Goodies by Denise

Homecomming 2009

2009-10-13T19:14:00.004-04:00

Homecomming Queen and her escort: Dana & Beau
1st Runner up and her escort: Dani & Derrick

Billy & Dani right after the coronation.

Dani...after all the hoopla
Hey, she still wearing the shoes!

Alice Cooper at the Clearfield County Fair

2009-08-06T19:27:00.006-04:00

The wonderful stage curtain...what we stared at for 20 minutes before the concert started. It rained briefly...just enough to wet things...the wind wrinkled up the curtain and the stage crew had to fix it. They ended up taking it completely down and then re hanging it. This gave us a look at the stage they were trying to hide! ;)

This is Alice...when he first walked out on stage. This is how close Billy was...without a zoom lense on his phone.

This is his Cold Ethyl Doll that he dances with

The nurse is really his daughter...with a red wig...

Any of you who truly know me...knows that I could go on and on about this concert...and most of you have probably already heard me ramble on about it... ;) Soooo, this time I'll just leave you with Billy's pictures! Just remember...I'm going to another Alice concert in September...and...I'll have MY camera then! ;)

Senior Prom

2008-05-07T19:20:00.003-04:00

Billy & Danielle at his Senior Prom
May 3, 2008
(the formal picture)

The pictures taken by this mom...love that eye roll, son! :)
BTW, he literally hates his picture taken!

Billy & Danielle at the Snowball

2008-02-10T16:24:00.001-05:00

Billy and Danielle went to both of their school's Snowball Dance. They were the same night, but they pulled it off. Most of their time was spent at his dance...because it was at a local restaurant that has a beautiful ballroom. Her dance was in the high school gym. I scanned this picture and for the life of me I can't get it into a program where I can edit the size. It scanned as a normal piece of paper size...I can't crop it to just the picture. My patiences are fried, so it's just going to have to post this way! LOL

Winter --- Uggh!

2008-01-05T00:17:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo from last year. BUT, amazingly the front porch looks EXACTLY the same right now! Yes, it does. The only difference is that it's about 10 degrees outside right now and there are still Christmas lights hiding underneath this year's snow! Last night's temperature was double digits BELOW zero! It's been freezing at work, but I guilted them into turning up the heat...so at least today it was in the lower 60's at work. By the middle of next week we're suppose to hit outside temperatures in the upper 50's. OK, I'm being pessismestic and I don't believe it! BUT...that's what they are saying!

We had a wonderful Christmas....I even had a few days off work. My sister and her husband were here Christmas Eve until the 27th. So I got some good quality family time...and even took a day off work (the 26th). Well, I had to wake my sister up at noon to go shopping. BUT, what I didn't tell her, is that I had already been to Walmart in St. Marys for the first go-around of after-Christmas wrapping supplies!

All is well...and I'll try to post more pictures and be a more consistent poster. First, I have to learn how to get pictures from my digital camera onto the computer. Don't ask...the stupid computer is missing *something* and it keeps telling me I need the Windows Melliumn disk...which I do not have...hey, it isn't in with the recovery disks! I'm not sure if the new printer I bought will read the memory cards. It's supose to...but when I was installing it I got the pop up window asking for the Windows ME disk...so who knows! Worse case sceanero this old 'puter is going to my son's friend's house for a major work up! ;)

Right now I have two teenagers and a 27 inch TV in Billy's bedroom...and a pizza in the oven. Should be an interesting evening...especially considering it's almost 1 a.m.!

Boulder Formations at Gettysburg

2007-11-25T22:51:00.000-05:00

Boulders at Little Round Top

Boulders of Devil's Den

Horses of Gettysburg - my two favs

2007-11-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

General James Longstreet...I found this monument by accident...Bill was looking for a bathroom. He parked in this grove of trees and I went for a walk.

Here's a close up...this is not telephoto lense use...I was actually this close to this monument. It was pretty close to life-size and that's a pretty descent sized horse he had! :)

This is a monument to one of the Virginia regiments...Bill rolled his eyes at stopping at this one. He was looking for the aformentioned bathroom when I spied a horse on top of this monument.

Here's the very top with the use of the telephoto lense and some pretty cool backlighting from the afternoon sunshine.

Highlights from Gettysburg

2007-11-21T21:53:00.001-05:00

Pennsylvania Monument in the distance

Closer view of the Pennsylvania Monument

Sunset at the top of Devil's Den

A very cool looking castle-like monument to a NY regiment. This picture was taken from across the valley. It sits on Little Round Top...the picture was taken from the high rocks at Devil's Den.

Here's a closer view...taken from the rocks at Little Round Top

Me & Bill at Devil's Den in Gettysburg

2007-11-21T21:31:00.001-05:00

Bill is standing at the entrance to the spot where I'm standing. He took the picture of me from where he is standing in his picture...and I took the picture of him from where I'm standing. Gee, that's confusing, hopefully you followed along! :)

Homecoming 2007

2007-11-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

OK, I know it's late...but I still wanted to post pictures of Billy and his girlfriend, Danielle at the homecoming dance back in October.

Billy and Danielle at her house, taken by her mom.

Billy and Dani in front of Dani's house, taken by her mom. And, yes, that's Lucy in behind them.

Wordless Wednesday

2007-07-31T19:36:00.000-04:00

WW

2007-07-24T18:57:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2007-07-17T18:30:00.000-04:00

Kennywood with the Marching Band

2007-07-14T07:12:00.000-04:00

The Drumline, warming up in the "service area" behind the rides. This use to be where they parked the buses, but this year only the equipment buses/vans were permitted to park back in this area. I talked my way in to get a couple of pictures. Actually it wasn't hard...I had water bottles and drum keys for the drummers and the gate guard left me right through. Let's see...left to right, Billy, Mary, Danielle (her dad drove the equipment van, we dubbed him the official "Drum Driver"), Camryn (AKA Cymbal Boy), Terry, Jimmy, Josh (he's always at our house...he lives about 2/3 of a mile from our house and he and Billy do almost everything together), and Andy.

Mary and Billy (and the part of the drumline) playing their cadence while getting in the line-up for the parade. This band has had so many directors that they tend to do their own thing...7 in the six years Billy's been marching. Billy and Mary are seniors and sorta rule the roost. The drum major is also a senior and the best trumpet player we have...all three are going to be missed when they graduate next summer. We had a trio of drummers that were inseperatable...Brandi graduated this year and was really missed on this trip. She would have been right there beside Billy and Mary.

You already have seen the 8 drummers...well, here's the rest of the band...the instruments are on the left. Go ahead and count them...four instruments (two trumpets, a flute and a clarinet). We have 47 band members (including color guard) but only 21 went on this trip; 8 drummers, 4 instrumentalists, 1 drum major and 8 color guard). Every single drummer and color guard went and only these four dedicated instrumentalists! Let's see...in this photo, up the line of instruments, Shelby, Greg, Denise and Lacey. You can see some of the color guard in the background. The little boy wandering around in the center, he's the fill-in band director's son, Ethan. And, let me say, he is the best behaved 6-year-old I've ever seen! His dad, is behind him, at the end of the instrument line.

Me 'n Kim; the chapperones. I'm on the left...just in case you didn't know! ;) We were going to wear the polo shirts that the band is wearing for the parade...but we thought the lime green would stick out better and the kids would be able to find us easier if they needed anything during the day. My head was really getting sun burnt...so I bought myself this spiffy hat! Whadda ya think; cool, hun? Kim was also my riding partner! We started out slow and rode the train...several of the kids picked on us for being *old* and riding the *lame* train ride...sooooo we decided to ride the Whip (my favorite old-time ride). Then we got very daring and rode The Exterminator (an indoor roller coaster that is a high speed beefed up cross between the Wild Mouse and the Tilt-a-Whirl)...this is by far, the best ride there...if you like to be spun around and end up so dizzy you can't walk. We staggered around for 20 minutes before we both regained our equilibrium! We also rode the Gold Rush (that's a mining themed haunted house ride. The bat cave in that ride was creepy. You enter this tunnel with black lights and they have hundreds of rubber bats hanging from the ceiling...as you go into the tunnel, it gets dark...and the bats are hanging low enough they are hitting you! CREEPY! We were laughing so hard when we came out that we could hardly breathe!

A shot from the rear of the band, during the parade. Kim and I were hornswaggled into marching with them to pick up drum sticks. So, this is what they get for begging us to march the parade route with them! BTW, that's Billy, in the center. And the fill-in band director (ours quit two weeks ago) is the elementary choir teacher, Mr. Phipps...he's to the top left dressed in all in tan, carrying his 6 year old on his shoulders. AND...you'll notice that they are all in step this time! Billy's been working on that with them. Oh, and Mr Phipps taught me to march during the parade. I'm telling you...how I gave birth to a drummer is anyone's guess. I'm the most *not* musically inclined person on earth!

And...that brings us to the end of our 2007 Kennywood WTAE Band-Days!

Cruise In

2007-07-07T23:28:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple pictures from the Cruise In we went to tonight. Kersey is a tiny town, has one bank, a post office, a gas station and one tiny privately owned *grocery* store. I mean Main Street is about 300 feet long! Seriously! Anyway, they have a huge community park with two soccer fields and one little league field. This is where they held the Cruise In at. Throughout the five hours they had over 100 cars register. Impressive for such a tiny area...and this was the first time they have done this. Pretty much everyone knew everyone; or at least they knew *of* everyone. We would walk past cars and Bill would know who owned it or who painted it or who restored it. It was fun getting to meet these people and put names with faces. And, pretty much everyone there knew my husband (the man really does get around, lol). They all wanted to know where his Model A pickup and his '68 Ford Ranger pick up were...they were surprised to find out that he brought *my* Mustang and both of his were still in storage! Onto the pictures!

This first one is for Jessica...as requested by her daughter, Tay...

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1
Sorry Jessica...but I like the original body style best! Lucy is much more *me* than this beast!

And this one...I took for my son. One of his favorite colors is lime green and he's *into* racing and building cars. I can't remember the year, but it *was* a Ford Fairlane. The woman owning AND racing this beauty is a 60-year old grandma! All I can remember is that it has 19 1/2 inch rear tires! Oh, and there was a fuel cell in the trunk!

Going Cruising!

2007-07-07T12:18:00.000-04:00

Some of you have already met Lucy my 1966 Mustang. Well, tonight we're going to a Cruise In in Kersey. Lots of 60's and 70's cars, food and music. Sounds like a good time...so that's our Saturday night entertainment!

