Week 40 - Hot Poppy in the House!

So, for the last 5 weeks, I've been driving a rental car. You might recall that faulty Takata Air Bags resulted in over 13 MILLION cars being recalled.  Well, my 2008 Ford Edge was one of those recalled.  We have known about the possibility of the passenger front airbag deploying and possibly killing the passenger since July of 2016.  Yep, you read that right.  Takata filed for bankruptcy and Ford has been trying to come up with a replacement air bag since then.  We would periodically get a letter from Ford telling us that they were working on it, but that didn't take away the fear that the airbag would deploy and kill my mother - she's the one who mostly sits in that seat.  

Well, this past June we got a letter from Ford. They said they are still working to get airbags for all the recalled cars.  They made the following offer to   everyone who owned a recalled vehicle and hadn't gotten the airbag replaced yet.  Ford would pay the cost of a rental vehicle comparable to my own until they had an airbag to replace my possibly faulty one.  Yes, possibly faulty. It seems they had no idea which airbags would end up being faulty and which ones were perfectly fine.  They need to replace every single front passenger airbag in every single 2008 Edge they made.  Plus other vehicles but I don't recall all the years and models...and that's just Fords....they are other makes, models and years that are part of this massive recall.  

We talked to our service guy at the Ford dealership and he strongly advised us to take the offer.  So we told them to hook us up with a rental car.  5 weeks ago, I parked my own Hot Poppy and started driving a 2018 Toyota 4Runner...a backup camera (I love it!) and it sits higher so I can see around a lot more vehicles on the road.  Mom is so short that she has a bit of trouble getting up into the passenger seat but the running boards and a handhold help.  I was told that Ford is willing to pay for the rental car as long as it takes - one month to as long as a year or more!  Well, it's been just 5 weeks and I got a call from the dealer that they have a replacement airbag for my car and I took it in on Thursday nite...they brought her back to me at work on Friday morning.....Hot Poppy is home!  And she's no longer a threat to my mom's safety!  I will take the 4Runner back to the rental place tomorrow after work.  Yeah!

In other news, I've finished another pair of vanilla socks...this time using  a self-striping yarn from A Whimsical Wood Yarn Co., Pixie Toes Sock, in the colorway "Scary Ass".  I love using the Ass yarns....they just make me smile to say them!  Here is Scary Ass.

The colors are eye-searing neon yellow, orange, a tiny bit of pinkish-purple, and black.  A treat to knit...the yarn is yummy soft!  

I'm now in the very beginning of a sock pattern that I've wanted to knit for a long time - Fiesta Feet.  I'm using another of the Whimsical Wood Yarn Co. yarns...this time the color way is "F**k Cancer"...I didn't type the entire name to protect some of my more genteel readers.  I've wanted to use this yarn for a couple of years and this pattern just screams for it!   Will see how it goes....progress report soon.

Well, laundry is calling......thanks for stopping by. 

Week 38 & 39 - Catching Up

It seems as the year continues on towards its natural ending on December 31st, I am having more and more difficulties getting the blog done.  I start out the year with such good intentions - once a week is not too much to ask, right?  Once the summer begins to wane, I seem to run out of steam on the blogging front.  That being said, I am going to try again to get back to once a week till the end of the year.

My absolute favorite time of year is finally here!  I love Fall!  I mean I really love Fall!  The temperatures are in the mid-60's to high 70's.  The light in the sky - well, there's just something about that that makes me happy.  Yes, the day gets dark earlier - that's not one of my favorites.  And Fall means that winter can't be far behind - again, not a favorite of mine.  But only because of the snow and ice!

If I could spend the winter inside not contending with the hazards of snow and ice, I would like winter more.  But I digress from my Ode to Fall.  The trees are beginning to change their clothes to fall colors - Remember when we all had our colors done, back in the 80's?  My colors were Autumn - I look best dressed in all the colors of Fall - rust, gold, orange (even though I'm a redhead), yellow, yellow-green, brown, khaki.  Yep, even my own color palette is Fall.  I like decorating our front porch - but usually only get excited and actually do it for Fall.  In fact, we have some plans for the front of the house for this year - just no time to actually do it.  Hopefully soon I can show you pictures of our Porch Panorama for this year.  

