On Ouch! What Was That?:

Well, despite my best efforts I didn’t blog yesterday. It was just such a lovely day for a change that we jumped into spring fixing mode. We even opened the windows wide to let in the warm fresh air. Now where did we put those window screens?










The snow by the garden wall that greeted me yesterday morning had melted all away by noon. And the crocus’s have made a comeback.

Mountain Man took the kitchen screen door apart to replace the broken screening and paint it, he made a ramp for the dog to get up to the window seat and did other ‘make it better’ or ‘fix it’ stuff.



















I cleaned house, tossed broken non repairable things in the recycling bin, added things to the ‘fix it’ pile and repeatedly chased after a puppy running full tilt around and around and around again in the muddy yard. (The kitchen door was open and he took full advantage of that fact.) And did I mention cleaning the kitchen floor and bathing the dog a few times too.















The good news is Sir Handsome now knows that he can do his ‘business’ outside. Not that he doesn’t have accidents, but he wants to go outside if he can get there in time.

By evening we were very tired and just sat in a lump watching TV and catching our breath from a happy day well spent.

That was until the slapping started. No, not each other. The mosquitoes! Yes, the first day it was warmish here and the beasts were out already and apparently congregating in my house. I don’t remember a year that we didn’t get to have the house open for a few days while getting the screens back in place before they showed up in force.

Anyway, we have red, itchy pumps all over us from the flying fiends, but the screen door has a fresh coat of paint as it dries out in the shed. Just in time for another cold spell.

Did the weather forecaster just say S-N-O-W on Wednesday? He did, didn’t he? Oh No, Yes He Did!

I’m going back to bed to hide under the covers until the snow goes away or summer bug season starts, which ever comes first. I just can’t take both at the same time.

Ouch! Another one just got me. Gotta’ Hide!

On Handsome Is as Handsome Is:

So, I was still feeling sorry for myself and feeling sorry for Mountain Man. Because although men are not suppose to cry, there has been crying on both our parts on and off.

And finally I had to say, ‘Get thee gone and mope somewhere else for a time. I just can’t take your crying feeding mine.’

Now the house was feeling quite large and lonely without Lady Long. No longer were we greeted when we came in the room. Sir Laidback does not do this and never has.

With Mountain Man gone the house is even more large and lonely for me. I’m wishing that he would come back soon, wet eyes and all.

The day marched on. And on. And on. I waited for his return.

The day was getting older and he was still gone.

Finally the car came up the drive and Mountain Man had returned. But he didn’t come into the house. What was he doing out there for so long, you ask?

He was walking the new puppy. Sir Handsome. He is 4 months old and cute as a button. A Chiweenie. Mom a long haired Dachshund and Dad a long haired Chihuahua.

Loving, happy and inquisitive. Mountain Man gave me him and his little bed, a crate for night time, toys, food, harness and leash.

Sir Handsome gave me so much loving he wore himself out. Couldn’t you just eat him up he is so cute and sweet?














Mountain Man gets some handsome prince points too.

On Routine:

I’m trying to get back to my old routine. Trying being the operative word.

I keep being distracted. Mostly by things being out of place. Man logic strikes again.

Seven pairs of shoes in the kitchen so he didn’t have to walk to get them from the bedroom eight paces away.

Nine hats on the backs of chairs. My stair stepper has been changed into a coat rack. And the kitchen sink has been taken apart. These being only a few of the changes.

Was I gone that long? Didn’t he know I was coming back? Wasn’t he on the phone nightly, begging me to come home early?

I’ve decided to move these things back into place as I march around the house at my exercises. Killing two birds with one stone as it were.

You can’t sweat the small stuff, but sometimes it can gang up on you and break your routine.

On Body Parts:

Mountain Man is almost standing upright again. Thank you to all who sent him well wishes. His back is doing much better.

We are still canning veggies, but not with the same rigor. I steal a few minutes here and there to do some contact juggling practice. Gotta’ keep those fingers nimble. No knitting.

I’ve been over opinionated again and have gotten myself in trouble. You’d think by this time in my life I would have learned. But ‘Open mouth, insert foot.’ is available to all age groups.

Right about now in our canning I want to be off on vacation. It doesn’t help, that as a kid, August was vacation time. So in my head it still is.

I am a day tripper, not a go off and get lost-er. I like small excursions to interesting places. I’m craving a cool air conditioned museum about now. Art. But not modern. I’m not in the mood for modern at the moment.