WW

2007-07-04T15:05:00.000-04:00

Parker Dam State Park

2007-07-03T17:57:00.000-04:00

For this shot...it's across the dam, but I used the zoom lense to get the boulder in the picture more clearly. You can see the one bouey thingie on the right side of the picture; this is out past the swimming area a bit. This is as close as the boats are allowed to the swimming area.

Here's the breast of the dam, showing the spillways. What I couldn't get a good picture of is off to the left of this, down stream...the water goes through a rock field funneling itself into a tiny mountain stream that it started as. That rock field is sooo cool...occasionally we go down the very steep somewhat treacherous steps and jump from rock to rock. There were so many fisherman down there that we didn't do that this time.

This is one view of the spillway at the breast of the dam; showing much more of the body of dam water than the first photo.

My Aunt use to take us swimming here several times every summer. I've had Billy there many times. Some of the more memorable times include renting paddle boats (you really can tip one over and leg craps are a riot!); renting a cabin for the weekend (outdoor bathrooms and a major snow storm made that November night a riot); the bathrooms (metal toilets during thunderstorms make for an interesting potty time!)...

200th Post

2007-07-01T18:21:00.000-04:00

Time really flies...hard to believe that this is the 200th post already. OK, so I've been slacking off and not posting as much any more...but, still! :)

I spent the weekend working and visiting with my sister. She came home for the weekend...and a family reunion. Needless to say, I'm pooped! Been burning the candle at both ends for a bit too long. Tonight is an early-to-bed night and hopefully with Wednesday off work, I'll catch up on some much needed rest!

The family reunion was at Parker Dam State Park. I took a few pictures that are unloading from my camera right now. Hopefully they'll turn out well and I'll post them shortly!

WW - Wild Girl at my Sister's

2007-06-26T20:54:00.000-04:00

Wild Girl at my Sister's

Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-19T21:05:00.000-04:00

How Rare is Your Personality

2007-06-13T20:09:00.000-04:00

Your Personality is Very Rare (ESTP)

Your personality type is dominant, driven, poised, and self-aware.

Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 6% of all men
You are Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-12T19:55:00.000-04:00

What does your birthdate mean?

2007-06-10T16:25:00.000-04:00

Your Birthdate: November 2

You're so intuitive, it's like you have a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense.
You connect with others freely and easily - and you tend to have many best friends.
Warm and caring, it's hard for you to close your heart to anyone.
Affection is like air for you - you need to give and receive it to survive.

Your strength: Your universal compassion

Your weakness: Your unpredictable mood swings

Your power color: Mauve

Your power symbol: Butterfly

Your power month: February

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Fireman's Parade - Marching Billy

2007-06-10T15:26:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know they are all out of step! Billy looked at the picture and just shook his head. He's a senior next year and is the section leader of percussion...so this will be his first problem! LOL

I worked until 3; the parade started at 3. The foreman let me change at 2:45 and he was standing at the time clock when I came out of the bathroom (from changing). He called me over and said, "Go ahead and leave, I'll punch you out at 3." Soooo, I got to leave 7 minutes early. I snuck around the back streets and found a parking spot only one block from Main Street, right near the judges stand. Granted I parked in the middle of a huge mud puddle in an undeveloped lot at the corner of the RR tracks...but still!

Oh...in case you don't know...Billy is the one on the left...with the quints...and he **is** in step!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-05T21:01:00.000-04:00

Sis's Herbs

2007-06-05T20:00:00.001-04:00

Some of you know about my sister's affection towards lavender...and her hubby's love of peppermint and spearmint. Well, here's part of her herb garden...and a close up of her biggest lavender plant. Much to my dismay I can not, under any circumstances, get lavender to winter-over in my garden/landscape. I have peppermint, spearmint, and lemon balm taking over the entire 2 acres...but no lavender!

Another Trip to Sis's House

2007-06-04T19:03:00.000-04:00

...and I took pictures this time! :) Remembered the camera...remembered extra batteries...and the weather cooperated enough to take pictures!!! It rained like a bugger on Friday night while we were eating supper, then not again until we were home Sunday night. It was hot, though...hotter than the dickens...and muggy too! Oh the joys of living next to a huge river!

Here's Sis's house...a view from the back. The house, their garage-turned-into-storage-shed, their garden, their birdbath and just a wee bit of one of the many bird feeders. I took this standing up on the hill, almost in the cemetery.

Ahh, Mom and Sis...standing at the top of the hill where the above picture was taken. See the Cemetery??? :) Oh, and if April sees this, she's liable to kill me...she hates her picture taken!

Another picture from my vantage point in the cemetery...the river that is just three blocks and across a six lane highway...this was taken without using any zoom and from exactly the same place as the house picture was taken.

Mowing the Grass

2007-05-27T22:52:00.000-04:00

I guess the yard just isn't suppose to get mowed!

Begin lawn mowing story YESTERDAY!

Sun shining brightly, hardly a cloud in the sky...move car...start mower...mow one lap around front yard...run out of gas...coast the mower (choking and sputtering) to Bill's garage...fill gas tank...get dog cable...drive out to field...shut mower off...screw dog cable into ground...find damn dog...chain her up...get on mower...start mower...wind blowing like a fiend...one lap around field...huge rain drops start falling...sky is blacker than Oreo...grab dog...leaving cable behind...beat our ass back to the garage...back mower in...bail off...run to car...a grassy AND wet Oreo beat me in the front seat...moved her ass out of the way...pulled car into garage...get out of car...get Oreo out of car...shut car door while keeping Oreo out of the blasted vehicle...get out of garage...get Oreo out of garage...shut garage door...hit Oreo with garage door...run up board walk...get to house...stumble through door with Oreo between my legs. OK...in house. and I'm wet, grassy, pissed and somewhat bemused! And it rained for the next five hours! Hmmmph, guess I ain't planting the garden either!

FF to today at 11:30... Let's put today in a nut shell...cuz I've been out mowing...or trying to mow for the past 6 hours! Let's see...I learned my lesson yesterday...Oreo is NOT mowing with me again!!! So I tied her to the swing set and started to mow. Mowed the entire front yard, no problem...started the back yard and ran out of gas...filled the gas tank and headed out to the field...mowed 2/3 of the field, mower keeps stalling out in the high grass...I ran over a dead and half-rotted opossum...then ran over the shotgun shell that killed decomp'in 'possom...limped the barely running mower to house. Can't find hubby...so I parked it right in the middle of his driveway and came into the house.

I did some house chores until he came dragging his butt home from Challengsworth's garage. He proceeds to fix mower (throttle cable came loose and vibrated off, hence the stalling out and no power). He finished and was mowing...so, I decide to go to town for stuff to make raspberry pie. Came home and he was in the garage working on something else. Sooo, I ventured out to see how the yard was. Now I should have known better...the mower was NOT in my garage...after 23 years of this man...I should have known the yard wasn't finished! Yup, he did about three circles and a couple paths through every single piece of unmowed grass we own!!!! If there is one thing I can not stand it's big loopies cut out of a square piece of unmowed grass...that I have to square back up and mow!!! GRRRRRR....

Anyway, I hopped back on the mower and started squaring it up to mow...I finished the back yard...the horse pasture and the little bit of the field I didn't get done...and it was blowing and getting dark...and raining HUGE drops of rain...I beat it to the house...got the mower in the garage, got my car in the garage...ran to Bill's garage and put up the Taurus windows and the truck's windows while he pushed motorcycles and stuff back into the garage. Now, on the way back to the house I remembered that I didn't mow under the bird feeders or back by the blue shed. Now I'm pissed...been mowing for two days and still don't have it all finished! Damn good thing I have three days in a row off....I need it all just to mow the yard!

Anyway...raspberry dessert is finished...in the fridge...coleslaw is made and ready to go. And Billy is driving us both crazy with his indecisions. And with that...I'm heading to mom's for supper...WITHOUT the kid; until he makes up his mind...and without posting this entry because he's on the *&^%$%# phone BTW, it's no longer raining...and the sun is shining! Oh yea, and I'm more than a little peeved! Here's hoping everyone's holiday weekend is going better than mine!!! ;o)

BTW, don't wear Crocs and prop you feet up on the mower for three hours in the bright sunlight. Yup, I have sunburn dots on my feet...13 of them to be exact!

Rambling Vines and Rambling Thoughts

2007-05-26T18:29:00.000-04:00

Hmmm, I wasn't even going to do a picture with this post...then I remembered the hapazard rambling hops vine that I still haven't tied up...and the spearmint that is overtaking the entire garden! This was taken a few weeks ago...and now you can see no rocks at all...none!

It's been a long week...lots of working overtime even though we have very few parts in the building to inspect. Honestly, I can not figure out how they think! Convoluted is the best word to describe it. They laid 17 people off on Thursday...called five of them back Friday morning...and told another ten to call on Tuesday! Just doesn't make sense to me. Sooo, I have 20 hours of OT on the next pay check...and just in time for a trip to my sister's house!

Yup, it's that time of year...time for the annual mother-daughter-grandson Harrisburg shopping trip. I asked off the 1, 2, and 3 of June. I'm picking mom up at 8:30 and we're heading down to meet April for some greenhouse shopping and eating. Billy is coming down at dark. He and his new girlfriend are spending the last day of school together. Billy is finished with school for the year at 9 a.m. and she goes until 10 (different schools). Then they are meeting one of Billy's friends and his wife and all four are going to an afternoon movie and supper before he heads down to my sister's. He hates greenhouse/plant shopping...so he's skipping out on all the how-many-plants-can-you-fit-into-one-car fun! Seriously, one year we had so many plants that Bill had to come down and take some home on Saturday!!!

My goals for today included, a trip to the bank, post office, grocery store, dollar store, car wash...and some yard work that included tying up that miserable rambling hops vine, yank out some of that peppermint, plant the garden (the vegetable garden), mow the yard and the field. Well...I got the lawn mower out...got the whole way around the yard ONCE and it started raining. It's still raining! Sooo, I did laundry and cooked up a storm! Right now we're getting ready for a wiener roast...yes, in a soaking wet yard with a tiny bit of drizzle! Hey, I'm only letting the weather ruin *some* of my plans!

