Extra Stuff...

Tuesday, February 20th, I took Papa for a drive. I pulled into Love's to get a Mello Yello at Hardee's to keep me going during the drive. As I pulled in, I saw these interestingly painted cars. Piqued my curiosity I tell you. Piqued it did. 

I pulled up to the window of the drive-thru to pay and mentioned to the girl that I was hoping to get a picture of these cars. I told her I wondered what they were. She told me they were cars that Toyota was taking for a test drive. There were three of them and a Lexus that was painted black. Very interesting I tell you. Sadieville is a hub of interesting things. Often they are found at the Love's Travel Plaza.

I have a good husband. The man bought these flowers for me and I didn't notice them until later in the day. Purple even. My favorite color and Daisies. Goodness he is good.

Then the mail came and he got a package. Turns out it was these interesting things. He bought a set of two for his Jeep and a set of two for my Envision. What shall I hang on them? Decisions, decisions, decisions. 

And he also ordered Ancestry DNA kits for each of us. His suggestion was that we switch names on our samples and see what happened. We did not do that.  

Crafty me. Finished this piece of cross-stitch. It was not easy from the stand point of the type of fabric and how tiny it was. The pattern was not hard. The fabric is an uneven weave and you count two little threads of the fabric for each half of a stitch. It is a replica of a Frank Lloyd Wright window. Totally love Frank Lloyd Wright designs. Purchased this piece at Falling Waters in West Virginia years ago and just now finished it. I believe that is the last kit I had that I had not done. Yeah me!! 

I also gave up on surprising Nissa with a table cloth. I sent her a text and told her what I was doing and that it took me two years to complete Andie's. Nissa has a new table and will send me the measurements. Until then, I have now started and completed the first square of Nissa's dining room tablecloth. 

Junie, my sister, sent Papa a letter. It arrived at our home Saturday. I took it when I visited Papa today. This is him reading it. He was very happy to hear from her. 

Now, this is just silly. A statement of the vanity of the world today. A shoe that you can put you cell phone in to take a selfie!!!! I cannot begin to express how ridiculous this it. For one thing, women of my age group would be hard pressed to hold their leg up to take this picture. For another you would only want to do that in pants. I mean really! For another it is ego gone awry. Go ahead. Laugh. I did.

That's all folks!!

Ol' Noah He Built Him an Arky, Arky...

We have had a bit of rain. Thursday, February 22nd, I looked out the windows to the creek at the bottom of our property. Well, it was a mite swollen. If you look to the right, you can clearly see a tree in the middle of the creek. That should be on the back of the creek closest to where I was standing. In reality, the water from the creek was completely covering the flat part of our property along the creek. The width of that is about the width of a football field. It was completely under water. So, yep, we had a bit of rain.

I waited till the afternoon to make my daily visit to Papa. I paused at the bridge built over the creek to take pictures and some video. These pictures are around the bridge over the creek at the entrance to Eagle Bend.

You could hear the water lapping under the bridge while standing on this concrete bridge. A little disconcerting. But it wasn't over the top of the bridge and that is a good thing. The dam was not visible because of the amount of water going over it. The old USGS gauging station tower is usually on bare ground and you would have to climb to where it is in the picture.

I always marvel when it floods. I always take pictures when it is this big. I now think, "Do I need more pictures?" and the answer is always, "Why yes, yes you do!" Silly Moi. Nature is an amazing thing. There is a lot of power in that water. A lot of power.

A Trip North...

The chair was complete. Time to deliver it to Michigan...

My father used to drive long-haul moving truck across the United States. A family he moved was throwing out a chair. He knew my mother would love the chair and she could fix it up. They said he could have it rather than tossing it. Papa carried the chair with him until he was able to make another pass by our home in Shreveport, Louisiana. My mother was very happy with this chair and reupholstered it. For much of my childhood, this beautiful chair sat in the living room of our home. When we moved my parents to Kentucky, we brought the chair and it sat in Papa's living room. When I moved him to the nursing home, I brought the chair to our home until Heather could reupholster it again for us. Tiny, Papa's dog, had taken up residence in the chair and it really needed an overhaul. 

