Dot`sThoughts

Here we go again and this time it is already snowing hard out, so looks like more shoveling again tomorrow. It didn`t pass us by, this time the weatherman seems to be correct.

Issued at: 3:25 PM EST 12/30/07, expires at: 12:00 AM EST 12/31/07Snow advisory in effect from 7 pm this evening to 10 am est monday, The NWS in albany has issued a snow advisory, which is in effect from 7 pm this evening to 10 am est monday for the southern adirondack region, A moderate snowfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected over the advisory area, beginning this evening, and ending by late monday morning. The snow will develop prior to midnight, and will be occasionally heavy early Monday morning. The snow will taper to snow showers and flurries late Monday morning. Low pressure responsible for the snowfall will be moving northeast from the delmarva region this evening. It will be near cape cod Monday morning. This low will continue northeast into the canadian maritimes Monday afternoon. This snowfall will adversely impact the Monday morning commute across the advisory area. A snow advisory means that periods of snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Be prepared for snow covered roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. FROM WPTZ:

Now on a lighter note, Christmas came again at my house today. One of my ex-daughter-in-laws showed up with her son, his wife and his sister ( this son and wife were the ones who just got married on a ship off the coast of Virginia). The Grandchildren live a 10 hours drive from me and their mother lives way off in the state of Texas - a real long ways from where I live. What a lovely surprise it is too see them again. I hope they didn`t hit this snowstorm on their drive back home. They left a few hours before it started snowing here, but they were expecting an even worse snowstorm further south in the line they would be traveling. I was realy surprised when I heard they might make the trip this time of year when our weather can be bad. My daughter-in-law flew from Texas to Virginia so she could make the trip up with them. They sure brightened up the day for me.

What is "A Friend"?

A Friend is someone
We hold very dear,
A Friend is someone
We always wish near.

It matters not how
Far away they may live,
Nor what material items
To you they may give.

A Friend is someone
Who`s loyalty is true,
They`re quick to be there
When you are feeling blue.

Friends are so special,
So loving and so kind.
There`s noone more caring
In your life, you might find.

So glad to be able to call you all my friends !!!

New Years is almost here. Happy New Year everyone!!

Issued at: 4:06 AM EST 12/29/07, expires at: 5:15 AM EST 12/29/07 Winter weather advisory is cancelled. The NWS in albany has cancelled the winter weather advisory for the western adirondacks, western mohawk valley, the lake george and saratoga springs region, and southern vermont. Temperatures across the advisory area have risen above the freezing mark, ending the threat of accumulating wintry precipitation.

My wish was granted. Our weather warmed up enough that we never got the sleet or the snow. Boy, was I ever glad to get up this morning and not have the expected sleet and snow to deal with.
my daughter-in-Law from N orth Carolins phoned me again today. During our conversation she asked about the weather. She had seen on TV that we were supposed to get the bad weather and she was also surprised to hear we never ended up getting the freezing rain or the snow.
Then she told me that her son ( my grandson) had called from Germany and they received a little snow there in Bad Nauheim, Germany.

Well, I better go back online and post this before I lose it like I lost the one I was writting when the phone call came and I went off line to answer it.

I went out this morning and shoveled my large driveway so I could get my car out of the garage and go to the Hannaford drug store to pick up my prescriptions. Then, before driving down, I decided to rest up a bit from the shoveling. So, I decided to download my e-mail while I was resting and this is what I received:

Issued at: 3:56 AM EST 12/28/07, expires at: 4:00 PM EST 12/28/07Winter weather advisory in effect from 7 pm this evening to 8 am est Saturday, The NWS in albany has issued a winter weather advisory for the southern adirondacks, the lake george region, and southern vermont, which is in effect from 7 pm this evening to 8 am est Saturday. Snow will overspread the advisory area this evening, and may briefly fall heavily at times. The snow will then mix with, and eventually change to sleet and freezing rain around, or just after midnight. A mixture of sleet and freezing rain will then occur, before tapering off by Saturday morning. Snow and sleet accumulations of 2 to 5 inches are expected across the advisory area, in addition to ice accumulation of one tenth of an inch from freezing rain. However, higher amounts of snow and ice are possible across elevations above 1500 feet. This combination of snow and ice will likely create treacherous travel conditions tonight and early Saturday morning. The wintry precipitation will be caused by a low pressure system, that will track northeast from the mid mississippi valley, into the great lakes this afternoon into tonight. A winter weather advisory means that periods of snow, sleet, or freezing rain will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for slippery roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. FROM WPTZ:

Why does it decide to snow again as soon as I get my driveway shoveled out??? I think I need to find a place in the sun where the snow doesn`t reach and hibernate there till winter is over. I am getting tired. We almost always receive more here in the Adirondacks , than they tell us to expect. This time I am hoping it works backwards and we don`t get any at all.

