LIFESAVERS

Crazy week so far, busy and strange...

Every single thing here I have used this past week. They truly are

lifesavers. All this moving has made the old body pop and snap and so

I am using any and everything I can to get by.  I bought a new grocery cart that 

surely will come in handy this winter getting groceries inside my place. The less

trips the better I say.. NO lifting either. Wonderful idea! 

Kept hearing banging and thought someone was fixing a roof to the building.

When I went outside I saw that the balcony on the other side was being torn down.

TERMITES! Oh that made me feel creepy. I mean what about the rest of the building?

Needless to say, they are inspecting the whole building. Erected back in the early 70's

these places need updating anyway. Having a balcony patio that gives way is very scary indeed. As I stood and watched them working a neighbor came and introduced herself to me. She said that I was the LUCKY ONE.. I guess they nicknamed me

that. I was the one with an almost NEW apt. All new carpets, floors, bathroom etc. It

wasn't because of me.. it was because the older lady lived here sooo long. She was here for 24 years!!! She said that EVERYONE wanted the apartment that I was in. Well, I guess I am lucky then, because I got it instead of someone else being re-located.

LUCKY ME.. This is the one and only plant I have in my apartment so far, it has traveled FAR..for many years to get to this place. The only plant left that my mother had. I placed it in the East windows and it seems happy there. The hula girl was a present, she shakes when the sun hits her.. very entertaining!!

HEARTBROKEN

MY prayers to his family who must be heartbroken over his death. The world mourns the loss of his great heart and loving gentleness. We will laugh for years to come with a sense of sadness. Rest in the Peace you find out there among the stars in heaven. WE WILL MISS YOU

EVEN ANIMALS LOVED HIM.......

MOVING ON Part Two

Part Two is made up of two parts... One moving stuff in and getting it settled and Two getting used to apartment living again. I LOVE IT! 

I had the help of some of my gal friends and I managed to get a lot done this past week. There have been many delays.. the weather for one, my exhaustion for another. Making so many trips to the apartment by the car loads just plain wore me out. I know that at the end I will be more than satisfied that I did it mostly by myself and that I accomplished a lot. I didn't really have any furniture to speak of. Some small things and a lot I will be picking up along the way. I gave away a lot when I had no place to store them and others kept them safe for me. It was good to see them again. This chair was found at an estate sale. My girlfriend and I got it into her car and took it to it's new home. I love to rock in it. Matches things great.  We stopped by this large sale and saw many things there priced really low and some really new. I was excited to say the least. I learned that the children were selling the whole house full after their last parent, their father had died not three weeks before. I sat in the chair and it was so comfy. I really appreciated how clean and new looking it was. The lady teared up and said" I can see my mother rocking in that chair." That is all it took.. I started crying myself. I told her that I would take very good care of the chair and cherish the memory of her mother.It was a moment I would never forget. I have spent many hours in it so far...thinking about new life and new beginnings.
                                                           

SALT.. a clock.. a hammer...soap,how could you forget these things?? Well I did..I found myself without a lot of small things. Scissors, a screw driver. I remembered so well where they were in our old home. How many we had of each kind... all gone now. Starting over at my age is not easy..there are a lot of bumps along the way but I will get there sooner or later.. There is more to come...just have to take time to tell you all about them..it's a real story.. LIFE over again... hopefully for the last time moving too.

JULY UPDATE...MOVING ON

July is almost over already..hard to believe it. We had such a long winter, I am enjoying the warmth so much. Not the humidity mind you, but the warmth.  In all the crazy goings on with my sister's illness I got a  cellphone call while she was in ICU..sooo unexpected.I almost did not answer it. I went out in the hallway and answered it. I could hardly believe it. A manager of an apartment complex was calling about an apartment that I had been on a waiting list for a long long time.  Did I still need an apartment?? I spoke up and said YES, trying to speed up the conversation and get back to the ICU. Sis was completely out of it with her blood being totally out of balance so I had to be there. She said she would call me back, that one was now available but there was some glitches that would have to be worked out. GLITCHES??? I could only imagine. 

