HERE I GROW AGAIN

A friend of mine sent me a message this a.m. via e-mail, of course, that tells about two coral beds. One was alive and bright with color, the other dull and hardly any life. She was told that the one that was a bright and living coral bed was on the side of the ocean where it was open to much buffeting by the ocean itself. The bed that had almost no life was where it received no stimulus by the ocean. This dear lady has had much buffeting by life in the last 2 or 3 years, both by loss of a husband and health issues. The comment that caught my attention (hers? or someone else's? don't know, don't care) was this: HERE I GROW AGAIN. If only all of us could face the problems of life as the person that made that quote.

Grateful to be an O.L.

I saw a few minutes of an interview yesterday featuring Jamie Lee Curtis who will be turning 50 y/o soon. She quoted someone else (I don't know who) who said:
"OLD AGE IS NATURE'S WAY OF TELLING YOU THAT YOU DON'T HAVE ANY TIME TO WASTE!"
I feel that way these days and will carry that quote around with me in my Bible so that I can share it at the appropriate times.

Beached Whale

There is a rumor going 'round that I am growing more like my mother every day. (R.B., I know what you are saying about me!!!!) It all, at least I think it all, has to do with my addiction to yarn. So...I decided to plagiarize once again. Almost a plagiarist. My little electric pocket dictionary defines the word as "use of words or ideas of another as if your own" I ask permission of the author of the following words to use them on this blog. He gave me permission. I added a couple of pictures. One is of him that I took from Facebook. The other is of him blowing out candles during his last birthday celebration while two of his four children are sitting on his lap. Even having been described as a "beached whale" (his own description) he would have a hard time putting his other two children on his lap. The other two are a girl who will be 21 y/o on the 18th of this month and a son who just celebrated his 18th birthday on the 3rd of this month. The daughter may be about 5/8" and the son may be about 6'4", maybe, and still growing. He may have topped his dad by now.

In case you might be wondering, this is the family of my youngest daughter. The wonderful "beached whale" is my son-in-law who loves me. I am blessed



FISH TACOS
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 8:31am
You have no idea of the depth of my addiction. It was

Summer 1994 with a handful of pesos bouncing around

in my working pants' pocket. A warm, sunny day at a

tiny white taco stand during a mission trip. Etched in

the deepest recesses of my mind... this glorious white

shack rocked gently on a small hill at the back of it so

it leaned toward me diagonally caddy-corner on a quiet

dirt yet paradoxically noisy alleyway (as barefoot kids

kicked up dust with a soccer-ball in background) in

Ensenada, Baja. That angle may have called me or

possibly fish sizzling on a skillet with a light white

smoky aroma; I'm not sure, through counseling I now

know that the absolute addictive lock has something to

do with a magic chemical reaction between green lime

juice and a super secret tangy white sauce; it alters the

taste-bud brain-cells permanently. Anyway, nineteen

pesos later into the dusk of that fateful evening the

locals tagged me with a nickname that I'm pretty sure

loosely translated is "beached whale." I was thereby

doomed forever to never have spare change or a

skinny waist again.

I am a plagiarist

Well, not really, but there are several blog that I check almost every day. the name of the one below is "Born to read and knit". I didn't know until today that that name is not the blog address until I copied it to send on to you. Anyway, this lovely lady lives in New Zealand. I believe she may have more of a reason to knit than I do. I am a dunce about geography but my guess that us desert dwellers are much less likely to be amenable to knitted garmets than N.Z. Anyway, this is a good read for those of us who love all things yarn.

http://heygoodbooking.blogspot.com/

Blog for Saturday

Since I will not have anything new to show you tomorrow, I copied this from a lady's blog site in New Zealand. Her blog is called, "Born to read and knit". Now you know why I found her. These questionairs are sometimes fun to fill out so, here goes.

Friday Fill ins:
1. When I'm sick I'm _____
just want to be left alone.

2. When I take a walk______,
now that seldom happens here in my desert, what with the heat and the bugs!

3. Money can't buy happiness but it _____
sure keeps the kids in touch. I found that license plate frame at fair. Loved it, makes me laugh and gets a comment or two by passerbys.

4. Cotton makes me ___
comfy here in my desert

5. The strangest person/character I've had lewd thoughts about was:
never happened. If it did, I would never admit it.

6. My favorite colour these days is
as always, pale coral.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __
the same as every day. Playing with my yarn


These come by on my computer once in a while. Most of the time they are much longer and much more fun. When the next one comes by, I will pass it on.

A hat for Lily Bird

Occasionally I like to make something that is fast and something just to get away from the larger things I make. It is so satisfactory to get something FINISHED! I will be going to TN soon and have a large suitcase full of things for my TN family. This hat is for my 6 y/o girly girl grand daughter.