Claude and I asked Nissa if she and Todd would like to have this piece of my family history in their home. Nissa was very excited. We told them we would have it reupholstered in a fabric they would like as an anniversary present. Nissa and Todd picked out a few fabrics they liked, took pictures and sent them to me. I found something similar here. Heather was able to get the chair reupholstered. Here is the before in floral print and the after in a light solid color fabric. 

Heather does great work. She even thinks this chair might have a bit of history as she found a stamp on one of the wood pieces underneath. 

Now we just needed to get it to Michigan. In addition Claude refinished a nightstand for Nissa and Todd that needed to get back to Michigan. And...Katelyn left a chair full of items when they came over New Year's and that needed to go back to Michigan. Claude found two days he could make a quick day up and day back trip. And he was off. 

Received this picture of Raelyn as Claude was driving north. Katelyn said she was happy her Great Grampa was coming for a visit.

Claude stopped in Chelsea on the way up and had lunch with our favorite son, Jacob. He looks good. They dined on pasties, a Michigan favorite, with gravy on top. Yum.

When Claude got to Muskegon, Nissa and Todd were still working. Katelyn joined Claude and they took Raelyn to Walmart to shop. I do believe the child has the hang of shopping at two years of age.

Claude stayed with Nissa and Todd Monday evening. Tuesday morning they left for work and Claude went to visit Aubrey. It seems Nelson loves his Great Grampa's beard!

Claude was very happy with attention for these little great grandmonsters. 

Then it was back on that sloppy, rainy, messy road back to Kentucky. The poor guy had bad weather from the time he left until he got just north of Dayton on the way home. But he got his errand done, got hugs from grands and great grands and his daughter and son. Not bad for a very quick trip.

Things From the Week...

Change. Sometimes it is just disruptive. The nursing home has a temporary Director. He has determined the feeding tables need to be realigned. They took away the two U-shaped tables that they set up in a circle. This made it easier for a CNA to sit in the middle and feed multiple residents. He has now set up two banquet tables and it takes more CNA's to feed the people. Then he set up another banquet table behind that to feed residents who they are encouraging to feed themselves. All other residents who can feed themselves sit on the other side of the room. Papa feeds himself so he now sits there. This means he is in another part of the room and the two men he has eaten with all this time are in other places. I really liked the interaction he had with these two men. This reduces that interaction. I am sure there is some logic to what they are doing. I know the residents just need more help the longer they live there. But I miss Papa having that interaction.

The other thing they have done is moved the big television to the other side of the room and put the smaller television on the side the big television was on.  The big television was hooked up to the DVD player. I knew how to work that set up and could get the DVD going every Wednesday when Papa plays music for the residents. It seems the big television was by the sprinkler. Now, that television has been there since Mom was living there. They installed it while she was a resident. When I went to set up the DVD on Wednesday, I couldn't find the remote and couldn't get it to work on the smaller television. Glen came in and helped me find the remote and we learned how to get the smaller television set up with the DVD player. I am sure I can do it now. Change. We will get used to it. As a side note, the little television is now by the sprinkler. Hmmmm....

Another change for me was giving up my old gray sweatshirt. I believe I bought this sweatshirt when we were in Maine at L.L. Bean. But it may have been my first visit to Cabela's. I loved this sweatshirt. It was big enough to go over whatever. But, if you look at the sleeves, you can tell it has been around for a while. The cuffs were tearing away from the sleeve. I finally determined I just needed to let it go. I did take this quick picture before my beloved sweatshirt went into the garbage can. So very sad. 