I left the hospital and waited for her call. It seemed that I had to rent the apartment by July 1st or lose it to someone else. All the paperwork, deposits and etc. had to be signed by July 1st. That only gave me 4 DAYS to get things together. In the meantime I had to get Sis back home from the hosp and settled and then run like crazy to get all the other things in order. It was hot on June 29, I sat in the office of the manager for 4 longggg hours..  Soo many interruptions made it hard for her to finish my paperwork. Everything had to be done so fast. I got the keys on JULY 1st but the place was still being cleaned and touched up. Seems the woman who lived there was there for 24 years and so they had to completely clean and renew all the carpets and flooring and etc..The manager told me that all the tenants were jealous of my brand new place. I was happy..nothing OLD about it. So I began moving some things over and then  

OUR POWER WENT OFF AT HOME FOR FOUR LONG HOT DAYS. 

I used the apartment fridge for storage for most of our frozen food. The apartment is in another town 15 minutes away. We stayed there in the day time with a fan running and rested up from the hot nights at home. The whole thing was like a crazy story that was hard to believe. Sis was weak but the apartment was on the first floor so she could just walk right in .. NO STEPS.. we both were happy about that. Waiting for the oil base wall paint smell to go away, I moved load after load of my stuff there in our car. Very time consuming and tiring. As I unpacked,  I was reminded of how many of my things were from my friends and family. We do cherish our memories and I have made many.

I brought in a  camping table, sure has come in handy, I got phone calls about what things I would need or want. I was shocked that so many had items they no longer wanted. In no time at all I would have an apartment full.  Stay tuned for part 2!!!

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!!

I find I  am once again in caregiver mode. I still cannot believe how crazy things have been here. My sister who is younger than me by 6 years has been so ill as I mentioned before. She has been in hospital for over 7 days now. I have been dealing with at least 10 doctors, including specialists, interns and therapists. Exhausting for me and for her. Seems that her meds are so strong they really are making her out of control. 

MY ADVICE TO YOU ALL:  PREDISONE IS NOTHING TO MESS WITH. Some people will have a hard time with it.

It may do the job but BOY is it hard on your body. It messes with you big time. Sis has had hallucinations, enhanced headaches, ringing in her ears, sensitivity to light and sound and all sorts of new things keep popping up. I asked the doctors and they all say that there are no other drugs that she can take and to get better she HAS TO stay on this regime. It may take a long time... WOW.. all of the sudden..we are faced with wheelchairs and canes and thank goodness we kept all of mother's helpers. I have had to rearrange things so that life can be easier for Sis to get around. Landing in the ICU the past few days has been hard. She knows who I am but other than that knows not much. Her blood levels so bad she can't remember her own birthday or anything. She is stable but still so out of it. I remain hopeful that she can get situated so that she can return home soon. ALL PRAYERS appreciated with great THANKS!!

IT'S JUNE ALREADY..

Sorry it has been awhile since my last update...
                                                 

                                                

June started a little crazy for us here. Doctor's visits, hospital tests and changes in every day living. Sister's condition went from simple to very complicated after many tests and consultations. Seems her immune system is compromised and now has to be reset with powerful drugs. I questioned the diagnosis, but with 4 doctor's opinions, and they are specialists, I agreed with their findings. Every day is a challenge, new side effects popping up. I have a watchful eye on her. This will go on for months so it keeps us busy with mapping out appointments on the calendar. I had a flash back yesterday to when I had to keep track of my mother's schedule with her dialysis, how hectic that was and how similar this illness seems to be. I find myself back in caregiver mode again, something I never thought would happen. I am glad at least I have the experience to deal with such an illness..
                                           

The weather warmed up and that was a blessing. It was time to put in the AC and stay cool. I purchased a very small one for just one room. Getting it up 14 stairs was no easy task, but one by one I did it. Securing it was another problem though. Old house and old windows..everything had to be re-enforced to make sure it did not fall out into our driveway. What in the world did they do in the OLD OLD days to keep cool without a fan I have no idea? They were tougher than me that's for sure.   This summer has been a cooler one than last year, easier to do chores and outside work is okay by me.

