Trail pics

Snipped from Facebook... I doubt that I will see the trail in its winter coat. It is beautiful though.

Boone Iowa Snow

Our Boone Iowa kids sent us some snow pictures. I have been away from it long enough to appreciate the beauty. The truth be known I never minded one good snow, where it came down heavily, and the wind blew and it was not fit out for man nor beast. I loved it as long as I could stay put in my cozy warm home and go from window to window  and watch the weather unfold.

And I am liking the memory of it as we are enjoying a sunny 80 degree day with a light southerly breeze reminiscent of a midsummer day in the upper Midwest.

It's all about that bass...

Love these guys and the way they sing this song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyGVhQFLbs

Pool Player Partners

Trash Recovery and more...

We have a son who recovers items that have been discarded and refurbishes them. His latest rescue item is a ice fishing tent. A coworker had become disgusted in trying to get it setup in  too much wind and alcohol and tossed the whole business in the trash. Jason comes to the rescue for the tent- not the coworker.

Gary, another son is trying to gather up some skiers for an excursion to Colorado. Butch would love to go but his back has one too many tumbles down the mountains. Gary is going the first week in March so if this has peaked your interest let me know and I will get details.

I am still doing my best to get two walks in a day and though the weather is often borderline it has been good enough to bundle up and hit the pavement. The sun is brightly shining today almost to the point of hurting my eyes. And they are promising a more favorable forecast for the next week at least. We are going to savor it.

Butch is up to his neck in pool and golf with the emphasis on pool. We'll see him later...

App of the Week

I am currently listening to Prairie Home Companion and loving it! All from this article below. Chrome users-you can get it at the Chrome Web Store.

Barb

App of the Week
Check out our App of the Week, as recommended by GeeksOnTour:

Listen to your home radio station while on the road
There are several apps that let you listen to live radio over the Web. The one we (Geeks On Tour) use is TuneIn Radio. We are from Florida but we are currently traveling in Arizona. If I want to listen, live, to a Florida radio station, I can do that with TuneIn Radio. It is a free app on both Android and Apple devices. In addition to live radio stations, you will also find archives of radio shows. So, if you like NPR's "Prairie Home Companion," you can listen to it 24/7! Just search for Prairie Home Companion.

Read Chris Guld's article here.

10 minutes before computer class...

I have not forgotten my blog readers it may just seem that way!  I will catch you all up this afternoon...after my nap. I have been on antibiotics since December 10th and will not be finished until February 10th and I am blaming them for sapping my energy. Or maybe it is the weather because we are only briefly blessed with the good stuff and then the cold and gloom descends once again. So stay tuned!

Giant Cauliflower

It is cauliflower season. And Peggy and I were gifted with a giant one. This is easily  the size of 4 of the usual ones found in the produce section of our local grocery. Price? $2

Computer World article about Chromebook

We have had a Chromebook for over a year now and I have not fallen out of love. It is simple, easy and trouble free. No malware. No viruses. No updates. No operating glitches. No frustrating mystery tours to find fixes.  I really like things that work as advertised and that is so rare these days. And NO, I am not a Google employee.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2871664/chromebooks-spank-windows.html

First Mexico Trip this season

We finally made our way south of the border. Usually we would have made multiple trips by this time. We are 7 miles from the border and in that 7 miles we spotted 4 or 5 state troopers. This is unusual.  We figured something was up. Then when we walked over the bridge and were making our way to a pharmacy we were a bit overwhelmed by the number of Federales present. It was not busy so many business people were on the street too and seemed to have an above normal interest in the Federales. So we asked, "What is going on?" Answer was "Nothing". "This is normal" It plainly wasn't normal.
We decided that there would be some people who would turn around right then and there to get back to the good old USA. We didn't. We went to the pharmacy and picked up a few items, like naproxen and zyrtec. Then we did our usual casual shopping and ended up at Garcias for Panchos. It had been a long time and I thoroughly relished every bite.
And then we made our way back to the bridge. Not a Federale in sight! All was back to normal...whatever that is!

A Ramble

Well folks, it has been tough. You see when you are housebound by weather or nearly so there is not much to add to the blog. I am pretty much a watcher of public television. We both are really. And being on antenna we do not have a bunch of options. We have added Netflix and it is a lifesaver, especially on days such as those we have had since Christmas. A few days ago we watched Get Low. What a great movie! We highly recommend it.
____________________________________________

Get Low

2009    4.6 stars

Average of 657,964 ratings:3.7 stars

Robert Duvall stars as irascible backwoods loner Felix Bush, who plans his funeral while he's still around to attend -- and enjoy -- the proceedings.

