Monday, April 28, 2008

 

Monday, April 28, 2008- How Much are You Worth???

How much are we worth?
Ever wonder what you would get paid if everything you did was a paying job? Fast way to having extra money, or just another job that needs doing yourself to save money? Cut the grass, trim off dead limbs from trees and brush and cart them off to a pile behind the compost bins, or to the roadside for town trucks to pick up, or lug to the dump. Plant flowers, build a trellis and set up trellis on metal bars in ground by porch. Paint lower half of the outside of the house. ( plus top if can still safely climb a ladder). Replace a complete bathroom window, building the framework around it to replace one that was rotting. Replace a shop window broken by a small earthquake. Rip up and replace floor tiles.Cut and put up wood ceiling/wall trim, plus cut and add some mop boards to a room. Build some needed cupboards with doors. Take down ceiling tiles, wash, re-paint them and replace them. Add plastic side enclosures for winter -on porch, take it down in spring. Remove the storm windows in doors and re-place the windows with screens for the summer. Re-puddy leaky windows that need it. Start your own nursery indoors consisting of tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetable plants from seed. Could go on and on..... Then add, Laundry, Cooking, Mopping, and all the other everyday house chores. And still you sometimes hear men asking their wifes " What did you do all day? And many women have outside jobs to go to every day, plus children to raise and care for. But, any man who lives alone also fits the above, including those who are or have raised their children alone.

Shouldn`t we all be rich from working so hard? Think of the money we saved by doing things ourself instead of paying others to do it for us. Think of how much we could have saved if we could only afford to pay ourselfs for the work we do. How much are we worth? A lot more than we give ourself credit for!!

How much are you worth? Think about all you do that others would charge you for if you hired them to do it.

Just my mind working overtime again. Still need to finish the protective cover I started yesterday for the chair sitting on my back porch. Work is never done.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

 

Millipede or Centipede?? Which was it?

Our friend Walker mentioned that millipedes are often eaten by spiders, and I read that so are the centipedes. So, guess there is a good reason for not killing all the spiders. But, I just can`t help myself, I keep killing them. Had one land on the back of my hand yesterday while locking up the garage. Had just killed one on the garage door when this one showed up. Walker got my curiousity aroused and I decided to be sure it was a centipede I saw in my cellar last summer and not a millipede. It was a centipede.

This site I checked out with , mostly told about the millipedes and centipedes in Kentucky.
It is often said that millipedes have "1000 legs," especially since the word "millipede" means "1000 feet." But most millipedes have only a few hundred legs, or even less than that. The largest millipedes have about 750 legs.

In the old days, it was believed that if you allowed a millipede to "count your teeth," you would die soon after. So never grin at a millipede! Funny one, right?

Although millipedes in Kentucky are small, some tropical species can grow to a foot in length.

( Kentucky, keep your foot long ones).

Millipedes are often seen in homes, but they are not dangerous to people or animals and do not damage human possesions. Some of them can secrete bad-smelling and bad-tasting chemicals from pores in the sides of their bodies. These chemicals help keep many predators away. Despite this defense, millipedes are often eaten by centipedes, spiders, and predatory insects. Millipedes shed their skin (called "molting") as they grow, usually adding legs each time they molt.
( molting - knew snakes did this).

They are best preserved in alcohol. Be careful when you pick one up: they can secrete a fluid that will stain your hands and clothes.

(Really not interested in picking one up, are you?)

Centipedes -They feed on crickets, worms, and other small creatures. Centipedes use their venomous front legs to capture and paralyze their prey. Most centipedes hunt at night and hide during the day. Centipedes are sometimes eaten, especially when they are small, by spiders, predatory insects, other centipedes, and insectivorous mammals and birds.

(WOW, they are like cannabals- they even eat other centipede .)

House Centipedes (Scutigera coleoptera, order Scutigeramorpha, shown below) have very long legs, and are often seen running (quickly) in basements and attics and other cool, indoor places. These centipedes hunt crickets, roaches, sowbugs, and other small creatures.

( Where were they the year we were overrun with crickets in the cellar?)

House centipedes are one of the few types of centipedes that are not commonly found underneath rocks and logs. The house centipede is believed to have come to our part of the country from further South.

( The souith can have them back, I wouldn`t miss them).

