Warming Up in a Cold Year

Even the desert is dripping icicles.  Our hot tub has snow on the edges for this past week.  Today however the temp reached 50.  Ed was working all day so it was just me and Fritz to take care of the homestead.  I took him for a walk which took a little convincing because he just splayed his legs and wasn't going to budge.  However, he doesn't know he has met his match.  I think Ed(the softie) is more lenient.  I just took into a jogging pace for a hundred steps.  He didn't know that my New Year's Resolution involves him and that I vowed to walk with him at least three times a week.  I will have to get two more in because it is tough to walk out there when there is snow.  And we played golf yesterday starting in 36 degree and working up to about 48.  Still the sun was shining even though I couldn't putt some balls through rims of ice at the edges of the putting green.  And it was weird to see golf balls hit ponds and then take a 30 ft. bounce on the ice and just roll across the pond.  (not mine)  I must have counted 10 balls on the pond.  I think the men playing ahead of us just wanted to see if the ice would break.  You know how men are.

But I digress.  To get back to Fritz and I he doesn't know that not only does my first resolution involve him, but the second resolution involves intervals in which I follow a rapid jogging pace for a count and then a slow walk for a count.  The second method is to get your body out of routine and to break a plateau in weight loss.  I feel reasonably successful at removing the after-cruise weight.  So much so that I got out all the size l2s I packed away last year and managed to button the buttons and zip the zippers.  Hooray.  Made my day and gave me enthusiasm for the pending walk.

Now to the last resolution:  This one is to revisit closets and drawers and not only clean but rethink the function and practicality of how things have been arranged.  I think motivation came to tackle this chore because of the bright purple rug I bought for the bedroom.  Something about mixing purple and green really charges my system.   At this point I have moved two drawers in the kitchen.  Found new places for all my cookbooks, as well as craft books related to painting, mozaics and writing.

Rainy and cold days make rearranging a good activity to pursue.  The golf courses are usually closed or unbearable and the walks are windy and wet.  Still I need something to tear me away from the computer, the IPAD, the camera, the photos, (I have a large collage board waiting to rearrange family pics.  Most of all I am neglecting my reading.  I dropped Eat, Pray and Love after the first part of Italy.(boring.)  Now What is the What which I do enjoy courtesy of Pat.  Because the Sudan may gain its independence this week I have developed a personal interest in the newsbroadcasts following that happening.  All the information and history make me so glad to be where I am and have the blessings I have in this country.

Shopping and not Shopping

So the internet and I are getting better acquainted.  I found a site for Salt Lake Deals so I wheeled and dealed and maybe some of you will get the results of my clumsy deals on the internet.  It is laborious to shop no matter how you do it.  I go through so many pictures and styles, select some, and notice before I check out that delivery would be in March of 2011.   HoHoHO!  No sale folks.  And there is so much time wasted in filling out forms that one wonders if the sleigh will ever leave the North Pole.  And you never know when or where these packages will or will not be delivered.  I went out to get the newspaper with my faithful dog, Fritz.  As I reentered the house, I happened to notice a brown, paper parcel lodged in back of one of my large flower pots.  Oh!  Wonders and amazing delivery from Amazon.com via UP antics.  I think we will soon, at the courtesy and uncanny wisdom of the postal delivery people, be looking for brown wrapped gifts much like easter eggs, hidden behind bushes, in pots or wherever!  Or maybe in a passerbys pocket.

And then this morning has been filled with phone calls urging me to contact my congressmen about this and that.  I told them I really didn't think my congressmen care a rat's ass about what I might urge upon them or they would have straigtened up already.  But I would email of course.  I don't know how I can be defined liberal when all I want is for those yehhoos is to start paying the deficit, tighten the budget, and stop pandering to people who don't care about anyone but themselves.  And then I look at the largesse of millionaires who are now setting up charity donations in large amounts.  Charity!  It might give you a bowl of soup in a long line of stragglers but it will not build esteem or a feeling of liberty.  Time was when those who were charitable set guidelines on "who were the deserving poor."  Many people consider themselves wealthy and perhaps they have been successful in this land of opportunity.  For thus it has been for many of us.   But now it seems it is time to limit the opportunity of those who have been less fortunate.  Of course.  That is the conservative way.  And I wanted no tax cuts, nada!  Well tomorrow is another day. We hope.

Frustration & Seasonal Blahs

So you get the urge and the Christmas spirit and send everyone this fun advent calendar.
And......out of 22 you send you hear that maybe 3 or 4 have opened it.  Oh the fears of the internet where nothing is sacred and everything has a danger lurking.  And Christmas seems to be no exception not just on the internet.  Everyone seems most concerned about making money, money, money.  The politicians seem to be representing primarily themselves instead of the people in this country.  Depressing.  And jobs.....one must wonder if this is another stalemate just to add to President Obama's reputation.   Always a hold out while someone somewhere has a point to make while many people are trying just to make enough to stay alive.  And then the publicity pandering people selling books, lies, all for profit.  Todays new rock stars rising to fame out of the mud.  So the Christmas spirit is difficult to maintain this year unless you ignore the internet, ignore the newspapers, ignore television news,  and ignore all the pressure to shop and spend your money.  Best to focus on your close friends, relatives and those you love.  Be kind to others because that may be the only real gift they get this year.