_____________________________________

Being the introvert that I basically am I am not bothered much by having a lot of alone time but the dank, dark days we have been having does take its toll. I want to see the sun and even perhaps take part in some outdoor activities. Maybe even leave the park and do something fun! 

We have tickets for a Port of Brownsville tour but we want to have some nice weather for it.

Another recommendation I can make is a Fanny Flagg book we are listening to on Overdrive. Funny, genuinely funny.

www.Overdrive.com

      (click on)
is a way to be connected to a library online. I use my library card from the library in Jefferson Iowa but if you have a library card from any library you can use overdrive. We happen to be listening to an audio version of the book but it does not have to be audio. It works much the same as if you walked into the library and checked out a book. Our new friends Bob and Cathy Jones, who we met in Canyon Lake TX, introduced us to Overdrive and we are so glad they did. It is another tool for our entertainment capabilities.

So I am closing this ramble for now but if the weather continues in the awful manner it has been I may have to resort to more rambling.

Loaded Caulflower

LOADED CAULIFLOWER

I have reposted this several times but it is my most requested recipe right now. If you have not tried it, it is a MUST! It's low carb too!!!!!

Ingredients:

1 large head of Cauliflower cut into bite size pieces (approx 6 cups)

6-8 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled (Cooked in oven at 400° for 20 mins)

6 Tbs chopped Chives

1/2 cup Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Sour Cream

2 cups Colby Jack Cheese ( may use cheddar)

8 oz container sliced mushrooms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°

In a large pot boil water and cook Cauliflower for 8 - 10 minutes, drain and let cool.

In a large bowl combine sour cream, mayo, 1/2 of crumbled bacon, 3 tbs chives, 1 cups of cheese,mushrooms and cauliflower and mix well... place in baking dish and cover with remaining 1 cup of cheese and rest of bacon crumbles. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted. top with remaining 3 Tbs chives and serve.

Son Jason called

First of all he told us they planned to have spaghetti squash, one of his mothers favorites, for supper. That is until they cut it open and discovered they were having melon instead. I assume it had to be a honeydew melon in order to look even close to a spaghetti squash. I am betting they will be paying closer attention on their next purchase of spaghetti squash.

And then he told us he had a new job as an English teacher. This was a surprise because Jason had an issue with a type of dyslexia in his elementary school days. The rest of the story is he has a friend of Mexican origins at work who has a 6 year old daughter who is starting to read. And Sebastion's first language is Spanish so he is unable to help his daughter as much as he would like so he asked Jason if she could call him of an evening if she ran into a word she didn't know while she was reading. Jason said she could of course and she did. She called and spelled out d-e-f·i·n-i-t-e·l-y. Jason gave her the pronunciation and the meaning and then asked her what she was reading as it seemed like a difficult word for a 6 year old. She was reading Sponge Bob Square Pants. I am guessing she will be a very good student. And Jason will enjoy helping her.

Bejeebers!

This year is shaping up to be much like last year. And that is a bite in the butt. Today was Costco run day and none of us were in the mood for additional shopping. Cold weather is bad in my book no matter where you might be but not being acclimated to it gives it a double whammy. Like a 40 degree day in July-everybody freezes! And as it happens this is the best day of the next three. Predicted high of 38 degrees come Saturday with 16 MPH north winds.
Enough of the dirty talk.
 There was a buzz of activity prior to this cold spell coming in. As we walked around the park people were getting all their outdoor chores finished up. It reminded me of the runs on the grocery store before a storm. Do people still do that?
Spring will be here much sooner than there and that is what I am hanging my hat on these days.
Till next time...

A Friends Birthday and her Gifts

Kay is one who bakes all the time. She bakes cakes for the jams. She bakes cookies for the cribbage players and she has a perpetually filled cookie jar near her front door. So for her birthday Peggy gave her 4 lbs of butter and some vanilla hand lotion. I gave her a set of stainless steel measuring cups. We could not think of a more appropriate gift for her! She was happy!