If you are interested in collecting a centipede, never pick one up with your hands; instead, "herd" it into a container with a stick or forceps. Centipedes are best preserved in alcohol. ( Some people are allergic to their bite.)
If you are brave (and careful!) enough, you can try to keeping a centipede as a pet in a small container. Provide a few inches of potting soil, and some rocks or wood to hide under. The soil should be kept fairly moist. Feed centipedes living insects or worms that are about ΒΌ" the size of the centipede.

( Leave those long worms in my compost bins alone- they are helping me break done the compost materials into rich soil). :)

Giant centipedes from South America will grow to over a foot in length. For a large centipede like this, insect aren't much of a meal: instead, prey include mice, snakes, lizards, and frogs.

(WOW! what large meals they eat. . I`ll settle for the little ones I have seen in my lifetime, but not as a pet, thats for sure.)

Centipedes have different numbers of legs depending on the species. Although the species with the most legs look impressive, the fastest centipedes are often the ones with the fewest legs (such as house centipedes).
It is often said that centipedes have "100 legs." Although the word "centipede" means "100 legs," centipedes usually have much fewer legs, around 30-50. Some species of soil centipedes can have over 300 legs.

Centipedes are used as ingredients in treatments for malaria and snakebites in some cultures.

They say there is a reason for everything,even if it doesn`t sound like something we care to hear about. ( I wonder who collects them and actually gets paid for it).

Now, you know more about Millipedes and Centipedes than you ever cared to know.
Now, what do they call those small bugs that are a light brownish with a black belt around their middle? My Dad just called them a kind of water bug since you see them in damp places.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

 

Busy Week. April 13 - April 19th, 2008

Busy week. April 13 - April 19th, 2008

I have stayed busy most all week. Monday, Went to get blood work. Tues, it was off to the Wellness clinic to exercise, then stopped off at the Grocery store to find a Wedding Anniversary card for my one remaining Uncle and his lovely wife`s 67th Anniversary. Found a nice card, but also find a couple gifts I thought they would like. A Dwarf holding a pair of cutting shears in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other hand. He was wearing a green hat, pink/ purple variegated jacket, brown pants with a wide black belt and black shoes. A lot cuter than this describes. He is fat and stands about 15-16 inches tall. His large white wide beard is so big it covers the whole front of his jacket. He has fat cheeks and a huge smile. I knew my Aunt would tell me I shouldn`t have spent the money while she was telling me how much he loved the Dwarf. ( Might have been a Gnome, but I think it was a Dwarf. ) I also picked up a pinkish material solar light in a case - resembling the shape of a square porch light. The open weave around the 4 sides is butterfly cutouts. More Butterflies on the sloped solid cover. The top cover is slightly larger than the bottom section. When lit it is more like a night light.
Then I picked up 2 oranges, 2 peaches, 2 delicious apples, 2 Macintosh apples, 6 bananas plus a small round watermelon. I filled a large rattan basket with the fruit and covered it all with saran wrap.

Wednesday I picked up my brother to take him with me to visit our Aunt and Uncle. Since having his leg removed back in November, `06, he hasn`t been able to drive to visit people. So, I knew he would enjoy leaving the house and riding down with me.
My Uncle saw the huge basket I had set on their dining room table and with a big smile on his face he asked " And What`s with the basket?" When my Aunt saw the basket, she told me that I shouldn`t have spent the money, then added- they hadn`t had any fruit in a long time. My Uncle , age 91, is now on oxygen and has stopped driving and my Aunt , age 88, hasn`t felt up to driving, so they don`t get to the stores now. When I heard that I was even more certain about giving them the fruit basket.
We had a lovely visit which meant a lot to all of us. I guess they seldom get any visitors as most of their friends are gone and all of brothers and sisters are also gone. He was my Mother`s youngest brother. They have two sons- both married with a couple kids each. Most of the grandchildren live out of state, but they do hear from their sons and their wives often. Has to be very lonesome for them now as they used to play cards with their friends, plus at my mother`s home before we lost her in 1995. My Aunt told me how much they missed the fun playing cards. I am glad I took my brother with me as he also doesn`t get out to visit family . They were so happy to have some visitors that they didn`t want us to leave when their meals arrived. When I said they should eat while it was warm, my Uncle said they could warm it up later in the Microwave. So we spent a few hours with them.

Thursday, I finally got around to raking my front yard and clearing out most of the flower bed that runs between the home property and the lot I own next to me. I also carried all the brush and tree limbs from behind my compost piles and set them out nearer the road. Still lots more to carry out as soon as they become unfrozen from the ground. Have a few more weeks before the town comes by to pick it up.