My tablet was not working, after three months using it, it decided it wanted to type words for me all the time and not charge when it said it was charging. I guess it had a mind of it's own. I called the company and paid the shipping to have them send me a new one. I got a call one afternoon ,after I sent it back, from OKLAHOMA...they apologized that they did not have the same model and would I like to try a larger size. YES, yes I would!! So they sent me a 10 inch size. Has been wonderful...comes in handy while sitting waiting for Sis in so many places. I still use the laptop every day, but boy I do love the new technology so much.  Hard to believe only 5 years ago when I had only a large desktop and monitor and no way to leave the room with it.  Love the freedom. 
Speaking of freedom..in case I don't get back here hope you all have a 

it will be here before you know it. 

NOT SO MERRY MAY...

Most who follow this blog and have been aware of all the life happenings in the past will be interested in hearing this.  The family member I mentioned before, who was ill, was my younger sister and she will be following up with a KIDNEY specialist soon for KIDNEY problems. She recently put on excessive weight that water pills would not handle. Having parents who died of kidney failure scares me a lot. I sure hope it is not going to come to us next.  Seems everything here is in LIMBO right now, we are in urgent mode and planning and testing takes time. Hurry up and wait I guess is how it will be. 

  May has always been a birthday month for us..Mother and Father's birthday was only days apart. Here are mom and dad when they were young.. taken in Tennessee. It was right after they were married, before they moved to Michigan. They left their families to go north where there was factory work. More money, better lives.
It ended up that we lived in Michigan and had no relatives here at all. We traveled to Tennessee to the farm every summer to visit them though. It was a beautiful place but not so beautiful to me. I have horrible allergies and when I would go there the chickens and hay and cornfields made my asthma really bad. I did enjoy our trips to the Smoky Mountains and the big cities of Nashville, Chattanooga etc.That was always fun. Sister and brother loved the farm, and brother went coon hunting and helped milk cows and chased the chickens. Life on the farm was sure different from city living.   

Mother's Day coming soon, hope all of you have a wonderful day. 

WHO IS IT???--HAPPY EASTER

In January I had that horrible spell and went to the ER and stayed overnight in the hospital. I knew full well it was going to cost a fortune. In my mind I knew I would deal with it later. So it's later..I am going through bills and getting more bills in the mail. One notice came and I thought it strange. I called the company and told DONNA I got a notice but for the life of me could not FIND a bill anywhere. She took some information and I was to call her back. I searched high and low for a bill. So I called Donna back and she and I started to work out a payment plan. In a few minutes of talking to each other she stopped mid sentence and said "Do you live in Lansing?" I said NO, she said "No wonder I can't find you..this is NOT YOUR BILL! Seems another person in another city was in the ER on the same day, same time and with my same full name. 
We discussed what to do and how to resolve the problem. I just hope I don't start getting bills from this other person's visit to the ER. How weird is that?? She can have all my bills though..all she wants. I gladly give them up to her. Ha!
                                              

My yard is raked and the piles were waiting to be picked up. Down comes the snow again. This time it was not so bad, I won't have to shovel it. The cold came with it, and after 70 the day before I am searching for my heavy coat again. You just can't mess with mother nature this year, she is fiercely hanging on until May sometime. I really liked the warm day we had, at least we got a preview of Spring to come. Sad to say the crocus that was trying to poke it's head got covered though.

Easter is right around the corner. I have not made plans this year, just trying it day to day for awhile. Hope everyone else out there in Blogland has a wonderful day though.     

  

MOVING ON

Making baby steps to a new beginning takes time and work. Like two steps forward and 10 steps back. That is what it seems to be for me these days. I just am tired of all the confusion and unknown factors.  I am making an effort to move again and do all that packing and sorting that one does. I will be so glad to settle.. for me I want to get to a nice place and stay for a good long while.  Don't know when..so I wait..
                                         MEANWHILE.......
A family member is ill and I am trying to cope with that and find answers. The doctors seem to want to test everything and still not find the solution to the problem. Meanwhile the person gets sicker and sicker. Sad to say I have voiced my opinion to some of the said DOCTORS and have gotten those looks. YOU know what ones those are..." YOU know nothing...I KNOW IT ALL." Oh if they only WOULD listen.  We are on..let's see doctor number 4 now...hmmm maybe they all ought to get together for a consult.. Geez.. it's enough to make a person go crazy. 
                                         MEANWHILE.......
The weather is better so outside I can walk and work in the yard and try to forget all the stuff that is cluttering my mind. Easter is coming and usually I look forward to fixing a nice dinner and visiting with family. This year..not so much. We just want to keep ourselves going any way we can. HAPPY SPRING..the rains are here and the snow is GONE..except for those nasty big dirty piles in parking lots.. Hope that is the last of it til DECEMBER!!!      HAPPY SPRING FINALLY!!

