Boys - Toys - Hobbies

November 29th - Monday - First Day of Deer Season - Coldest day of the month thus far.

We were up bright and early this morning, so the hunter in the family could be in the woods by day break. It didn't matter that he had spent the majority of the night coughing with little sleep and awoke coughing this AM, nope! I fixed him a hot breakfast, gave him cookies to add to his lunch that Preston was packing for him and thrust the Nitro spray into his hand with a warning to use it if he needed it and to remember he was putting extra stress on his body by going when he didn't feel well. I know ladies, you know what I am talking about, something odd happens to these men in Northern PA the Monday after Thanksgiving. I fashion it to what happens to teen-agers.....

The hat that is in the picture is one that I worked on while riding in the RV last winter. I had just finished a scarf and wanted the hat to go with it. I used double strand virgin - washable wool. This is the first hat I have knit in the round, but Susie assured me, it was a piece of cake and indeed it was until I got to the flowers. I couldn't keep the stitches on the needles while traveling, so put it away to try at a later date after we returned home. Maegan told me that Abby had learned to crochet and was getting very good at it and had made flowers for all of their family members, so I remembered my unfinished hat, so I attempted the flowers again, knowing if I couldn't work the pattern, little Abby would be glad to do them for me, well, I did figure it out and the hat is complete.

I now have a huge felted purse that I need to knit a handle for and felt that down and it will be another project complete. I need to come up with a project to do this year as we are riding along. I like to knit that way I can still help Lou watch the road and communicate with him, where some of the ladies read, I always felt that was rude, what company are you to your partner, if you are engrossed in your reading.

We spent the majority of the afternoon and evening at Lou's house on Saturday with two of his children and their spouses and two grandsons. The one son-in-law has always supplied Lou with a Hess truck each year, all of which he still has in the original boxes. This year not being an exception, he arrived with said truck and it was received with much delight. Once the batteries we added we all had to admit it was another show piece. Lou and I had seen the replica in the Macy's Parade, so knew what it was going to look like. Having his hands on it made it very special and was placed on the mantel in the family room.

Yesterday Lou and I attended church and had a special treat by having our pastor sing one of Ray Bolt's songs. He sang Feel the Nails with as much gusto as Ray himself puts into it. Lou and I had just watched the DVD of Ray's called The Concert of a Lifetime, one which I had the honor of attending. This type of music is new to Lou, but he is finding that he does enjoy some of it.

After church we hurried home to remove casseroles from the oven to take to his house, as his family was all meeting for a late Thanksgiving. Michelle came down to tell both of us goodbye as she set off on her journey back to college in Elizabethtown.

Lou also has a granddaughter by the same name that will be graduating from college with honors in mid December and we are making plans to attend that special occasion.

After a meal of all the traditional foods and some additional dishes, the dirty dishes and such were carried back to the kitchen, a variety of desserts were offered with more hot coffee and soon it was time for everyone to depart to their various homes. Lou was desperately looking for his hunting clothes, of which he could not find, so I told him I would go home and see if they were stored with Scott's clothes here and sure enough, all washed, everything together and sealed in plastic. He drove over to one of his buddies to plan strategics for todays first hunt. I thought this was a good time to clean my oven, so I spent the evening finishing that chore. I did have time to watch part of the new Hallmark movie with Sam Elliott, while I finished up knitting my mittens. Great movie.

Today I am doing the bedding and hanging it all outside again and plan on doing the rest of my shopping and will have dinner prepared for Lou and Preston when the hunters return.

Happy Thanksgiving

November 25th - Thanksgiving - Snowy and cool.

We were awakened this morning with snow on the ground. For once, the weatherman gave us the correct information.

Lou and I both felt a bit better yesterday and took a nice walk in the afternoon. Returned home to have a quick visit from Michelle, home from college for the holiday, She brought with her a lifetime neighbor friend that has been away at college. Good to catch up on the news from each of them on their new lives with the college theme.

Last evening Lou and I attended the Thanksgiving Church Service in Morris. It was a lovely service and certainly gave all of us reason to consider all of the things we have in our lives to be thankful for. Certainly a thought to keep in our minds as we travel into the upcoming Holy Holiday, so often the true meaning of Christmas gets put on the back burner.

We are very thankful for all of the family that has arrived safely to their destinations this week. We look forward to seeing all of them at the various gatherings that are scheduled throughout the coming weekend.