Friday I had just gotten my floor mopped and waxed and dry when I got a visit from a granddaughter and her boyfriend. They were up from Virginia and left to go home this morning. They picked up ( her Daughter) a great granddaughter who came with them. It was nice seeing them. Last time they were up was when my daughter got married. After they left I got out the step ladder and removed the hanging plastic off one side of the porch so I could put up the trellis on that side of the porch.

Now here it is Saturday afternoon and I am now resting at my computer. This morning I took down another section of the plastic from the other side of the porch. I close in the porch every winter to keep the snow off and to help stop the cold wind from blowing in whenever the door is opened. I planted morning glories around the trellis and some Pansies in front of them to hide the empty places on the ground in front of the morning glories vines once they start growing.

I had planned on quitting then, but noticed a place where the dogs chain must have broken off a tiny section of my paved driveway near her coop. This area also is near my shop door and the ground was getting so much lower that I was getting a small muddy place when ever it rained as the water ran there. So, I got out the wheelbarrow and carried all the soil from the other lot where I had dumped it last fall when I emptied my garden boxes. I filled up around the side of the driveway along the back section as the dog chain had been slowly lowering the ground there. I have had an 8 foot long treated 4x4 sitting out by the back porch for years. I used this to build a curb like effect along the driveway where I had filled it it. I buried in even with the top of the driveway so the chain wouldn`t catch on it. Right now I have a piece of thin board laying over the rest of the soil fill in and my wheelbarrow sitting on it to keep the dogs chain from dragging away the loose soil before it has time to harden there. I just hope it works. I also set up the garden box standards where I will want them later. I had them piled one on top of the other for the winter.

I am writing all this down so one day when the grandchildren or others might be reading my print off pages, they will have some idea of what my weeks work might consist of at 76 1/2 years of age. It also lets them know about some things I enjoy doing. They might find it interesting, or they might just find it boring. Either way, I do love them all very much- even love those who might be born long after I am gone . Family is very important to me.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

 

Thursday, April 10th, 2008, Spider, mouse, guns, etc.

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Spider, mouse, guns, etc.

Today there was a little excitement at the Hospital Wellness Clinic where I go to use the exercise equipment.
I had finished the 15 minutes on the tread mill, the 15 minutes on the nu step and about 20 minutes in the back room with the weights and wall exercise bands and then went back in the other room and was doing the 15 minutes on the arm exerciser and the room was so quiet except for the noise of all the working machines. Suddenly one of the trainers let out a sharp yell which had all of us looking to see what was wrong. Turned out one of the women working on a nu-step machine saw a spider hanging from the ceiling right over where the younger trainer was standing. The spider was small and slowly climbing down lower and lower. The woman told the trainer and when she saw the tiny spider she let out that loud scream. LOL. A man working on a bike near her went over, reached up and broke the web so the spider fell to the floor and he stepped on it. At this time, the trainer was half way across the room and when the man started walking back that way to get back on the bike, she backed up further asking him if he had the spider. He picked up his foot and looked on the sole of his shoe and told her " no, he don`t have the spider with me". Haa Haa. It was hard not laughing out loud while this was going on. I just kept my smiling face hid behind the arm exerciser machine and kept working. She is probably in her late 20`s or early 30`s. I did another 15 minutes on the recumbent bike and left for home. I managed to get the front yard half raked before lunch. Now the wind is lightly blowing making it hard to rake the leaves, so will have to wait till another nice day to finish the raking. Hope the wind doesn`t blow the leaves off the un-raked side and onto the side that is cleared.
So nice outside I hated to come inside. So, I took my drill and moved the shutter on my small shed so the latch fit better over the ring where the lock hangs. I was getting tired of using a hammer to tap it shut every time it was unlocked. My son put it there and said he would redo it later. Figured that was one thing I could do myself. Expecting rain the next few days, so won`t get more done outside for a while.

This spider reminded me of the time one of my sisters lived about a mile from me and had a little mouse. When I stopped to visit her I saw a couple of neighbors teenaged boys taking turns sitting in a chair with a pellet gun watching a tiny hole in the wall , just waiting for the mouse to show it`s head again. I kiddingly asked my sister whose idea that was- hers or theirs? I told them all, that I thought they were all going crazy. So she agreed with me and told them to put the gun away.

