Happy Birthday Celebration

January 28th - Friday - 24 degrees with three inches of fresh snow

Once again Lou and I got our morning exercise by shoveling the driveway, a job that we both enjoy doing. This is a pleasure to do with a blacktopped driveway. The majority of the shoveling is just walking the snow-shovel across the drive and throwing the snow off to the side. The gentleman that originally paved our driveway instructed us in the best way to shovel the drive to keep it from icing over and Mr. Fay knew what he was talking about, as it has never iced over by doing it his way. I shall always be grateful for his advice.

I have been a bit late getting the pictures of the roses and the cards posted, as Lou was gracious enough to share his cold with me and I now am reaping the rewards. Dr. Nespola has placed me back on Prednisone, Augmentin, Claritin D along with the rest of the meds I use for my breathing and sleeping is something I just think about with the huge amounts of Prednisone and if this keeps me out of the hospital, I am all for it.

We still haven't received the registration for the motor home, so we aren't going to be in any hurry. Actually, I am enjoying getting a few extra things done in the house that got neglected last year, lots of drawers cleaned out, files gone through, have helped Lou go through lots of his things, so we have used the time to our benefit and try to do extra things each day.

For my birthday, which was Sunday. The day was started out with a beautiful card from Lou, that he had purchased from my favorite card shop,

with a very special note and a gift of jewelry from him. We attended church together where I received many cards from our church family and after church we went out to dinner at one of our favorite places, Lamb's Creek Inn, and the owner, Nell sat beside us so we were able to catch up with her which is always a nice treat for both of us. Just as we were entering the restaurant, my grand-daughter, Michelle called me on my cell phone to wish me a happy birthday, she had just returned from church, she is the gal that is attending Elizabethtown College.

Susie called in the afternoon, she had sent a card with a gift certificate at my hairdresser, which was perfect timing, as Lou and I both had appointments on Wednesday. Susie and I had a nice chat and caught up on the news of the week and hung us and Krista called and said that she had baked me an apple pie and she and Steve would like to come down and spend the evening, so we put the coffee pot on and they brought the pie and ice cream down with a gift bag filled with goodies, mostly all my favorite Mary Kay products that I can keep in the RV, so I don't have to pack up the ones I have at home. Good thought! The card she gave me was really cute, you can see it in the picture, the cow, stating she lost her recipe for birthday cake, hope you like pies.... Jerry and Joanne sent me up a beautiful red scented candle to put in the motor home, but I couldn't wait, so I trimmed the wick and lighted it and the aroma is wonderful Baked Apple Pie, went right along with Krista's pie.

The next day a box of roses were delivered from Scott, they were beautiful. Two dozen assorted colors very tight buds that are just beginning to open,

this was a very special gift, as my late husband always bought roses for all of us "girls" for all occasions and I guess Scott remembered. In Ohio, when Al would drive home from work, he would drive past a florist and in front of the florist was a dog house and a "Snoopy" dog sitting beside of the dog house advertising "dog house special" for $1.00, so whenever Al would see that sign he would stop and buy the special. The girls would find roses on their pillows, and I would find them on the counter or in a vase all trimmed, we were all very spoiled. We always had fresh flowers in our home and after we moved to Pennsylvania. Al planted roses and I means lots of them, I think Lou and I counted 54 bushes. This year I was sick and couldn't put them "to bed", so Lou, bless his heart, methodically placed oat straw in and around 54 bushes to see them safely through the winter so all of us could still enjoy Al's roses again this summer.

Thank you family for making my day special.

Saga of the Pheasant Continues

January 25th Tuesday - Much warmer 20 degrees this morning with one inch of new snow.

You will note from the pictures our pheasant hen has stayed with us. I have put out a dish of sunflower seeds mixed with oatmeal and raisins and it seems that she likes all of it.

You will note that she wears very fashionable glasses. No one that I have talked to understands this; however, I remember when I was a child and living on our farm with my parents and raising broilers by the thousands, Daddy had a choice of having our baby chicks de-beaked or having them come with sun glasses all with the purpose of preventing the chicks from picking each other and drawing blood. My thought is that this pheasant was raised by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the idea that it would be released in the wild for hunting purposes in the fall and this was a lucky gal that escaped the hunter.