We pray for safety for all of the hunters that will be out in full force on Monday.

Taking Advantage of Good Weather

November 20th Saturday - Sunny 52 degrees

Today Lou and I took advantage of the good weather and got outside to finish up some jobs. He took the deck off the lawn tractor and winterized it, what a job, but tonight it is back in the barn awaiting the grass to grow and spring.

He is trying to get some strength back and be ready for deer season the Monday after Thanksgiving, so Lou is walking about two miles each morning. He told me today, that he still isn't feeling as well as he did prior to his hospitalization. He has another doctor's appointment on Monday.

This seems to be the month for sickness. I started with a chest cold the day after Lou came home from the hospital, have been on three different antibiotics, developed oral yeast infection, and another office call on Thursday, and chest x-rays that were abnormal, so more studies are scheduled for next Monday and a return visit to Dr. Nespola next week. He started me on Prednisone, Bactrim DS and "GI Gin".

Lou has been working on his friend's tractor, remember the old flywheel, well finally located one and had it shipped in and now the installation, they have worked three nights and still have more yet to do. While Lou was away last night, I got out all of the supplies that Lou and I had picked out for the wreaths at the cemetery, Krista came down and made bows for me and we have them all ready to go the their new residences for the winter months. Even had enough left to make a small wreath for Lou's back door. Will make a welcoming addition to all that will be coming and going during the holiday, as his kids use the house during hunting season along with the holidays.

On Wednesday, Lou and I were up very early and make a trip to Carlisle to pick up our drugs for the next three months. We took time to run to the PX and the Commissary and then at Sam's Club on the way back, by the time we finished dinner at Hoss', we knew we weren't going to get back in time for square dancing.

The picture of the quilt I posted was a quilt that was on display at The Country Cupboard where Lou and I stopped for breakfast on Wednesday, one of my favorite places to eat. I had my usual chip beef on biscuits. I had Lou taste it to make sure it was good, as I haven't been able to taste anything in over three weeks. He enjoyed a huge Western Omelette with

a home made biscuit.

While Lou was working on the tractor today, I got up on the roof and put

lights on the garage and decorated the front deck and put the swags up on all of the windows of the house. It certainly was a beautiful day to do it, and actually the first day, I have felt like doing anything extra.

This is the beginning of a very busy holiday season and we both want to feel well and enjoy it and our families.

Indian Summer ????

November 11th - Veteran's Day - Beautiful 60's

We here in Northern Pennsylvania have been having some wonderful weather; therefore, Lou and I decided we could finish our outside jobs that we hadn't finished.

Lou brought the snowblowers up from the barn and found that it needed much tender loving care. It was not used last winter and had been neglected the year before, so my mechanical husband, tore it apart, found one long bolt missing and from the looks of the hole where it had been housed, was very elongated, telling us it had been missing for some time.

He took the muffler off cleaned it along with the spark plug, changed the oil, changed the position of the handle that controls the direction the snow blows, as it was rubbing and had a large indentation into the brass. Once the oil was changed it was ready to try and sure enough it started and runs well. Now we are ready for snow. "not"

We went to the woods yesterday to gather green to use in our vacant plant boxes, we were able to collect five different kinds of greens and I was able to get the boxes done before having an early dinner and going off to square dancing. Last evening was a special night, as we danced an hour at the Green Home prior to going to our regular dance classes.

Last evening was very rewarding, as it was easy for all of us to see that the residents throughly enjoyed the entertainment. Even folks that were in wheel chairs, had their feet going and many of them were clapping in time to the music. The hour was over quickly and we were on to our class.

Today, I put out a few of our Christmas decorations and a couple strings of lights, taking advantage of the great weather, and after lunch we were off to Lou's house to start packing up the RV, it was much warmer outside than it was in the RV. We have a great start and will only take an hour or so to finish it up. A lot of the things will stay in the old RV and we will transfer those items when we pick up the new one. We have to remember that when we transfer, it may be snowy and will probably be cold.

Tomorrow is Lou's follow up appointment with Dr. Nespola. Lou is doing well, but does tire quickly and the minute he sits down, he is asleep, so we are sleeping in a bit in the mornings and we aren't doing anything after dinner in the evening.

Think it will be a good day to get the car washed and cleaned up again. Have to take advantage of the 60 degrees.