Another time, we were still living in the first house we had built out back while we were building the larger home I still live in. I was sitting sewing clothes for the kids using one of those old style treadle sewing machines, My husband was in the front room watching TV and the kids were all sleeping in their bedrooms. Suddenly I heard what sounded like a gunshot. Hubby asked me what was that and I told him what it sounded like to me. So, we carefully went out the door to see what was going on. The neighbor who lived on our left was standing in his yard looking towards the neighbors yard on the right of us. When I looked that way I saw their dog lying on the ground. That neighbor had shot his hunting rifle across our property, right in front of our house and killed the other neighbors dog that was still tied up to a tree on it`s own property. Boy, was I angry , thinking what if my husband or I had walked out the back door to our car in the driveway just as he shot that gun. When I told him that, he just told me that dog had bitten his oldest son and that`s why he killed it. His son was a paperboy and delivered a paper to that house. But where the dog was tied up, there was no reason for his son to go anywhere near the tree where the dog was tied. So, I blamed the boy, not the dog. It wasn`t a mean dog, but that kid wasn`t nice to animals and his father knew that. When we saw the police car coming down the street, we went back inside so we wouldn`t get caught in the middle of the neighbors fight. The neighbor had the man arrested, but before they went to trial, his wife talked him into dropping the charges. The mans wife was expecting and the other neighbor`s wife felt he shouldn`t be sent to jail when his wife might need him. So, he got away with his dangerous shooting. I am so glad no one came out of any of the houses while he was shooting his rifle, or he might have gone to prison for murder instead of getting away with shooting a neighbors pet.

Another time a man who lived on the next road was walking drunk with his hunting rifle four streets above us. He shot of the rifle into a house and just missed hitting someone. The teenager bent down to pick up her little sister and just as she did, the bullet came thru the window flew over her and into the wall on the other side of the room. It would have hit her if she hadn`t bent over at just that second. He ended up doing time in jail.
Then about 10 years ago right after we had all gone to bed we heard something hit our picture window in the dining room. When I came out to check, the window had a small circle the size of a bullet in it and the cracks went off in all directions. Never did find out where that one came from. It was just before Christmas, so I figured someone was probably trying out a gun before buying it for someone's Christmas gift. Probably came from a couple street above us. People sure do crazy dangerous things sometimes. Our home Insurance replaced the window. Another time I saw a drunk husband stand on his front porch and shoot his gun up in the air. Who knows where that bullet ever landed. Boy, am I ever glad the ones living around us are better today. We still have one who gets drunk and you can hear his big mouth all up and down our street. They are a younger couple with kids. I feel sorry for the kids to live that way. His wife is always calling the police on him.

Yesterday I visited one of my sons to see his new garage. Him and his friends did a very good job building it. It is a little larger than a normal 2 car garage. He is pretty proud of his first construction job. I ended up spending the whole afternoon playing cards with him. He had a shoulder operated on and is out of work and like me he hates when he isn`t able to do much. Having been thru the therapy he is now facing, I do feel for him as I know how painful the therapy is.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

 

April 2 nd, 1955- 2008, My twins Birthday

Today is April 2nd, 2008

My Twin sons- born on April 2 nd, 1955

Today is my twins 53 rd Birthday. Boy do I feel older having 4 kids 50 and above.
I was just sitting her remembering what it was like when they were little. I would lay each one on the opposite side of the large baby crib to sleep and every morning I would wake up to find them both on the same end of the crib.