I placed the hat on a gallon jar to take pictures of. The first is the front of the hat. Unfortunately, you can see right through the fruit jar to the back. It needs Lily's face so you can't see the curls in the back through the jar. I will take on with her wearing it when I get there and show you when I return.

Latest creation

I still need to model this jacket so that it can be seen in a little better light. This is the second jacket I have crocheted from this pattern. It is so much fun because it changes in both texture and color. Keeps me interested in finishing it. I am making a third one right now. The first one went to Becky, I may put this on up for sale, both at the craft sale and/or on www.etsy.com in my shop. The third one is going to be all in pinks. The first two were made with a denim back but I may crochet the whole thing in the third one. What with all the yarn I have on hand (A WHOLE ROOM FULL) I have many, many options.

A-R-R-R-G AGAIN

I had a blog set up yesterday with more God painted skys and got bumped off. Discouraged, I didn't try again. No pictures today.

I will try to get a picture taken of me today in my newest jacket/sweater. It is the same pattern as the one Danica is modeling but different colors. After two of those, I am very tired of doing that (even though I may make another one) so I am making my Lily Bird a silly little hat with flowers and yellow curls. When I get home from TN I will have a picture of her modeling the hat.

Later................

A-A-R-R-R-G ! ! !

Title? Because I have not been able to get on the internet for 3 days. Different reasons. Anyway, here I am again.

Below is a couple of picture of my most recent creation. It is a crocheted jacket with a sewn in denim back. It is so much fun to make because of all the different textures and colors. I am almost finished with a second one and planning a third one. I had hoped that the one pictured was one I could wear but, no luck, too small for me. Becky gets it. Danica just modeled it for the pictures. Sorry, I am not responsible for the 14 y/o poses.




The sunset pictures are taken from my front porch last night. God just keep on painting and painting for my pleasure.......and your.

Learning more every day.

I have been having so much trouble with my computer. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW!!!!
I have been "cleaning out" the computer. Getting rid of many of my "favorites". All kinds of stuff that I didn't even remember that I had saved. The computer is now working. Co-incidence? Weather? I don't really know but it is working better and I am taking part of the credit.

I tell you this to explain the picture below. One of these sites was a site on "Classmates. com" and it has a picture of me and my oldest grand, Kala. She came to live with me about 3 years ago to attend college in AZ for a couple of years. At the time we were attending several "hummin'and strummin'" events, having a great time singing and Kala learning even more with her guitar. We got all gussied up in our Western wear that night. In the background is my favorite view from my house that you have seen many time. Picacho Peak.

More eye candy

Several months ago, shortly after I started blogging, I received a comment from a young lady in Nashville, TN. (don't know her). She said it was a blue day for her that day. Rainy there, made her spirits blue and she was serfing around on the blog spots just to pass time on that rainy day. I had put a bunch of pictures on my blog after taking a stroll around my property. She thanked me for lifting her spirits with pictures of blue sky, desert and many, many cactus. Below are some pictures I took from my front porch last night at sunset. Every day during rainy season God paints pictures for me. I have a favorite, which is yours?

Wha-da-ya-do?

Whatdoyado when you get the hungries? Since I no longer live a mile from anything available to choose from I will write a solution. DON'T KNOCK IT UNTIL YOU HAVE TRIED IT.

I shouldn't be eating anything I want to eat. I am doing a pretty good job of choosing better things for ME. I have lost 10 lbs. since April. I need to lose at least 10 more.

Back to the subject:

My refridgerator is nearing empty. Tomorrow will be a Marathon Shopping Trip to Costco. Meantime, I needed something sweet. Solution:

1-1/2 lowfat yogurt
several raisins
palm full of Pinion nuts
tablespoon of ground almonds (good for us we are told)
splash vanilla
sprinkle of nutmeg
1 pink package sweetner. (not gonna buy anymore of that, NOT good for us we are told)

I can't remember if there was anything else in there, now it is all gone and my sweet tooth is satisfied and I may do that very thing again.

Stuff & such

Just put this picture on there to remind myself that someplace in the world it is cool!


I finished my crocheted jacket/sweater. It doesn't fit me. No surprise. I have already started another in different colors. That one fits Becky (MC) ((middle child)) I wanted to take a picture of it and her but she decided that the dress she was wearing did not look right with the sweater. Summer dress, winter jacket, go figure! I will try to get her to model it today and take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

Oh boy! Am I happy the Olympics are OVER, OVER, OVER! Becky just about wore me out. The first week I tried to go to bed before they all left after they also wore out but I couldn't go to sleep even with ear plugs. I finally got used to them being in my house and was able to go to sleep. Either that or simply exhausted.

