Category Archives: Special Memories

A new face and a bear

Say hello to Mary

Mary is new to our group and like the song George M. Cohan, sweet and old-fashioned. She did go to the Ohio Redoubt to visit, however, and Der Bingle reports she has been hanging out with Alien Poo, who is introducing her to “new attitudes” aboard the Mother Ship. We shall see how this turns out. Heaven help us if she returns and starts calling herself Marie.

And here is our polar bear who Summer believes looks more like a mouse. I found the box and it definitely says “BEAR”. I got him a couple of years ago a few days before Christmas when he was on a mega-sale. It was an impulse action . . . but he seemed to be calling my name. This year was a little traumatic – I had to stabilize his head on his body with floral wire. Oh, that was probably too much information.

He is supposed to be a lawn ornament, but we keep him inside – Do you know how windy it can get here?? Besides, he’s a good conversationalist, full of stories about life at the North Pole and elves and reindeer . . . and the Big Guy himself.

East Noble two-hour-delay

Well, this is okay with me. It’s Monday and it’s 22 degrees outside and my eyes are heavy. I imagine it is because of slick roads after the snow we had yesterday.

However, I did have some excitement this morning, I was getting ready to sit down and look at the headlines, but first wanted to make myself a cure (diet cola + sugar cola and maybe an aspirin) when I remembered that I had put a couple of cans outside the door last night. You see, I’d had them out here and then forgot them and they got warm . . . and I thought taking a few seconds to sit them out on the window sill when I let the dog out would be smart.

It might have been had I realized the window sill did not provide the protection the vestibule does and that diet soda freezes more readily than sugared pop. I stuck my hand out this morning and grabbed them; oh, they felt so nice and cold and they were. I didn’t think. I opened the diet one first and it fizzed right out of the can all over me and my chair.

Yes, I didn’t need to rely on the way the can felt in my hand to know it was cold; I had a BIG experience with cold. And so did my pants.

I’m reaching for the aspirin now.

Jody Lynn Vance – Her Father’s Remembrance

Jody’s mother, Sue, sent me what Lon had written last fall about their daughter. And it is with the permission of her mother and father that I publish it here.

***Jody Lynn Vance: 1985-2011***

Jody was born at sunrise on a bright, sunny, cold, snowy Groundhog’s Day and from Day One she was a gift to everyone around her. Her infectious laugh and rambunctious spirit made her the center of attention where ever she happened to be.
Continue reading Jody Lynn Vance – Her Father’s Remembrance

It’s so warm

It is 35 degrees out there – the there in question being anywhere beyond our doors. It was just a few days ago and opening any door for a second would transform the immediate inside area into a 35 degree chiller. Overstuffed chairs, afghans and fires were so comfy, having a window nearby made you so grateful for your indoor state. Cozy. An overwhelming amount of cozy.

And the frigid air outside – it was crisp and clean. Oh, I just remembered I remarked on an alien quality in it . . . eerie, I think I wrote. Well, it has to be very still for that and such a state isn’t all that common. Just let that eerie part slide to the back of your mind. Think cozy warmth out of the storm. I, myself, now am having trouble doing that because while I was remembering the still and eerie part, I chanced to think about “The Thing” and Kurt Russell and the waiting for freezing in the end of the movie.”

Oh great, now thoughts of “The Thing” – the one that scooted and slithered around, not James Arness’ portrayal of the first “Thing – have caused the  slithering aspect to capture my imagination . . . and I am thinking of cold now slithering under the door. Is it possible icicles are ice snakes? Nah, that’s a stretch. It’s too visual. What’s scariest is the unseen – the cold snaking under door and at window sashes.

How can I do this to myself? Remarking about starting  to miss the comforting coziness of warmth inside in the winter and wind up putting myself in the tension of a Hitchcock movie? Maybe it happened because it is 35 degrees and my stream of consciousness thawed. It is supposed to get close to 50 degrees in a few days; I’ll be awash in consciousness, drowning in it. What are you doing, AmeliaJake? Oh, I’m just here treading consciousness.

Looking for Mother’s lemon-lime jello salad recipe

I am stumped. I have been searching all over the internet for the lemon lime jello salad recipe Mother used.

I believe it was one small package each of lemon and lime jello dissolved in hot water. Then I think you mixed pineapple, sugar cream cheese and pecans in a sauce pan over low heat and mixed it into the jello. The tricky part was putting it in the refrigerator and letting it reach the point of almost setting. This was annoying. Open the icebox, exam the jello – oh, maybe a hundred times. Then, if you were really lucky – in my case, but Mother had a knack for it – you mixed in cool whip so it would be suspended throughout the mixture as it did the final set up.