Not that there is anything wrong with modern. I like it well enough, I’m just not in the mood right now.

I want to vacation inside, I think because I’m a bit sun burnt on my nose and ear tips.

So I’m going to put on some classical music and troll the museums of my mind, while we cut up yet more green beans. With my toes in a plastic bin of cool water.

What better way to spend a hot August day.

On Back to Back:

Well, I’m not doing as much canning today.

Bet you can’t guess why?

So, I’ll tell you. Mountain Man the Invincible put his back out yesterday. When he can get up he is all hunched over, but most of the time he is on his back with cold packs and heat alternately.

And of course I’m doing all there is to do around here. So this is short and sweet. It may be a few days before I get back to you here.

Please, not a few more days of all this work by myself.

Okay, I’m done venting. Back to work.

On If Its Tuesday, I Must be a Balled Senior:

It is in fact a Tuesday. Around here Tuesday is Senior Citizen day. Senior discounts in stores, free samples, free parking at some locations, that kind of stuff.

This leads us to shop on Tuesdays, because we are not stupid and who wants to spend more on something if on Tuesday you can get it for less.

We get an extra five percent off our groceries bill on Tuesday. Barring a few items such as booze and smokes, which we don’t use much of at all and not smokes ever anymore.

I get most of my exercise on Tuesdays, walking around shopping and hauling groceries into the house.

Mountain Man and I have been looking for fun ways to exercise and he has found juggling again.

I have these balls for exercising my hands against my carpal tunnel syndrome. On occasion, Mountain Man would take them and do a little juggling with them. Then he would leave them, not at all where he found them, and I would spent time looking for them before using them myself.

Today Mountain Man confessed and announced that he would be adding juggling to his exercise program. (So I would know where my balls were going when they disappeared.)

I fixed him. I grabbed my crochet hooks. Okay I dusted them off first and in less then two hours I had made him seven juggling bean bag balls. (Hacky sacks) Four small and three larger. More to come when my hands stop hurting. Did I mention that crochet aggravates my carpal tunnel the worst?

I got my balls back. I really need them now, of course, I’ve been crocheting. But I really like making him things he can use and he likes.

Tomorrow I’ll post the pattern I came up with. The free ones I found on the web were not the best.

With pictures!!! Mountain Man finally agreed to let me load the picture program for my camera on his computer.

On My Own Goth Arch:

Okay so it is not Gothic in a pure sense. But it is mine and Mountain Man made it with his own two hands and a back thrown in to boot. About ten feet high, over three meters, at it's highest point.















A few weeks ago it started, and I showed you how rocks and stones began accumulating in my yard again, round about where the stone wall Mountain Man made last year.



























This has been an on going project of Mountain Man’s, encasing the larger garden on tree sides with a stone wall. There is not one bit of concrete to his walls. They are about three foot/one meter thick walls of stones from around our property, collected and carefully placed to stand on their own.















Now this year he has enclosed the opening into the garden and I love it. All it needs now is a rustic gate to keep the animals out at night.



























I wonder if I can find a gargoyle at a really reasonable price for the top? Anyone have an extra one laying around they like to add to it?
A girl can hope.

On Rocking Out the Beginning of Spring:

Well it must be spring. I know this because Mountain Man is back to playing with rocks.

Wasn’t it just last year he said he was done with them?

On Slippery when Water Added:

On Sunday, Mountain Man had a meeting a few hours away. His church group was selling boxes of citrus fruit and it was delivery day. He left Sunday morning before ten o’clock to meet the others at the truck drop off point by noon.

For those of you that didn’t know, we in the Northeast had an rain/ice storm on Sunday.

He only made it half way to his destination before the cars in front of him started to slide off the ice covered highway and the traffic stopped. After a few hours the traffic had inched far enough for him to get off an exit and Mountain Man found a hotel near by.

He stayed in a hotel room for a few more hours before it warmed enough to melt the ice and he could start for home. But by then thick fog was forming.

I was beside myself with worry as I watched the news, that was when the electricity wasn’t off from the storm. With so many accidents piling up, even more roads were being closed because they had run out of emergency equipment to send out and clear up the accidents out there.

He finally made it home, late in the evening, with some little slippage and narrowly missed accidents around him as he went.

We watched the news together that night to see the even bigger pileups that were caused by the thick fog and wet roads after the ice storm passed. Those involved only had injuries and no fatalities, thank the powers that be.