Family get together

Anna, Bernard, Marlene and Dwight Kelley drove over from Harlingen and we went with them to the Don-Wes Flea Market followed by a meal at the El Dorado in Weslaco. We had a good visit. We will plan a trip in their direction soon.

My friend Colleen's column

Perhaps those who may be new to this blog do not know that Colleen and I are friends and we walk two miles every summer morning that we possibly can. We meet at the bike trail depot in Jefferson Iowa at 7:00 AM and walk to the one-mile marker and then return to the depot. On these walks we talk about nearly every subject under the sun and the time flies!
Here is her latest column....I had been thinking along these very lines for the past few days.

Time. And time again.
December 31, 2014
~a column by Colleen O’Brien

It took me a long time to get to the millennium, and now it’s 2015?

My dad told me when I was a grade schooler that time would speed up as I got older. “I can remember everything that happened to me before you and your sisters were born,” he said. “And then it speeded up and it’s a blur.”

I wasn’t sure if this was an insult or just an observation, and I had a millisecond of recognition that perhaps my existence wasn’t as exciting to Dad as it was to me, but it didn’t make much sense at the time. It took forever for Christmas to come and once the new year turned, it lasted forever. Apparently there was something very different about being an adult.

But, in my current role as a woman of a certain age, about a week after January 1, 2015, it will be Christmas and I’ll be looking at 2016.

I do know that when I keep a journal, I at least can look back to see what came and went so quickly, but most of the time now I forget for days at a time to write in it because, really, not much happens worth writing about and all my thoughts and surmises are hackneyed or I wrote them down 20 years ago.

Reading the old diaries is much more fun than trying to keep up with the current one. I was terribly whiney when the kids were little: I moaned and groaned about trying to be a better mom, quit yelling, play more Candyland (boy, did I hate that game). One of my entries read: “Putting dry Cheerios in their beds works! They don’t get me up! Of course I can’t tell anyone. I am a horrible mother.”

This makes me smile now; then, I was horrified at myself, even as I continued in my devious ways.

When I started writing for a living, I was always making notes on things to write about or jotting down characteristics of people I might use in a story. Once in a while I return to journals for ideas for columns, so I guess it wasn’t all futility, although some of those jottings make absolutely no sense to me now.

All through the years I’ve copied lines I’ve loved from whatever books I’m reading. If I wanted to look up these hallowed words, I’d never find them, but they are pretty good reading randomly. Some writers are just so good with a sentence I turn green with envy and write it down. I don’t know why I do this because I don’t use the quotes, repeat them in conversations, write to the author to tell her how brilliant she is. Maybe I think the copying of a good line will rub off on me as I pen it.

Two years ago, on New Year’s Day, I decided not to start another diary but to write what I titled “Pome-a-Day.” I got up to #247 when I began skipping days. Soon I was skipping weeks. Then my computer crashed (literally; onto the floor) and I lost them all. Now I’m back to writing a poem when it’s time for a poetry meeting.

I do read a poem a day, however, in “Writers Almanac” online. This is a Garrison Keillor idea, and he publishes well-known and obscure poets each morning . . . a very fine idea and never a waste of time, something we’re always warned against. In fact, I am a pro at wasting time. I think I’ve been gazing out the window for years.

The speed of my days these days is hardly news to anyone old. It is certainly dismaying, however, for I feel like I’m missing something . . . not paying attention to life perhaps, or, the Big Scare – losing my marbles to the great length of time I’ve survived. My friends and I talk about it periodically, laughing the gallows laugh as we recall occasions in which we lost our word and sat there mouths agape and puzzlement in our eyes. Sometimes we call one another to ask, “What is that tall flower that grows in alleys and you can make dolls out of?”

The old saying “Time flies when you’re having fun” is indeed true; but it also flies when you’re simply old and not really having any fun at all. Dr. Seuss, as usual, summed it up nicely: “December is here before it’s June. My goodness, how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”

Happy New Year!

Hunkered

We are having a cold spell. Cold spell here means 40's. Trouble is, it is temps in the 40's day and night. We are on our third day of it. Actually that isn't too bad if the wind isn't blowing. It blew the first day but the last two have been quiet. It is dark, cloudy, wet and 45 degrees. We have more ahead of us.
So really what does this mean? The woman who announces the news says she has watched 3 movies in the last two days. Everyone hunkers down and endures until the sun comes out again. I will let you all know when that happens.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I posted this recipe on the magnolia blog but not all of you are tuned into both so thought I would add it here too. Enjoy! 8 hours? really? I do not believe 8 hours are critical for this recipe. Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 8 Hours Ready In: 8 Hours 30 Minutes Servings: 8

"A quick, no-fuss version of chicken tortilla soup! All you do is put everything into the slow cooker, and turn it on. Then garnish with baked corn tortilla strips!"