Turkey Hunt

Well, maybe.  I facilate between getting the real bird and a small turkey breast.  I will be reviewing recipes tomorrow and making a list, checking it twice etc.  I want to be nice to myself and those at my table so that we won't be laying around on the couch with regrets about the 4000+ calories we have consumed.  Yams will not be with marshmellows since Ed forgoes anything with high sugar content.  I think the emphasis on the day, given that weather allows, will be a great walk following breakfast.  Visiting with daughter Pat and playing with Fritz, the mini schnauzer.  Pretty low key this year but there is so much to talk about and a lot has happened since I came back home in late summer.

We are having visitors tonight but probably when they creep in we will be long asleep.  Travelling on the road so late, working and moving, Torry and Chris will no doubt be glad to just crash.  The storm has us a little worried although down in these parts it is heavy rain, some wind, some hail, but so far no snow to cramp up the highways.  This morning we had another glorious rainbow with dark clouds framing it in the western sky.  By the time I got my camera loaded it was too late.  It had disappeared.  I guess I will have to keep the camera at the ready.  I would put on some pics but I haven't taken any new ones lately.

I ripped off some pics from Chris' facebook albums.  Seems I missed some choice ones.  I want to take a lot while Pat is here.  Maybe some of Chris and Torry if they hang around long enough.  I made some lite peanut butter cookies and left them out in case they want a snack.  What else?  I cleaned out a closet and filled a box with trash.  Oh!  We got out the old 9ft. Christmas tree to begin holiday decorations.  All the lights work.  Hoorah!  It took us awhile to figure out how the cords and sections fitted together but eventually we got everything working with one extra extension cord.  Most of the Chinese products are very precise in construction and somehow we must have missed a planned connection.  Oh well.  Whatever works, works.  Sorry about the loss of tradition, tramping thru the snow,cutting down etc. where you have a tree permit.  Been there.  Done that.  Kids love it.  Too cold and wet for seniors now.  Out of the box, up with the tree, have a hot cup of tea and listen to the fire crackle after we switch it on.  I am so excited that we are having a fun holiday.

Today I learned that one of my dear cousins died and the funeral will be on Wednesday.  He was a real hero to me when he served in World War 11.  Went into the invasion of Germany which was so tough a fight.  He suffered from shell shock and spent many months in therapy following.  I remember how handsome he was and how he could sing.  I didn't know he had developed Alsheimers and had worsened recently.  Life is tough.  He lived a good one and he will be missed by everyone.

First of the Week blues

Everybody left yesterday to return home.  It is so quiet around the house without Ava playing with the dog, chatting or just continuing her busy craft work.  It is so much fun having them here.  We took a Sunrise Sunday jaunt up the hill in back of our house.  Great day.  So clear and smelled of creosote and sage.
The entire valley was quiet.  Not much stirring until after the first rays of the sun started to hit the surrounding hills.  So beautiful here.  I hope Rachel got some good shots with her Nikon.  Ava looked out over the desert scene with little binoculars.  She would spy something and then have to tell GiGi all about it.

The storm came in after they left.  Rain off and on all day today.  Very cold this afternoon and no higher than 55 expected tomorrow.  We had fun 8 of us playing bridge at Mary Juers.  Following the new lessons and conventions we have been trying to learn the past 4 weeks or so, it was a little confusing for me.  Party bridge disappoints me usually because I never seem to get much of a hand.  Will play duplicate Wednesday nite and maybe it won't be so bad.  If I could just remember everything I have learned.  Ed has been trying to follow the lessons and the handouts so we can discuss them and possibly just change our style of play when we are partners.  I hope I improve so he won't give up on it.

Wednesday I should get examined for new hearing aids.  Expensive proposition that.  But necessary if I want to follow what is going on with others.  Thursday we will be playing golf again and I plan to play at Sunbrook tomorrow cold or not.  I will just bundle up.  Wednesday it is supposed to rain again but it is possible that Thursday will be a clear day.  We will be playing Sand Hollow and getting a lesson from the pro over there.  Goodness knows I could stand to improve.

I will try to take some new pics to place on this blog.  Rachel gave me a thorough review of all the features I could be using and corrected some errors I had made.  My grandkids are so darn smart.  Wow.  Thanks Rachel.

Fritz and the pumpkin

Halloween Dog.  From a baby to a teenager in two years.  Fritz turned 2 on Halloween 2010.  He is a real spook.

my grandkids blog