We have seen her fly back to the woods on occasion, but last night when we left for Bible study we noted she was snuggled up next to the house under a low bush and she was still there this morning. Lou is going to get some straw from the barn today and put down for her, as we are due for a snow storm tonight.

From the way things look she spent the night there when it was 22 degrees below zero on Monday night. She probably is safer and warmer there than in the woods across from the house. We have been enjoying watching her and we can walk out on the front deck and she just sits and watches us.

Lou and I have been taking advantage of this very cold weather, yesterday I spent the majority of the day, update medical records, getting them ready to travel, even had to update Estee's, but have them all done and ready to go.

Lou had to take his friend and his truck to the garage today, he had an accident so he had to have some body work done, and now the tractor needs more repair work done and it is tax time, for his friend, so need to start to think about that also.

I made home made pulled pork barbecue and a potato salad this morning for out dinner tonight with this heat wave, thought picnic food might taste good. Even made a delightful jello dessert.

Now it is time to get some lunch and want to work on some paper work this afternoon. Must get ready for the snow storm tomorrow!!

12 Below Zero Here in Pennsylvania

January 22nd - Saturday - 12 degrees below zero this morning - drifted snow everywhere

You can see from the pictures that we are running out of space to pile the snow by the garage. Yesterday when we went out to shovel our driveway of the six inches of newly fallen snow, our grandson, Shawn was just pulling into the driveway with his truck and snow blade. Lou and I were glad to see him, he made quick work of the drive and even took some extra time and helped finish up the hand shoveling. He was on his way to help out many other people on his list and Lou and I put on the finishing touches only to find out the wind was going to blow hard out of the north and fill it up again, so we did what was necessary and came into the house and decided we didn't have to go any place yesterday and made plans to finish the job today.

I closed up the blinds in the rooms that faced the north and had a fire in the fire place and spent the day enjoying catching up on magazines and a couple of cleaning projects.

I found a pillow in a magazine that I liked and thought it was pretty expensive. It was made from felted wool, of which, I have many colors ready to sew with, so I asked Lou if he could draw the sheep for me, and sure enough, he could and did, so I have it all ready to stitch on the felted black wool. Susie and I had started doing this several years ago and I really enjoyed doing it, in fact, I finished one project last year while we were traveling.

I also came up with a baby blanket pattern to make on circular needles. I wanted to make one for Krista, but have been waiting for her to find out if it were to be a boy or a girl and now that we know it will be a boy, I will await her color scheme and this will make a nice project to work on in the RV while we are traveling. My mother had always made all of the baby blankets and now that we don't have her with us, I will give it a try with knitting one. Guess if I can knit afghans, sweaters, socks, mittens and such, I should be able to do a baby blanket.

I have enjoyed doing the scarf for my coat, that I will be taking to Florida, in

the evening while we enjoy a movie. I have to admit, Lou's idea of winding two skeins of yarn together make this scarf so much easier and it is going much faster, but the needles are some that were my mothers and they are metal and I had gotten used to bamboo and that stitches slip off very easily, so I have to be very careful.

You will note the picture of the female pheasant. This morning when I cleaned off the front porch and walk, I noticed "large" bird prints, but thought perhaps a crow and dismissed the thought, but this afternoon, I slipped out the front door with my camera to take a picture of a drift and there she sat, so I was prepared. She was all settled down in our burning bush. Lou hasn't seen her yet, as once again, he is at his friends house working on that poor old tractor again.

Seems to be the time of the year for bad things to be happening. My brother had the misfortune of having a pig go between his legs and before he could get off of the pig, the pig took him for a ride and took him into a drinking fountain in the barn and broke some ribs, so he is in some serious pain. Thankfully, his son is able to help him with the chores, as the bales of hay and straw are heavy to lift with broken ribs. Families are great things to have close by when we need them and they are always so willing to help us out.

Everyone stay warm and be careful of the icy spots.