Here is a Fall Bucket List that I found on the internet.  Now, we don't have children living at home anymore so actually DOING a Fall Bucket List is pretty far down on our list of things to do.  But it's fun to look at them.

We won't be Camping or running a 5K, And I certainly won't be watching football.  But we already do a lot of those - Use Cinnamon, make chili, Soup, watch sunsets.  And my favorite on that whole list - can you guess?  Yes, KNIT!  Doncha just love that knitting got onto that list?  I sure do.

I finished all the socks that were on the needles earlier this past week.  These eye-searing ones made me happy to knit.  

The yarn color is one of the Ass yarns - Scary Ass.  Seems to fit, right?  I'm getting ready to cast on an entirely new pattern for socks.  One that I've wanted to knit for a very long time.  The pattern is Fiesta Feet by Lucy Neatby.

It's kinda scary to look at, but if you take that elephant and cut it down to bitesize, you can get it done, right?  That's what I intend to do with the Fiesta Feet pattern; cut it down to bitesize and knit away till it's finished.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  I saw a pair knit up at the yarn shop last week and it was stunning.  I'll post, of course, when mine are done - don't hold your breath.  I am NOT a monogamous knitter!  So these may take a while.

Here's a cute emoji that I found on the internet....it, too, makes me happy.

That's me, all year long!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 36 & 37 - Kittens and Stuff

So, we've had the kitten for 2 weeks now..we've settled on a name - The Skipper.  I took him and Gilligan to the vet yesterday and it was perfectly normal to say I had the Skipper and Gilligan to see the doctor.  One other lady in there giggled when I said it.  

Here he is....a bit less camera shy.

He really IS a goof - full of spunk and so much energy.  Makes us all tired just to watch him run around the house.  We all, including him, sleep really well at night.

And some of the occupants of the house sleep well during the day as well.

          

Gilligan is slowly getting used to having the little guy in the house...there's a whole lot less hissing and growling coming out of the Old Grump these days.  

John and our son met up in Little Rock, Arkansas this past week for a Father/Son Getaway.  Big John drove to Little Rock early Thursday and Young John flew in from Utah.  They toured the State Capitol of Arkansas, meeting up with the State Treasurer and getting to hold about 1/2 million dolalrs in federal money!  From there, they went on down to Jackson, Mississippi to tour the State Capitol and then to Vicksburg to see the Civil War Site.  Then on to Baton Rouge, Louisiana - again to tour the Capitol and on up to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the night.  They toured the Hot Springs Park, had some lunch, and went on to the airport so Young John could catch his flight home and Big John could pick up his car and drive home.  Big John got home about 7 o'clock last night - tired but exhilarated.  The three days went fast but they got to spend time together and that's always a gift.  

And lots of good food doesn't hurt, either.

Hurricane (or is it Tropical Storm) Gordon pretty much fizzled out by the time it got to land in Louisiana and Mississippi.  At least the damaging wind fizzled out.  We got tons of clouds and rain from Thursday through today.  Not as much rain as we were told to expect but enough to make us all breath a small sigh of relief.  And we got some pretty spectacular skies near sunset, too.

I took this facing East the other night....gorgeous, isn't it.  

Well, that's about all for today.  Until next time, Thanks for stopping by.

Week 35 Chickens and Cats

Well, it's been over a week since Briscoe crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  I am still listening for his drunken gait to tell me he needs to go outside....Mom said she heard his bark to wake her up this morning.  He was definitely a part of this household, in more ways than we thought.  

