September 2011

This time of year, our local merchants are roasting green chile and selling red chile. Normally, it is a couple of weeks earlier in August, but things are all ready to go now. Roasters are outside of Walmart and Peppers and many folks own their own. I just love the smell of roasting green chile; makes you hungry even if you're not, lol.

September is a good month here, like summer only a little milder with even cooler nights. Seems August was the hotest month on record in the southwest, so a little cooler sure sounds good. Monday is Labor Day, but we don't really have any special plans except it was a good excuse to buy a watermelon, lol. I am the only one who truly loves watermelon, so basically it is all mine.

I sure hope everyone enjoys this last special weekend of summer. After this, we all must hunker down for the cold months. :(

Just maintaining, lol

Well, let's see; earlier this month I sang the blues about being an old person, lot of nerve huh?? So many young people never have the opportunity. I don't know why I was complaining, just having one of those pity parties. Oh btw, my errant grandson added me back to his FB buddies, lol. What's new?? Well, I have lost 30 lbs. over the past 4 months. Actually, it began when we had some bad air move into our area from that Arizona fire and it made me extremely short of breath; I thought there was something awful wrong with me, I mean I just couldn't breathe. I went to see the doc and he had me get a chest xray and determined that it was just the bad air. Our air is normally nice and clear and clean So, he just told me to go home, keep my 02 on and take it easy! Anyway, somewhere along about that time, I really lost my appetite. I needed to lose the weight and I want to lose about 20 lbs more if possible. I just don't do any exercise, so losing weight is difficult. I have been hungry all day, so I guess that is why it is on my mind, lol I know I haven't lost any lbs today!

Otherwise, we are fine. Well, as fine as old folks can be. Today was really hot, the sun was relentless and not a cloud to be found. We have been fortunate to have early evening thunderstorms which cool things down a lot; not the case today. The country is having strange weather. Earthquakes in Virginia/dc area, Tornado warnings in Wisconsin, Hurricane warnings all up the coast to Maryland. Perhaps this Fall will bring some stability to our weather. I have a friend who is vacationing in Germany and says that they are having lovely weather.

Getting about my bedtime, hope everyone is well.

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Being old :(

It seems like these days nobody has any use for us old folks. I mean, we watched a comedy show where at least half of the jokes were at the expense of old folks. We sure make a good target. Before long the "babyboomers" will be aging, and I don't know how they are going to cope. Do you realize that even families don't like the old people in their families. We are kind of expendible and as a matter of fact, I just had a grandson "unfriend" me on Facebook! Who ever heard of such thing? I guess since he doesn't live around us, he feels like, out of sight, out of mind; he is not a teen, he is 27 years old. Well, on the other hand we had a granddaughter and her hubby come from California to visit and they were wonderful. I guess I need to think about the good things and forget the bad. Aging is not fun and it seems not a week goes by that we are coping with something new. All you old people out there know what I am talking about; lots of little things.

Here in our neck of the woods, school begins this month. Back to school sales, etc., I was always use to school starting in September, and August seems awfully early, but then again, the kids get out earlier in the Spring. Can you believe that next month is Fall? Wow, time sure flies!

Guess I am through with bitching and whining, lol. Trying to keep positive thoughts going here.

Chicago

When I was 17 years old, I took a greyhound bus from St. Louis, Mo. to Chicago, Il. This was in 1952. I spent a wonderful summer in Chicago. I found a nice little efficiency apartment on N. Clark, about 5 short blocks from the Lake. You could go on the roof of the apartment building and watch the boats on Lake Michigan. Always a nice breeze so near the Lake. I think I walked on every street that was fit to walk on. I walked as far north as the far Northside of Evanston, and as far south as the neighorhood appeared safe. I found both ball parks, walked every step of Lincoln Park and the zoo. I caught the El and rode all over the city. What a wonderful experience for a young girl to be alone and free to explore such a town. Needless to say, I fell in love with the city. I walked north and south on Sheridan Avenue with LSD always within my sights. I went to the Navy Pier, walked the Gold Coast, and went to Soldier's Field. It is a wonder my legs didn't fall off, lol. I enjoyed walking and it sure was a good thing. I found an abundance of "neighborhoods
", and once found a small neighborhood consisting of people from the State of Tennesee, lol. I walked Michigan Avenue from north to south and love walking across the bridges on the Chicago River, what a sight to see those big ocean tankers coming right through the heart of the city; the bridges would raise to let them through. I loved the food of Chicago which for me was mostly hot dogs or "red hots" as they were called. At 17, the city made quite an impression on me; I loved every inch of it, museums and all.Do you have memories of a special place??
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June, 2011