My new Car

2007-05-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

2002 Saturn SL2

Yes, it was an impulse purchase. We weren't really *looking* for a vehicle...it's time, but we've been procrastinating. For any of you who truly know me...you'll know that is not an understatement! LOL On grocery night, I drove past one of the used car lots and this car caught my attention...caught it enough that I pulled right into the lot. It was past their hours, so I was able to *shop* without intrusion. Well, I thought about this car all dang weekend...so Monday, I went back when they were open! Last night we drove down and brought her home! I usually dislike dealing with car salesmen and dealerships...but this place was exceptional! The saleswoman and the owner fixed every issue I had with the car. I was impressed! Soooo...this is my new car! We kept the Taurus...Bill is driving it now and Billy is taking it on two "day trips" he has in the plans for the next few weeks (Pittsburgh and Harrisburg).

Wordless Wednesday

2007-05-16T19:05:00.000-04:00

Landscape Walk

2007-05-13T15:46:00.000-04:00

The sidewalk going up to the front door. This is mostly unused and the steps need redone, but the phlox are georgous! Ahhh, don't ask about that rock laying in the middle of the sidewalk. Oreo has a nasty habit of carrying rocks around in her mouth...and yes, she was outside with me when I was taking these pics!

Here's a better view of the phlox...this is taken standing in my driveway. 12 years ago, when I did this landscaping, these were in four inch pots. I never dreamed they would get so large. This is my favorite part of the landscaping...when these are blooming!

My new tulip bulbs are blooming. The first ones...the little tiny red ones that come up with the crocus...well, Oreo ate all the buds off of those! These were a little farther back in the flower bed and she couldn't quite reach these! LOL

And the lilac bush. This poor thing has been moved twice and frozen back last year. It budded out nicely last spring and was frozen so badly it never bloomed...so I was delighted to find flowers on it! This is my favorite flowering tree/bush/shrub...reminds me of my Grandma's house. She had the old fashioned lilacs that were huge. I mean, huge...bigger than Bill's motorcycle shed!

Prom '07

2007-05-05T23:52:00.000-04:00

Looking Good!
Well, sorta...his patten leather rented shoes are in the backseat of *my* car. And, Nicole, being a wonderful girl, made him wear them at the prom. Man, I love that girl! :)

Getting a little help from Grandma (my mom).

OK, my son is truly evil! This is while backing out of the driveway...Nicole is buckling her seatbelt and my kid is taking a moment to share his innermost feelings with his mother! As some of you know, this is somewhat of a family joke...and by no means the first time he's flipped the bird at the camera!

Animals

2007-03-31T14:54:00.000-04:00

The cat...AC...being a cat! What more can I say? She's part "dollbaby" and part "devilcat" all wrapped up into a very tightly-wound cat-shaped ball! She was being too nosey Tuesday night and got her tail shut in my car door. We all were very lucky...my car door doesn't close correctly, it only latches and you have to lean on it to get it shut. She probably had a sore tail, but it wasn't broken or injured.

And...Oreo...taking a nap with her newest toy! When I went to visit with my sister three weeks ago...we found this very cool Snake at one of the chain pet stores. It has a squeaker in it's head and three squeakers in it's tail. Silly dog uses it as a neck pillow! You can also see in this pic...how well she stays on her rug! LOL Yup, that's it under her back feet!

IT'S SPRING!!!

2007-03-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

...and about damn time! :) It was so nice yesterday morning...I took Oreo for a walk. She ran around the back yard like a barrel-racing horse. She literally thundered past, spraying water and mud everywhere! A little while later, after she was calmed down (aka, tuckered out), we went out in the front yard and took pictures of *my* signs of spring!

1st attempt...Oreo is going, "What in the world is Mommy looking for?"

"Hmmm, I'll just sit here and wait for her to find it. I think she's lost her head this time!"

More of my spring flowers...my early daffs actually have buds on them. Honestly I do not know how they did this in two days of no snow cover. Apparently they were growing under nearly a foot of snow! And on the right, here's some weird tulips I planted in November...and it looks like a big white crocus bud. As you can see, I never got around to leaf raking last fall. We had some terrible fall weather...I think it was fall-like for only three days...the rest of the time it was a cold rain. Anyway, looks like the bulbs survived!

New Bird at the Feeders

2007-03-23T19:32:00.000-04:00

Here's a new addition to the bird feeders. Any idea what it is? It sits on our back porch, eats sunflower seeds, cracked corn, whole kernel corn and driveway dirt. It does fly, but prefers to run behind a tree and then it keeps the tree between you and it. BTW, the snow is gone now...THANK GOD!

Sunday Dessert

2007-03-18T14:50:00.000-04:00

March is *not* my month! Look what I did to the wonderful Bittersweet Chocolate Bundt Cake I made last night! I went to flip the cake out onto the plate and my hand went numb (the one with the dislocated thumb) and the plate slipped, so did the cake...it ended up on top of the stove in crumbs! OK, mini fit...deep breath...scoop, plop, scoop, plop...deep breath...think..."what the hell, it's still eatable" Then I made the glaze! This is now officially Sunday Supper Dessert! Is it April yet???

If you are interested in the recipe, it's here:
http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cake/bittersweet_chocolate_pound_cake_recipe.html

Honey-Mutt & Oreo-Dog

2007-03-17T22:52:00.000-04:00

The pooches...posing for the camera. Oreo is "waiting for daddy" to come home from work and Honey has just finished drinking her fresh water. These were taken one after another...and yes, the dogs are looking at each other. With the shadow on her face, I think Honey looks more like a coyote than a dog. She just has that *look* about her.

What I've been up to...

2007-03-17T19:19:00.000-04:00

Goodness, it's been a while, hasn't it? I believe the last post was Feb. 22 or so. Hmmm, what have I been up to since then? Lots of overtime at work, as usual. My last pay check had 32 hours of overtime on it for two weeks; the one before that 36 hours. This week has been pretty slow compared to those two...only 12 hours for this next upcoming pay check. It's just that I can't seem to get caught up!

I did have last weekend off work...and spent the ENTIRE weekend at my sister's house near Harrisburg. We did lots of shopping and visiting and eating. They took me to a very cool place for supper; The Appalachian Brewing Company. http://www.abcbrew.com/harrisburg/index.htm I had a very delicious crab cake dinner...and some *interesting* beer! Ahhh, better explain that...I don't like the dark full-bodied beers. And, that's almost what I got! Luckily, Brandon ordered my beer. They were out of the one he thought I would drink...so he got me the next "lightest" beer. It was drinkable, but not really what I like. The food was GREAT! I also bought a t-shirt and a 6 pack of their root beer to bring back home. Billy loves root beer, so that was for him!

We are still under much snow cover. Even BEFORE this last storm (yesterday) we still had a good foot on the ground. Well, in most places around the yard, we did have a few bare spots. Well, we got another foot yesterday! I'm so tired of shoveling snow and such! My sister got the same amount as we did yesterday...but look what WAS growing in her yard and are now hiding under her newly fallen snow...

Me...well, I'm still a little stiff and sore. Thursday night I managed a not so graceful swan-dive off the proch. Not down the steps like a normal person, but off the side, straight down to the ground, about six feet. I did manage to twist and tuck-and-roll so as not to land on outstretched arms. Me was playing with Oreo and she made one last circle on the porch, hit my legs and buckled my knees...and off I went! I probably should have called off work on Friday, but I sucked it up and went in. I did go in a few minutes early to talk to my foreman. By the time I was finished telling him that the blankety-blank dog knocked me off the porch and then stood on top of me pulling my hair and stole my crocs right off my feet, he was laughing is butt off! He gave me an easy job...and promised me the same for overtime today, so I worked.

And this is what Billy has been up to...
Poor kid, wrecked his car on the 6th of March, on his way home from work at midnight. It's totaled, he was unhurt, scared as hell and mad as a wet hen that he hurt his "baby". He managed to hit an ankle deep pothole, over corrected and slid off the edge of the road; yes it was snowing and the road was totally covered. The tire got sucked into the deep snow bank and pulled the car into a pole. The pole snapped off and took the entire wheel assembly off the axle. You can see what's left of the axle sitting on the wood block under the car. My batteries were dying, so I didn't get a several good pics of the car, only this one. The fender was crumpled in the front, it was hanging so badly, Bill and the tow-truck driver took it off before bringing the car home. And yes, that's Oreo in the background.

He's been car shopping...found a '96 Beretta (sp) that needs some work; mostly putty and paint. So, that's going to be his newest project...he's just waiting on his next paycheck to buy the car! Then the following TWO paychecks to buy the paint and other supplies he needs. Bill, well, he's patiently waiting to help the kid fix the car!

I'm craving chocolate...so I have a bittersweet chocolate bundt cake in the oven. It's just about ready to come out...so I'm off to make the glaze. Here's hoping the next few weeks are much easier than the past few!

Got Bones?

2007-02-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

Here's Oreo and Sport with their Sunday bones. Every week we take Oreo down to my parent's house for Sunday Supper. Every Sunday my dad buys them both a brand new smoked marrow bone. The first month or so it was a riot, both dogs growling, jumping, taking each other's bones...a real three-ring circus! Now, they are content to lay together and eat their bones. Every now and they the *trade* bones...and occasionally Sport jumps up and flies into Oreo; but for the most part they get along well. The big difference is that sport is 4 months old and Oreo is 10 months old...Sport is still learning!

Another Great Shopping Trip

2007-02-17T22:56:00.000-05:00

Yup, I was off today on another great shopping experience! This time it started out as meeting a friend for coffee and maybe breakfast. However, it quickly turned into an all-day-long quilt and fabric store hopping adventure! We started out with cappachino at Sheetz, a 30-minute drive to Brookville, PA to a wonderfully bigger-than-imagined quilting/fabric store. This place was just filled with goodies! I purchased almost $70 worth of goodies and I don't even quilt! LOL

I bought some material for quilted pot holders for my BIL. FYI, as a family joke, he hates pink flamingos. And, knowing this, I always buy him something flamingoish. His birthday is in May...and he's getting a grilling kit, complete with flamingo pot holders! The green grass material is going to be the binding, the tan will be the backing and the flamingo material will be the front of the pot holder.

I also seen a beautiful chenille scarf hanging on display, complete with the pattern. I love scarves and this was something *different*...I just had to have it. So I asked for the pattern, tried to figure out how to do it, looked up the fabric requirements and headed to the flannel display! I found several flannels that I really liked and a couple that would really work for this project. So I narrowed it down to two different ones...then picked the one that I have the least of in that particular color. Red and black it is!

