Ponderings from my front porch....On the Avenue Holdrege Nebraska

First   published in the                                                                      

Hinds County News

July 2016

I had always assumed my John did not like talking on the phone.   If the house phone rang more than twice he would announce, “Telephone is ringing”.  And he would continue making that announcement until someone answered the phone or it quit ringing.  John refused to answer the phone even if he was sitting right next to it. He claimed, “it is never for me.” And of course he was almost always right.  But now that I am thinking about it if someone was able to get to the phone before the ringing stopped…he would always ask, “who was it?” …. “what did they want?” Hmmmmm quite odd….
                                                     

My dad was not a phone talker…I have known very few men who were social phone talkers…. business yes.   But personal no… for John his phone conversations were limited almost exclusively to arranging hunting or fishing outings and those were short and to the point.

So anyway…as I was drinking my coffee, from the porch I noticed most everybody driving up and down the Avenue were on their cell phones.   Even the men!   

I said all of that to say this:  On the porch this morning I had an epiphany!
 About men and telephones…. They love their cell phones just like women do!   What they did not like about house phones was being tethered to a wire plugged into the wall or a phone that only functioned inside a certain perimeter. And after John bought his first cell phone he became quite a chatter.

Done with that thought

What I planned to talk about this morning is paint and painting.   I recently acquired a darling little building one of those already built, it is a Derksen! 

Little Building
"LB" for short

As I have told you my house is small.  I needed more room so I ordered a 10x12                                                                                                                                                                                               shed … I really don’t know how I will be using Little Building for certain, so far, in the evenings the pups and I just enjoy sitting out there and watch the goings and comings on the Avenue.
                                   

Pups
Emma on the left Shelby on the right

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

So back to the painting, I set out to prepare to paint “Little building”, The outside was already painted a bright shining white, so was only dealing with the inside.  I was determined to do it right, go according to manufacturer’s instructions. I have to tell you they have very specific directions, no grease or dirt, if dirt or grease are present, it must be washed and rinsed meticulously then let dry completely… any glossy surfaces must be sanded lightly….no loose or peeling paint…rust must be dealt with…  Certain kinds of woods must first be primed!   As I was uncertain of what kind of wood, Little building was composed of I bought primer and paint.

Daughter Angela volunteered to paint Little Building over memorial weekend…

Daughter Angela

She was able to get the ceiling completed, it took three coats one primer and two of paint. I was left with the walls…no big deal…the she was able to do the hard part, the overhead painting. Angela calls Monday morning her dog Scout has paint on her back and on her belly…. The latex paint would not brush out or wash out…it had to be cut out.

  After several days of me staying on task, the painting was complete!  Walls and floor!

But!  My brand new pedicure was a wreck, covered with paint splatters, that could not be scrubbed off….Paint splatters all over skin, hands, arms, and nose, that paint did wear off, but it was way on after while …

 Last week I went to get my hair cut… Tim the fella that cuts my hair, after shampooing it, made the remark, “some of the paint came out, but not all”.    This after many washings at least 10!  

 The intended surfaces to be painted must be dealt with carefully for the paint to adhere to it, but on unintended surfaces that paint clings like grime death without any preparation what so ever.  I think that is rather odd….But on the bright side if the paint on little building clings to it like it does to noses, toes and dogs…I will be in the grave many years before it has to be painted again.   

I sure do miss Mississippi

Love to all                                        

My column from the Mississippi newspaper

The Hinds County News 

April 2016

From the Avenue

Every year, to anyone who will listen, I go into a long tirade, about the pointlessness of daylight savings time.  It makes absolutely no sense, no matter how the powers that be, shift the hands on the clock, there are just so many hours of sunlight in a 24-hour period!  That said…I believe I am adjusting a bit faster this year.  However, my body is still in a bit of a protest mode, body is slow to get out of bed in the morning …Maybe body is not so much slow… as confused?