Mountain Man was out retrieving and delivering his fruit on Monday and Tuesday without any trouble. And now I can tell the tale to its end.

I hate foul weather. And I hope that anyone ever has to be out in it ever again. Be safe out there please.

On Picking Stones:

Mountain Man has been working on a new stone wall around the vegetable garden. Our place is kind of wild because we have been getting a lot of rainy days and not a lot of mowing time.











Last year Mountain Man made this stone wall on the north side of the garden.











This years stone wall placement, rounding the corner and heading for the south wall.












This years stone wall so far.















The gap for the gate with the higher south wall showing in the background

On What Time of Year Is It Anyway?:

I would like to say that the reason for my absence yesterday was because I hurt myself doing some thing fun. (Like playing too hard with my new Wii gaming system, which I love by the way.) But alas, this is not the case.

My allergies have been running more to the migraines I get from leaf molds in the autumn then my usual spring allergic reactions from pollen. Apparently all the cool rainy days we have been having have made the mold grow too. And cool has kept the garden from growing.

On Thursday I went in the woods to help Mountain Man collect more stones for his wall, and I came back with a sick migraine headache.

I have switch to the allergy meds I use in the autumn and the pain is lifting day by day.















I’ll leave you with some pictures of Mountain Man’s wall project that I took a few days ago. The first is where we are getting the stones from in the woods. The other is the wall as of Thursday. It is bigger now, but those pictures will have to wait to be taken another day.

On To Dance the Tango:

To start with, I will ask you not to hate me. I see you rolling your eyes. I’ve been married to Mountain Man for over nineteen years and either some things go my way and others his or there is no real marriage to begin with.

I have said it before, that Mountain Man takes me for a spin around the kitchen every once in a while. There may or may not be music playing and off we go. No plan or event just a dance in the kitchen on occasion.

I love my husband and I’m not giving away any secrets here when I say he can’t carry a tune in a bucket and has no rhythm to speak of. We don’t watch Dancing with the Stars and have never danced together on a date. This is just kitchen fun between ourselves.

Now, Mountain Man is not immune to my wistful looks every time we watch ‘The Addams Family’ on DVD and they dance the tango. He knows how much I want to tango with him. And I know how much of a Left Foot Louie he is. It is not to be.

That is, not until resent events. He has agreed, without my pleading by the way, to learn the Tango. We purchased three DVD’s blindly from the shelves of the video section of the book store.

Kultur’s ‘You Can Dance Tango’ with Vicki Regan and Ron De Vito, $19.99. This is by far the easiest to learn from if you are a beginner. Even Mountain Man’s two left feet have made it past the first lesson in the first fifteen minutes.

I had it all down in less then an hour. With their easy step by step method. Four different steps are taught separate and in combination. We are dancing the tango and will be dancing it together at my daughters wedding this summer. Woo whoo! Or maybe I should have said, ‘Olay!’

I have Sally’s Song the remake version from The Nightmare before Christmas soundtrack on the Stereo. The song is done over in a tango at the end of the two album set.

Now, where did I put that rose for his teeth?
_______________________________

Just for your information: The other DVD’s I got were.
Quantum Leap Group‘s ‘Discover Dance Combinations - The Tango series 2’ with Simon and Heidi Cruwys $19.99. This has a few fancier steps and moves in it. And they move faster teaching you two or three things at once at times.

Foreign Media Group‘s ‘Tango Lessons - Dance Like a Star’ with Dennis Kruse and Susanne de Kleijn $9.99. This one will have to wait until we reach the dance circuit at competition level before I’ll give it a try. They have the head tilt and snap stuff in it for serious dancers.

Of Death & Life & Deer & Robins:

Guest Blogger: Mountain Man

















The skull and antlers, nailed securely to the wall of our woodshed, are evidence of the existence of a whitetail deer that was alive at one time. Those antlers were directly related to the deer’s chances of having offspring (bigger is better) as he competed with other male deer to continue his gene pool.
If successful he would never give a thought to helping raise the young.

The robins nest located between those antlers tells a different story however. It was built there by a male and female robin (who always agree on the style) for the sole purpose of raising offspring together. They planned their nest location well. Neither high winds, heavy rain, nor the strongest cat could threaten that nest.
The deer’s death turned into a good thing for them.

But death isn’t only the enemy of deer.