HARD WEEK

It was a hard week for us as a family. Such hard news to hear that my niece had lost her baby that she had carried for 9 months. I won't go into details but we are still trying to deal with the loss and the shock. Our hearts are broken. 

The same day I received this tragic news I had come from the eye doctor shaken by the diagnosis of Glaucoma I hardly knew what to think. She said my prescription had changed very little and I could see well, EXCEPT for the Glaucoma. Somehow that sounded weird to me. 
How can I see well and not even know my eyes have this problem?? It's similar to blood pressure in a way. You can have a high number and not even know it. 

I had a ton of questions for the eye doctor. I am still mulling over the idea of a second opinion. These are my EYES..they are precious to me after all.. I sure don't want to make any mistakes or miss something that could hurt me in the future. So now I have to deal with this new illness and try to help it not progress further any faster than it is. There is a surgery, but it only relieves the water pressure build up in the eyes and will not stop the end result of eventual blindness. Scary thoughts creep in when thinking about being in a dark world, with no light. I just don't know what to think. So I end this week that brought us the first day of spring, warmer temps and melting snow, confused, and heartbroken.  

COMING TO THE END..

                                    

 

So I haven't been writing much here and there isn't much traffic either, so I will soon turn this place into a private blog. I just need to let go of some things that I cannot keep going. One blog is enough I guess. I will continue to keep my original Wordpress blog open.
You can find the link on the sidebar.  

THANKS FOR VISITING.....

ARE WE DEPRESSED??

On Valentine's day I went for my follow-up appointment for the "spell" I had. They said they opened at 8 AM. They did not. You stood in the cold, trying to keep your feet from freezing to the pavement, until they opened the doors. Many of us gathered complaining that this whole arrangement was crazy. I did mention I was GLAD it was not 20 below wind chill like the week before. I signed in and sat next to the heating vent hoping to stay away from anyone else that had ANYTHING I sure didn't want to catch. Dr. offices are the worst places to be when you are well. When I went back to the cubicle I was asked questions by the RN and all she could say was "Wow" and "Really"...while looking at my charts. I was in remarkable good health. Yay Me!!

 The young doctor, who was a volunteer there looked at my records, he asked me..so.."Are we depressed?".. Don't you just love that term.. "WE".. well  I didn't hesitate to answer him. YES, in less than 24 hours two weeks ago I went from not being depressed to really down and depressed. I told him that my little "SPELL" I had, cost me a fortune and it would be literally years before I would be able to catch up. AS they added on tests, my blood pressure continued to rise.Well I will now try to stay calm when the bills come because they will. Spring is coming, may new opportunities come with it. 


 Happy Valentine's day.. hmmm.. I got a nice surprise when I got back to the car. Sis had bought these delicious treats...from the bakery. It's been years since I had tasted one. They were freshly baked and were delicious. The line went outside the door with people waiting to purchase their Valentine goodies. I will long remember this holiday. 
Hope yours was wonderful too. 

MY WORLD WAS SPINNING..

Imagine yourself on a small boat drifting in a big ocean with no oars to row with. You see the skies darkening and you know something bad is coming but have no way to get away from there fast enough. The waters go from calm to violently rocking and swaying quickly.

It is hard to just stay in the boat and not fall out. 

This is sort of what happened to me this past week. I knew what was coming, but had no way to stop it. Try as I might, it kept getting worse. This feeling of loss of control as the room just went from a small rocking motion to really bad. I have had it before on several occasions. I  knew what to do, but this time I could not help myself like I wanted to. As the day went on the feeling got worse instead of better. I closed my eyes and that helped. I did not move and that helped. It just did not relieve the problem. It is worse than anything to lose control of ones balance and fight to try to get it back and lose the battle.

VERTIGO.. 

"Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common causes of vertigo — the sudden sensation that you're spinning or that the inside of your head is spinning.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is characterized by brief episodes of mild to intense dizziness. Symptoms of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo are triggered by specific changes in the position of your head, such as tipping your head up or down, and by lying down, turning over or sitting up in bed. You may also feel out of balance when standing or walking."

