slipping away and without her own set of wheels, there are few mall visits, or even a day at the beach.
So we continue to look, and we will step up the search.
Wish us luck as we look for a new ride.
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