Month: October 2012

I am a loafer and a bum!

 

I love these vintage postcards! So bright, so funny. I read this one with a James Cagney voice in my head.

Tomorrow is my favorite Holiday. I have my jack o’ lanterns ready to light. I wanted to light them everyday since carving them. It has been so damp and breezy. I hope tomorrow it clears up from dusk to midnight. I also hope I have time to hook up my outdoor lights. I don’t many, just a few strands. I need to hook up the outdoor extension cord because the outlet is on the end of my house. My front yard is so dark, I only have one small porch light. I have no sidewalk to my door (yet). It is going to be squishy wet grass if you want to trick or treat at my house. I hope someone does. The places I lived the last few years were not the “hot spots” for getting trick or treaters. We will see what this year brings. I just hope I get some good pictures of my dog, and maybe me if my makeup goes like I plan it to. My son is just hoping to scare everyone that comes to my neighbors. They have about a million dollars invested in decorations. They have a tent with casket, skeletons hanging from their tree. A graveyard with homemade tombstones, and more. I have a dollar store Jason mask, a few pumpkins, lights, bats, and two spiders. I did not make my large spider web. I have been such a loafer. Actually, I spend a million hours taking pictures and trying to list my stuff on ebay. I am trying to do that now, but their sight is having some glitches and I can’t get more than one done. It is so frustrating. I hate when things don’t work.

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I won’t be crocheting this soon

 

I try less often to do the things I used to do with my left hand. It gets too frustrating, and tires me. I get tired often enough without being frustrated. I am headed for a nap now. I woke up much earlier than usual to finish off the last bit of laundry. Just in case the power goes out later. I also have been filling containers of water to put in the freezer. I wait for one to be frozen before I stick in another.  When they are solid, I am popping them out and putting in baggies before I stack them back in the freezer. Right now the wind is just starting to get breezy. The clouds are coming from the north now, and that is unusual. The projected path of Sandy varies so much over New York State. I am still in the zone for tropical storm strength winds. I have four big trees in my side yard. I also have a small plot (not owned by me)  of woods directly behind my shed. My daughter came last weekend to reinforce my shed roof with a tarp. I am hoping it does not become a sail. Worse yet, I hope it does not become a target for a tree to smash through. They keep talking about three systems converging, without mentioning spawning tornadoes. They also talk about the Canada air mass coming down over the great lakes without mentioning lake effect snow. It does seem more important to mention the 20 foot waves crashing along the shore. I hope everyone stays away while it is happening. One year when I lived near Lake Ontario, I went there to gather some water during a storm. The waves were only about 2 feet and they knocked me over. 20ft waves will probably take houses out, or at least smash them.

Well, nap time. No sense worrying, until the wind is too loud to ignore.

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Yes, Join

 

I have some ephemera listed on ebay. This postmark from 1940 is on an envelope that goes with a Thanksgiving card I am selling. I have so many other goodies to add. I hope to be taking lots of pictures while we are riding out Hurricane Sandy. Or maybe just in the aftermath, if we make it. I am always scared of high winds. We have no basement and big trees. I also hope we don’t get the snow this soon. I still have yard work to do. I just realized I have to put my hose away before the freezing temps. I plan on buying rock salt tomorrow. I need to park my car in the driveway instead of the front yard. I need to fill up a few more jugs of water. It is the most I can do really, except wait for it to pass.

I have neglected my blog. It has been a year since I started it. Over a year and a half since my stroke. I have less time dedicated to blogging now. I did the post a day for so long, then fizzeled out. Like everything else I do, I  get sidetracked. I forget the important stuff. I roast pumpkin seeds instead. I forgot to take a picture of my lighted jack O’lanterns. I forgot to light them. I might light them November 1st, sitting on top of a snow bank. That would be a real scary sight.

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I Keep Learning

 

It might be useless information, but I believe everything is good to know. Not the same as good to know everything. Today while looking up some of my antique items I came across steampunk. I have certainly heard it before, and had a vague sense. Now I know for certain it is a literary genre. While cool, my generation skipped all the awesome things in school. I am sure it is still the same, everything taught unrelated into what the current generation wants to learn. They should teach survivalism, alternatives to commercialism and environmental conservation and more steampunk. That is just my opinion, which the majority of people might disagree with. I need to keep this post brief. The cleaning and organizing fairies skipped my house. Yes, that was something I was taught in Girl Scouts. Unfortunately, “I” was supposed to be the cleaning fairy then too.

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Stayed Inside All Day

It looked pretty out, but windy. I got up early, for the first time in weeks. I also took a nap and before I knew it dinner time was close and  I had no plans. I made spaghetti, and hopefully will make a trip to the store later. Maybe not. I started to clean again, but my ebay mess keeps getting in the way. I looked up some stuff for preliminary research. I have a postcard with swastikas on it and was like hey this is not right. After some research I learned that the swastika was not evil until the Nazi’s adopted it in the 30’s. It had a much longer history as a good luck symbol, used by India, girls clubs, and Native Americans just to show the widespread use of a good symbol. No more, obviously. Please leave the four leaf clovers alone too.