My case was the room moving and when my eyes tried to focus they twitched and I felt even more out of it. You cannot drink or eat, the waves of nausea come over you so you wait for them to pass. If you have ever experienced it you will not ever want to again.  I was perfectly fine only minutes before this episode, so all of the sudden you feel like a truck has run over you. 

Why it got so bad, why it started..I didn't know. As it got worse several strange things happened. I stood up, which was hard enough to do, and then had a tingling sensation from the top of my head to my toes. THAT was new, I had never had that before. The doctors later said they had no idea why I had that, but they had to check it out. 

CHECK they did..I spent SEVEN HOURS in the ER, being prodded and poked by people talking to me whom I could not see. If I opened my eyes it was worse so I didn't. It gave me a whole new perspective and appreciation for the gift of sight. 

MORE TO COME....

A BRAND NEW YEAR!!

Something called a POLAR VORTEX came down and blasted its way over more than half the USA. Snow and ice all the way to Alabama. Never seen this much snow in ten years some were saying. The stores were packed and people were smart to stock up. Literally nothing was running in our area..... for 3 DAYS. Kids are off school because of the COLD not the snow. Plows ran 12 hours shifts and they got the roads cleared pretty fast considering how much snow we had. THE COLD is something else again. I ventured out onto the porch and right back inside. Way too cold for me to breathe in, 14 below zero and 25 below when the wind kicked up. NASTY..Colder than ALASKA..that polar vortex was nothing to fool with. I started wearing so many layers of clothes I feel like an Eskimo... Welcome to 2014?? It's starting out very weird.
                       

This was a shot of town with 6 inches of snow..where they put 14 more I have no idea.

 I have had this blog at blogger since 2010. I have tried to keep it separate from my Wordpress blog.  Blogging is a venue to express our feelings or talents to the world. 
Well it seems to be really dying out now. I will keep mine around, and write when I feel like it or when I have something to share. What's been happening in my world is something that I had been forbidden to discuss on a public blog. I know that sounds kind of weird but I it's the way it is. Some already know what's going on..others can take any kind of guess they would like. I am NOT in mortal danger or taking drugs etc. but I can say life is not a bed of roses right now. It has not been for some time. I make the best of each day and try to move on. I made some goals for 2014. We will see how well I do. I will update when I can, until then..here are some photos I managed to take while shoveling out this past week. My camera is on it's way out. It has a mind of its own and I have to re do almost every shot I take. Still it takes nice photos.

This poor bush almost broke under the heavy snow, the drift is almost as high as the fence is.

 The snow is as high as the top of the handle. Below you see the van covered up, that is not all drifted snow, it was really deep. 

This was taken before the storm also. We had about 6 inches on the ground.

Stay warm and well my friends...

        

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

FOR some it won't be so merry. A real bad ice storm set thousands without power in our state and it could not come at a worse time. Men are frantically working on restoring it and more snow and such could make it a really tough go of it. We managed to get the least amount of ice and I was glad. Our driveway is a skating rink..so cold the salt won't melt the ice on the roads or the sidewalks. Treacherous is a word that many people are using over the past few days. I managed to get my shopping, what little I did, over early. Was so glad I did that!  I went in the pouring rain to do my small tasks and prayed I would not catch pneumonia it was so cold. 
HAPPY to sit home now and keep warm and eat my Christmas dinner. More on that later..      

I WON!! I won a drawing for a cookbook from our beloved  blogger BETH MARIE!! I am thrilled, and honored.It sure was a shock and then I also got an early Christmas present of a new tablet and so I am trying to learn all the new things on it. I love it so far and it is so fast and easy. No wonder the clerk said that it was the best seller of 2013..I can imagine all the children in all the grade schools having these to work on..soon the pencils will be gone and the tablets we used to use. Soon kids will ask..what is a pencil?? OH MY!!  That is progress I guess. 

So for the menu for Christmas dinner..we missed Thanksgiving being so sick, so Turkey and Ham and all the side dishes we want this year. I will get back to normal after the new year. I am not making or baking any sweets this year..Jello is as close as it gets for me. I did find some nice sugar cookies in the store so will enjoy them too. 
                                  