My dear friend Laura sent me something that gave me a chuckle. Several years ago I buried my wheels in her driveway which was wet from a lot of rain. I do mean buried them up to the hub caps. Her good hubby, Howard, came out and wallowed in the mud to attach a chain to my car and to his car and then he pulled me out of the mud. I left their driveway with mud flying like crazy out from the back of my car. How embarrassing!! Well, dear Laura sent me a picture of the FedEx guy making a delivery to their home. He was stuck in the mud!! It was not just me. Laura said I was in good company. Bwa-ha-ha!!

Now, for an update on my hand. I know, this is riveting, right? This is the hand I smashed the three fingers in Papa's garage door when I was emptying out his apartment. There are new nails growing under the old ones. I finally cut everyone of them back as far as I could so they wouldn't catch and tear off. I'm just saying, a manicure wouldn't even make this hand look good. It still fascinates me to watch it take forever to heal. I believe it will eventually not show the damage done. The human body is amazing.

Friday, February 16th, Claude and I watched the Mini's so Andie and Michael could go see Rent at Whitney Hall. They didn't have school that day so they had been inside all day. Andie and Michael both worked that day. We got there and offered to take them out to eat or we could bring something in. Those kids wanted to stay in. So we ordered pizza from Steve'Os and hunkered down for the evening. Hayden showed us some YouTube things for upcoming movies he was interested in. Then he let Bailey watch the My Little Pony Movie with us. Hayden came back upstairs then and we watch an America's Funniest Videos followed by the Olympic men ice skating. It was just a relaxing evening. I even started a new crochet project. 

Michael gave Andie an electric blanket for Valentine's Day. It is fluffy and so very warm. Andie told Bailey she could use it while she and Michael were at the theater as long as she didn't eat or drink when using it. She and Claude curled up under it to watch My Little Pony. The girl does love to snuggle with her Grampa.

When we were watching the Olympics, I found it amusing that Percy was also watching. 

When Hayden came up after My Little Pony I asked him what time they should go to bed. He said he usually went to be at 9:30pm. Okay. It was a Friday so that would be great. Well, we got into watching the Olympics and it got to be 9:30pm. I told the kids they could watch a little more of the skating. I mean, really. I am the Gramma and some rules I feel okay breaking. As it got closer to 10pm I told the Mini's they could watch one more skater and then off to bed they needed to go. They agreed. Then...the commercials started. For the next 20 minutes we watched commercials. I could not believe it. But I told them they could watch one more skater. It was 10:30 before the skater was finished with his 4 minute routine. Goodness. Hayden was so tired he excused himself and put himself to bed. When I went in to tuck him in and say goodnight, he was out. Bailey was almost asleep as I covered her up with her 15 blankets. But they were both in bed and well asleep before their parents got home.

And, that is a wrap for this past week. My life in a nutshell. 

Whack!!

Saturday, February 17th, we had the forecast for rain and possibly snow mixed in with it. I accomplished things Saturday morning that I needed to get done at home. Then I gathered my things to head in to see Papa. Opened the garage door and saw it. Lots of rain and big snow flakes falling with it. Hmmm...I headed on out.  

As I drove south on I-75 I was caught in a knot of traffic. Big tractor/trailer rigs and a wad of cars with one going only about 50mph. Everyone was slower than the 70mph speed because of the weather but this one extra slow car was really putting everyone in a bad position. I remember thinking I need to get through this so I don't get caught up in a wreck because this is the stuff that wrecks are made of in bad weather. I gradually made my way through and thanked Heavenly Father for safety once I was on the other side. 

I pulled up on the off ramp of I-75 at Exit 129. There was a car in front of me. It stopped at the end and I stopped behind it. The rain and snow were pretty heavy. I watched this car start to leave. I looked to my left again to be sure I was okay with the light and on-coming traffic. Then I pulled out. To my surprise the car in front of me was stopped and I couldn't gather it up before I hit the bumper. Whack!

I have not been in a wreck or received a ticket in forever. Can't even remember when. Now my pretty car was guilty of whacking another car. Goodness. 