From that quilt store, we were off to the next one...another 30-minute drive to Clarion, PA. We vaguely knew where this store was, but we found it easily. Not as big as the first and completely different merchandise. I found some roving for felted soaps, but since Frances gave me a whole bag full of it, I managed not to cave in to the "buy it" temptation.

Then it was off to lunch; it was after 3 p.m., we were starved! We ate at a great steak house in the Clarion Mall. On the way through the mall to JoAnn Fabrics we passed by a jewelery store. I glanced into the case and skidded to an abrupt stop. I've always had a thing for black onyx but usually don't like the usual settings they use for this stone. WELL, here's what caught my attention...I've taken so many pictures of this ring and just can't quite get it just *right*. The stone is a marquis shape, one side has a pink-gold leaf and the other side had a green-gold leaf...the band is the usual gold color and then there is a gold strap over the stone, running from one leaf to the other leaf. It's very unusual looking and is really *me*! Yes, it came home with me! The best part...it was 50% off! All totaled it was $72!!! Oh, just ingore my fingernails, the plant job has just about done them in! One more thing, it's on my left hand because, after many attempts, I determined that I can not work a digital camera left-handed! LOL

The drive home was uneventful. It started snowing while we were eating lunch. By the time we got home we had more than three inches of snow on the ground/road. Good thing we've had a lot of snow in the past couple of weeks. At least everyone have relearned their winter driving skills!

$%^&*# SNOW!

2007-02-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

UNCLE, UNCLE! Enough already! Snow and I have never gotten along well; I can tolerate the super cold temperatures, but just can't deal with the never-ending snow. It's only been snowing for about 30 hours this time...but I made the mistake at looking at the long-range forecast...snow is in every single day of the 10-day forecast! EVERY SINGLE DAY! Uggghhh

I made it to work this morning. And, more importantly, Billy made it home from work last night at midnight. We are all plowed and shoveled out. Our neighbors are great, going from house to house helping move the big snow piles back and plowing out those who can't do so for themselves. Bill, his brother and three other neighbor guys are out with their plowing equipment doing this. Oreo just loves to go "plowing"...she gets the "shotgun" seat with the window all the way down so she can stick her head out to eat the snow!

Here's a direct shot of the steps going up to the front sidewalk. Ahhh, no, I'm *not* shoveling them out! Besides, hardly anyone uses that door! LOL

Here's the front porch...the sidewalk is somewhere to the right of those two pointy snow cones (which are Alberta Spruce). If you look closely, you can see the snow on the front porch is about waist deep. And...notice that it's still snowing! Yup, I didn't even realize it was still snowing until I came back inside and downloaded these pictures!

A little more manageable sidewalk to clean off. HA! This is what we call the "boardwalk"...I shoveled it last night, Bill shoveled it at 5 a.m. and Billy shoveled it at 2 p.m. When I came home at 3:30 p.m. it was completely drifted shut! Yes, completely drifted...level with that solar light you see on the right-hand side of this picture!

Cabin Fever Shopping Trip

2007-02-10T21:59:00.000-05:00

Yup, it's that time of year...the time of year that I hate. Being snowed in, frozen half-to-death and suffering from a serious case of Cabin Fever! Sooo, I gave into my craving for Starbucks and headed off to State College. My sister's schedule is screwed up this month, so she didn't have *her* weekend off...but I went anyway! I managed to drink four Venti Vanilla Latte's and brought one home for breakfast!

OK, so I didn't drive 75 miles just for Starbucks...I also went to Barnes and Noble to get Bill a couple of his Classic British Motorcycle magazines; which was my main reason for the trip. And, naturally...I had to stop in at Bath & Body Works. Spent $50 in there...I just love their Sensual Amber scent...and their new Black Current and Vanilla aromatherapy scent. And, I had to go to CJ Banks and The Dress Barn. Oh and the sales I found! Here's my new clothes!

OK, so I'll admit to buying a sweater I already have! But, who can't use two basic black mockturtle neck sleeveless shells? I'm not really a blue lover, but this sweater fit so nicely...and it goes well with my only pair of jeans. And, I found a shell that goes perfectly with it (it's laying above it in this picture). All on clearance!

I'm not usually one for matching sets...especially sweater sets. BUT, this one was the perfect color and had some beautiful bead work...and both pieces were 70% off! And look at this skirt that I found to match! The coolest part is the fringe on the bottom of the skirt and the fact that it was also 70% off! Now I need a pair of boots!

Ahhh, here's something that is *me*! And it was 60% off! Hmmm, must have been thinking of this jacket when I purchased the second black sleeveless shell!

Here's my favorite purchase. I just love this stainglass looking shell. They only had it in one size, which was one size larger than I wear. BUT, it's not too huge...and my mom can alter just about anything. So here's tomorrow's after-Sunday-supper job! Not too bad for $12.49; yup, it was on clearance too... :)

Oreo in all her Sleepy Glory

2007-02-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

I swear this dog will sleep anywhere! In the first picture, she's under the kitchen table...falling asleep with her head on the rungs of my chair while I got dessert. The second picture...she very carefully piled up all her inside toys and bones and then laid her head on her raccoon.

She's been to the vet a couple of times in the past month, the most recent time was Wednesday. Notice the little shaved area on her right leg? That's from her IV. She has a limp in her front leg and they did some xrays to make sure it wasn't a degenerative bone disease. It's not, so they are treating it as a soft tissue damage with a couple of medications. So far so good...she's limping less and less.

Oreo's Fun in the Snow

2007-01-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

Ms. Oreo...Sitting Pretty...after running all over and doing all her sniffing and checking out the mailbox damage. Heck, even she knew something was wrong...she was growling and burffing at the mess!

Now the fun starts! Do NOT try to shovel snow with this dog nearby! She started out chasing the snow I was throwing from the shovel...that quickly turned to "get the shovel"!

Oreo spys the shovel laying on the bottom step... I wrestle it away from her and try to carry it back to the house.

She's grabbing it and growling, almost pulling it from my grasp. Hey, you should have seen her while I was actually doing the shoveling! Unfortunately I can not shovel snow AND take pictures at the same time! LOL

Dang she's fast...she's blurry in every picture! And yes, it is still snowing! I did get the shovel back to the house...and it's unharmed. She seems to want nothing to do with the shovel now that it's sitting in the kitchen! Hmmmm...silly dog!

Some late night excitement

2007-01-20T09:13:00.000-05:00

I was just finishing up on the computer and was putting the rocking chair back in front of the picture window when I glanced out the window to see a vehicle coming down the road, off the berm of the road, down onto our little rock wall, narrowly missing the electric pole, completely demolishing our mailbox, crossing my driveway and hitting a tree. I went to wake up Bill...hey, no way I'm dealing with a most-likely drunk idiot at 1 a.m....well, not alone anyways! :) From the bedroom window, while getting his pants on, Bill watched the guy back up and drive away. Hmmm, I'd love to be a little birdie when he sees just how much damage he did to his truck! Since the silly dog wanted out early (7 a.m is early when I'm not working)...here are some pictures of the scene!

I'm standing in the driveway, taking this shot up the road, where he started to come off the berm...you can see the tire tracks coming down off the road, towards the rock row. You can also see the remains of where the mailbox post USE to be! LOL And just how close he came to the electric pole!

For this shot, I just turned and took a picture down the road...I'm still standing in the driveway, same spot as I took the first picture in...you can see the mark on the tree where he hit it...and the tire tracks where he backed up and pulled back out onto the road. You can also see two pieces of molding / trim from his truck!

Here's what's left of where the mailbox WAS...the black thing is the newspaper tube, it's still connected to the metal post that's bent completely over. I haven't found all of the wooden mailbox post yet...some of it is there under the paper box!

And the imfamous mailbox! :) For this picture...I just turned even farther to the right...than the picture above. The mailbox, apparently came off the post and flew almost 100 feet to land here...it's totally unharmed. Wanna guess what Bill is doing today??? :)

April's Candles

2007-01-19T22:57:00.000-05:00

Some of you might know that my sister makes candles. Just something she dabbles in as a hobby; using mostly craft store supplies. I'm forever adding candle-making things to my soap supply orders for them. Above are some of the candles she's made for me. This year's Christmas present was the big three-wick chunk candle along with the matching square pillar. Last year was that cool slab candle in the bottom left of the picture. Wayyy cool! We keep our jars from Home Interior, PartyLite, Home and Gardens and Yankee candles and she reuses them for some very pretty and unique jar candles. What I like best is she keeps refilling my Longaberger holiday crocks for me! BTW, that's her (on the left) and me (one the right) in that picture sitting amongst the candles...that pic is about 10 years old.

Snowball Dance

2007-01-17T19:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday night the kids were off to the Snowball Dance. Billy left here at 1 p.m. in the filthiest jeans he owns, a black t-shirt, holey shoes and a ripped up hoodie. I did iron a charcoal gray dress shirt and Nicole's mom bought him a lavender colored tie. So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best! Tonight I found a memory card laying on the kitchen table; he had promised to bring me Nicole's camera card...so I popped it into the printer and lookie what I found! :)

What a cute couple...guess Billy really did have some *dress* clothes with him when he left the house! :)

My sister-in-law is a beautician and cuts my hair (Billy's too). She did Nicole's up-do for the dance. I didn't see it and soooo wanted to; she's such a pretty girl and she really dresses up well. I don't know who took this, I'm assuming my son did, but I'm glad they did...I get to see a bit more of her hairdo!

And this is the picture my son is most proud of...posing with her dad's guns! And, unbelieveably, this is the best pic of them...such smiles!

Knitting...yes, I'm still knitting...

2007-01-16T18:52:00.001-05:00

What...well, socks for my sister from yarn she picked out back in MAY! A scarf for a girl I work with...and a whole stash of goodies just waiting on me. ;)

Here's that scarf...this is Bernat's Bling-Bling yarn...what a PIA to knit with! LOL Basically it's a strand of eyelash, with some sparkley stuff and tuffs of something soft. The tuffs keep getting caught in the stitches and are annoying the daylights out of me! But this is one skein finished...and I think only half of the second will be needed to get a good length for Sheana. I hope to have it finished on Friday when she comes back to work.

...and my yarn stash...socks, socks, socks, a scarf or two and a shawl for my sister. Now that I'm looking at that basket full of yarn...what in the world is that ball of fun fur doing in there amongst all that lovely wool, alpaca, and cashmere???