I will close this with a photo of the last tree we had in our old home..We kept it up until FEBRUARY..YOU heard that right. It was the last tree mom saw and enjoyed and we just did not have the heart to take it down early. I hope you and your family have a wonderful and MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

BLAHHHS

Haven't felt much like writing lately. This bronchitis or whatever it was is still hanging on and the coughing fits are the pits. I got out for a few minutes to get much needed groceries and it just wore me out. My my, I guess I still have whatever it is. 
Fever lasted for several days so it made the think the FLU, sure didn't act like it though. ANYWAY...Christmas is only three weeks away and I just cannot get into the mood this year. We missed Thanksgiving entirely. I even watched the Macy's parade and tried to get into the holiday spirit. It just wasn't the same I guess. No cookies or treats, no appetite for them really. Kinda feel that BLAHH and hope it goes away soon!!
Snow and cold coming and that will really set the tone I guess for a white Christmas for us this year. Got to get busy and plan a meal and set up a tree..Hope that jogs the ole Blahh right out of me.. 

HAVE A WONDERFUL SAFE  HOLIDAY SEASON AND....
                                                         

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

For  all those who visit here, 

Have a wonderful, happy, safe Thanksgiving!!!

I'M SICK...

I am sick of just trying to keep going. I am sick of getting behind in everything. What the heck is going on? I look at life so differently now. I hate the way things are and seem stuck..stuck and cannot get out of my own way. I have "adapted" one person said to me. Yes, you could say that and then again.. NO I haven't. The pressure every day to just do one little thing that can help out..well it's not easy. The situation is grim,and trying to find a way out of it.. tiring. Is it any wonder I don't blog any more as this seems to be a daily thing for me. Pick yourself up and move on..easy to say if you are not involved. Easy if you are not attached to the situation. I am surrounded daily with reminders of past things and need to move on and then not able to. Sounds like depression to me. I have a lot of things to work through. I get joy from sun light..watching nature, breathing fresh air, cold or not, and spending time on line searching for new ideas. I got my retirement checks all sorted out, what a hassle that was. Seems powers that be could not figure out some things and kept asking me the same questions over and over. I dreaded hearing the phone ring. I am setting some goals for the winter. One thing at a time..one thing at a time. This too shall pass..

BARN CHARM

This barn was in the process of being painted brown. 

The top of the barn had a sign that was a black and white cow. I am guessing it was a dairy farm.

See-through barn that was pretty shaky looking. 

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

I miss our Barn Charm Tuesdays.. I liked seeing other's barns and posting my own photos of them. Something "charming" about them. I hope that one day they will reopen a blog site for them. Now I am posting my own photos today.. Hope you enjoy them.  As you can see there is still plenty of green here and up north. These photos were taken last week. This barn was very close to the road.. I was so surprised.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

 

IT'S DEAD AND GONE...

Well it looks like this blog is dead and gone.. I can write whatever I please because of the lack of readers here... sooo it's okay to post that the fall came and in the nick of time because our AC quit. I got so tired of standing trying to tinker with the controls. It was one of those digital display ones that keeps your room at a constant temperature. You would think that would be wonderful. I did.. UNTIL.. it got a mind of it's own.
It started displaying weird numbers and letters, and flashing on and off like it was having a seizure. I kept praying when it was 90 outside for just one more run to keep us cool. It was an older model but worked great. Sis decided to just let it go......
LITERALLY... she opened the window and after much prying on the braces...let it go out the window. It hit the ground with a bounce and landed right where our car had been sitting not 5 minutes before. IT broke into many pieces. The sound carried all over the neighborhood. Too heavy to lift it, we had to tug to get it up and flipped over to move it out of the driveway. ON the way out the window it decided to hang on the storm window and break it all out. So now the whole window is completely a mess.
Glass everywhere..OH JOY!! NOT!!!

WELCOME FALL.. please don't let winter come yet.. we are not prepared!!! Trips to find someone in this tiny town who does glass repair, (good luck with that) will be forthcoming.   