Seems that I am only blogging once per month. I didn't plan it that way, but oh well. I think it is all due to Facebook. I can keep in touch much better with friends via Facebook, so blogging takes a back seat plus, I just don't have that much news. My computer has been acting up for the past two weeks, off and on and I was pretty sure it was my modem, but no, just my phone. I switched from Vonage back to Qwest (unlimited long distance and calls=
$5.00 per month) and, no contract! Guess they are determined to compete with Vonage.

What else?? One of our grandchildren is coming to visit next month from California, Jennifer and hubby Jim..sure wish them a good trip. Oh yes, received a nice birdhouse in the mail from son Stewart in Tucson. He made it for me.:) Floyd hung it up in front so we can see it from our front porch and I expect the birds to love it.

It is just now summertime and we love it. We have a swamp cooler, no A/C, and it is very inexpensive to operate; works really good in this desert heat.

Locally, things are humming right along. The new truck lane at the border crossing is nearly completed, the wind farm and the solar voltaic facilities are being built, just enough to keep our economy and work force stable.

Tomorrow is shopping day and luckily I found a bottle with some nitros in it in my purse, it helps sometimes when I have to walk a lot. I would drive one of those carts they have at walmart, but my vision,(or lack thereof), would have me running into things!

Floyd got the grapes planted and they are looking good. They were bare-root stock and I ordered them online from Missouri, so they all have leaves now, which means they have taken root. No peaches or plums this year courtesy of a late freeze, boo!

I hope you all enjoy your summer. I am watching the Casey Anthony trial on tv and I am hooked like most people are who follow the court trials.

May, 2011

It has been so windy and dry around here. Every day we get "red flag alerts" which means dry and subject to fires. We haven't had even one drop of rain all this year; and the midwest has way more rain than they need. Mother Nature sure is strange!

Nothing much new going on around here. I have ordered some Marquis Grape vines to plant to replace some of the nice green vines that we had and were destroyed by that awful deep freeze we had in February. Otherwise, most of our desert cacti and succulants are doing fine. I was worried about our ocotillo, but is has turned green and looks great.

Mother's Day was great around here, none of the kids were here, but Stewart sent me a cash gift and bought me a nice big chocolate cake with red roses on top and it said "Happy Mother's Day Mom"..delicious. Teresa sent me some chocolate covered strawberries which I dearly love and Phyllis sent me a large houseplant which I truly needed because all my other ones were killed. So it was a happy time for me. I enjoyed talking online with some dear old friends from many years ago. Time changes us all, but it is so good to talk to people that once played such an important part in my life. When I say "talk", I really mean writing on Facebook. I dearly cherish all my Facebook friends.

April and NO showers

March went by quickly for us. February was a short calendar month, but seemed to us to last forever. April is going pretty good so far. We need rain in the worst possible way. Daily the weather bureau gives us fire alerts because of the wind and very low humidity. I love the sunshine, but our region is a tenderbox, just waiting for something to start a fire. New Mexico is having some fires not too far from here, one in the Gila and one over in the Ruidoso area. I don't think that Luna county has had a drop of rain this year.

Nothing new to report. Kids and grandkids appear to be doing well. Grandson Nicholas will begin studying at VCU in the Fall. He is such an artistic talent, and I know he will do well. Everyone else is just busy working and making life best as they can. Son Stewart has moved to a new location in Tucson and I am anxious to see some pictures!

We are well, pops and me. I'm having a little arthritis pain, but so what? Just a couple of otc pain pills work just fine. Haven't been blogging much because really I haven't any real news. We are enjoying our kitty very much. We have always had dogs and this little cat is such fun, hungry all the time. I think she is spoiled because she can do no wrong.

Wishing you all a happy Springtime. Hubby is still trimming the dead stuff off many of our shrubs due to that awful deep freeze we had in February. I hear that the freeze killed off over half of the Palm trees, here and in Las Cruces. It is recommended that the palm trees that we all plant be California Fan palms instead of the faster growing Mexican Palms. Live and learn the hard way huh? Some of those trees were 40-50 years old.