The House Kitties

2007-01-14T13:04:00.000-05:00

Technically we have only one "kitty"...but, thanks to my sister, we also have a stuffed kitty dog toy! Orrie loves her stuffed kitty...BUT...some people who live in this house like to say the "get the kitty" phrase and Orrie; well, being the dog that she is, she likes the *real* kitty! Here's a couple of pictures of the "get the kitty" game...

Orrie and her *stuffed* kitty! Ahhh, ingore the muddy paw prints on the floor...I know it needs mopped...I was just waiting for the ground to freeze first...it's sooo muddy here it makes no sense to mop the floor. Trust me, one of the animals (or the kid) will want out/in as soon as the floor is finished!

AC, the *real* Kitty...after being chased, cornered and clawed/hissed her way to safety. As you can see, she's still a pit pissed-off! LOL Orrie's favorite thing to is root with her nose...she roots AC so hard the poor cat goes flying several feet across the floor. She usually comes down growling with claws exposed.

Christmas & New Years

2007-01-01T16:19:00.000-05:00

First of all...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Oh what a Holiday Season it was! I've been off work since December 22...and I'm just *now* getting caught up! LOL The holidays went well...a bit too fast, but everything was wonderful. I had some extra time off work to spend with my sister while she was home. Bill did great with his shopping and picked out the *perfect* gifts. One of which, I'm still learning how to use...a new digital camera WITH a zoom lense. Hmmm, me thinks he may read my blog?!!! :) So, here are a few pictures from the holidays...with the new camera...

Oreo visiting with Sport in his crate. They lick and bite at each other though the crate. Annoying but sorta funny! When they are loose together, they do the same thing.

Sport, alone in his cage...with a stolen box. He ran out into the kitchen, circled around mom, jumped up, took the box out of her hands and ran into his cage and proceeded to destroy the box! OK, it was sorta funny!

And this is the husband...being a ham...OK, he's actually staring off in space! ;)

My new little "Brother"

2006-12-09T16:36:00.000-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving my dad got a new puppy. Little squirt seems so tiny compared to Oreo! In case you haven't guessed, he's a Chocolate Labrador Retriever...and dad named him Sport. Personally, I think that's a pretty lame name for a big old Chocolate Lab...but... ;) You should see Sport and Oreo play together...Oreo is all over that pup but somehow he manages to hold his own. Oh, and Oreo doesn't much like Sport trying to nurse off her! LOL His momma dog was yellow; daddy dog was black...only one pup of the 9 was chocolate.

I've been working, galivanting around and finishing up a soap swap...all which leave me almost no computer time. But, I'm here...trying to keep my head above water. :) Billy is off at work and Bill is at a Christmas party with his group of motorcycle guys he hangs out with at the repair shop near our house. When he comes home we're headed to Walmart.

...and with that, I'm off to collate and staple the swap booklet. Wish me luck in finding the *perfect* packaging for my swap soap!

Pymatuning / Linesville Spillway

2006-11-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful autumn day...considering it's the last weekend in November...it was a superb day! :) Mid 60's, lots of sunshine and a few white fluffy clouds. The Mustang has to be off the road by Dec. 1 (per insurance purposes)...so we gassed it up and took off for one of my dad's favorite spots. We all use to do a lot of waterfowl hunting...and *the* place to do that in this area is the Pymatuning Waterfowl Reserve. It's managed by the PA Game Commission and is near or is part of the Pymatuning State Park. Beautiful farm lands, huge corn fields and thousands of geese and ducks! And these geese are SMART! They know where the hunters are and where the "reserve" is...it's rather annoying to be sitting in the blind and be able to see the geese flying your direction and then veer off to the "reserve" land instead of coming into the cornfield with the blinds. And you are only allowed to hunt until Noon in that area...well, let me tell you...those miserable geese *know* when noon is! When you are hauling your stuff out of the blind and to the truck, they are flying in by the hundreds! After hunting, we always went down to the spillway to feed the Carp...then we stopped to feed ourselves. Anyway, here are a few pictures...

The Geese at Pymatuning

OK, where's the geese? Honest, there were geese in this frame when I took the picture! LOL OK, this is why I *need* a new digital camera...one with a zoom lense...for Christmas.

OK, here's some geese coming in to land. Yes, this is the same tree that is in the above picture...and there were geese in the field before these ones came in. It was about an hour before sunset when I took these pics...the geese were coming in off the water for their bedtime snack.

These are the same geese that are in the above picture...they are now landing in the grassy area between the mowed corn and the standing corn. Go head, squint, you can see them...the bottom tree branch is pointing right at them! :) They are so intriguing to watch. The come in for a landing, arc off to the side a bit, cup their wings, stick out their feet, then tip their wings and drop right to the ground, running a few steps while folding in their wings.

FINALLY! A few geese close enough to the road to actually see them with this camera! And, isn't weird how close something looks to the naked eye compared to how it looks through the camera lense?

The Linesville Spillway

Here's the spillway. You can't see the fish in this picture at all, but they were there. It's kinda cute to watch a duck get too close to the edge of the spillway and get sucked down into this circle. They swim like the dickens, some manage to stay out in the lake, others are sucked into this area. From here, it goes under the road and into the lake on the other side of the roadway; but, of course the ducks can fly right back where they were...

Here's a bubbling mass of Carp, all fighting for some bread I threw into the water.

More Carp...

Here's where the fun starts. There are so many Carp in the water, all rising to the surface fighting for the bread...that the ducks can literally walk on the fishes backs. Now since it's almost December, the migatory birds are gone and that means not as many ducks...so this isn't as spectatular as usual! :( But, you can see a couple ducks sticking up out of the water, walking on the fish (two female Mallards in the very center of the picture).

The Gulls

And what fun would water be without Sea Gulls? These were nasty ones, almost always beating the ducks to the bread. Heck, most of the time when you threw bread to the duck, it never hit the water! Yup, the gulls would catch it in mid air...sooo, this prompted us to throw the bread straight up in the air for the gulls...what a show that was. I felt like I was in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds!

Did you know a gull can stop mid flight and hover? Well,that's what the one on the left is doing!

Not clearly in focus, but it was too cute not to post. We laid a piece of bread on the pole to coax the gulls in close. Well, let me tell you, those buggers are FAST! This was the third attempt to get the picture!

Some Closing Pictures This is a little cove that was in the lake, across the road from the spillway. I loved the way the trees were reflecting into the water...and the orange/red tint to the trees and bank on the right. That tint is from the setting sun that was behind me.

And, here is the final shot of the day...the setting sun reflecting in the lake. The fence-thing you see is the railing across the top of the spillway, where it comes out from under the road into the lake on the opposite side; hence the rippley water. This is the calm side of the lake...even without the sunset.

As usual, after the spillway...comes food! We found a lovely Italian restaurant and had a great meal...and a long dark drive home!

AC & Oreo

2006-11-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

Well, it's taken me nearly four months to get these to close enough to get them BOTH in the same picture! AC literally hates that puppy! She growls, spits and hisses; all which Oreo interprets as "let's play some more"! BUT...the other day, Oreo was minding her own business and AC walked up behind her and bit the end of her tail!

What Kind of Coffee Are You

2006-11-24T18:48:00.000-05:00

You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe

But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated
You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys
Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites.
And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear.

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Oreo Meets Santa

2006-11-24T18:15:00.000-05:00

I was decorating yesterday afternoon...put the Santa at the bottom of the stairs and went out the cellar door with the extension cords. Oreo seen Santa and went ballistic! She literally woke Billy up! Sooo, being the kind loving big brother that he is...he went and took her picture! She's now friends with Santa! :)

Sooo, are you tired of dog pictures yet? :) Sometime this weekend we're headed out for a day away from home. Just a lovely afternoon ride to see some places where we haven't been in a while, Meadville, Pymatuning and Linesville... The Mustang's last hurrah for the year! I'm taking the camera...so you'll have some cool pictures of fields full of Canadian geese and Mallard ducks walking on the backs of carp. Yes, carp fish!

Where's My Bread???

2006-11-19T12:15:00.000-05:00

Oreo's most favorite people food is bread. She loves buns and bread crust. Oh, and that red thing under her elbow...that's her newest toy...a furry squeeky red lobster. OK, so I bought it for my sister's cat...but Oreo chewed the stuffing out of her "monster hand" so I had to give her something!

Oreo

2006-11-14T17:51:00.000-05:00

Well, she's sure getting bigger...and more michievious! Tonight she's sitting beside the computer desk with her ball. She's dropping her ball in my lap and then barking at me until I throw it. Here she is with an inside-out ear...and again with her ear turned back the normal way. She's almost always has one inside-out ear. And don' t you just love the way she plops her butt down??

The Drumline

2006-11-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are...into the middle of November and we are still not done with high school football games! Dang play-offs! We are sort of a "wild card"...one loss and we're out. We play Curwensville on Saturday night...they beat us in regular season by just a few...and they've lost the last three games they've played...sooooo the odds are pretty good that we can beat them (or so the coaches are saying!). BTW, Billy is in the front, second from the left.

Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to Monroeville for some Christmas shopping. They have the day off school and I fanganled the day off work. Now that's a story in itself! To get tomorrow off work, I agreed to work Saturday...5 a.m. until 1 p.m.! Yuppers, looks like I'll be doing that on three or four (if I'm lucky) hours of sleep! AND we have that football game on Sat. night. Boy am I ever going to be grumpy on Sunday! LOL But, the kids are happy, my bosses are happy and the band boosters are happy...so I can live with it!

Puppies & Balloons

2006-10-15T13:51:00.000-04:00

THIS is what happens when you give a Lab puppy a balloon to play with!

And here's one to show just how big she's gotten!

More Marching Band

2006-10-15T13:11:00.000-04:00

Bet you all will be glad when Marching Band season is over, hun??? :) Here are two pics from yesterday's afternoon game. Naturally, there is one of Billy...and one of Nicole. It was sunny and about 45 degrees at the school when we loaded the buses...25 minutes into the trip it started raining...ten minutes later it was snowing...and ten minutes farther down the road there was an inch of snow! But, we drove through that snow storm...and to Port Allegheney. It was 35 degrees, windy as heck and spitting snow! Naturally we were all dressed for 45 and sunny! By the time the game was over it was a beautiful fall afternoon. Weird weather! During halftime it was still windy with occasional sunshine vs. snow flakes...so if Nicole looks frozen, she probably is...and they all were holding on to the flags for all they are worth!