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce 1 medium onion, chopped 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups water 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 bay leaf 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro 7 corn tortillas vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3.	Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4.	Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

A day on South Padre

New friends Cathy and Bob Jones are staying at Edinburg TX for a couple of months. We both have Snow Mountain Ranch connections in our pasts and became better acquainted at Canyon Lake in October. We had decided to do a day at South Padre sometime this season but the weather last year did not hold one of those days so we were on the lookout for one and yesterday promised to fill the bill. It really did too with the only missing element being sunshine. It was warm with a breeze less than 15mph out of the south. Good pictures require good light but we did the best we could and here they are...

My favorite meal at Dirty Al's. And below we stopped to see if Paul and Karen Pope from Jefferson were in the the KOA park and indeed they were having arrived the day before.

 Then we went for a beach walk. I wore my muddy Iowa construction Crocs so I could leave a bit of black Iowa dirt in the Gulf of Mexico.

These are the current crop of jellyfish washing up on the beach.

There were some good players in this group. 

Barb and Butch

Cathy and Bob

Sandpiper

Merry Christmas everyone!

In the BC years-before computers-I wrote and sent a Christmas letter each December. But then in 2000 I discovered blogging and decided to do nearly the same thing throughout the year. So I no longer do a yearly summary because I feel that those closest to us keep track and those with a casual interest can check in as they choose or have time.
However I do want you all to know that we do indeed wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Found on Facebook

These are two of Marlene and Bernard Kelley's great grandkids-Peyton and Nolan. Nolan is two years younger than his sister Peyton but nearly the same height. Their mother Marie says about this photo-"Brother is a pro at buttons so he said he'd help"

And then we have our great grand little Leo who is 20 months. He gave hugs to all the nativity figures at church.

I thought both of these pictures were cuter than cute. These little ones do know the true spirit of Christmas. Help others and give hugs.

Keri's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Keri will be glad to know I finally baked the pie she gave us before we left Jefferson and it was mighty tasty. Shared it with some lucky people. I was proud of myself that I got it done without incident and it looks not the worse for wear. Thanks Keri!!

Two Rule Diet

 There are two big decisions that can put you on the right path and help you largely steer clear of antibiotics, excess sugar, unwanted chemicals, animal cruelty, and more.

Here then, is your two-step guide for an unassailably powerful personal food policy.

1. Stop eating junk and hyperprocessed food. This eliminates probably 80 percent of the stuff that is being sold as “food.”

2. Eat more plants than you did yesterday, or last year.

If you add “Cook your own food” to this list, it’s even more powerful, but these two steps alone allow you to reduce the amount of antibiotics you’re consuming; pretty much eliminate GMOs from your diet, lighten your carbon footprint; reduce your chances of becoming ill as a result of your diet; save money; cut way back on sugar, other junk and unnecessary and potentially harmful nonfood additives; and so on.

All without relying on corporate benevolence or the government getting things right. The power lies with you.

Procedure Day

Yesterday we traveled to Harlingen to a dentist for a cleaning procedure on my dental implants and application of antibiotic sleeves. It went well. Yes, it was painful and the throbbing hasn't quit yet but I can tell we are on the right track for a return to oral health. I will soon be able to eat raw carrots and celery and that is a good Christmas present for me.
After the procedure, we stopped by Marlene and Bernard's place. Their son Dwight was also there. Marlene and Bernard haven't been there long and it was good to see them again. We usually see them several times throughout the season. It is handy that they are only about 20-25 minutes drive from us. Next time we go I will be taking her some lemon juice with visions of lemon meringue pie dancing in my head. wink,wink.

Survival- Starting a Fire with Steel Wool & 9V Battery!

This tip is for all my camping friends who make a campfire as well as being a good survival tip. What an easy way to start one!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwNJhJwnSs

Winners!

So far we are winners this season as the weather has been near perfect. Daytime highs in the 70's and nighttime lows in the 60's. Perfection!