  But! my mind is doing MUCH better with the change! Yes, it is!   Well possibly not…. when I look at the clock, I translate it.  For instance, the clock on the wall may say four my brain converts it to real time three O’clock!  Okay, that is that rant.

   Now then, we all know soft drinks are bad for us and we should not, under any circumstances enjoy one.  How do we know this?  The food scientists/ police tell us so… that is how.  

   I do not partake in sodas often, because they are bad for me…. but if I have an upset stomach a 7up or Sprite seems to calm it and I cannot eat a pizza without having a cola, Coke or Pepsi makes no difference to me.   Just yesterday I was enjoying my pizza and sipping slowly on my coke, trying not to consume too much, as I do not want to hasten my death.

    You know how when you are eating cereal you pick up the box and read whatever is on it? Well I picked up the Pepsi bottle and commenced to read the ingredients. Here goes “Carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, phosphoric acid, caffeine and natural flavors”.  We all know sugar has been named one of the really bad guys in the world of nutrition, but not bad enough that they are banning it in schools like sodas. So it must be the phosphoric acid right? 

So while sitting there munching on pizza, sipping on Pepsi I picked up my phone and googled phosphoric acid.   Well guess what folks!? According to my not extensive research, studies have shown phosphoric acid “may” be harmful.  And orange juice has more of it then sodas.  

Phosphoric Acid is an inorganic mineral, pretty much what I would call dirt.  Who hasn’t eaten a carrot or radish pulled out of the ground…cleaned off best you could by rubbing on you pant leg…still dirt on it but ate it anyway?

I said all of that to say this:  I am not longer going to let the food police tell me what I can and cannot eat or drink!  They are so often wrong…over years they have warned us about butter, coffee, eggs, bacon, dairy …. the list goes on and on….and on and on.  Corn syrup is high on the beware of list.

   Green Tea and nuts are pets of theirs at the moment, for a while they were real high on kale.  Very recently, I bought a bag of pistachio nuts, BIG BAG, just two days’ later the pistachios were recalled.  That may explain my queasy tummy after eating them…I had to drink a Sprite to get my tummy to behave. So in this case I considered the ice cold soda a medicine.

  Speaking of Medicine, Just Google the side effects the medicines you are taking…. the side effects of some of those are considerably more frightening, than any health concerns related to the Pepsi consumed. I am sort of seeing it this way…food can possibly shorten your life…. the medications you are taking can kill you.

   And if the lawyers who advertise on TV are correct, many medicines are very dangerous.   Even the manufactures of the drugs often do not speak very confidently about their meds….after they finish listing the side affects …you have to wonder, “how did this drug get approved?”

 If sodas are killing us, those lawyers, whose only concern is our wellbeing, they would be on TV advocating we jump on and sue.  Shouting at us through the TV to take legal action, against food and beverage companies…Right?

    I must tell you all, the Girls Scout cookies, I ate for dessert, after my pizza and refreshing cola,…the ingredient list on that package was much longer and less pronounceable than the soda I drank …. but reading the ingredient list was not enough to dissuade me from enjoying the cookie…. several cookies…half a box of cookies.... they were really really good!

    You all, I am not suggesting that you adopt my devil may care attitude toward food….I have had the cancer, twice, who knows if it is what I ate and drank or genetics.   Also I am over weight and would not be surprised if the Alzheimer’s has been sneaking in while occasionally eating at fast food establishments.

I am 71, and consider myself healthy….However Doctors I have been to since gaining weight, seem to disagree.  But I can still out work people decades younger than myself.

I hope to die digging in the garden, or running the string trimmer…. eating and avocado, bacon, cheeseburger would not be a bad way to go ether…Oh!  sitting on the front porch or in the swing watching the world pass by that might be the best!

porch last summer

 But the way I die, that’s is God’s call.   I shall just continue to soldier on best way I know how until that day.

Love and good health to all!