I had told John that his sister mentioned they had a lot of cats at the Humane Society available for adoption....I said jokingly that maybe Gilligan needed a friend since he'd never lived in the house without another animal.  John jumped on that and said, "Well, you remember, I lived in a house with 11 inside cats growing up."  No, I did not recall that....so on Sunday, Mom and I made a trip to the Southwest Humane Society adoption center and played with a few kittens.  I didn't want a full grown cat since Gilligan is full grown and I didn't want issues....I figured a kitten might be better.  And I always wanted a black cat - no clue why this is so, but it's true - so I kind of gravitated to the black ones, or the mostly black ones.  Came across a small black and white kitten, Saturn was his name.  He was sound asleep in his enclosure and meowed at me when I went to pick him up.  So sweet and very small.  He was 4 months old and had been made a gentleman already so no issues male superiority or spraying.  I was kinda enthralled by his 'tuxedo' markings.  He came home with us and there the adventure began.  I wasn't really enthused with the name 'Saturn' - it doesn't connect to him at all....we toyed with a couple of names like Socks, or Spats, or Patches, or even Buddy.  I post a picture on Facebook and one of our friends from California mentioned he could be The Skipper, the Professor, or Mr. Howell from Gilligan's Island, in keeping with the theme.  John jumped at The Skipper. So, I give you, The Skipper - I can't get a decent picture cause he is a super busy kitten right now...maybe once he settles in I can get a better one.

As i said....busy!  

More later, I'm sure.

On another note, mom and I were getting ready to set the table the other night and I heard a strange noise...it sounded as though there was someone or something along the side of the house, or near the back.  I couldn't tell if I heard talking or maybe muttering....finally I looked out the back window, near the staircase that goes down into the dog run...and saw this:

Yep, those are the newest chickens, led by the lone rooster!  It had rained and John had left the gate to the dog run open and the chickens run around on the property pretty much wherever they want...and they wanted to go up the stairs and find out what's up there.

We are getting a tiny bit of rain these days.  I came home from work the other day and it was sprinkling...a nice, gentle sprinkle that was enough to make me use my window wipers but not enough to leave puddle yet.  I looked over into the north field, saw the cows grazing, and then, to the right, I saw this! 

Yes, there were 4 deer lazing in the field under the trees, just getting sprinkled on and so content.  They must have stayed there for an hour...very unusual but I stopped trying to explain nature a long time ago.

Hey, thanks for stopping by.  More next time.

Week 33 & 34 - Catching Up

It's been 2 weeks since my last posting. Let me catch you up.

One, we got rain!  Not a lot, but enough to make us breathe a sigh of relief for a while.  

The deer usually come out right at dusk and right at dawn to eat.  They don't usually come out during the day.  But the drought has made it necessary for them to forage at all times of the day.  

Here is part of the herd that lives in our woods.

(Click to embiggen)

Sadly, we lost a member of our family this past week.  Briscoe crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on Friday.  He was a Golden Retriver that we adopted at 5 months old in 2004.  Now, most Goldens live around 10 years, but Briscoe defied the odds and lived just short of 15 years.  He had some physical challenges that never seemed to stop him or even slow him down.  He had the most amazing smile.  The last few years, he's been declining - don't we all as we get older?  It finally came time to bid him farewell.  When I went to find pictures of him, I realized I'd not taken an recent ones....that makes me sad.  Here are ones taken really early in his life with us.

At 6 months old.

With his favorite human - John was his 'lobster' (reference from the TV show "Friends") 

Farewell, Furry Friend.  We gave you the best life we could and you gave us all your love.  

The young chickens have definitely learned to come out of the barn and forage...it's so fun to look out the window on the barn side of the house and see the entire group of them skittering around.  

We think one of the Black Asutralorps is a rooster.  He is learning to crow. He sounds like a teenage boy with his voice changing...makes us chuckle to hear him.  