I spotted these two cats on this attractive seating and thought they made a pretty picture. And below we have some peppers at our local H.E.B. and I thought they made a pretty picture too.

And gas at 2.29 is also attractive.

 Neither of these two will like this picture. I took it while they were busy putting new grips on Jan Raders golf clubs in their mini golf shop. A mailman in Jefferson Iowa taught Butch about using an air compressor for the job and he has done them that way ever since.

Progress

I have made tremendous strides with my new dental regimen and the antibiotics. The change is unbelievable for such a short time period. This procedure on Monday should not be nearly as bad as I had anticipated when everything was sore and very tender.

The Christmas Parade in the park was last night. Lil, Peggy and I led the parade and then afterwards we enjoyed Subway sandwiches provided by the association. It has become an annual event coinciding with the $2 Sub deal that Subway has each December. Makes feeding a crowd easy and it was mighty tasty besides.
You can always check on park happenings by going to www.magnolianews.blogspot.com It also has the same email sign up procedure at the bottom of the post if you would like to get updates in your email.

I was sitting here trying to remember what my day had been like when I remembered it was computer class day. Only 4 today but it is still early. One of the aspects of doing the classes that some may not think about is that it gives me a chance to know some people much better than I would without the class. I enjoy doing it very much.
Tomorrow is the H.E.B. Feast of Sharing where they feed all who show up for it a ham dinner. It is an appreciation event for their customers and we all are at one time or another. I will try to find out the number of people they feed at this event and let you know but it is a huge number.

Dental distress

I have been having a problem with one of my implants for quite a while now. Let's say since late September. It has been better and then worsen. In other words a bit of a roller coaster so I decided perhaps I had better have it looked at by a pro. So I called a woman who has stayed in our park, in fact she stayed specifically to get her dental implants installed. I have had mine since 1998 or thereabouts. So on Wednesday I had an appointment with an oral surgeon. The same one she had in fact. And for those who wonder I am not getting this done south of the border.
So I had some xrays taken and an informative consultation for general care. He had me make an appointment for a cleaning and placement of an antibiotic sleeve and that will take place on Monday morning in Harlingen. I will also be on oral antibiotics for two months. And he told me he knows they are expensive but he wanted me to get a Sonicare toothbrush. So $69 later I have one and I think if I had one of those wonder machines before this all started I would not have the problems I am currently having. So my new regimen is to brush morning and night and after every time I eat. That ought to keep me somewhat busy.

Family news

Yesterday son Jason had a test that we are all supposed to get every 10 years. The results were great but he found out he shares a malady with his brother Gary. We need to find out if his brother Rich has the same problem. They started the IV and he fainted. In his defense the nurse had a problem finding his vein and this made it worse. But he also felt weird and fainty after the procedure. It just popped into my head that his blood sugar could have been an issue as well. Need to check on that aspect.
And little Leo had a hernia repair on one side. He came through with flying colors also. As far as he knows he took a nap and woke up with an owie. He is 18 months old.

Butch and I did get our walk in yesterday but that was about it. We have had a cloudy/rainy period. Fortunately the highs have remained near 70 degrees. A vast improvement over last season...at least so far.

This morning the sun is shining so I think I will make laundry a part of my day.
Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
Till next time...

Teacher Arrested

Papa Gary comes through!!

Short and sweet videos from recent activity!

Elise gets to see pretty Dress for the first time

http://youtu.be/vkySvI5WZ6A

Leo loves to vacuum

 http://youtu.be/l-ayOgWGXLQ

Elise and Leo watch themselves

http://youtu.be/QsZ4kd4k6nQ

Elise dance performance at the Community Center.

Elise Dance performance

You Tube has placed a safety feature on their website so if it tells you that you are unable to view it because of the safety being on you can disable it by going to the bottom of the You Tube page. Need help? Holler...

Garage Sale Day

We did well on the garage sale. At least I did with my little junky stuff. Butch didn't have any luck with his golf stuff but that is a specialized market. He may try again next month with a patio sale. I am done for this year and I am very grateful for that.

Tonight we are getting a very big rain storm. Kind of unusual for us. Lil, Peggy and I did get our walk finished but it started in very shortly after we returned home.
 I enjoyed the pictures my granddaughter Amanda put on Facebook of the great grands. I snipped them so I will give you a peek.