Hinds county news for march 2016

Written February 20, 2016
 at Mississippi on the plains, Holdrege Nebraska

 The Great Ground Hog Day Blizzard 2016

 Yesterday was a beautiful warm day here, the pups and I spent a good part of the day, on the front porch, watching the last of the snow melt from “The Great Ground Hog Day Blizzard 2016”.    The snow in this yard measured 23 inches on the flat, drifts along the fence and the side of the house were a good bit deeper. Watching snow melt is slightly more exciting than watching paint dry…and slightly less exciting than watching grass grow….That said,  any one of three activities can be extremely therapeutic.

I was rather surprised to learn blizzards are not as common as I thought…As a kid growing up in Nebraska I thought blizzards were a common. But for a big snow storm to be officially called a blizzard, there has to be large amounts of falling snow or blowing snow, and winds must exceed 35 miles an hour for at least three hours.

The weather people warned us it was going to “BIG”, I have in the past been rather skeptical of dire warnings from enthusiastic weather folks.  But after being caught by hurricane Katrina miserably unprepared.  I had no real money, no gas in anything I drove, not even the lawn mower. Thankfully John had a tank full of gas and money.  Money was not much use however, because the electricity was out over much of the state, so could not buy anything.   So anyway, I said all of that to say this; before the storm I went to ATM and got real money, (to pay someone to scoop the sidewalks for me).  I went to the grocery bought lots of canned goods and water, you all I was prepared.  even had batteries! And gas in my car!

So the blizzard begins, first thing snow drifts up on the back door to where I could not get it open.  So I was diligent keep snow from building up on the front door. Because I had to be able to get outside to measure snow and take pictures to post on Facebook.  Not everybody was excited about the blizzard, but for me, “The Great Ground Hog Day Blizzard 2016” was grand fun.

When it was finally over, it went on for two days, I looked out, the sun was shining bright, I thought to myself, “let me see if I can clear the sidewalk just to the front gate.”  So I got dressed in the recommended layers, my yoga pants, jeans, overalls, threes shirts and John’s hunting coat and gloves.  (I have yoga pants because my doctor urged me to take yoga to improve my balance and get limber.   Well, one look at myself in those yoga pants, I knew I would not be taking a class!

Then as an afterthought, before going out, I went to the computer, then to YouTube and watched several videos on how to scoop snow.  Even though I grew up in Nebraska, doubt I ever scooped any snow before…I had brothers so I feel sure that the snow scooping job fell to them. ( Heads up…if you do not want to be snickered at do not mention the fact to Mid westerners, that you went to the computer to learn how to scoop snow.)   So anyway, when snow is very deep you take it off in layers.  It worked beautifully! So well in fact I went on to scoop the sidewalk in front of the house, then on to free up the back door…. still going strong I scooped from back door to the back gate.  I was first on my block to get the sidewalk scooped! I was sooooo enormously proud of myself!

Picture taken from alley

Picture taken from back door

Swing area early on in the storm

Backdoor to gate

Miss Shelby loved the snow!

 Decided to stop and continue the next day, scooping from back gate, to the garage and alley.  Big Mistake! Still puffed up with pride…  I went to take trash to alley…there was no pathway,  I fell… as I was tumbling… I recalled the verse from Proverbs “Pride goeth before a fall”    I was not hurt, because the snow was so deep…in fact, deeper than my arms are long, so could not lever myself up.  You all I had to roll over to picnic table and grab on to it and pull myself up!  Remember that movie The Christmas story? When Ralphie’s mother bundled him up in that puffy snow suit, he fell and could not get up?  I know how he felt….

Then! I did not learn my lesson form the fall in the snow! Later in the week, I was in the grocery store! In the pickle isle! I Struck up a conversation with a sweet lady, about the blizzard!  Boasted to her about me scooping myself out at 71!   She gently informed me she shoveled her own snow too and she was 81!   When will I learn!?

Love to all

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