Cold Weather - Catch up Time

January 17th - Monday - Sunny 3 degrees this am

We were up early this morning, as Estee had a follow up doctor's appointment in Mansfield at 9:00 am. Her doctor found that she still has an UTI after two weeks of treatment with an antibiotic, so we are going to continue treatment for two more weeks. He did a complete physical and we went over all of her blood work. Lou and I are very pleased with his exam.

Sunday after church, we took Michelle out to breakfast to tell her goodbye, as she was on her way back to Elizabethtown College, we certainly have enjoyed having her home for the month. I had baked her some cranberry muffins and cookies for her to take back with her. The car was packed full.

Lou and I have taken advantage of this cold weather and have caught up on a few odd jobs that have gotten put aside. He has caught cold, so I didn't want him going outside until we get antibiotics into him and get the cold under control. Lou took a lamp that my father made years ago and replaced the three way switch and now the lamp works perfectly. I repainted to large herons that stand in my pond in our back yard and currently they are drying

in my hobby room. I hemmed a pair of slack that I purchased several years ago. I had ordered a yarn winder some time ago and it arrived and we had a good time winding up the yarn that I am working with, then Lou asked me if we could wind two kinds of yarn together and I didn't know, so we tried it and sure enough you can, so now it will make knitting my current project a little easier.

Finally, I was able to convince Lou that it would be good for him to take Estee and his book and have a nap before dinner, it nearly took an "act of congress" to get him to the bedroom, but he finally did lay down until dinner was ready.

While he was resting, I went out the front door, got the trash ready for pick up in the morning, replaced a light bulb on the outside of the garage and fed the birds for morning, so if we have the bad weather that is supposed to be coming, we are ready.

We have about decided we are not going to go south until after the middle of February. Our pastor and his wife are going to have a presentation of their two week trip to the Holy Land on the 13th of February and we want to be a part of that.

Pennsylvania Farm Show and Snow

January 12th - Wednesday - Snow - Windy - Cold - School and Square Dancing Canceled

Lou and I were up early Monday morning and met the bus at Benedicts and were off to the 95th Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, PA. My father always said the week of the Farm Show was the worst weather of the whole winter and I am beginning to think he was absolutely right. It was rather icy as our bus ventured out and thankfully we had a very cautious bus driver and we arrived safely. What a crowd we encountered. We were able to find a seat in the large arena and watched the opening ceremony which was very interesting complete with the Pennsylvania State Police on horseback and a sampling of each event that would be happening the rest of the week.

After the opening ceremony, Lou and I made a quick tour of the exhibits and the animals that were to be shown. Those of you that know me know where I headed first, the sheep and the horses and the alpaca. Then we went along to view the long horned steers, cows and then to follow our noses for some food.

On our way to find some tasty food, we passed the butter sculpture, which is always interesting. While standing in line for a great milk shake we saw one of Lou's grandsons waiting for the same thing so we had a chance to chat with him and later on we had a chance to chat with Lou's youngest daughter and her husband. All too soon, it was time for us to catch our bus back home.

We stopped at Country Cupboard for dinner which is always a delight and our dinner companions soon became friends with many things in common and friends in common also. We drove home in snow and bad roads and were met with a car that was snow covered and once home, we plowed through the snow to get into the garage.

Lou and I have gotten our exercise this week. We have used the snow blower and shoveled snow every day this week and today we awoke to six inches of snow. We have about decided that we may way until spring to go south, may be that long before we can get the RV out of the barn.

One good thing - Lou's friend's tractor has been repaired and he has plowed snow with it!!! Praise God!!

Reviving Old Lace

January 6th - Thursday - 3 degrees this Am with bright sunshine

This has been a very busy week for Lou and me. Monday we thought we would have to take Estee back to the doctor, for additional lab work, as her doctor felt she had pancreatitis, but after talking with him, she really had no symptoms that should accompany the virus, so we are going to wait a week and see what happens.

Tuesday, Lou was back at his friend's house helping with the tractor, a job that must be completed before we can leave for Florida. After the points and plugs were installed the tractor started and ran like a charm which actually surprised every one, but they found a leak in one of the hoses, so this afternoon, he is back up there replacing the hoses to the hydraulic system. Hopefully, this will solve the problem, as we are supposed to get snow tonight and his friend need the tractor to plow snow with.