 Neighbors think I have went crazy as they see me go to the mail box and flail my arms in the air to keep the mosquito's off me..they are vicious and huge this year. It seems they have made a camp out of our yard and have called their army to 
stay for the duration. I looked up on a search engine what I could make myself and came up with this combination. The recipe consists of three household ingredients: epsom salts, beer and Listerine.  Combine a third of each in a garden sprayer, then wet everything in the yard.I was told one application lasts the season.  Boy you can bet I am going to try this at least once. Well maybe next season...this one is on the way out. BEER??? any kind will do it said..been a long time since a bought a beer..never liked the taste of it myself. 
Well gotta wrap this up here.. more later.. Have a great day.. the weather permitting that is.. 

RECENT VIEWS

I am not quite sure all my updates are going out there, but I keep adding here. Here are some recent views this summer because, YES, I am taking photos almost everyday!!

NASCAR in front of our store, those cars are sooooo loud when they start them up, makes your teeth rattle.

This cup made me laugh because my Sis always says this to me..she's a real cat lover! Had to buy it!!

Love the color of this Phlox..

Farmer's Market had such nice fresh vegetables..loved this little salesman. I bought beans because his
sign said.. "Corn may be wormy" ..talk about honesty!

9-11 REMEMBERED

                                                           

I was in my room doing my hair getting ready to take my mom for a hair appointment...I looked up and Matt Lauer said.." Something is happening at the World Trade Towers in New York City." Now I don't remember what they were talking about before and I know I was not really paying close attention until I saw the towers on fire...Then I got this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Those poor people, I hope they get out safely" I said out loud.. I turned to ABC then, and sure enough there was Charlie Gibson talking about what was going on and then the second plane hit.I watched it LIVE. I was numb. I totally stood there with my mouth open saying .".NO, NO this can't be happening! This is AMERICA what is going on???? "GOD BLESS Peter Jennings who came on shortly thereafter and was explaining what was going on. I yelled for my mother to turn on her TV.."Can you believe this.. WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!!!?

I took my mother to get her hair cut... under protest... I mean I REALLY did not want to go at all!!!SHE DID! That was the last thing I wanted to do..leave my TV...  I stayed in the car the whole time and never left the radio for more than a minute. I heard  them talking about other planes and how many they didn't know.. Every station was telling what was going on.Radios were on inside the beauty shop also and it was eerily quiet when I went inside to get her. We all just had the most terrible sad looks on our faces.  When we left, I went through the bank and got money so I could buy gas..(would I need a full tank?) we filled up the tank and I stopped and ran in for some food in case..(would we need supplies?) I had no idea what for...I just felt the need to do it. The store had TV's on... they were usually on the food channel but today they were on news!!  People were gathered around and people were talking about WAR!!! 

Pearl Harbor I heard mentioned from one elderly man. War!! I had not thought about that...  not really.. who in the world would attack the USA?..I mean thats so crazy!! I got out of there fast and went straight home....the TV hardly went off for the next 48 hours and I

 watched a very tired ABC anchor sit there through most of it,  tirelessly talking and explaining things..it was a comfort for him to be

 there...like Cronkite when Kennedy was shot. (Yes I am old enough to remember that day and Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy

 too. ) We have come a long way in the years that have passed and we still have a long way to go. Today I will be remembering a lot of things... but I will remember those who died there and in Pennsylvania and in Washington at the Pentagon. GOD BLESS AMERICA and those who serve our country and protect and serve our cities.. they are doing a tireless job and I absolutely support them 100%!!! 

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

Cannot remember where I took this, just loved the see through look of it. Wondered if they use it for anything. It did look like something was stored inside.

I liked the doors, this barn had horses on the door..sorry for the blur taken from the road through the car window. Wish I had gotten a better view of the writing above the door.

More BARN CHARM found here. 

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

I took this last fall in northern Michigan near Grand Rapids.  I just loved the whole scene. 
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BARN CHARM TUESDAY

This barn roof was eye catching and very creative but what I saw later was several buildings. One was a winery tasting room and the other a gift shop.

From the road this place was huge. Even better when we visited it.
Here is more info on the place,quite a family business.

They used the barn and turned it into a cider mill. Very huge with a complete ramp for handicap access.

More Barn Charm found here.

BARN CHARM TUESDAY

Could not believe there was a chimney on top of that barn, made me wonder if someone was living in it. 

Looks like a Tin roof on that old barn but I love the vine growing on the silo too.

                                                                                

This one is kinda blurred, taken while driving by, two toned and odd shaped. Was not sure just what kind of barn it was.
All the barns were located in northern Michigan.

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