I have an arial on the top of my house and that brings in several channels way out here in my desert but MC and OC chose not to have one. OC receives a channel or two and MC has no TV reception, also their choice. The grands are here occasionally on a Sat. to watch cartoons and seldom, very seldom are the children of mine ever here to watch anything else. Only UA ballgames once in a while or every 4 years for the Olympics. I guess I can handle that. When the TV reception converts to digital, I may have company only when I invite them to dinner..........JUST TEASING!!

Grandkids

My grand kids are cuter than your grand kids!!! (Sorry, only 2 1/2 hours sleep last night, that is the best I can do)
This is Spencer. I suspect that is a sucker stick in his mouth. He is my next to oldest. He will be 18 in a couple of weeks.

Here I yam Charlotte

Charlotte, you are a dear to ask not where Waldo is but where is Connie. Out where I live, the internet is not always available. I am "piggy backing" on my son-in-law's provider which is Triconet.org. Trico set up internet availablity last year and we are 20+ miles from the tower. Sometimes it works, a lot of the time it does not. In the last two weeks I have been able to get online a couple of days a week, therefore, have lost the drive to think of something to put on here. A couple of weeks ago I put something on the computer a saved it so that I would have something to share quickly, just in case I could get online again. I will add it here if it works. Even as I type this, the internet connection comes and goes. I have been trying to get the little "test" thingie on here and so far, I haven't caught the connection while trying to add it.

I am almost finished with a really cute jacket/sweater I have been crocheting. I may even keep this one myself IF IT FITS. Even tho' I take the time to work up a swatch to test the yarn, the needle, my own tension, the garmet doesn't always come out to be the size I hope it will be so it goes on to someone else. I will take a picture or two when this one is finished. Becky wants one also. It has so many different textures and colors I may even enjoy doing it a second time.

Oh well, I could't find/add the thing I prepared. So, this will have to do for now.

I took this picture about two weeks ago. I wish I had zoomed in on it. Oh well, God will provide another one.

IF.............YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK

OK, I admit it...I, me, I am the one, I am a redneck! A good share of my dad's life was spent as a mechanic in the bus garage at school supporting his family. I never had any idea that we might have not had a whole lot of money. We always had what we needed and much of what we wanted. My parents taught me how to shop, cut corners, and make do. One of my favorite shopping places today and I always go to that place each time I am in town is Good Will, a thrift store. A friend at church says she buys her clothing at G.W. Fashions. I, in fact, was there yesterday and found my POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW. I brought home a large shopping basket FULL of yarn!

Back to todays subject: I have two printers connected to my computer.
Both were free to me for different reasons. One came with my computer when I bought it. It is a Lexmark. It works well and is a satisfactory machine. The second is a Brother and it was free with points I earned with my Wells Fargo Credit Card.
Since I pay off my credit card completely each month, it IS totally free.
It is a very nice machine. It copy's. It prints. It scans. It faxes.
Since I no longer have a land line, the fax is now usless to me.
The thing that really frustrates me about the Brother machine is that is will NOT print when just one cartridge is out of ink. If one color of the Lexmark is out of ink I can make it print in a color that is still available. NOT SO FOR THE BROTHER! MAKES ME MAD!
If only one color is missing, it refuses to print at all. MAD! MAD! MAD!

Redneck mind kicks in:

In the picture following you will see the results. I have this old huge hypodermic needle
that was given to me by vet many years ago for the purpose of oiling my great
grandmothers kitchen clock.

Redneck mind says:

I bet you can fool that silly printer by injecting the cartridge with water. It worked. Of course, since the yellow cartridge is filled with water the printer no longer prints the colors it is supposed to, but I print mostly in black anyway. I am no artist, no business person and the printers are just for my entertainment and personal use. If it will print the information I need to store, no matter the color, it works for me.

Redneck mind still working says:

Hey, how about trying food coloring. Much less expensive than printers ink.

Mentioning this to MAJOR SKEPTIC BB who says, with a knowing smile on his face,
Let me know how that works out .

Picture for your enjoyment of MAJOR SKEPTIC BABY BROTHER.


Fry's Grocery Story has one of the larger bottles of food dye. Safeway only had the teeny,
one drop at a time size. I have a card from Fry's that gives me money off on many
things in the store. I bought the bottle for one dollar and sixty nine cents. Injected the yellow dye into the cartridge,
after sucking out the water with the hypodermic needle, and VOILA! It worked.
If you do that, be sure you seal the hole into which you inject the dye or it will all leak out all
over the computer. I think I remember that happening one time several years ago when
I was refilling ink cartridges with the on the market ink refillers. I used Stickytack.
AT least that is what they used to call it years ago. It is a sticky substance kinda like
childrens clay. It won't dry out like clay and is used to put posters and such on your wall
and will not harm the wall. I bought Rubber Cement to use but the Stickytack worked so
well with the water injection that I just put it back in place after filling it with the food dye.