Wednesday, was my breathing studies, of which I think went pretty well, I did well until they gave me medication to open up my pathways, then I just wanted to cough, as I wasn't able to take any of my medications in the morning before I went for my studies. We went square dancing last evening, and I opted out of wearing the little short skirts and enjoyed the warmth of my sweater and long pants and knee socks, as did most of the other ladies. It was good to see several couples out that we hadn't seen in some time, of course, several of our couples have already left for warmer climates.

Today was my appointment with the neurologist regarding my migraines, and Lou and I were both very impressed with him. He spent a good hour with us and went over many things with us. Several things are going to be changed, basically he is happy with the progress as we are and hopefully we will continue to see improvement. We know there is not a known cure, but improvement is a plus.

I am in hopes I can get our home cleaned up tomorrow and we have tickets to go with Benedicts to the Farm Show in Harrisburg on Saturday, and as soon as the weather warms up again we will get the motor home out again and get it finished up and get it ready to travel south. We have several jobs to get done prior to leaving, and we are working out a travel agenda, are planning something different this year.

The picture that I posted is a picture of the pillow cases we will use in the motor home. The wide lace on Lou's pillow case was hand made by Lou's mother many years ago and discarded and the lace in the shape of a "wedding bell" was made by my mother in 1973 and I removed it from a white pillow case I had kept and sewed it on matching pillow case for the motor home. Lou and I thought that would be a special touch for the new motor home and our new sheets.

Happy New Year - 2011

January 1st 2011 - Cloudy warmer - 46 degrees

Lou and I have taken advantage of the much warmer temperatures of the last few days and pulled the new RV from the barn and have worked on the inside trying to get the drawers lined and some of the things placed in permanent homes.

I think we can say our bedroom and the bathroom are finished with the exception of the final touches that make the rooms look like home and I will do them once we reach our first stop where we will stay for a few days.

We have decided that we truly do like our new purchase and look forward to spending the winter traveling south to parts unknown.

We both had a wonderful Christmas and every member in both of our families put a lot of thought and time into each gift, we received cook books for traveling in the RV, new towels and place mats for the RV, gift cards for Camping World, Restaurants, Walmart, Target, Book Stores, solar powered flashlights, clothing for fun and special occasions, pictures, special spices, drink mixes, puzzles, card games, books, movies, jams, jellies, hand made quilted wall hangings for the RV, a precious sheep wall hanging, such a variety of things and no duplications. We certainly enjoyed getting together will all of our families and watching all of the children and their anticipation of what was to come.

One of Lou's Grandson's came over and had dinner with us after Christmas and spent the evening with us and that is always a good evening. He is away at college so it is always good to catch up on his busy life as a student and his life as a working college guy. His girlfriend is a pre-med student, so both are busy folks. His other grandson is in the Army and did not get home for Christmas, but was able to spend some time with us at Thanksgiving and that was a special time for us also. This grandson was able to get to see Garth Brooks in concert this winter. One of the lucky guys!!

We have enjoyed Michelle being home from College also and she was off skiing last night, and found out she was a little out of shape. Said she guess she had missed her gym classed from high school. She was able to transfer her working hours from Hershey to Wellsboro, so can stay at home until mid January when she will head back to college at Elizabethtown. Think all of these kids need the break and hopefully will be a bit more rested up for that second semester.

Lou and I are off to Sue and Tim's for dinner tonight and this week will be a busy week. I have appointments for breathing studies and also an appointment with the neurologist, so hopefully will get some answers before the end of the month.

We had Estee to the doctor last week, and he did a lot of lab work, and called the end of the week and it looks like pancreatitis and he wants to do two more kinds of lab work before telling us what the final diagnosis is, so hopefully will know something there also. Will be an informative week.

Lou and I danced in the New Year. We really had a great turnout for our New Years Dance, at one time we had seven squares on the floor and still had people sitting down. Great night to be out, no freezing rain, or snow.

Happy New Year one and all.