Yesterday it was snowing when I was driving home from the hospital exercise building and ahead of me was a newer looking car with a driver who must either be new to this area or just afraid to drive in the snow. It wasn`t slippery on the main roads, but that driver never went over 20 miles per hour in a 40 mile zone all the way. I never got rid of that car until I turned into my driveway and it went on down my road. You should have seen the long line of cars behind me and there was no way to pass that darn pokey driver due to oncoming traffic on the other side of the road-- this main road is only two lanes. I couldn`t see if it was a man or a woman and I have seen pokeys in both. The car had those high head rests that hid the driver. But, wouldn`t have mattered as short or long hair today doesn`t tell what sex a person is. In the old days if it had long hair it was a woman, short hair meant a man. Guess that equality between the sexes must also have started the hair changes.

But maybe not. I just remembered I have a picture of my great grandmother and she is wearing the short boys type bobs you see on a lot of women today. That was back in the 1800`s, because my Dad was born in 1903 and this was his grandmother. So, maybe we are just reliving the 1800`s hairdos. Way back in history men wore long hair so why does our generation think it looks crazy to see boys with long hair? We had Presidents with long hair and if noone cared then, why do some care today? Personally, I would rather they speak out with hair differences, or many other unhurtful trends that we might think as strange-- it is much better than getting involved with over use of alcohol and drugs, or getting into law trouble.

Well, this isn`t picking up my prescriptions, but then I hate taking pills anyway. So guess I have rested long enough and should get out of this chair and get moving.
So, I`m off!!!

Had a wonderful Christmas and received lots of nice gifts. My family has grown so much that I needed 51 gifts to take care of everyone. There are my children and their mates and families and all the great grandchildren from their children, plus some who are ex-es who continue to think of me as Mom, plus some new marriages this past year, and we added on 2 more great grandchildren this year. In most families when there is a divorce the one they divorced usually leaves the family. But, not in my family, most of the ex-es still come to see me at Christmas time, or the ones who live in other states still call me Mom and one phoned me on Christmas Day another will be here next week-end.

My father used to have a saying " In my Family when they marry, they marry off they don`t marry on and live at home here". Well I wish he was hear so I could tell him my saying-" In my family they continue calling me Mom and stay in touch even after they are divorced and no longer a member of my family. This year my grandson`s ex-wife showed up with her 3 children and the man she married a couple years ago. Two of the kids are my great grandchildren and I can`t give a gift to two and not to the little one and next year they are having another one. You see I am adding them on all the time even when most people wouldn`t feel they had to. I couldn`t live with my self if I gave my grandkids a gift and didn`t give their little brother one. Plus their Mom still gives me a gift and still calls me Gram. This year she made me a beautiful wooden planter and inside it was some wrapped banana bread and some cookies that she had made. Her husband hadn`t come with her before and I heard he wasn`t sure if he should come, but he felt at home by the time he left. I am glad my grandson who used to be married to her isn`t coming home untill next week-end with his new wife. But he knows his ex-wife brings the kids down to see me. They live in another state, but his kids live up here with their mother. He was in the Marines for years and was over seas more than he was home with his wife and kids. Many marriages get ruined due to wars and long separations. I don`t remember any war that kept the service people in the war fighting country for as long as they are doing today. Seems like most of them came home on furlough after about 6 months overseas. Then they were stationed in the states and another unit replaced them. Today they no more get home and they are shipped right back over. Sounds like we don`t have enough to be able bring them home after they serve a few months. It`s no wonder there are coming home in such bad mental shape from this war.

Well, Christmas was wonderful-- seeing so many of the family-- the house sure lost it`s too quiet sound with all the chatting and laughter going on. Had a full house again. As soon as some were planning to leave, others showed up. There was always at least 2 families here and sometimes lots more. There wasn`t much spare room to walk around in.

Next it will be New Years Eve to get thru. Boy we did have some happy times over the years. We would go where the bands played country music and we would dance all evening on into the early mornings hours. We always stayed till the place closed up. The places never made a lot of money from us since my sisters and i drank only soft drinks, but even they were more expensive when bought there. We sometimes went with one of my sisters and her husband and other years we went with my youngest sister and her husband. It is also harder now for 2 of my sisters as they also lost their husbands since I lost mine. Only one sister still has her husband to celebrate with. One was older than my Walt was, but the other one was younger. One never knows how much time they will have with their loved ones. I might write later about some of those New Years Eve times.