I hear thunder beginning and John says the rain has started.  Time for me to turn off and unplug the computer so if we get hit with lightning, we don't lose electronics. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 32 - A Visitor

I haven't seen my youngest brother since 2012 and Mom hasn't seen him since 2016 when she moved from Arizona to live with us.  He was able to fly out here for a few days to see mom and us this past week.  We picked him up at the airport on Tuesday afternoon and the days flew past till we had to take him back to the airport yesterday so he could go home.  He and Mom spent all day, each day, just talking and catching up, then I got to spend time with him once I got home from work, and in the evenings, he and John talked Guy Stuff...Bill, my brother, seemed to enjoy his time here on the farm, helping John feed the cows and the chickens and unloading 1000 pounds of grain into the barn. The weather cooperated, only getting really hot the last full day he was here.  The humidity also stayed low.  

I remembered to get a couple of pictures...

It was wonderful getting to spend time with Bill after all this time.  I'm hoping it won't be too long before he comes back. He will be retiring from the police force this coming February so he and his wife might be taking some road trips after that.   And maybe our other brother might come visit....mom sure has missed them.  

We tried a new restaurant while Bill was here.  Wildseed is a newer establishment about 20 miles from here.  It's clean, welcoming, and the food was so tasty.  It's a mixture of American with a bit of Indian/Thai flair.  Really good food.  And the desserts were To Die For!  We had tried to go there for our anniversary and they had changed their Sunday hours without changing them on the website so they were closed when we got there.  I'd made a comment on their Facebook page about our disappointment and the owner replied with her apologies and asked us to let her know if we visited again and she would help us celebrate with free desserts.  And what absolutely wonderful desserts they were.  John had strawberry shortcake, mom had a chocolate lava cake, Bill had cheesecake with fresh strawberries and I had carrot cake with a really rich cream cheese frosting.  There was not a single dessert that disappointed!  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Week 30 & 31 - Time Gets Away From us All

Again, time got away....sometimes it's my own fault, sometimes, I can't take full responsibility.  This time - well, I don't know who's responsible for the blog not getting done last week....let's leave it at that, ok?

This past week has gone by in a blur.  Mom mentioned she'd never had a facial so I took us both over to the local beauty school and we had facials on Tuesday.  Mom is totally sold on that particular beauty regimen and I see more appointments with the esthitician in our future.  While there, we made appointments for pedicures in early August....top to bottom, we are gettin' our pretty on!

Today is overcast and we are hoping for some decent rain, any rain!  It's been so dry here and the fields are getting brown...not appetizing to the cows, for sure.  John is doing some supplemental graining right now....and we need to arrange for winter hay soon, before the prices go up because of the lack of rain this year.

From left to right you have Murphy, Maurice, Belle, and Rosie...they all wait at the trough for John every night.

Back in late May, John decided to get some more egg-laying chickens...mom and I picked up 14 newborn chicks and brought them home...they have finally gotten big enough that John is allowing them out of the brooder in the barn so they can roam during the day....It took them a bit over a week to make it out of the barn but they are now spending longer periods of each day, roaming around the area between the barn and the house, eating bugs and other things in the grass.  

Two of the newest ones were eaten by slithery creatures several weeks ago so there are only 12 chickens now...along with the Two Old Girls from the original group.  John thinks one of the new ones is a rooster so we might end up with some fertilized eggs as well!   There are 5 Black Australorps, 4 Austa Whites, and 3 Barred Rocks...and the Two Old Girls are Brown Leghorns....all of them produce white-shelled eggs....one of these days, I might convince him to get some Easter Egg layers, as well....those eggs have a green, or blue, or yellow hue to the shell.

My youngest brother is coming to visit this Tuesday....he is mainly coming to see mom, but he will get me as well!  I was thinking the other day and I don't think in 45 years of marriage, my brother had ever been to my home.  He spent 20 years in the Air Force and was all over the world, and we were in San Diego area for 25 of our 30 years in the Navy....and never did we live close enough to visit each other during that time.  So this is a momentous occasion.  It sure will be good to see him....

The clouds are gathering so it's probably time to end this and shut down the computer....thanks for staying loyal. Until next time.