And, as always...a great big THANKYOU to Gretchen for taking the wonderful photos!

RHS Homecoming Game & Dance

2006-10-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

Photo Taken By Gretchen Rokosky

Oh how the kids grow! Billy will be 17 in another month...his gf of two years will be 15 in the spring. Last night was their High School Homecoming football game. It was freezing out...literally at 31 degrees...clear as a bell with a beautiful full moon. Nothing specatular; with the exception that our team won by two points and the skin of their teeth (the opposing team was on the 2 yard line with posession with 15 seconds on the clock!). Billy suffered through the cold and left Nicole wear his letter jacket all night. His new drums finally came in (they've been on backorder since July)...so here he is marching with his brand new Quints! BTW, he is playing his solo in the song Crazy Train in this pic. And, as usual, this wonderful, perfectly clear pic was taken be fellow band mom and reporter Gretchen. I was at the fb game...helped the kids get their uniforms and everything and never noticed until Gretchen sent me this photo that Billy's new drum carrier goes UNDERNEATH his uniform jacket! So cool to see the whole uniform! OK, so after rereading this post, maybe the night/weekend was pretty specatular! :)

This picture is my doing...with my plane-jane digital camera.

Tonight is the Homecoming dance... Nicole really is beautiful when she isn't making snoots at the camera! ;) Her parents won't let her ride with Billy; so her mom took them to a later afternoon movie (Jackass2), out to dinner and to the Homecoming dance. I took them to Walmart & Eat and Park last night after the game and will be picking them up after the dance.

Billy was a little depressed because he sooooo wanted to take the Mustang to the dance...he's holding out hope for the Prom! So here they are posing with *my* car!

Just A Few More Lake Erie Pictures...

2006-10-03T21:03:00.000-04:00

Just making you suffer through a few more pictures of our vacation. :) And besides, I don't wanna erase them from the memory card until I can get it to Walmart and make some *real* prints from them.

Just the pretty lake...a bit rough from an incoming storm...but it was much rougher later in the afternoon when I took the pics from the bay I posted the other day. Even in the bay, the waves were white-capped.

Here's that ravine I climbed down and stood in... In my younger days I'm afraid I would have been down on the beach via this stack of natural shale steps.

And...here's Bill! Yup, he crawled into the ravine and walked out to the edge just for me!!!

Lake Erie

2006-10-02T17:30:00.000-04:00

These pictures were taken in New York State. We drove from Erie, PA to North East, PA on Route 5 and then kept going for a ways...Bill spoted a road sign that read Rippley Beach Road. Sooo, down the road we went. At the end of this narrow dirt road was a grassy parking spot. The view of the lake was specatular...these pictures do not do the view justice. Of course, I bailed out of the car and headed to the lake...only to find myself on a clif 50 feet ABOVE the beach!

This is the first picture I took...I like the look of the trees in the forground...

But...Bill didn't...so here's the same pic, I took this one, leaning out around the trees that were on the cliff ledge with me.

Cool-looking berries on one of the trees.

I loved the determination of this tree; hanging on for dear life.

This was a little tiny ravine, with a trickling stream (I'm talking a few inches wide) down the center. naturally, me and my Crocs waded down the center and took a picture!

This one was taken standing that the opening of that ravine!

Ahhh, leaning waaaay out over the ledge, taking the picture, straight down!

Hmmm, what's that over there? A path? OK, I'm going over... You can see another small stream off to the bottom right of this picture...this one made a beautiful waterfall down the second (I didn't wade down this one!) ravine.

In this pic, I'm standing right beside the tree in the above pic. Leaning out over the edge...you can't see the waterfall very well, so, I leaned out farther and took the pic below!

Ahhh, there's the pretty waterfall!

OK...I'm running late...I'll post the last few pics (one of Bill) later... ;)

Lake Erie Teaser Pix

2006-10-01T17:20:00.000-04:00

OK...couldn't help myself...here are two pictures taken of the bay in Erie, PA. For both of the pictures, I'm standing on the dock of a very cool bar/restaurant called "Rum Runners".

The tower is an observation tower...notice the cute Gull on the white post? When I started fumbling with the camera every post had a gull sitting on the top of them. We've been up in this tower several times, it's pretty cool. You can actually feel it sway in the wind...which is *not* cool!

This other picture...well, Commodore Perry's monument is out there somewhere (about dead center in the pic, on the Peninsula) but, right now, all I'm seeing is the ducks and geese on the water! LOL This is taken out towards the lake, where the tower is deep inland in the bay.

Weeds & Vacation

2006-10-01T17:09:00.000-04:00

OK...I've offically ingored the gardens since starting to work full time. And...by the looks of this picture, it's really starting to show! :( I guess I need to do some serious garden/landscaping work in the next week or so. BTW, this is suppose to be a blue rug juniper...apparently it got infested with thissel seeds! I didn't know thissels got this big around!

I'm just back from a mini vacation. Bill and I went to Erie, PA for our 21st anniversary. I have a few great pictures of Lake Erie I took from a private beach in New York state. Hey, we were driving around, going from winery to winery (in North East, PA) and ended up in NY...what can I say???!!! :) I'm downloading those now...and will try to post them in a day or two.

We had a blast...and only spent $50 on wine...and another $30 on locally made beer at a microbrewery. I managed to have enough patiences for Bill to stop at two different antique places....and he had patiences for me to go to the mall AND two knitting stores! :) He stayed in the car but won't admit to this part...but he took at nap at both knitting stores! We had some great food and fantastic desserts. Hmmm, I think I'm too tired to go to work tomorrow! :))

Sweet Autumn Clematis

2006-09-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

It's pretty...and one of my favorites. I posted a picture of this a while ago, just when it was starting to come out in bloom. Upagainst the rocks in the back of this picture. I let it ramble all over everything...just like the looks of it that way. You can see Lily of the Valley; hostas, creeping phlox, ferns, astilbies, and a sunburst locus tree.

I have two of these...on opposite sides of the perennial garden. This and the next picture are of the other plant. It gets more sunshine so it's thicker and has more blooms.

A Formal Band Picture of Billy

2006-09-16T00:51:00.000-04:00

Photo Take By Gretchen Rokosky

A fellow band mom and professional photographer took this picture last week at the football game. You can see the fog rolling in from the creek. Kinda gives the photo a more serious look. As usual Gretchen, this is a great photo...Billy loves it!

Another Loss for the Elkers

2006-09-16T00:20:00.000-04:00

...at the expense of our rivals! 6 to 36 was the final score. As usual the band had a blast...here's a couple pictures proving that...

Billy...being a smartass, as usual! :)

Billy ingoring his mother...and Nicole, his girlfriend.

An unexpected afternoon down pour made the field a muddy mess...hence the jeans and polo shirts instead of their formal uniforms from last week. The color guards had their new uniforms on and they were literally covered in mud. Everyone's shoes are completely mud covered...but no one lost a shoe on the field! :)

Football Season -- Game #2

2006-09-09T00:45:00.000-04:00

2nd football game of the season...mid-60's with a full moon and the fog rolling in off the creek...kinda pretty but not great for pictures. This is just a quick snapshot of the drummers, Billy on the left and Mary on the right...doing their thing. Someday, I promise, I'll get my kid to actaully LOOK AT ME when I take his pic! :) Oh, and we lost...12 to nothing. The band had a blast....they had great food....I did the announcing (aparently I am the *voice* for the band)....we had a great time being Drum Drivers. The drums didn't fit in the busses...so two SUVS and the usual chaperones became "Drum Drivers" for the away games! I don't think I've ever laughed so much!

The Hops Vine

2006-09-08T15:42:00.000-04:00

I told you I'd post pictures when the baby hops got a little bigger. This is standing in front of the back porch...these brances are right above the porch railing. Sorta above where Oreo was sitting for her devilish pose in yesterday's post. Don't you just love how the vine looks? It's one of my favorite vines.

More Oreo Pics

2006-09-07T19:47:00.000-04:00

A Sweet Puppy Pose

And a Classic Lab Pose

Sometime Oreo looks like such a puppy...and other times she's a grown up doggy! Let's see, she was born on April 26th...so she's 4 months and a week or so old. Boy is she ever growing! She's long and lean...despite all the Jerky Treats and Beggin Strips! ;)

Puppy Fun in the Coneflower Garden

2006-09-07T18:19:00.000-04:00

Puppies are so full of energy...especailly when confined while you are at work! I came home, took a shower and took Oreo outside in the back yard. Sooo, here she is...in all her puppy-glory!

This started as "find the kitty". Here she is diving in under the comfrey to see if AC is in there (she's not) . Yes, that's my lime green faux Croc foot and nightgown covered leg in the picture. She just about knocked me over getting under that comfrey! AND, that's when she discovered the Coneflowers!

This is where I was standing when I took the first picture...in this one, I'm standing IN the apsargas bed! Hey, the way she was growling and yipping at that Coneflower, I got the heck out of her way! :)

...and it cntinued out in the yard. She grabed a flower in her mouth and ran across the stones into the grass. Sorry this is blurry...but that's how fast she was moving!

GOTCHA! You silly flower!

All right...now I've got it made...

Laying down to destroy her prize!

And...here she is in all her glory...AFTER the game of "find the kitty" turned to "destroy mommy's Coneflowers"! Notice the mud on her nose...I have no idea where that came from! I told her that she's a Lab not a Terrier...but she wasn't too impressed!

Kicking off Elker Football with the Bonfire

2006-09-06T18:04:00.000-04:00

Here's part of the drumline from the high school marching band. Billy is in the center; playing a snare drum (don't ask, I have no idea where his quads are). Brandi is on the left and Mary is on his right. Now that I'm really studing the picture; it looks as though Brandi has the quads...so apparently he and her switched drums! The Elkers won the first football game (which was last Friday) 22 to 0. During the half-time show, Billy broke a drum head, turning his quads into tris. Poor kid has to buy his own heads this year (new school rule)...so that cost him $12 and a trip to St. Marys. I'm taking my camera this week, so hopefully I'll get some good pics. Another band mom took the pic above; thanks Gretchen! :)

Just some more Flowers

2006-09-04T12:50:00.000-04:00

Some day soon, I promise, I'll take some interesting photos! BUT, for now, you're stuck with the remaining flowers in my garden!