Soon after the nest was completed, I found the male robin’s body lying crumpled on the ground at the base of my garden fence. It appeared that he had flown into the fence at top speed.
A tragic accident for him and big trouble for his mate. She was in the process of laying the eggs.
I am sure she noticed that her mate was no longer around to help her. I was certain that she would soon abandon the nest.
She did not!

Even though she would leave the nest unprotected for long periods of time to find her own food, I found her feeding three babies one morning. Amazing! Ordinarily it takes both parents to raise a brood successfully. But it was still early.
One afternoon I saw her on the edge of the nest, her head drooping low, eyes closed, as the young demanded more food. She paid no attention to them. I walked up to her, thinking she was dying, perhaps from exhaustion, utterly used up. As I got close, her head snapped up, her eyes opened, and off she flew, soon to return with something she jammed down the throat of one of her young.
Incredibly she continued to feed those unknowing and ungrateful chicks until they flew off the nest. What a marvelous and amazing example of nature’s compelling life force.
That female robin never for a second considered that her total dedication to her young’s survival would in effect lead to more robins like herself which would compete directly with her for food and nesting sites, thus threatening her very own well being.

That female robin will soon die, her amazingly selfless efforts forgotten. And her death and the death of her mate will make room for others as the process of creating young vigorous life continues.

On Yesterday Continued:

So, when I finished up with my blog yesterday I was sitting here knitting mittens and watching the birds in the snow.















The first pair of mittens was a child’s size (to give me a good start) and this next pair is man’s extra large.

Mountain Man got dressed in his ‘Gonna’ get grungy under the car cloths’ and headed outside with a sheet of plastic for the ground. I anticipated he would be back in no time stating the obvious. That it was not the best of conditions to be working on a car, with that adorable look of apology in his doe brown eyes that I can’t resist.

He did come back a few times to warm his hands and or collect different glasses to see better. And as the rounds of knitting collected on my needles the snow stopped falling and I heard a sound. It was the car starting. Woo whoo!

With the holiday of Thanksgiving changing the shopping pattern of the week we made a mad dash to change our cloths and hit the grocery stores and the post office. (Knotty Mouse your prize is in the mail. I hope you enjoy the necklace and it gets there in quick time.)

Life is good and I have a lot to be thankful for, even if I can’t eat the turkey tomorrow. (Poultry allergies.) I have more good in my life then bad all totaled. Yes, I miss my son all the time and holidays even more but knitting these mittens helps in a way. Having the Epitaph Contest is fun for me and is helping me know some more of you a little bit better with the extra emails going back and forth. And the epitaphs of the week are getting a boost too.

Thank you all for sending in epitaphs and keep on sending them. Not everyone that reads my blog is having a holiday to keep them too busy to send an epitaph in. But for those that have the time, chances are good for a prize right now since no one has sent in an entry yet this week. (Look on last Sundays blog for the prizes offered.)

I know that a lot of you will be busy with family, friends and holiday food tomorrow thou not every one that reads my blog will be. So I’ll say it today for those that are, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. And to those that are not I’ll be back here tomorrow to enjoy the day.

On Mountain Man and his Stones:

This years stone wall project has ended. The north side of the garden closer to the house now has its stone wall done. He finished it late on Thursday but I didn’t get the pictures until yesterday.

He had fun building it and collecting the rocks and stones. The next project will come and be a surprise to me when it is started. Most of his stone projects are. I don’t mind. He doesn’t tell me how to decorate the house so I think we’re even.















I like having a walled in garden even if it is only on the north and south sides so far.















I had to get up on the roof of the house to take some of the pictures, but I think they were worth it. I couldn’t get back far enough to get the shots I wanted and get the whole thing in. 3 1/2 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 90 feet long of stone wall.

On Things Can Change Rather Quickly ‘Round Here:

Mountain Man has been franticly working in the garden to put it to bed for the winter.

Yesterday evening it looked like this.



























The arbor for the gourds had been taken down and it had been cut up and added to the wood pile. Mountain Man took down all the temporary fences and poles for the various plants to grow on. He had cut down all the plant matter and composted it. The rest he tilled back into the soil. He did get done but it was too dark to take a picture by then.

I woke this morning at 5:30 to this…















Last night when I went to bed they were saying a dusting to an inch. We are now being told by out local weather forecasters to expect 3-6 inches of heavy snow before it is over. And living on the top of a mountain means you take that kind of forecast to heart, higher elevations and all. We are over 1600 feet here.

Mountain Man will be getting the snow plow out and ready for the tractor early this year. I’m very glad I had gotten all the winter laundry and airing done. The extra blanket on the bed was a God send as the cold winds blew last night.