There is a Shell gas station here and I thought surely the car I hit would pull in there since it was on the side of the road we were on. It did not. It kept going. I followed. We got to the light at Hwy 25 and I watched to see what they would do. They turned left and eventually pulled into the parking lot at Babe's BBQ. Turns out I hit a 19 year old in her father's car. She was in tears. I assured her she was okay and asked if she wanted to sit in my car and exchange information. She said she would go back to her car and get the insurance information. While there she called her dad. While Bailey was in her car I got out and took pictures of the damage to each car. Bailey's car first, then my car.

Bailey came back to my car with her insurance and told me her dad was coming. We swapped the insurance information by taking pictures of each other's cards. We also wrote our contact information out for each other. Then I suggested we pull our cars further over in the parking lot so as not to block people wanting to come and eat. We did that. Bailey's boyfriend arrived. Then her dad. He had called the police and they assured him they needed to do a report. So we each got in our cars and waited for the nice police woman to arrive. 

She took our proof of insurance, registration and driver's licenses. She said we could wait in our cars while she started her paperwork. Then she came to each car and left her business card with our case number.

It is not the end of the world. But it really shook me up more than I thought. I called Claude and then texted him the pictures. It just felt awful to know I marred my pretty car, I whacked a poor kid, I ruined my safe driving record. Yuck. Then I thought about having asked Heavenly Father to keep me safe on the road with all that rain and snow. I was grateful I was safe on I-75. There were two other wrecks on I-75 when I drove home after visiting Papa. I wasn't in a big wreck on the Interstate. This was a fender bender and could all be fixed. So I am grateful for that. Such was my Saturday.

48 and Counting...

On a snowy Friday the 13th in Logan, Utah we started our eternal journey together. I prayed for snow since we didn't get much in Louisiana. I was greatly rewarded with lots of enormous flakes of snow that fell and covered the earth in a wonderful blanket. I considered it a good sign.  

That was 1970. This year we celebrated 48 years together. Claude put together a bit of time for just the two of us. This in itself was a treat. I am usually the one to do all of that. But he took charge and I let go and we had a wonderful time together. 

Claude had a Chamber of Commerce luncheon to attend. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit Papa while he took care of business. When he picked me up, we were off to Louisville. Over a year ago we participated in a silent auction to raise funds for Bluegrass Tomorrow. We happened to win tickets to the Muhammad Ali Museum and the Frazier Museum, both in Louisville, Kentucky. We had not used those tickets. We were going to use them for our anniversary outing. 

We parked in the garage at the Galt House. Claude made a reservation for us to stay the night there. It was a bit early to check in so we walked through the garage and across the street to the Muhammad Ali Museum. Alas, it was closed on Monday. So we hiked back through the garage and were able to check into our room. Then some quiet time until time for dinner. 

The Galt House is a very large hotel right on the Ohio River. It is really two buildings with a sky walk between them. The larger side is the Suites Tower and the smaller side is the Rivue Tower. I believe that has to be a play on River View. Our room was in the Rivue Tower. We checked in and had dinner on the Suites Tower side. 

Claude made reservations for us to eat at Jeff Ruby's. We could get there without even having to go out on the street. We had a nice table and a nice server. He offered to get us drinks. This is always a cute moment because we don't drink alcohol and one would assume, in today's world, that an anniversary dinner would include alcohol. We had water with lemon wedges. Then he gave us the specials. You know it is very upscale when the servers says to you in a very nonplussed way, "Our special tonight is dinner for two for ONLY $99." We opted to order from the menu. We had appetizers. Mine was a crab cake with tartar sauce with a roasted pepper sauce on the side. Claude had a shrimp cocktail. For dinner I had Scottish salmon. I did ask the server if it came with a kilt on!! Claude chuckled. Claude had a steak. For dessert we each had homemade ice cream. I had vanilla bean and Claude had pistachio. Yum. Very elegant but very relaxed. A pianist was playing music throughout the evening. We just enjoyed this meal very much.

