Andie, no roosting yet. I wish she would. She is still kind of skittish and only shows confidence late at night or early morning when it's just me puttering around. LF isn't mean to her, but he's skittish of her and it just cycles. I keep trying to explain to him that he just needs to pet her, she's not frail and achy like Keegan, but he's not getting it yet. Meldy, I have a brush and used it once, but she still really won't sit very still. I'm keeping the brushing all to myself (and LF), so she'll have to beg when she wants it, no wall thingies for her. It's actually building trust some, so I think we'll use it as a tool and to make her happy. Lilo, Thanks! Linda, Thanks and Thanks! Hopefully the work will pay off in monetary ways in a handful of months. Won't that make a great graduation present? A new economy with a rising housing market. Ah. Marda, she is perky, lively, and loves to be pet pet petted. Thanks on the decorating. Actually, the painting (done by Ed's mom) is the inspiration for the house's color palate and the overall design. Hopefully the whole house will come together. One project down, the rest to go. But they couldn't until this one was done. Big whew! M, Thanks on the sink and tile choices, they're Ed's. He learned how to tile on that wall. He did better on the floor. She won't let me hug yet, as she's too squirmy. I assume that will come in time.

Ellen, do you have a problem getting up and down as well, or is it just that you can't put pressure on your knees to kneel? I ask because I have the latter - have never been able to be on my knees for long, even in my youth. (Although I have to admit getting up and down isn't so much fun either, at this point!) But anyway, I've solved that by just sitting on the ground. I have a good quality kneeling pad, and I just sit on it. Then I scoot around as much as I can on my butt, as I weed, plant, mulch, whatever, until I have to get up to move farther distances. For me, sitting on one of those garden seats just doesn't work - doesn't get me close enough to the ground to work. So if you can get up and down, I would suggest just sitting on the ground. Obviously if physical limitations make that up and down difficult, you will need something. I'm sorry I can't help in recommending something, but I hope you find a useful solution! :) Dee

It’s November 2018. I haven’t had my haircut since my last bad haircut from about 2 or 3 years ago. I really have never had a good haircut. Ever. I have never walked out of a salon appointment and said, “Wow!”, I look and feel fabulous! Never. Honestly, I’ve had so many bad haircuts as a woman, bad hair color jobs. My last bad haircut escapade was today at a curly hair specific salon in my area. I have frizzy hair at times, with some annoying fly always, and a slight wave. I asked for help with this. They said they could help. But they did nothing to help alleviate those issues. I brought pictures, asked what they thought would look best with my hair texture, density, diameter, face shape, lifestyle and the owner pointed to one said style. So I trusted her. I told them about my bad hair cut experiences and I was worried about getting another bad haircut. I told the trainee and the owner who is supposed to be the most experienced and best at what she does there. I told them what I did not want, what looked terrible on me in the past, where I wanted my bangs to fall (a swoop like choppy bang that was longer and fell below my eyebrows but not poking me in my eyes. You know half way between my brows and eyes. And not make them thin looking. And to give me layers that would give me the look of width at my cheekbones, to shorten the appearance of my long thin face. I got instead faux layers, that didn’t add width at all to my face, short thin wispy bangs that are a bit above my brows. She cut them way too short and said that she would do what I asked and have them fall longer between my brows and eyes. She suggested I get a straight across bang, cuz she thought it would look better(the owner said this, and did my bangs). She did not do what she said. She did the opposite of what I told her that I wanted. It’s called Anti-Listening. Or horrible customer service. Let’s just give our customers the opposite of what the asked for! She gave me the worst short ugly bangs that I told them not to give me. I hate my hair/haircut. I look so ugly now. I’m so upset that this happened to me again. I’ve never been to this salon before and got the trainee who they told me had 13 years as a stylist in a salon. Which was a lie. She just recently graduated from hair school and has only been in the field for a year and a half. I was definitely deceived. I would’ve never gone to her, if I knew this. She did basic stuff and the owner came over quite a bit telling her how to do this and that. I was wondering why a experienced stylist would need help with the most basic of cutting techniques.... and supposedly she was trained thoroughly in the techniques of the curly salon, as the urged me, that I could have utter confidence her abilities, still not knowing that she was inexperienced as a stylist. It was only until after I was getting my haircut by her, the trainee, that she wasn’t experienced really. I was like, Oh Shirt! WTF. Then, you would think the owner would be an awesome stylist and not butcher someone’s hair, let alone bangs. But she butchered my bangs. I look terrible. Then they wanted to take my picture of before and after. The before was fine. But the after pics my stylist took, were the most unflattering pics, that made my nose and eyes look, unflattering. I would not agree to them putting my face up on their site. Just the back of my hair. Ugh. How am I going to go out in public? They said to me, wow you look great! But they never asked me how I liked my hair. I was not happy. I felt depressed and was in shock. Then it came time to pay. $40. Then the tip. I hate the whole tip issue. I hate tipping. It’s stupid. It’s forced guilt. I was confused. They had the labels above the tips like this... Good(15%,), Great(20%), (Wow!(30 or 40%), Custom etc. I wasn’t sure what to do. I was afraid to do no tip, even in spite of my bad haircut experience. So I picked (Good-15%). The desk attendant asked me how I liked my cut, I just said the non committal thing, “I don’t know, I have to let it sink in”. I really wanted to say, I look like s**t. Thanks for making me want to cover my head with a paper bag! And the owner came up to me and asked if I remembered all the instructions about how to style my hair. I said yeah, the best I can remember. But nothing in asking how satisfied I was. She really didn’t care. And my stylist just said a lame goodbye and scoffed me off, like dandruff and moved onto her next client. Whatever. Then their bathroom was dimly lit, I could barely see in there and there wa nothing to dry my hands on, and barely any soap. This is supposed to be an upscale salon. And the bathroom was just bad. My face now looks longer and thinner than it did with my longer hair and not wider in the least. In whom can I trust with my hair? I think the reality is, No One. No matter what they say, no matter what you tell them, what pictures you bring, no matter what you emphatically tell them no to do to you, or do, they will do whatever they dang well please. And I don’t believe you can ever know until the damage has been done, what you will ultimately get in the end. It’s really unbelievable. What’s wrong with this world? I am so not wanting to step into another salon ever again, when you just can’t trust any stylist to give you a good cut/style. I honestly don’t know what to do. The only thing I can think of is just not get my haircut again. Cuz it just doesn’t end well. Sad.