Water is filled into pots because the leaves have not come off of all the trees and heavy snow means downed tree limbs and possible power outages. The thunder is shaking the windows in their frames. This is cooking up to be a good storm.

More than a few plastic boxes sit full of yarn and crafting materials. It looks like it’s going to be a long winter around here. Fewer sun spots this year predicts it too. I am ready for a snow in. I just wasn’t expecting the first one to be before Halloween.

On The Romance of Stainless Steel:

For years Mountain Man and I have been looking for a replacement for his wedding ring. We had gotten matching plain gold bands when we were married some nineteen years ago.

The trouble was that with all the work Mountain Man does his ring once larger and thicker then my ring was wearing out to a bent up mess heading for breakage. Note the picture of his next to mine.
















We were on the lookout for a replacement before he lost his ring in a stone wall somewhere. He was being a bit fussy about it not wanting to give up the original. But I was determined that he not wait until the first one broke.

We went to jewelry stores and jewelry sales but he didn’t like what they had to offer. He wanted something stronger and longer wearing then a plain gold band.

So we were in Kmart the other day and what did I see but a stainless steel man’s wedding ring. He was unsure at first but after he tried it on he was sold. A manly mans ring if ever there was one.

Our rings no longer match but what is important to me is that he still has the original in one piece and not under a rock somewhere. And he can still wear the one we exchanged at our wedding for special occasions.

There weren’t any in my size or even close of the stainless steel so I’m not getting a matching one. But some how it doesn’t matter. He is happy and so I am also.
















Nothing says I love you like a Stainless Steel wedding ring. This one is made to last.

On Working With Rocks:

Mountain Man was busy yesterday. The wall to the north of the garden had been left unfinished because we have been busy elsewhere. He had been thinking about it thou and had been making preparations for the next step.










Mountain Man likes to add into his walls the odd larger stone, Okay bolder. (I say this not as a technical term. I call any rock heavier then two people can lift a bolder.) And yesterday was the day.

He had taken the tractor and after placing a heavy chain around it dragged a bolder into the yard and fairly close to the wall. He worked all morning on inching the bolder up off the ground. First one side then the other.

He took a break and we met with my new friend from the craft store and her boyfriend at a local cemetery and took a few cemetery pictures. I can’t wait to show them to you but I am still working on them.

Once home again Mountain Man was back at work on the wall. And since I had the camera out I got in a few shots.










The crib holding up the bolder.










After is was high enough and in the right position he chained it up again and pulled back on the bar he rigged with a fulcrum. It rolled right into place.














Mountain Man was up until after dark filling in around the bolder so I got this shot this morning.

On Energy Ebbs and Flows:

Mountain Man and I have been sick. I have been in bed with a headache, body aches, sore throat, ear ache and a fever. Mountain Man had a fever for six hours and tells me he has aches and pains.















I have managed to knit half of a wash cloth while he has built a waist high stone wall across a good part of the north side of the garden.















The arbor you can see in the garden is for his gourds. Those are mostly birdhouse gourds in the picture.















And the damaged bush like thing in the foreground is dragon flower.















How does he get off with being in bed for six hours and I have been in bed for a few days? Where does he get his energy from to build a wall when I break out in a pant walking to the bathroom and back?

Yes, he slept through the mouse ordeal while I was awake that night before we became ill. No, he doesn’t wear his hearing aid to bed. And I get rewarded from my sleepless nights by getting sicker because I wasn’t well rested to fight it off.

I am feeling much better this morning. I’m going to class tonight but I’m heading to bed as soon as I come home. I’ll let you know how it went tomorrow.

On The Many Rocks of Mountain Man:

My husband, ‘Mountain Man’ has a hobby. This is a good thing. Well most of the time anyway. He plays with rocks, stones and the occasional bolder. Well he doesn’t 'play', play with them, he stacks them. He moves them. He moves a lot of rocks. His hobby is being a dry stone mason. Not one of these projects of his is put together with concrete. He stacks them so they stay.

I told you before I would get around to showing you pictures of some of Mountain Man’s building projects.















This is the wall at the back of my outdoor room for sitting, reading and watching birds.















This is one of the many balanced stacks of stones.
















The wall to the south of the garden.














Me standing in front of the wall south of the garden. I'm 5'2" by the way.

There are more of his rock walls, towers, and other things around. Someday I’ll show you them to you too.