We slept in Tuesday morning. Then drove down to the Frazier Museum. We had no breakfast. Dinner was keeping us full.

The Frazer Museum is a history museum. Several areas are under construction for their next exhibits. We were able to see The Great War exhibit, the Family Gathering exhibit, the Toy Soldier exhibit and up to the third floor to walk through the Lewis and Clark Experience. 

I was fascinated with a unique mandolin in on of the cases in the World War I exhibit. 

I have seen exhibits of how the Appalachian people made musical instruments out of whatever they had on hand. This mandolin ranks right up there with that exhibit. A mandolin made out of a helmet. Wow!!

I really enjoyed the Family Gathering exhibit. It is photographs taken by Linda Bruckheimer of places in Kentucky. She loves to drive around Kentucky and just stop when she sees a photo op. Her photographs all had fun names. Oh, and she is married the Jerry Bruckheimer, a television and film producer you may have heard of. Here are some of her photographs. Please be sure to check the name she has given each one.

The Brown-Forman Theater is situated between the two rooms with Linda's photographs. Through the day they have 'historic interpretations'. A storyteller in costume does a monologue with actions about a person in history. We saw two while in the Frazer. 

The first was Molly Pitcher. She was a heroine in the Battle of Monmouth during the American Revolution who wasn't as lady-like as you might think. 

The second was titled The Steamboat Roustabout. It was inspired by the life of steamboat steward and New Albany resident William Harding. This interpretation showed what it might have been like for a slave to attempt an escape across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky to New Albany, Indiana in the 1850's.

Both interpretations were excellent. 

It was a fun afternoon at the Frazier Museum. 

Now it was time for lunch. Dinner from the night before was definitely gone and it was time to refuel. What to do, what to do. I asked the young man in the gift shop if he had any recommendations. He shared his local favorites within walking distance. We stood outside and talked and decided Claude would take me to the intersecton of Hwy 60 and The Snyder to the Yang Kee Noodle restaurant. Bailey took him there for his birthday present. He loved it and thought I would also. Claude had noodles and I had a fried rice dish. They were excellent as well. They were having repairs done on their ice machine on top of their soda machine. The soda part worked but not the ice part. The repairman had a ladder in front of it and was standing on the top leaning over to work on the ice machine portion. He would bring big containers of water and perch on top of the ladder and slowly pour that water into the ice machine. I assured him he was Cirque du Soleil worthy!

After lunch we walked through Hobby Lobby. Claude needed to purchase bird houses for the Young Women at Church to paint. They will be hung outside the residents windows along the front of the nursing home. We found exactly what we needed. Nice use of the extra time we had.

We would end our evening at the Louisville Kentucky Temple. What a lovely way to celebrate our 48 years. We started at the temple and we would end this anniversary at the temple. I loved that. 

This was a lovely anniversary celebration. I shall cherish this time with my hubby for years to come.

Friday and Saturday Tidbits...

Friday morning, February 9th, I checked my Facebook. This is what I found. As I told my friend, Laura, "I have no words".

I spent a good bit of Friday taking Papa for a nice long drive. We left Georgetown and found Hwy 460 to Paris. On the other side of Paris we took 537 till it joined Hwy 60 on into Owingsville. In Owingsville we picked up Hwy 36 south to Flemingsburg where we found Hwy 460 again and followed it back to Paris. We went through Paris on Hwy 68 to Hwy 1973 Ironworks Pike and took it back to Georgetown. Then followed 25 back to the nursing home. Papa totally enjoyed this ride and kept saying, "We have to do this again in the spring when all the leaves are out." I have it taped in his atlas so we can do just that.

Saturday morning I attended the Inservice for Seminary and Institute teachers. Excellent training.

When I got to my car to go see Papa before going home, I check my cell phone for messages. A text came from Andie that Bailey was now using the cane we got Hayden for fun. It seems she had a 'scratched muscle' and really needed help walking. I asked Andie if I needed to find a second cane. Andie assured me Hayden was happy sharing and we should let him learn that skill. Oh the joy of raising kidlings.