She loves dance...can you tell?

And here we have a santa picture...

Ketchup

Actually it is Catch Up but I wanted to get your attention. One of these days I hope to have something new and exciting to tell you about but until then you are stuck with what comes tumbling out of my brain. These days it is not too exciting. I am still working on my sugar detox and it is going well. The farther I stay away from it in all its forms the better I feel. Still getting plenty of exercise. I cannot let Colleen get the better of me on that score. Heaven forbid I get back to Jefferson next Spring and be a drudge that cannot keep up.
Butch is playing golf and pool but so far not with the same intensity as years past. That could change at any time and in fact it will as soon as pool leagues start up.
Peggy is keeping on with Costco Thursdays. This past Thursday we added stops at a store called Kirklands. It is a store with items for home decorating. And then we also stopped at L A and that is a discount linens and clothing store. The two sections are divided as if it were separate businesses but it has the same name but different entrances. These discounted items are constantly changing. I believe they are discontinued items from big name stores.
Our Canyon Lake  Texas friends are coming down in January for a week. I know they will want to do Ropa Usada or at least some of them will. But there are many things to do and see here. Too much for one week but we will do the best we can.
Butch and I tried out a new restaurant for lunch. El Rancho Grande 308 W. Pike Blvd-Weslaco Texas. It compares favorably to our favorite El Dorado. Butch had a Taco Quesadilla and I had a chicken enchilada plate that had a fancier name I cannot remember. We both brought home half our meal for another time. We will go back perhaps for breakfast next time.

Anti-virus/malware protection

I am often asked what I use for anti-virus/malware protection these days and this is it. Emsisoft( http://thundercloud.net/emsisoft/) And I buy it through the people I have trusted for years for computing advice because I can get it for a reduced rate through them.
The reality is there are none that can give you 100% protection all the time from all threats so it boils down to the best you can do and I feel Emsisoft is the best you can do. And due to too many breaches I have given up on the free ones.
But as in all things it is a personal choice. 

Chuckled me this morning...

Cleaned house today...

I know that is a big whoop! But I have been meaning to get to it for quite some time now.  I am still walking twice a day; the first time either alone or with Butch and the second one at 6:00 PM with Lil and Peggy. We are all better for it.
I am also in the process of eliminating sugar from my life. No, not all sugar. Still eating fruit. Leaving cookies, cakes and other baked stuff alone. Also potatoes, bread and rice. All things I know do not set well in my body.

It is humid here today and my shower felt  refreshing tonight but the refreshing feeling didn't last long. It is supposed to cool off about midnight. Current temperature tonight (9:13PM) is 71 degrees. Whoo Hoo! The front came early. Nice cool breeze. I am ready believe it or not. Only supposed to last one day so I can take that.

I have been going through old pictures. My goal is to collect old Magnolia pictures for a memory on Mondays. It is time consuming but also fun.

Butch and I in '82

Casa De Oro and other stuff

Sis-in-law Keri likes to have lime in her coffee when she dines at Casa de Oro in Jefferson Iowa. One of the owners who is of Hispanic descent told her it was tasty so she tried it and agreed with him. I like cream and sugar in my coffee but I am trying to cut back on sugar so I decided to drink it black with lime like Keri. I was absolutely amazed.  I really like it!!! Maybe I am just crazy about lime right now because Sally Louks gave me a papaya and told me she sprinkles hers with lime juice. Now in the past papaya has been okay with me but with the addition of the lime juice I love it! Now I am not talking about the bottled lime juice you buy in the grocery store, I'm talking about honest to God limes off a tree. So give it a try. Lime juice in your coffee and if you are lucky enough to have a papaya sprinkle lime juice over it too.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 We will be enjoying a full and satisfying Thanksgiving meal in Allen Hall with all our winter friends but you can be sure we will be remembering our summertime friends and all our family. We are extremely thankful for all we have wherever we are as well as being thankful that we can scratch our itchy feet and get by with it. The list is long on what we are grateful for today and every day.

Time Traveling with Colleen

Time travel, 2014

November 19, 2014

~by Colleen O’Brien

I generally get to leave Iowa before sock-weather hits. The very act of pulling on the socks because of cold toes goes against the grain.

This year I didn’t get outta Dodge in time.