Quote from my postcard postmarked 1913: “Through the New Year  May Time’s swift-moving finger write for you fair day and peaceful night with health and wealth and goodly cheer through all the sorrows of the year.” Mary C. Low

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Leaves bigger than my foot!

 

These are from tall oak trees, in the state park. There were ton’s of acorn tops laying around too. The squirrels must have already squirreled away the nuts. I learned last year humans can eat acorns too. You just have to soak the tannin out. I am not going to try, since my stroke I became allergic to most of my favorite nuts. It is good to know in case of emergency. I guess you just have to learn to be smarter than a squirrel to survive.

These are the pretty shoes that hurt my feet. I had to get rid of my heels, my beloved clogs and other shoes that won’t stay on my post stroke left foot. The soles of these shoes are comfy, until I step down on their ungiving hardness. I think next month I am making room in my budget for a new pair of new balance, exact copies of my old sneaks I love. I need to keep walking. I managed two days in a row. Today is non stop raining. I want to go to the auction tonight so bad. I might count walking around the preview and adjoining thrift store my exercise for today. I vowed to walk in almost any weather except ice. I could get soaked, then just change. I feel like I would then be too exhausted to attend the auction. I need to find something special to sell for hundreds on ebay. My sales are lagging way behind this month. I would not care, if I did not have pretty shingles (expensive) for my roof to buy.

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Milemarkers

 

This railroad mile marker (if that is what it is called) looked like a gravestone to me. I took a slightly shorter walk today. I zigzagged through the subdivision roads, to spy on the state of my neighbors houses. Mine seems like the worst one around, until I take a closer look at others. Down the street a bunch of men were hammering away up on the roof. I am not sure if they were putting a tarp up, or taking it down. I spied a tarp on the backside. So, I might not be the only one with the stand out tarped roof. I admired the 3D shingles and hoped my ebay sales would quadruple or more so I could afford them. I liked the quirky little add ons to make their square footage bigger. I don’t want mine bigger, but a more efficient layout with a double french back or side door would be nice. I only have the front door for egress. I admired the new windows, with the stickers still on. Who does not take them off (the stickers) first thing? I like my old windows, half painted shut. I also dream of opening and closing them easily without every species of bees getting in. I try to stare at what is up next to the spot where the siding meets the foundation. I can’t see, and I don’t know them enough to walk up and poke around their house. One part of one street has basements rare around this swampy flat land. I am thinking I won’t make it if I run in a tornado this far down the street. I head back early because my left knee can not take any more. I wore different sneakers so my feet feel better than yesterday. Today I feel like I weigh 500 pounds and I have no muscles in my legs to hold me up. My arm even is sore for leaning too hard on my cane. I know I am walking so far off from normal gait. I feel like a freak, hobbling cripple and can not wait to get home.

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Another Pony Needs A Recue

 

I took my camera out for a walk finally. I got some unexpected shots along with the typical fall standards. This was one of the first, right around the corner of my street. This sad sight was in the ditch, and that is a pet food bag behind it. I am not sure of the original owner, but too bad they could not have dropped it off at goodwill instead polluting. Heck, I might go back and pull it out and cover it with quick-crete to make a faux statue. I am hoping the pet food bag blew there in the wind. It is possible that someone dumped off kittens there and with half an ounce of false concern left them some kibble to survive on.

I also took Ashley for a walk in the woods. I yelled loudly, so the hunters knew I had a right to walk at the state park too. As you can tell, I made it back without being shot. At least this time. There was more cars parked along the road near the park. The damn hunters must be tripping over each other. I am not sure what is in season, but I saw a flock of turkeys in a field on the drive there.

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Indecisive division

 

I wasted hours tonight trying to decide on purchasing a fire pit (complete), fire ring, or looking at the diy fire pits and seeing what I will end up with. It was still time better spent then watching a presidential debate. I think I will stick with my plan of building a brick bbq. I have always wanted one, I can add on my brick oven later. It should be easy to do in a square design, with rectangle bricks. Everyone else seems to build round fire pits now, and I like to be different. That does not mean I won’t change my mind tomorrow.

I also contacted a stroke support group. To see if I could benefit, or be of any help to them. I will forget about that for now, until I get a response. My vow to walk everyday (again) starting today did not happen. I had a splitting headache. I will try my new routine tomorrow. Now I am off to bed early, to make my new plans possible.

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Oh, Woe is me

Glasbake

I am sick. My 90 something year old uncle died. I am too sick to fight his wife’s relatives for a decent burial. I am too sick to go to the Friday night auction. Wa wa wa. I could go on. I am trying to pull myself together to clean my germ infested house, and make mass quantities of food. I am starving. Yesterday I was queasy but not today. I think I have the plague, just exaggerating a little. I have not been this sick since I had my stroke. It could just be a common cold or sinus infection.  I have not had either of them full blown in awhile. I did manage to sleep well, last night and this morning. I now hope to have enough energy to make it to the store tomorrow. I need to restock my supply of tissues and OJ.

I needed to update, in put in correct spelling of the title (gives it the meaning I was going for)

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