Katelyn started posting some really neat pictures on Facebook. Drew, her hubby, loves ice hockey. He is a dyed in the wool Red Wings fan and loves to play himself. Evidently Drew and his friends had a game in Grand Rapids Saturday. These are the pictures Katelyn posted that I saved.

  

Just love Raelyn watching her daddy on the ice. She does love him so.

We put the chair to be reupholstered in the Jeep on Friday night. Heather said we could deliver it to her home Saturday afternoon. Getting it in the Jeep is a story in itself. Claude and I both remember it not fitting in the Jeep so we put the seats down in my Envision and put the chair in there to get it home. Well, it would not go into the Envision no matter how we tried. We measured and tried on its back, side, legs first, top first, you name it, we tried it. Nothing worked. So Claude had to take the seat out of his Jeep and we put the chair in the back of the Jeep. Saturday afternoon as we left to take it to Heather I sent this picture to Nissa and Todd telling them the process was started.

What a ridiculous picture to put on a Blog! 

What the Blaze's???

Thursday evening, February 8th, Claude and I had a Self-Reliance Committee Meeting in Lexington. We always try to make time for dinner in Lexington at somewhere we can't eat in Georgetown. This time we opted for Blaze Pizza. 

These are individual made-to-order pizza's that are fast fired. You start by a person putting your pizza skin on a board in front of you and taking a marker and writing your name and order info on a piece of brown paper. This is folded and put under your pizza skin and you walk down the buffet and add to or tweek your pizza as you desire. Then the cashier takes the brown paper and rings up your order while someone puts your pizza in the oven to bake. 

This time the person asked my name and I said "Sandi". She heard something different and wrote "Sammy". I didn't correct her after I saw it written, just made a mental note that when they called out "Sammy" I should go up and get my pizza. 

As I looked at Sammy in front of me while I ate, I took this picture and then sent a text to my family explaining what was done and that it would be okay from this point forward if someone wanted to call me "Grammy Sammy". How cute is that??

To Infinity and Beyond...

SpaceX launched its huge Falcon Heavy Rocket for the first time on Tuesday, February 6th. This is a mammoth rocket and it had a special payload. The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, put his Tesla Roadster electric car in the payload bay. Fascinating picture of the car with a mannequin in a spacesuit in the drivers seat with the earth behind it. You can find some pictures using this link: https://www.space.com/39279-spacex-first-falcon-heavy-rocket-photos.html.

Andie, our daughter, teaches first grade at LaGrange Elementary school. On Wednesday, the school posted this picture of Andie with her class and two other classes that joined them in a virtual tour of Mars using iPads. Andie is left back row on the end. She is a great teacher. How blessed these kids are to have her for their teacher.

The Ice Man Cameth...

Tuesday, February 6th and through the night into Wednesday, February 7th the ice came. At least in Sadieville we had a nice coating of ice. We have had worse over the years. But there was definitely ice over everything that would last for a couple of days on the trees and plants. Here are some pictures  from our yard on Wednesday.

Wednesday stayed cloudy all day. However, Thursday the sun came out and it just makes the ice sparkle. I took a walk around our yard and tried to get a few more pictures of the ice with a little sparkle to it.

Thursday afternoon as I drove in to visit with Papa, the sun hit the left side of I-75 as I drove south to Georgetown. Most of the ice was gone from the trees on that side of I-75. However, the very tops of the trees had ice in them and it was stunning to look at as you drove by. Then the ice started to twinkle just like someone filled the tops of those trees with twinkling Christmas lights. So very pretty. 

I love looking at the ice with the sun on it. Reminded me of a time in Maryland when we had a major ice storm. After it was done and the roads were safe, we drove over to the Baltimore area where Andie and Michael were living to visit them. Claude stopped every where I asked so that I could take pictures. Just loved that little drive enjoying the beauty in which we live.