Not sure what I will be doing this New Years Eve. Probably stay home with my dog for company since I don`t drive after dark unless I have to as the car lights sometimes bother my eyes. I have prisms in my glasses to control the double vision I got from a minni stroke a few years ago. If it wasn`t for the double vision I wouldn`t need to wear glasses. After both cataracs were removed back in 1995, I had almost perfect vision and didn`t require wearing glasses. But now i need the glasses just to hold the prisims that bring the two images back into one. I thank God that someone had the talent to invent prisms.

Well, it`s after 11PM, so guess I should sign off and head off to bed. I usually watch TV for a few more hours till I can go to sleep with that face mask and my c-flex machine that I sleep with to handle my sleep apnea. Always something, but I still feel lucky when I see what medical problems some others my age are trying to handle. Arthritis is no joke either, but it is still better than what I could be going thru. As long as I can keep feeling my problems could be a lot worse, I will manage.

Sorry I haven`t been writing lately. Had so much to do getting ready for Christmas- even had some crocheting to get finished in time. Plus I had to finish the knitted hooded baby sweater that was owed to a granddaughter for her little one. I still need to sew in the zipper, but the sweater is finished when I do. I can`t hold a small sewing needle to sew the zipper in by hand like I used to do and will have to do it on my sewing machine. If anyone has ever tried sewing in a zipper onto knitted yarn, then you know it is no easy job. I should be doing that now, but I probably wouldn`t do a very good job today.

Last week I sat and wrote a long post about what my Anniversary Day meant to me. Company showed up while I was writing it so I saved it in a draft and when I went looking for it to post it, it had somehow disappeared. I spent part of yesterday and again today searching for it. I knew I wouldn`t do well trying to write it today, so I did it last week. Today would have been my 56th Wedding Anniversary, and the 6th one since I lost my loving Husband. Why, oh why did we ever get married so close to Christmas. It was wonderful for the 50 Anniversaries we celebrated together. No one ever told me it might someday take a lot of the pleasure out of the Christmas season , but that`s what it is doing this year. I am doing my best to look cheerful for the family`s sake, but once it started getting later in the evening and I knew no one would be stopping by, then it became a struggle for me. One daughter stopped by with her 3 year old daughter for Christmas because she is a Guard at a prison and couldn`t get Christmas day off. Yesterday her eldest daughter stopped by with her little 2 year old daughter as she works in a home for the handicap and also will be working on Christmas Day.

I started today off by heading to the drugstore to buy a new card for my digital camera so I could take more pictures when the others show up. OH, yes I also had a granddaughter and her boyfriend from Virginia here last Sunday when we exchanged Christmas gifts. Another daughter and her husband came over this morning to exchange gifts. I think she knew I might be a bit down today and was hoping to make it a better day for me. I used to visit the cemetery on our Anniversary, but they never plow and the snow is too deep to try to walk there and way too far back into the cemetery to ask someone to shovel a path that far. Last year was the same way. One year my youngest son did try to shovel a path, but we had less snow that year. One year my oldest daughter turned her ankle from walking thru the deep snow on Christmas Day. I think that`s what is making it harder, the fact that i can`t go to the cemetery on our Day.
I wish I could locate the first post I wrote as it was a much better one. it told about how we celebrated our Anniversaries over the years when we were together. How for years we celebrated by going out dancing with the sister and her husband that were married with us-- our Double Wedding and both my sister and I married men with the first name Walter. I remember my Dad telling me that he wasn`t sure he would stay walking in step with me as he escorted me down the Church isle. I remember telling him that it didn`t matter as long as he walked down with me. I remember my sister getting mad and telling the Minister she thought our Father should walk down with her, but the Minister said- no, he should walk with the oldest daughter. Didn`t matter anyways because my Dad had already told me he would walk with me. Then this sister complained that I also had our oldest brother because the groom ( my Husband to be ) had asked him to be his best man. I had been planning my wedding long before my sister was. I even had a date set, which I changed to make it easier for our parents. It would have been harder if they had to find money for two separate weddings just a couple months apart. We did have a lovely wedding and a nice reception afterwards, so everything turned out ok in the end.
Well, it is almost midnight, so guess I`ll stop writing and try to get some sleep. The program on TV isn`t good enough to stay up for. But then, who needs to stay up for TV when I can watch it in my bedroom if I can`t get off to sleep. I just won`t bother watching the rest of this movie. If I ever do locate where that first write-up is hiding, then I will still publish it .
For now, I will just remember this day with the Love we had for each other and how much I used to love being held in his arms with my head against his shoulder and his head leaning against mine as we danced around the floor listening to the western bands playing. Those were the good old days when we were filled with laughter, having a great old time accompanied by my sister and her Walt. .