This is my lone Celome... A volunteer in the aspargas patch. I have absoultely no idea how this plant/seed got there...but it did! I love these, and have grown them for years. I first seen them at the zoo in Erie, PA. I asked the landscapers about them and they gave me an envelope full of seeds to take home! This one is a tiny one...my mom's are as tall as me and have many brances and flowers on them.

And...my Rose of Sharon. This was a tiny little stick, about 12 inches long when it first came to live here. It's now a 10 foot high tree that is filled with these double ruffled blooms in late August and early September.

Knitting --- Yup, I'm still Knitting

2006-09-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

Well, whenever I find the time! It's slow going, but I'm determined to get all my pre-job planned Christmas presents knitted! :)

BUT, first is this baby blanket. I started it a few weeks before I started working...currently, it's a 1/4 of the way done. I think I posted this picture before...but here's the begining of it...

The blanket part itself is more than 1/3 finished...not quite half...but then there is the four inch mitered border that going to take awhile! :) This blanket is for our new neighbor; she is due in October. And, I also want to make her 4 year-old son a rainbow colored scarf. Here's a close up of the basket weave pattern. It's pretty and a lot easier than I thought it would be. Just knit and purl! ;)

Flowers after the Rain

2006-09-02T22:39:00.000-04:00

This pic has a lot going on in it...how many different plants do you see???

The third growth on my comfrey plant.

What Working MOT Does to My Feet

2006-09-02T11:41:00.000-04:00

How'da like my blister? Actually it doesn't feel as bad as it looks...The more tender spot is the darker blister down around the side of my toe. That white part peeled off yesterday...and I had a kushy sit-down job yesterday sorting lightbulbs by wattage. Yup, 10 hours of sorting lightbulbs...but the fun part was crushing the "bad" ones! Did you know that a lot of lightbulbs explode when dropped or are purposely broken? A great way to take out your frustrations! Anyway, I'm off until Tuesday morning...and that then it's back to our regular hours...no more MOT (mandatory over time)...at least not on Tuesday! :)

The Home Stretch...of Summer

2006-08-30T19:09:00.000-04:00

Sweet Autumn Clematis is just beginning to bloom...I let these ramble wherever they want, no pretty trellis for them. This one is crawling over the rock wall we have up by the road. Oh, and notice the newly fallen leaves in the area behind the rock wall. Autumn really is coming quickly! I mowed the grass this evening and the crickets are everywhere!

FINALLY, I got a Grandpa Ott Morning Glory to bloom! I was beginning to think these were never going to make it this season...the very first one bloomed on Monday. I love these things and can't believe it was still blooming this afternoon when I got home from work at 3:15...had to be the dark, overcast day and the cooler temps, right?

And, what is Summer's End without a bright Sunflower? This one is a volunteer in my garden...must be the birdseed... Check out those two happy bumblebees...I didn't notice them when I took the picture...I really did a double-take when I downloaded it!

Oreo's New Obsession -- A Snooter

2006-08-27T16:50:00.000-04:00

What's a Snooter you ask? Why it's a beef or pig nose; dried and turned into a dog "chewie". They are kinda neat...for some reason, in these pics it is upside down and you can't see the nose holes very well.

Sniff, sniff...what's this, mom?

Somthing to play with???

Hmmm, OK, I'll have a bite of this...

Getting down to business...this thing is pretty good!

Ms. Oreo

2006-08-23T17:42:00.000-04:00

...sure is getting big! And no, she didn't pee on the porch! That's what Billy said the second he seen this picture. What a kid! I was watering the potted plants and got things a little too wet. Oh well, clay pots...they'll be dry again in no time.

My dad has her so spoiled! She goes to "grandpa's" once a week and again on Sundays for Sunday Supper. He really looks forward to her coming. Last night he had all her toys (yes, he bought her toys) laid out and was sitting on the floor waiting for her with a bag of Beggin Treats!

Wonderful Goodies from my Knitting Sister Swapper

2006-08-22T18:37:00.000-04:00

THANK YOU SHARON!

Sharon sent me a lovely package just filled with all the things I love most! Sock yarn and Celtic desgines by my favorite desginer! And the yarns are just the most perfect colors and are from one of my favorite suppliers. And, would you believe that I have never purchased any of these colors yet? Dancing is one of my favorite sock yarns...but I have not used this color yet. And that Simple Stripes! Oh my...I love purple, orange and lime green together! I have a jacket that these will match perfectly! My sister totally loves Celtic desgines...so I'm sure she'll pick something out of this pattern book for me to make her. Thanks so much, Sharon...I love absoultely everything! :)

What happens when you don't use the porch...

2006-08-22T18:14:00.000-04:00

...due to working two jobs and keeping previously made commitments? Yup, it kinda overtook the rocking chair! The vine is covered with tine byab hops, but you can't see them very well in these pics. Here's one of the vine from the porch, this is above the rocking chair. If you look closely, on the left side of this pic, you can see some of the baby hops. I'll take another pic from the outside of the porch when the hops get bigger. Usually this plant just hangs heavy with hops. I've never used them...I just love the vine's appearance.

Where I've Been

2006-08-18T19:49:00.000-04:00

...well, working! :) As some of you know I recently left the babysitting and childbirth education and doula businesses behind to enter the *normal* workforce. I've been working with the local Community Nurses as home support. THEN, I got an interview for a factory worker job (inspecting powder metal parts). I was offered the job on the spot. Sooo, I've spent the last two weeks working BOTH jobs! The Community Nurses required a two-weeks notice...so I've been working that out while working at the factory. The last three days have been BOTH jobs EACH day. I have had only one day off the whole time...and on that day I went out of town shopping for 16 hours!. Needless to say, I'm pooped! BUT, I have the weekend off from the factory and only work two 1 1/2 hour shifts for CN, one each day. Sooo, with that I'm pretty much finished with CN; just a few one hour shifts (for the same lady as this weekend...one of my favorite clients, I might add).

Now...pictures... These are my Brown-eyed Susans. Something bright and cheery. And as you can see...I really need to do some serious weeding and dead-heading; see all those Columbine seed heads?. The white daisy is really a very puny White Swan Coneflower. It doesn't like it there...so I'll be moving it this fall.

It's a sad day...so I'm trying to brighten it up with flowers

2006-08-15T18:25:00.000-04:00

What else can I say...a dear friend's husband passed away yesterday...and I'm still feeling down. So here's some of my purple flowers...

Porch Planters

2006-08-12T07:35:00.000-04:00

These are probably my favorites... I love elephant ears, the most tropical looking foliage I can grown i this climate. The gree one on the right...I keep that pot from year to year. Once it freezes, I cut it back to a couple inches above the bulbs and put it in the fruit cellar over the winter. No water, no light, just a cool, damp, dark enviroment. I pull it out in March, drag that dang heavy pot (what on earth was I thinking planting it in clay?) over to the cellar door where the light is the brightest...and I water it. In a couple weeks I have green shoots coming out of the bulbs! Now, that "black" one...it never comes back, no matter what I try. This year I'm going to try diging the bulb after the frost and then replanting it in March. Mabye that'll help. And, I love sweetpotato vines...which is planted with the dark one. Vinca vines are in the other pot with the green one.

Just a bunch of vining plants I bought to punt in a two-tiered planter, which kinda got lost amongst the plants! My favorite in this pot is the Creeping Jenny (or is that Creeping Charlie?) on the bottom right.

My biggest Kong Coleus...but it's not half as big as they grew last year! I'm really dissapointed with these this year. And just ingore the peeling paint and scratched up weather stripping, OK? AC lets us know when she wants in! :)

Weeds...well, some of the Nice Ones!

2006-08-11T17:39:00.001-04:00

Queen Ann's Lace...is my favorite wild flower around here. As kids, we use to pick this and put it in a tall vase of food colored water...they sucked up the food coloring and were beautiful!

Chickweed...what's not to like about this very determined plant? Well, it's pretty invasive in certain situtations, but it's easy to kill...and besides, you can eat it and infuse it in oil for herbal remedies! Good thing I make herbal stuff! :)

The Dogs...

2006-08-10T12:47:00.000-04:00

I'm always showing off AC...and Oreo...but we do have another dog! Honey-Mutt...she's a Terrier / Lab mix we rescued from the SPCA (the animal shelter) 12 years ago. She's an "outside" dog by her choice...she hated it in the house and always begged to go out and had to be coaxed in. Anyway....she has this big rock that she's excavating a "dirt room" underneath it. In this pic, she's standing on top of the rock...and yes, that's a front axel from a vehicle that her front paws are on. Don't ask...that was here when I moved in 21 years ago... Yes, I'm serious! And...just so you have some comparison...here's a pic of Oreo...sitting in the driveway, looking cute!

Some other unusual photos

2006-08-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

I love the late summer sun...it is so rich and adds a wonderful hue to everything. Just look at these two pictrues and you'll see what I mean...one is with a flash and the other is without a flash. And...these cone flowers just fell over and landed right on this rock all by themselves. I walked past this sight while feeding the birds and immediatley went for my camera. Some things are just so pretty they way nature lets them happen...

Yesterday's Lily Pictures

2006-08-09T17:41:00.000-04:00

Red Lilies

2006-08-08T20:32:00.000-04:00

I just love the color of these lilies; the evening sunlight was all around them, they were in the shade. The lighting is so perfect...and I didn't even try to do it!

OK...blogger is being a PIA and won't post pics...I'll add them later...OK??? :)

Pictures for Becky! :)

2006-08-06T22:45:00.000-04:00

Becky wanted pictures...so here's pictures...not of what she wanted...but at least they are current pictures!

Oreo...sleeping in the kitchen. She's getting big...and bad! Full of energy and lots of sharp little teeth. I woke her up, got her a bedtime snack and then we went outside for a short walk.

And what should we find on the back porch? AC...looking rather annoyed at having a puppy chase her up on the railing! I swear, with some of her glaring looks, she literally thinks the puppy is a stinking filthy mutt. :) And poor Oreo...you know how most dogs love cat food and scarf it up before you can chase them away from it? Not Oreo...she sniffs it and you can literally see her nose curl up and you know she's thinking, "Phew, this stuff stinks!"

Down off the porch we go...and AC still doesn't look very happy from her vantage point! Don't worry, by the time I have the dog in the basement in her "kennel", AC is more than over her glaring fit...and ready to come in for her bedtime snack. She stays in the house then until Billy goes to bed...which is usually sometime around 2:30 a.m. or so (don't ask!)