This storm came from the west. Last week's storm (and it was a doozy here too!) was from the north which brought the cold arctic air clear down to us. Your problem Connie, is you live close to the arctic air. It doesn't have to travel very far before it gets to you. LOL The four day a week school system is great for students in sixth grade and older. The little kids struggle way to much for the schedule to be a success. The district tried this for two years when Jesse was in first and second grade and she struggled and struggled and struggled. For on thing, the days are longer and the breaks are shorter. Because of being required to cover X amount of subject matter in less time the teachers cannot/will not do the refreshing little kids needs....like, on Monday go over the new math concepts covered the Thursday before, etc. etc. It being too hard on the little kids was the reason the stopped doing this before. Now they are doing it again. Morons. This time Digger was a junior and a senior and things went much smoother. But then, she is older, more mature and learned the first and second grade basics. We're such a tiny school that when there is an away game everybody goes and not just the students. Teachers travel with the teams too. We got into trouble with the State Board of Education because of the low attendance scores. During the basketball season it wasn't unusual for the boys and girls teams to travel to a game on Wednesday or Thursday, then again on Friday. Throw in the wrestling team traveling somewhere during the week and that's a lot of time for students and teachers to be missing school. Now, supposedly, we are not to travel to games/meets on any day but Thursday to cut down on absenteeism. This is a joke. Most games are legal but about 1/4 are not. The starting and ending dates of the school year concern is strictly for the teachers, They don't want to start early and stay late. To this I say 'big woo'. Building in a snow day means we would have to have that many more days on the calender so they just don't schedule one. The board thinks they can fool mother nature. Morons. The thing that baffles me the most is if our schools are in session until noon (or if a student is in school until noon) it is considered a full school day. They could send everybody home at 12:15 any and every day and still meet the attendance standards. (Test scores would suck but that's beside the point) So why didn't they bundle the kids up and TAKE THEM HOME at noon, in full daylight? *sigh*. "There weren't any kids on the bus" is how the district is excusing the two drivers who ran off the road yesterday. Again. 'Big Woo'. Morons. Sometimes I think a man named Crandall actually owns this coal mine. Long ago if the roads were closed and guys couldn't get to work the mine would just not pay them for that day. New management changed that policy ten years ago and started taking a guy's sick/personal day. In a bad winter could pretty much eliminate a guy's sick and personal leave. While he was boss guys had to be pretty careful when they called the federal safety hotline because he would get even with them. Right now the union and the company are arbitrating two cases of harassment because miners either called the hotline OR said 'I won't move my piece of equipment because it isn't safe." The pit bosses will try to intimidate the miners. They can't fool with the old timers like Custer but guys who just started are pretty careful because they are afraid they'll lose their jobs. Yes, I think Mr. Crandall's son or nephew is running this mine. Now they have a new manager and he seems like a decent guy. Maybe there won't be any flack over last night? There's been times when the roads were closed and carpools would run the blockade, go to work and divvy up the fine between them. They've stopped doing that. The union lost an arbitration over road closures because if one carpool gets through (and takes the risk of a wreck or a fine) the manager figured EVERYBODY should get through. That's why they all stayed home last night. One fellow in Custer's carpool has only worked there two weeks and until he's off probation he has no time off. He was nervous and wanted to go by himself. Custer finally got the union president on the phone who assured him NOTHING would happen to his job if he stayed home where it was safe. I'm not sure he believed the guys but when Custer pointed out that collectively the guys in the carpool had over a hundred years at the mine compared to his two weeks he did calm down and listen to them. LOL Poor Kid. Driving on bad roads does not bother me. When my babies would get sick I would drive into the jaws of hell to get them to a doctor. I know what to do on slick roads; my vehicles were heavy and reliable. I also know 4x4 doesn't mean you can't drive 76 miles an hour on ice/snowpacked roads. LOL What always worried me was people who aren't as cautious as I am. They're the ones who'll get you in a fix. Today is beautiful though. The skies are blue, the wind isn't blowing and the birds are stealing cat food and driving the cats nuts. I'm feeling pretty good too. A little stiff and sore but I think it's because I've laid around all week. My house is starting to bug me too. My living room is a wreck and the carpets are begging for a vacuum. I think this means I'm feeling better. Lori