I have no idea of the permanency of the Redneck ink. I printed out some words in yellow,
kinda brownish yellow and the picture of my cat sitting in the late afternoon sun, all
yellowish-y, and it worked.


Co-incidentally, while I was out and about yesterday, I stopped in at the Honey Baked Ham store
and bought a sandwich. They had a small free paper there to pick up and read called:
EXPLORER...The Voice of Marana, Oro Valley and Northwest Tucson. In it was an article
written by a man called James Sandefer and his article was entitled Simplicity is bliss after
retirement. It was an amusing article to read while eating my sandwich. He mentions the price
of computer ink...and if you think that stuff is over priced, printer ink tops the list of all-time most
expensive semi-essential products selling at approximately $10,000 per gallon if you calculate the
amount of ink actually contained in one of those little print cartridges.

Where's Waldo?

Tee Hee! What I really want you to see is my garden and WHERE'S THE CHICKENS?


You can see why I gave my garden over to the chickens. Now find 'em. That "thing" you can see way in the back that looks like a head is a scarecrow my Baby Brother brought home for me.



As you can see, the garden is almost completely overtaken with Burmuda Grass and some other desert weeds that I have no idea of the name. The garden is completely covered over with bird netting. It makes a good place for the chickens, for the hawks can't get to them. I believe you can find a chicken in this picture. Beyond the garden is the green creosote bushes of my desert. They are only that green during the rainy season.






And of course, this one IS THE MAN!


This pictue is of the cantaloups that look promising. Perhaps the chickens have enough to feast on, (green things and bugs) that they will ignore the melons and I will get to eat them.


C

More Eye Candy

It is not often that we, in my desert, have the "treat" of anything other than SUNNY. I believe even the weather people struggle to come up with things to say about the weather. That being said, I have a couple more pictures of Picacho Peak. You may remember a couple of blogs ago there is a very colorful picture of Picacho Peak...well, here it is in a very different type of weather. You are seeing it with shadows from the clouds.


This one is just a pretty sunset. Enjoy

A word of thanks

Occasionally, much too often, I have occasion to be disappointed in people. Sometimes I find people, (FRIENDS!) that have never learned how to say THANK YOU!. Sometimes (not always) it involves something that I have put forth a great effort to do something for a person and surprise of all surprises!! there is no thank you.

I tell you all that to show you a very tiny thing that I do for a very small thank you for something nice someone has done for me. This morning I told you about the chickens someone gave Becky. I took a small gift bag to the lady who offered the chickens. In it were four pot holders that I had made. I keep one in the making all the time. I very seldom throw away anything. When I am knitting or crocheting, if there is a small strand of yarn that is at least 3" or longer I tie it onto the potholder I am making. It is a fun thing to do because it is a mind numbing thing to do when I don't want to think and it takes no finishing because all the ends and knots are tucked inside and never seen. (Makes more padding for the potholder)

The first picture is the beginning of the potholder. You just crochet a chain as long as you want the pot holder to be square and then single crochet all around and around and around...you get the idea. Don't add any stitches to the ends, just keep going around.


Pretty soon the piece will begin to cup (turn into a boat.


When the sides of the boat meet each other you sew or crochet the sides together and VOILA! you have a potholder.

Caretaker Me

I am now the caretaker of 1 rooster, 3 chickens and a baby chick! I didn't set about to acquire chickens. Last Sunday, after church, I was chatting with some people I had not met (other people knew them, they came to church years ago before I moved here), one thing led to another and the lady ask me if my small time farmer daughter wanted more chickens and I replied YES! Yesterday my daugher and I went to their house in Becky's convertible truck to bring home the chickens. You have to know that I call her truck a convertible because it is a small old pickup truck that has no AC and in the summer one must go everywhere with the windows open to keep from getting cooked! At any rate, on the way home we decided to put the chickens in my garden. I have grown dis-interested in my garden because it is pretty well overtaken with bermuda grass and is much too hot for me to care to go out there and tend the garden. I have a completely enclosed 2000 sq. ft. garden to keep out the larger preditors like little Kit foxes, coyotes and wild rabbits, then it is covered around and overhead with a web of netting to keep the birds away from my tomatoes, etc. It is a good place for the new chickens for it will keep the long time chickens of Becky's from "beating up" on the new kids on the block. Chickens are mean beings and will peck the new ones unmercifully. Also, the garden space will keep the hawks away from the new chickens (she has a dog to keep the hawks away from the chickens over there). There is so much for the chickens to eat in my garden I am not sure if and when she will have to feed them. That will be up to her. The bugs are plentiful, there are cherry tomatoes and some nice new bean plants they are welcome (and will) to eat. I think I am responsible to keep them in water. One drawback to having the chickens in my garden: How will we ever find the eggs they are bound to lay???? It may prove to be a continual Easter egg hunt for the grand kids!!