HAPPY NEW YEARS!

WELCOME 2010!

Snow

We woke to snow this morning. Doesn't happen in this area every year and as a matter of fact, it has been about 8 years since our last snow, at least as we saw it. Some parts of Luna County may have had some snow. Our newspaper didn't come this morning and we didn't expect that it would. The streets will be full of water as the snow melts. Deming doesn't have very good drainage and it is fortunate that we live in the desert or we would always be walking or driving through water.

Floyd just left to go to Walmart as he wanted to pick up a few things. It will be a messy drive. We took our tree down on the 27th and we will take the rest of the stuff down sometime this week. We needed to get the tree down because we were walking a maze to get seated, lol.

This week should improve weatherwise as highs will return to the 50s with no more moisture. We always need moisture, but not snow!! Strange place to live in some ways, but our winter comes early and leaves early. The worst is probably over now, at least I hope so. Our nights have been bitterly cold, in the 20s and we do not need more of that.

Enjoy the New Year. We old folks go to bed early so we will watch the Rose Bowl Parade and a little football and that will be the extent of our celebration. That is just fine with us. Hope the people that shoot guns and fireworks go to bed early this year, lol

Christmas is all gone!

Just four more days until 2010. We had our son here from Tucson for Christmas. He stayed for 2 days plus Sat. morning. I just hated to see him leave, but he has work to do and a life in Arizona. Luckily for him, he will arrive home to warmer and generally milder weather.

Christmas morning was fun as was the entire holiday. Our kids were generous to a fault, so we feel very fortunate. I had a long conversation with my brother Rich in Illinois and all is well with him and his family. Holidays are good for catching up.

Our weather sux!! Well, the nights are bitterly cold and that north wind that we get during the day just sucks the life out of you. We have been having highs around 50F, but that wind makes it cold. The only redeeming feature is our sunshine. The sun is most always bright out here in the desert. Now on to 2010, which seems odd somehow. Floyd and I just keep hanging in there. I don't think either of us believed that we would be here for 2010, lol.

We wish you all a wonderful New Year and hoping that 2010 will be a banner year for all!!

One week away, ;)

No, this is not our tree, but I thought it was pretty. This tree is in a library up in Idaho and the picture was taken by an internet friend.

One more week until Christmas Eve. I do minimal shopping, but I do have a few things to pick up. I sound like scrooge. I have a lovely centerpiece that was sent to me and it is live, so my place can smell like the holidays. I have cash to spend that was also sent to me, so I certainly have no complaints. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.

Floyd had an early morning Dr.'s appointment. He had to fast, but he could drink his black coffee and he had extra this morning, lol. He won't be gone long. His tests always turn out good as he is health conscious.

Usual daily chores to do today. Nothing strenuous happening here, lol. Enjoy your day!

Reading Sue Grafton

I have read all of Sue's Alphabet mysteries, but I am reading them again, just for fun. I don't have all of them, but I do have most. I just received ("U" is for Undertow), which is the last one she has published. Previously, I read them from the library, but now I am buying them. They are relatively inexpensive since most have been out for quite a while.

Floyd is outside doing something. He gets claustrophobic if he is inside too long, lol. Our weather is more or less normal now after that really cold spell. In the 50s and 60s. Yesterday was 65F but today is cooler. The sunshine is bright and that helps if one can get away from that north wind.

I have watched a couple of Western movies this morning. Made myself a hamburger for brunch and have been reading since. What a life!!! Woot Woot! I don't have a clue as to what Floyd is doing, but I hear hammering, oh oh! The big dogs are outside with him, but Baby is asleep in the recliner, lol. She's like me, a big sissy.

Gonna fix something easy for dinner. Pasta with meat sauce.:-)

Introspection

Way back in 2001 when I first started blogging, this little parrot was on my web page. I still like him. Actually, he is supposed to be animated, he says "hello", but blogger doesn't allow animations. I had nine pages plus two from my high school with lots of pictures that were sent to me by my old classmates. I would spend lots of time uploading interesting tidbits for my old friends and some new ones too. I don't do that anymore and I am letting my domain expire. Now there is a very sweet and much younger person who will pick up where I left off. It sure was fun though.

I had pages about my town of Deming, my adopted State of New Mexico, Native Americans, especially the Navajos. Lots of pages, sigh. My health kind of keeps deteriorating and not much becomes too much for me. I know some of you can appreciate that. Getting old is certainly not all it is cracked up to be.

I am very lucky in that I have a very attentive and loving husband of nearly 32 years. I was married previously and after that awful experience, I know good when I see it. My children have all produced grandchildren. Also, I have step-grandchildren. All sweet kids but I don't really see them except in photos. I am not complaining about that, I know I am not up to visiting with children at this stage of my life. I like quiet and peaceful things which children are not. I loved my children when they were little, but you know, kids don't remember that. My neighbors keep dying off. Our neighborhood has, (or did have), many senior citizens. My next door neighbors, Margie and Joe, moved up to Placitas, NM. More accurately their kids came and got them, put the house up for sale and built them a small place next door to them. Well, Margie used to call from time to time but didn't want to give out her phone number and finally quit calling. I hope she is ok. Joe was getting pretty bad with his cancer and chf, so I expect that he is gone now. My neighbor across the street Connie, whom we saw everyday, was moved out of her house by her son and went to live in one of his apartments so he could have someone look after her after she had a fairly serious fall. I really miss Connie. She died 3 weeks ago. Our longtime good friends from California are getting very scarce these days. Betty and David. Well, I know why, Betty has Alzheimer's which is getting worse and David has already transferred all the property into his daughter's name in Kansas. He is just waiting until he can put her into a Nursing Home and I don't like the way he talks about her.

Our lady from down the street that walked every day by our place had surgery and died on the table. She always stopped and talked. She was from Michigan. She gave me cabbage and broccoli plants and enjoyed talking gardening.

See the problem with getting old, I am 75, is that you lose your friends. My good friend Don who lived in Gladstone,Mo. was the best. He knew all my secrets, and he died last year after a long hard battle with diabetes. My old classmate Bobby had a serious stroke last year and is living on borrowed time, because they cannot reach the blood clot behind his brain. My husband Floyd takes walks and has a few old guys he still stops and visits with, some are in their 90s and it gives him some contact with people, and gets him out of the house.

My health problem is mostly CHF and poor vision. I can stand and work for about an hour and then I must rest. Some days are better than others. I like to cook and if I do it in stages, it works. I can still go shopping but do more and more online. I can walk in the market, but not more than one hour. It will get worse. I am not renewing my driver's license this year, just gonna get an ID Card. I just need it to cash checks. Floyd takes me everywhere and doesn't complain. Rides are not much fun because if we are gone more than about 45 minutes, I get very anxious and I don't know why. Doctor said I cannot fly and of course a long drive is out, so what I enjoy is basically my home, my dogs, books and TV plus the computer. I think that is a good deal. We get a daily newspaper which gives us local news and Floyd listens to the local radio station.

Life changes when we get old, for some the aging process comes about slower than for others and some folks are able to be active well into their 90s and now, even beyond.
I wish my children a long, healthy life. To some extent, we are all a product of our genetics. Hopefully, that genome map will aid in extending life for folks in the near future.

I enjoy reading about just about everything and love TV, but without my computer, I would be so messed up. I enjoy reading blogs and have added two more to my friend's list. I love reading about active outdoorsy types, lol.

Here is something cute I stole from Melody: