Rain today, the weather man and the online weather said 90% yesterday and 30% today. Did not rain yesterday but did today, so much for work plans. My back is not happy with me any way as last week I did a removal job. Two 5 ft. diameter eucalyptus were topped last year and died as a result. Big chainsaws and 12 to 15 tons of wood in a gully in a back yard. The four of us are feeling it this week. This is the kind of job to do every couple of years to remind myself not to. Will donate platelets later today as that is my usual rainy day thing to do. Wonder what movies they have that I haven't seen. Need to talk to my electrician friend about upgrading to 200 amp service. The box we have is not made any more and the breakers are hard to find. Had to get a new main breaker a couple of weeks ago as the old one was not making good contact. Almost ruined the computers. Had to reload the operating system on mine and lost the extra stuff. Luckily most of it is recoverable from other sources. If Missy's two boxes were to go it would be disaster as she has tons of pics on them. Went and got her a 500 gig external drive to store stuff yesterday and she has been transferring pics like crazy. should have done that long ago. Daughter in law is doing OK with the chemo and looks like better times ahead. Son brought the twins over Saturday and we took a walk around the lake. They had not been there before and want to come back and do some fishing. Still have the sleigh and reindeer on the roof but the rest of the decorations are down and boxed up till next year. Might do something for valentines day this year, red lights, hearts, not sure yet. Missy will come up with something if the mood moves her. Hope the next 4 years go well but then how could it be worse than it was.

I may have gone to the extreme on not caring. I was overwhelmed (caring "too much") about aspects of my life. The budget is ok, but not in great shape as I keep spending too much on going out to eat. I don't care if I make all Ds, if I ever finish the house (in this crappy market, who does care?!), if I lose my 20 more pounds (I gained 4 and lost 2 this week), haven't worn skirts, heels, makeup, or hose in the past two weeks (who can look good swaddled in six layers of sweaters, boots, socks, long pants)... Langour of late winter. Or something else. Ordered some St. John's wort. I have been having crushing depression once a month for about three or four days. I really didn't want to take something 100% of the time when I only need it 20% of the time. And then further thought, Huh, why not? Maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone.

I have been sleeping better since I decided not to push so hard on everything. Anxiety or antihistimines, whichever it was. The yoga mat is still trying to get me loose.

I am getting new glasses, sunglasses, and contacts next week. Got my eyes checked and ordered them all online. Did the $39 route; I'm really curious to see if it's as great as Ed made it out to be.

My big brother has been on his way over to look at moving the electrical box for two weeks now, but has yet to make it.

I hired a handyman to come redo the entire back window and he'll contact me next week. Seems strange hiring someone and paying them when I know Ed could, but won't, do it. Silly. But I gotta do what I gotta do.

As I walked to class on Tuesday, I was wrapped head to toe in fur, and every inch covered so that the icy wind couldn't cut into me. Still did on my legs, but other than that... and I was thinking, by the end of the semester, I'll be sweating! Only two days later (yesterday) I already make it to a pants and long sleeve shirt only? Not even the end of the semester. Shesh! Yes, our schools were closed on Friday due to the cold weather, but that's because we are not equipped to handle it. Truly. We can't stand at bus stops in frigid weather. But then we didn't shut down for a heatwave last summer like the northeast did. Turnabout. Turnabout.

cold here too, and more to come. It's hard to believe that we were having temps in the 80s just a couple of weeks ago.

Went to a family get-together last Sunday. W-a-a-ay out in the country. All along the way, there were businesses that had closed. Some looked recently, others, looked as if the dream had ended a few years ago.

Some, and this is what bothers me most, were simply the wrong thing in the wrong place. Who stops at a motel that's a long way from even a crossroad? Not enough to stay in business, that's for sure. Some of the others were shopping strips that looked as if none of the stores had ever done much, if anything. Again, a good ways from where people lived. Who dumped all that money in the construction? What happened to sensible planning? Or is it just wild hopes and dreams?

Is it like that all over the country? Is part of our problem the fault, not only on ill advised home buying, but it a rash building program that goes back several years.

I know, "if we build it, they will come." I don't think so. Somebody lost a lot of money.