Frosty Morning

November 7th - Sunday - Overcast 23 degrees low

We awoke early this morning, as is Lou's habit of turning up the heat and then coming back to bed until the house warms up, he came back to bed to tell me he wanted me to see something and how glad I am, as it was a fairy wonderland outside. Jack Frost had once again turned our property into a winter wonderland.

This has been a week of a more relaxed life style, Lou has found out it is taking a little time to recover from his recent hospitalization, so we have taken this time to enjoy our life together. As our friends, Lew and Joanne told us, we have enjoyed coffee breaks more frequently.

We have been amazed at the different birds we have seen at our feeders and for some reason we have an abundance of House Finches, along with the regular birds that we see on a daily basis. Yesterday when I feed the birds, I brought a feeder closer to the kitchen window, and now can stand at the sink and watch the birds as I do my duties that surround the kitchen sink. The feeder had visitors by the time I got back into the house.

Last evening we drove to Big Flats to a dinner sponsored by the EAA, was a good time for us to renew acquaintances from the flying world. The speaker was Earl Luce, and he has recently hand built a Buttercup plane and he told his whole story of the aircraft and how he drew all of his

own plans .Built the plane and successfully flew it to Oshkosh and received an award for doing so. He now has other men building the same plane with his hand drawn plans. All in all it was an enjoyable evening.

Lou spent one whole day shelling the Kentucky Wonder beans that we grew and dried. While he was doing that I set to job of baking Ginger-Bread Boys. I put a whole in the top of each and when they finish drying I will use homespun fabric to tie them on our Christmas tree. I am planning on an old fashioned Christmas tree, we want to string cranberries, and use some other dried fruits.

Our hobby room is full of items drying and awaiting the next step.

This week promises to be a busy week, Lou has two doctor's appointments, we have square dancing and a demo at The Green Home, and we are supposed to have two very nice days and we are in hopes we can get the motor home out and get it packed up while it is warm and store everything in his house until we take delivery of the new RV. We were going to transfer everything when we pick the new one up, but think this will be more orderly and perhaps warmer.

How about that Penn State Game, pretty thrilling!!!

Almost back to normal

November 2nd Tuesday - Election Day Beautiful Sunny Day

Our morning started out very cold, we had a very cold and frosty 17 degrees when we jumped out of bed. Our pine tree in the front yard was beautifully decorated by Jack Frost with a touch of frosting on each bough.

After breakfast, I ventured outside in the sunshine, while Lou caught up on some of his e-mail and reading. I was amazed at what a beautiful day it was, no wind and the sunshine was very warming. I was able to get all of our Autumn Joy trimmed off, along with some of the other late blooming perennials trimmed, that is another job to cross off our list for fall.

We had an appointment for Estee for a follow up for her respiratory infection at 2:30 this afternoon and Dr. Suresh checked her out and found that all symptoms that he had found previously have all abated, he pronounced her healthy. We were both elated to hear the good news. No CHF and no further studies at this time.

We stopped in Whitneyville to vote and found a good turn out, so tonight we will enjoy listening to the results, hoping we all made the correct decision.

Lou is finding that Dr. Nespola was correct in telling him that he would become fatigued quickly, so after the first attempt to accomplish a lot, we are taking each day slow. This weekend, we both rested, we found that we were both tired and our own bed felt good.

Sunday, Lou sporting his new purple shirt and tie and I attended church and were happily greeted by our church family. (Have you noticed home many news casters are wearing purple?) Our church body had grouped together to put new siding on the church parsonage on the weekend and it looks so good and all were glad the job was accomplished and pleased with their task.

After church, Lou and I went out for lunch at A Heck of a Place, which is owned by friends of ours. We enjoy eating there and always see someone that we know and catch up on the news of the neighborhood. The eating place is located three miles from our home.

Lou read the two newspapers in the afternoon and I caught up on our ironing while I fixed chicken for dinner. Lou did go out to the garden and dig the beets, completing the garden for another year.

Monday I spent the day cooking and freezing beets. Lou had dug a bushel of the scarlet gems, I froze 14 pints, and made six quarts of harvard beets. I was ready to sit down Monday night after cleaning up the mess of beet juice all over the stove and such. We know they will taste good this winter when it is snowing.

We were able to get our spouting cleaned out today and some adjustments made to the spouting on the house. Glad to be able to accomplish this job when the wind wasn't blowing. Let it snow we are ready.... almost...

Tomorrow is a day of errands in town and then to recycling in the afternoon and tomorrow night is square dancing.