How wrong the dr`s were. I remember telling my Dr that there were four feet and he told me there were 2 hands and 2 feet. Then I told him, no Dr joe, there are four hands socking me and four feet kicking me. He told me it was all up in my head . I told him, no Dr Joes, they are all right here in my stomach. This went on for the rest of the nine months till they were born. This had me scared, but no one but my mother ever knew how afraid I was. I was picturing 2 babies connected with only one heart since that one heart was all the Dr ever found. Well, I had complications and was rushed to the hospital. I had asked Walt to call the Dr, he said he was calling my mother, so I again told him to call the Dr. Well, eventually my mother arrived with my brother to baby sit the 2 older children. My mother called the Dr who said to get me to the hosp as fast as they could. Then she called my Dad who also came over to our house on the farm. Well, Walt was so nervous he kept stalling the car. Finally my Dad opened the drivers door and told him to move over and off we went. My Dad held the horn down and sped off for the hospital. My Mother told him he was going to have the police arresting him for speeding. Dad told her he wish a cop would show up because they could get him there even faster. He never stopped for any red lights and with his horn blaring so loud, all the cars stopped to let us thru. Once we arrived at the hospital- about a half hours ride- a nurse opened the emergency door and asked ( Is that Morehouse?. My dad yelled back- yes. Then they came out with the stretcher and connected oxygen on me while I was still in the back seat of the car. My mother had cried all the way to the hospital. As scared as I was, I kept telling my Mother to stop worrying that I was going to be alright. But she still kept holding my head in her lap and crying. It didn`t take the nurses long to get me on the stretcher and into the Hosp and right up to a room on the operating floor. Before we arrived my Dr had called the hospital and told them to have whoever could operate to stand by , that he had an emergency coming in. That`s why they knew I was on the way and were ready waiting at the door for me.
In the room, the Dr who was to do the op came in, examined me and told me that if I was his patient he would never operate. He told me that baby isn`t going to live and that I would be lucky if I could breath enough oxygen to keep myself alive and if he operated I would be lucky to live long enough to ever get off the operating table. I had been breathing so hard trying to get enough oxygen to keep us all alive. When he told me that I wondered why I was putting myself thru so much pain trying to breath so hard. Just then my own Dr arrived and I asked him if the other Dr was right- was my babies going to die? He told me to wait until he checked and then he told me he wasn`t going to lie to me-- that baby`s heart was awful weak . His next words still ring in my head " Don`t you give up on me now girl, as long as we have a heart beat we still have a chance. ( yes he still thought one baby). That was all it took for me to start breathing real hard again. I still remember the pain in my chest when I took a breath, but it was for my babies and worth the pain.
Then off I was taken to the operating room where the minute they removed the oxygen to connect the cone I went out immediately. Later the Dr`s told me that they had lost me for a while and had to work on me to bring me back before they could start the operation. They had to call in a specialist because they didn`t know what to do as they had never had a case like mine in the Hospital before. I ended up paying for three Dr`s, glad my own Dr never charged us, or there would have been 4 Dr bills to pay along with the 2 nursery bills and us with no Insurance to help with the bills.
Once the operation was over my Dr had to admit I was right as I had twin sons-- one weighed 6 lb. 11 1/4 ounces and the tiny one was 5 lb 1 1/2 ounces and he was rushed off to an incubator with oxygen. He lost weight and it was 5 days before they were sure he would make it. He just weighed 5 lbs when he was 2 weeks old so i was able to bring him home with me. Even the Dr doing the operation told me it was the first time he also thought only one baby and found the second one after removing the first one. It was the smallest heart beat they were hearing and the larger baby was down behind where his heart beat wasn`t heard. He had a strong heart and was ok. I spent 2 full weeks in the Hospital with them before we were ok to go home. Well, one baby could have left earlier, but the other one and myself couldn`t leave.

Here is a funny thing that happened after they brought me from the recovery room into a regular room. We were raising rabbits and one mother rabbit was expecting. Walt kept picking on me telling me if I didn`t have as many babies as the mother rabbit, he wasn`t going to bring me home after the babies were born. The rabbit originally had 4 babies, but we lost two the next couple days. So there were two baby rabbits when I left for the Hospital. I was kidding with my mother who was sitting beside my Hosp bed telling her Walt will have to take me home ha haa since I also had two babies. Later when the anesthesia wore off my mother told me while I was joking with her she had left the room and the Dr was there hearing what I was saying. Boy, did I feel like a dope. But so did all the Dr`s since they found out I was right and they were wrong about two babies. But later my mother told me that my own Dr told her he was scared all those months as he felt there was something wrong. When my mother told him how scared I was, he told her he wish he had know and he would have done x-rays and relieved both our minds. He just didn`t want to put me thru months of worrying. So, he had never taken me seriously or we would have know there was two babies.

So, that baby who was never going to live is today my wonderful 53 year old sons. Boy, am I ever glad I wasn`t his patient or none of us might be here today. God Bless my origional Dr for giving me the reason to keep fighting to breath in enough oxygen to keep us all alive. And thank you to God for bringing us all thru the terrible scarry ordeal.

A very Happy Birthday to you, my wonderful sons. I love you soooo much. We had a rough start, but it was all worth it in the end.

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