Taj Mahal is "Going to the River" - Dancing the Blues. Why do Blues always make me cheerful and feeling good? Probably because the undertone is: stuff happens, may as well sing about it or is it Schadenfreude? Don't believe so.
It is cloudy and raining a little - a little too late, but every drop counts, so I'm not complaining. Sun shall be out in the afternoon, that should make the grass grow.
The girl goats are in heat, Chloe loudly proclaiming it, telling me those castrated boys are not the real thing, can't get no satisfaction. Even with the music on and doors and windows closed, I can hear her bellow sometimes. She is so little, but definitely no Lady.
I am so thankful for the grocery stores and the Farmer's Market, if I had to live off the land "sustainably" I would likely starve to death, my soil and the micro-climate are not friendly to producing edibles - and then there is always the question "will there be water?"
I probably better learn how to use acorns, the way the Indigenous people here have been doing before they were put on the Rez and learned to make Fried Bread, which they now believe is traditional fare.
Did you know that goldfish are clock-watchers? The three little fishes who live in the water-lily-barrel in summer, are settled down in a tank in my living-room, to the amusement of the cats. Anyway, when it is feeding-time for dogs and cats and the fish, they are getting exited, looking for their food before I am even ready to dish out the dog- and cat-food. How do they know?
Taj is now singing Mickingbird and I better dance with some firewood, have rambled enough.

Make that "Mockingbird" - darn spell-check!!!

Lilo,thank you for such a cheerful post to this thread. It made me smile just like Don's saying his DIL is maybe in a better place with the chemo. I love Taj Mahal and can't sit still either when I hear his music. I've been working on a quilt all morning and am now going blind so am taking dog to the park for awhile. There are a gazillion teeny little pieces which need putting together and then the ironing..UGH. My favorite part of making a quilt is the actual quilting . I love the feel of the entire quilt between my hands and the soothing back and forth,back and forth of the needle making those tiny stitches. It makes me feel connected to something a lot larger than myself. DH is out in the woods chopping up firewood and lugging some of it onto the back porch for the cold snap due in this coming week. We sound very domestic,don't we? I may take myself to a film tomorrow..I want to see Slumdog Millionaire. It's a good day. Well..they all are if you look for the good part,and dwell on that rather those gremlins which pop up every day too.

It's quiet here today. Steve's mom passed away peacefully in her sleep last night. She was a month shy of 80, and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1993. We are celebrating her body's release, and mourning the suffering and loss which have marked the last 16 years of her life... Her mind lost everything, and her body finally forgot how to swallow and how to breath. What a horrible, horrible disease.

It'll probably be three weeks before a ceremony can be scheduled for her burial at Arlington National. The family has a history of behaving contentiously and litigiously in times of grief. I hope (but doubt) that this will be an exception. Their fighting makes me even sadder than their loss. And Steve keeps attempting to make peace and gets pummeled in the process. Sigh.

I do reckon this is the Taj size> you are speaking of?

Puts me into a mood, it does.....

Thinking about going kayaking tomorrow, iffin the weather allows. Not on my river, but on the Little River up on Lookout Mountain. Seems to be a favourite with local whitewater kayakers. Little River Canyon

That's the only one!

More crazy weather here. Yesterday we had a high of 77 but today it was gray & windy & we never got out of the forties. Winter this year came early & doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon. I need to get outside & trim the crap myrtle as I see around town that the ones at the bank & the grocery store have been murdered (i.e. severely topped off)already. Why don't so-called professional landscapers know how to properly prune these things?

We got out checklist from the tax guy today with a list of everything we need to put together so he can do our taxes. I guess I'm going to have to deal with that in the next week so they can get done & submitted early this year.

And Suzy, I don't know what people do who aren't on-line. In fact, these days, I don't know what people do who don't have broadband access. I think it's just assumed that everyone has high speed connections these days, although I know plenty of people out in the sticks who are still on dial-up, which has to be hell.

Tell me about it, Andi! I call it dial-up purgatory, most of the troubles come from the telephone company, the infrastructure is very slow and old, and will probably not get any better soon.
There are satellite fast connections available and there is a company in nearby Willits for DSL furnished by translators, but for someone like me, on fixed income, the installation cost is prohibitively expensive, if I had a business though, I would definitely have one of the services.
I don't download anything forwarded as video, it is far too slow, I know I miss a lot.
When the phone is out, the merchants in town can't use the card-readers at CC purchases, another big problem here.