All the recipes I have found do not include the saucepan work or the waiting for the almost point of no return for adding the cool whip.

If I can’t find it, Sophie is going to try and wing it . . . and Sophie is nice, but she is not an angel, so we don’t know about the winging it.

That thought made the vision of a Christmas kitchen filled with little Raggedy Ann’s (known as Poo’s) We could get in trouble with Alien Poo’s recipe . . . not sick, but maybe invisible.

Hmmm, have I published a picture of Alien Poo? I’ll have to check and if I have not, I’ll remedy the situation. Oh, wait, there is a picture of her HERE in the last picture next to California Lemon Head. Some other potential Poo cooks are also shown. UPDATE: Ack! Alien Poo seems to be in a lot of places. Here’s another: Right here

7:04 am . . . and so dark

It is pitch black outside. I am here with the only light in the room being the laptop display, my Thomas Bickle light and, of course, this little light of mine. Good gracious, it is not looking the slightest bit lighter . . . no hint of daylight. Is the the morning the sun didn’t come up? Am I finally in a reality Doomsday show? To tell you the truth, it is a bit nerve-racking.

Well, heck, sunrise this morning is 8:11. How did that happen without me noticing? Oh, wait, we are on Eastern Daylight Time even though it is almost November.

9:23 am

Okay, I’ve taken myself in hand and made it to the kind of morning that actually has light in it. And that made it possible to take a picture of what Der Bingle brought me from the airport.

It’s always nice to have people think of you . . .

A little misunderstanding

Hello, as you can see, I, Rose, am okay. AmeliaJake didn’t actually DO anything to me . . . other than totally exasperate me. I have tried for so long to help her deal with her blunt personality – especially when it comes to her “humor”- – you know, when she looks shocked and goes, “Gee, it was just a little jokie”

You many know that I and a lot of us here have, uh, (throat clearing) flat heads when viewed from the side. Sometimes when AJ has a hot dish and can’t find a trivet, she will say, “Hey, Foo, (or Woo or Moo or Rose) put your head on the table for a minute, okay?” Yes, isn’t that awful. Then she will tell us it was only a jokie.

Yesterday was just the last straw. Even chasing her with the weedeater didn’t help, so I sunk to her level and posted my view of AJ. It wasn’t gracious of me, I know, but I just snapped.

Sometimes it’s not easy being Rose.

The water heater almost fell from the sky

After the adventure with the scooter, I was basking in my glory and thinking about that wonderful victory when I turned the water on for a shower and the water was COLD. It was beyond cold; it was freezing. I determined that temperature rating after standing in the cold water and it did not start to feel like a lake or the ocean or anything you could adapt to.

For some reason, I have never had to re-light the pilot light under  a water heater. But yesterday I was faced with the task . . . because I am the resident patsy here. So I watched YouTube and I, the wonderful AmeliaJake, learned all about the access panel and how to do the little “you have to put this piece back starting with it upside down” maneuver. I lit the pilot light. I did it. And, I did it with only one viewing of the instructional video. I got the access panel back on also.

I went back upstairs where Spikey was broadcasting on her Mercury Radio News station that reports were coming in about alien water heaters landing in New Jersey. Because she had the On Air sign posted, I held up a poster that read:  SPIKEY, YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN HOT WATER and she said, “This just in from a trusted source . . . Never mind. Now back to our regular musical program.”

She then took off her foil hat and put it in the drawer for the next time it is needed . . . and as Spikey says, there will be a next time. You may want to send for her instructional booklet, titled Protecting Your Brain Through the Wonders of  Foil. Several different folding patterns are included. Spikey favors the one that resembles Sherlock Holmes’ hat, but it is just a matter of fashion taste.

HERE IS THE VIKING MODEL:

A dark house

I have always taken it for granted that a house would be dark at night, but many times in the past years since younger generations have been living with me, lights have often been left on. I don’t like to wake up to a house and find lights brightly burning, but that has often been the case. Lately, though, there has been a trend toward the house being darkened at night  . . .  and it feels so peaceful. Of course, I am not sitting here in the dark; I am sitting in a puddle of light because in the Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse we like the shank of the evening to have a glow on.

UPDATE: Uh, this isn’t a true update; I started out to talk about Summer and I having a competitive weight loss campaign but somehow it slipped to the back of my mind. So here it is: Summer and I are writing our weights down every morning for a month. She is waiting on me so I won’t expend any more calories than I absolutely have to. This could get interesting.