The morning I left Jefferson for southern climes I had to put on socks because as I loaded the last bag into my car at 5 am, trudging through a foot of fallen leaves, my toes turned blue. The argyle, over-the-calf socks I found in a drawer looked silly with my flipflops and knee-length striped skirt. It was a curious fashion statement, but when I’m cold I lose any sense or care of how it all looks.

By the time I arrived at my first overnight, in St. Louis, I had shed the socks. It was warm there, the trees just on the turn. It was the picture of Iowa two weeks prior.

Next stop, Cincinnati, which is about the same latitude as St. Louis, so it was balmy, the trees just beginning their show, the roses still blooming along the Ohio. This trip was all a lovely, lengthy autumn, and again – still — I was able to watch emerald leaves transform themselves to crimson and gold.

My mistake was lingering in Cincinnati too long; it was not south enough for a three-week stay at this time of year. The morning I left my daughter’s, the frost was on the pumpkin – 20 degrees. This time it wasn’t just the socks, it was the coat, hat, gloves and scarf, plus a car warmed up by my son-in-law and toasty enough he said that I would be rewarded once I dashed from porch to driver’s seat.

Driving south quickly turned into a treat because with each mile I traveled away from early winter and back into autumn – the golden oaks and flaming maples set against the deep green piney woods warmed my heart as well as my toes. It was a visual feast in lovely weather; not a cold breeze from any direction. My second day out, it snowed three inches in the frigid and gloomy Cincinnati I’d left behind. Lucky escape, thought I.

And the weird phenom of backward journey, returning to warmth and beauty from cold and ugly, struck me as a form of time travel worthy of contemplation.

I’d wanted to time travel since I read Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court when I was in high school.

Twain wrote this in 1889.

But long before this, in 1843, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, in which Ebeneezer traveled all over the place – backward and forward in time – if only in his dreams.

I went on to read H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine (1895) and eventually to Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series (2000s), all the while intrigued by the notion of time travel. Time is weird to begin with – some minutes lasting way too long and some days disappearing as if they never happened.

I never really thought I’d ever time travel, however much it appealed to me and however many fantasies I’d dreamt up in idle moments. But in my own 21st-century time machine — my trusty 2006 Honda — I found myself going backward in weather while I traveled forward in hours and days. The timing was just right, the climates I passed through all doing the same thing I’d witnessed in Jefferson – a spectacular autumn of warmth and color that went on and on and on, mile after gorgeous mile.

What a good trip.

Even the eerie phenom that I suffer through all the time – when I awake I have to figure out where I am – way too many strange rooms and almost-familiar sleeping platforms: my bed in my bedroom in Jefferson? My futon in my office in Jefferson? My sofa in my living room in Jefferson? My girlfriend’s guest room in St. Louis? My daughter’s “Mom’s room” in Cinci? A motel room in Georgia? Or am I already in Florida and in one of those beds there? It takes a minute, but this is my normal awakening, a somewhat unnerving but quickly resolved pattern of too many beds for one aging dame.

When I return in the spring, my time travel can’t reverse itself – no backward movement from subtropical hibiscus to hyacinth peeking out of the snow. It takes a special combination of time – the autumn of the year; weather – winter moving slowly southward; and luck . . . to time travel if one lives in real life rather than in a novel.

Dear Tech Support

Husband Operating System

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend to Husband and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the Flower and Jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend. In addition, Husband uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance and Personal Attention and then installed undesirable programs such as Hockey, Football, Golf and HBO/Game of Thrones. Conversation no longer runs, and any endeavour to upload Housecleaning simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend is an Entertainment Package, while Husband is an Operating System. Please enter the command: ‘http: I Thought You Loved Me.html’ and try to download Tears; do not forget to install the Guilt update. If that application works as designed, Husband should then automatically run the applications Jewelry and Flowers, but remember – over-use of the above application can cause Husband to default to Grumpy Silence, Garage or Beer. Beer is a particularly bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law (it runs a destructive virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband.

In summary, Husband is a great system, but it does have limited memory, is somewhat erratic, and cannot learn new applications quickly. It also tends to work better running one task at a time. You might consider installing additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Steak, Pulled Pork and Hot Lingerie.

Good Luck, Tech Support

Attention Grandma's- the doll to get for Christmas

For your young granddaughter for sure.
The lammily doll

https://lammily.com/

Let's fix their self esteem early on.