Since I had the camera out, and since Becky loves flower pictures...here's the cone flowers in the dark. Most of the White Swan stayed white...but four or five stalks of the plant produced powdery pink tinted blooms that gradually darkened to be the same as the other cone flowers. The flower on the far left, in the front, is from the White Swan plant...definitely pink!

Miss O...all ready for bed...in her Kennel. See that nice sheepskin pad? I went shopping last weekend...for water bed sheets and stopped at PetCo...and got a crate pad. Lord it was funny, you should have heard Bill! He *assumed* I was just getting a rubber mat or a tiny hunk of foam for her crate...and I came home with this big sheepskin "bed"! After 21 years, the man should know better!

And...some new shoes for my new job! I'm positive these are going to hurt like hell...my poor feet! I can't get over how heavy these steel toed shoes are! I always thought Bill's were heavy because he wears BOOTS...nope, these sneakers are just as heavy! And...my feet...they are so short and the lenght of the steel toe is "standard" in all steel toed shoes...three inch toe pocket. The steel toe comes back 2/3 of the way back my foot! I literally can't bend my foot! Walking is a real hoot! I can't wait to see/feel the blisters these puppies create!

OK, Becky...did I get enough pictures for now??? I'll be sure to take my camera to the Elk County Fair on Thursday night...and get pics of the Cow Pie Bingo fundraiser that the high school marching band is doing...OK???

Jobs

2006-08-04T09:40:00.000-04:00

As some of you know, I've been looking for a job. I've been working with the Community Nurses as a Home Health Aide. The fun began on Tuesday when a local factory called for an interview. I was given a tour, their normal hire lecture and told the job was mine if I wanted it. Ahhh, yes... It's officially a part time job...no benefits, insurance, etc...but it's 40 hours a week. It's close to home (ten minute drive), fairly nice as far as the local factories go in comparison, and not having to pay in towards hospitalization easily makes up for the no paid vacation. Bill's hospitalization is good and it works out for the best that I am not offered it at this job...otherwise Bill would be forced to drop me off his hospitalization.

I was going in to hand in my formal letter of resignation yesterday with the Community Nurses. Ahhh, that didn't exactly go as planned! :) As in, I didn't officially quit the community nurses job. They offered me part time to stay; which I immediately turned down. Part time is more hours than I was getting but not as many as the factory...and with part time I would have to rotate working holidays for them. I am a per diem employee, working "as needed" and this doesn't require working ANY holidays, just every other weekend. After talking with the employee manager and my scheduler for a while...we all agreed that I would stay on as VERY temporary. I would only have to work one shift a month to stay "active". So I said I would do that...I love doing that work...but around here it's so wide spread you can't make enough money to use it as a "job". Anyway, that's my saga for the week.

Tonight we're off to the fair again...going to see Poison (an 80's hair band...Billy's guitar god, CC DeVille...and my BIL's childhood friend, Rikki Rocket, as their drummer). Oh, and food...I'm going to be so stuffed tonight I'm sure I'll be in misery! Funnel Cakes, Crabby Sandwich, French fires, candy apples, deep-fried Oreos...all the good stuff!

Oh, and pictures...I'll get pictures as soon as I find some AA batteries in this house! I swear those things grow legs and crawl out of the silverware drawer where we keep them!

Knitting

2006-08-02T07:33:00.000-04:00

Sis's Sweater if FINISHED! Don't look April! :))

All done...and laid out in the best Disco dance pose I could think of!

Isn't this the coolest "gift" box? It's a lined wicker basket with a covered lid! I was looking for something like a hat box for her to store her sweater in...gotta keep my Niece's white and orange fur off the pretty dark green sweater! I found this basket at Michael's...on clearance for only $7!

Here's an upclose of the neck line and the yoke pattern. She loves cables and I was so intimidated by them...this was easy! Much eaiser than that blasted double moss stitch center pannel!

You know...getting a job really cuts down on computer time! I can't beleive it's been this long since I've updated my blog! I have been planning some Christmas presents...knitted ones. I placed a few orders and am almost ready to get started...but first, a baby blanket for a little girl due in October.This color is a bit darker than I wanted; almost the same shade as Barney! It wasn't this dark on the monitor when I ordered it...the color name is "wisteria". Now, I love wisteria...and I've never seen any this shade of purple...well, at least not around here!

and the Christmas present yarn...a pair of felted clogs for mom; a kitty bed for my "niece" and four throw pillows; two each for my aunt and my MIL. Guess I better get knitting. Oh...and I forgot...a lace shawl for my sister...I wonder where I put that yarn? It came in this box...here's hoping MY cat didn't find it! It's a fluffy angora/cashmere...at $25 a skein...that blasted AC had better not have found it! Phew, I see it...sitting on the rocking chair...must have fallen out of the box! You know, I honestly don't know how they cram that much yarn in the box. This stuff was wedged in and packed down. As soon as I cut the strapping tape, the box flaps popped right up and the yarn came swelling out the opening! I swear it was screaming, "me, me...knit with me first!"

Oreo -- being bad.

2006-07-29T08:28:00.000-04:00

Oh, it's been a loooooong morning; maybe it was because of the late night! :) Oreo is driving me batty today! She wanted outside at 5:55 a.m. After that little "sniff everything in sight" pee-walk she let me sleep until 7:30 before she decided to play ball in the kitchen. While playing ball by herself...she ran into the wrought iron basket stand and knocked off some candles. After I cleaned up that mess (broken glass), I fed her and turned on the computer. Right now she's sneaking into the living room! She has this great creep-slide thing going and she's under the computer chair before you even know it! And, she seems to think that if she keeps at least one paw (or her tail) in the kitchen then she's officially *in* the kitchen. SSSShhhhh, we're not telling Bill Oreo made it to the living room! :)

Tummy Rub

2006-07-27T19:48:00.000-04:00

Oreo's favoritest thing in the word...a tummy rub!

Finally...Progress on Sis's Sweater

2006-07-24T17:52:00.000-04:00

I took a break from this because I was tired of looking at green. I picked it up last week and did the neckline and then promplty got stumped on how to pick up enough stitches around the arm hole for the sleeve. Well, I finally figured it out! :) 26 more days until Sis's birthday...yup, I think I can do two inches of ribbing for the cuff and then do the second sleeve before then!

Bill's 1964 Triumph

2006-07-23T13:31:00.000-04:00

You suffered through most of my 'restoring Lucy' posts...so I'll spare you the step-by-step process of Bill's Triumph! :) Here it is...completely restored.

The paint scheme isn't original (he's redoing that this winter); this was a quickie, get-it-on-the-road paint job with left-over paint from other jobs. The engine/motor (which ever it's called on a motorcycle) has been completely rebuilt. We have a shop a mile from here...the owner and Bill traded work to get it rebuilt; Bill made and milled parts for him for other bikes he's fixing and he rebuilt the engine. Bill also put the bike back to "original" for that model and year. He had to buy the correct back fender, a new seat bracket, the silver thingie on top of the gas tank and the correct Triumph logos.

He thought he was being a keen shopper...buying an older bike that was here in the states, thinking he could still get remanufactured parts. Turns out...after many wrong parts and much research...the bike he actually bought was made in Great Britain. They made two different styles of Triumph motorcycles...one for export and one for their own country. We can easily buy the remanufactured parts for the export line...BUT Bill's bike isn't one of them! LOL Sooo, he has a small fortune tied up in shipping! I'd love to know the "how the bike got over here" story, but it's untraceable; too many gaps in the information we have for the bike. Bill is assuming someone in the service bought it and had it shipped home when they were discharged.

Ahhh, it wasn't until I downloaded the picture, that I noticed Oreo in the background...that pup manages to get into EVERYTHING!

A Boring & Rainy Saturday

2006-07-22T17:50:00.000-04:00

It's such a gloomy and rainy day...good thing I bought these roses for myself at Walmart last night. That Walmart always has great flowers...and most of the time they have some on clearance, as these were. I paid a whopping $2.47 for these roses!

Goodness, even the cat is bored today! OK, given, that is **only** because Oreo is outside in the garage with "daddy".

I'm headed to knit on my sister's sweater...got the one sleeve almost finished. I'll post a couple of pictures of that later tonight. I'm also making a Christmas list of knitting projects and will be ordering the yarn later too. My this list is growing...maybe I should have done this back in March! LOL

Goodies by Denise

Homecomming 2009

Alice Cooper at the Clearfield County Fair

Senior Prom

Billy & Danielle at the Snowball

Winter --- Uggh!

Boulder Formations at Gettysburg

Horses of Gettysburg - my two favs

Highlights from Gettysburg

Me & Bill at Devil's Den in Gettysburg

Homecoming 2007

Wordless Wednesday

WW

Wordless Wednesday

Kennywood with the Marching Band

Cruise In

Going Cruising!

WW

Parker Dam State Park

200th Post

WW - Wild Girl at my Sister's

Wordless Wednesday

How Rare is Your Personality

Wordless Wednesday

What does your birthdate mean?

Fireman's Parade - Marching Billy

Wordless Wednesday

Sis's Herbs

Another Trip to Sis's House

Mowing the Grass

Rambling Vines and Rambling Thoughts

My *new* Car

Wordless Wednesday

Landscape Walk

Prom '07

Animals

IT'S SPRING!!!

New Bird at the Feeders

Sunday Dessert

Honey-Mutt & Oreo-Dog

What I've been up to...

Got Bones?

Another Great Shopping Trip

$%^&*# SNOW!

Cabin Fever Shopping Trip

Oreo in all her Sleepy Glory

Oreo's Fun in the Snow

Some late night excitement

April's Candles

Snowball Dance

Knitting...yes, I'm still knitting...

The House Kitties

Christmas & New Years

My new little "Brother"

Pymatuning / Linesville Spillway

AC & Oreo

What Kind of Coffee Are You

Oreo Meets Santa

Where's My Bread???

Oreo

The Drumline

Puppies & Balloons

More Marching Band

RHS Homecoming Game & Dance

Just A Few More Lake Erie Pictures...

Lake Erie

Lake Erie Teaser Pix

Weeds & Vacation

Sweet Autumn Clematis

A Formal Band Picture of Billy

Another Loss for the Elkers

Football Season -- Game #2

The Hops Vine

More Oreo Pics

Puppy Fun in the Coneflower Garden

Kicking off Elker Football with the Bonfire

Just some more Flowers

Knitting --- Yup, I'm still Knitting

Flowers after the Rain

What Working MOT Does to My Feet

My new Car