MARCH 2023

Happy March!!

Spring is trying to get here as quick as it can here. We have daffodils starting to bloom! It is 62 degrees with light winds and sunshine today. March is coming in like a lamb


I met our future farm sitter this morning. I think she will do well, she seems very capable. A friend of mine is going to keep Shadow, our collie, while we are on vacation, so he won't have to stay without company or in a kennel all day. It should work out fine. So our trip is on!!

That's great news ARK.........you & DONNIE deserve a break...........

My friends are doing well at their new home. It's a huge change for them but they aren't complainers.
They join friends around the fireplace in main lounge for cards. They love cards. They seem to
be adapting well.

Arizona has huge snow storms in the mountains with many schools and highways closed. We are to
have a huge rain tonight..............the weather reporters are not reliable......LOL

Everybody stay warm & happy............

Ark, my neighbor did fantastic with the heart valve replacement. I think they went in through the femoral vein rather than open surgery. He says he feels great today. No discomfort at all.

I took my neighbor with the broken back for her appointment to get the staples out of her incision. 30 staples. Very quick and efficient appointment. She's doing better but still has considerable discomfort and isn't allowed to bend over yet. Inconvenient and frustrating, but improving. Her husband is staying with the three little girls while Dad and Mom are snowmobiling in upper Michigan. They'll be back tomorrow.

I am currently enjoying a chocolate milkshake that we got on the way home.

Today is a beautiful day, sunny and 60°.

INDY, is your brother doing any better? Hope so, for sure.

March definitely came in like a lamb. Yesterday was sunny and warm. Today is perma-cloud and damp. Tomorrow we're suppose to get hit hard but it is still unknown whether it will be with rain or snow.

My brother is doing much better, thank you all for your prayers and for asking. He is still in the hospital but they are working towards releasing him to a rehab center. First he was approved for two different facilities, one here in Elkhart and one in Goshen, the next town going east. I went to tour the Elkhart facility on Tuesday and talked to the admitting person. Wednesday found out that facility had withdrawn their availability. I don't know why. I have my suspicions and if what I believe happened did, I don't want him there anyway. I'm still trying to get with the case worker to get details. The facility in Goshen is the one SAPP was in for a while. It's actually a nicer facility than the one here in Elkhart, just farther away.

I learned a lot about windows last night. I met with a representative of a window company last night to talk about replacing my sliding glass door. I about had heart failure. If I would have signed last night I could get the door for just $66 a month for the rest of my life. Worked out to be something like $5,000 with an interest rate of not more than 9.9% depending on my credit score. I kind of stopped listening as soon as I saw the $5,000 figure so I don't know how long the term was but at 10% it might as well be for the rest of my life. The sales pitch was very enlightening and he demonstrated the heat loss my current windows have and how the super-duper energy efficient windows he represents would reduce my energy costs by at least 40%. If it cost 5K for one sliding glass door I was afraid to ask what it would cost to replace my windows. I think a new sliding glass door may just go back towards the bottom of my projects list.

As old as our windows are, they work just fine............Window salesmen are full of ....................you can buy them
at Home Depot very reasonably............

Indy, go to Lowes or Home Depot and price their sliding doors.  Then find a contractor or good handyman to install it.  I just looked at the Lowes website. Their prices range from just under $500 up to around $2000 for one that is fancy. Just replacing a door that is already there should only take a couple of hours work.
I'm glad to hear that your brother is improving.  The place where Sapp was is a nice place.  I went to see her there.

I had follow-up appointments Tuesday and today.  All is really good and the med dosages are reduced.  Call me a happy camper.  

Big congratulations ELLEN...........

INDYAPP:
$5000 for one sliding door? Holy crap. That company is a ripoff. Makes you wonder how they sleep at night. Yep, Lowes.
I hope your brother lands in the best place.


ELLEN:
Hurray for the good outcome!


Rain is heading our way.

Well, that was interesting. Night before last we had some rain/snow/sleet and strong wind that plastered it onto my sliding glass doors. The glass was completely covered with the wet stuff. Early yesterday morning the temperature came up and the wet stuff slid down the doors to the ground taking the dirt from the glass with it. So, my doors are clean and I didn't have to do the work.
I'd been waiting for a decent weather day to do some window washing. Now, I don't have to. Well.... at least not those windows.

I had the honor of going to the draught horse show on Friday. I was in awe Now that the show has really
grown, it was huge. I was like a child in a candy shop.

There were 16 teams of 6 horse hitches, women, kids, teens, dogs, and hundreds of people. There was one team from
Indiana ELLEN. They were from all over the country.............I LOVED. IT. No way could I manage one. I watched
all classes with real interest and learned a lot. Did you all know the lead horses are smallest, the swing team
a bit larger, and the pull team is the largest. It was an interesting tid bit of info and makes perfect sense. You wouldn't
notice. Those show harnesses are magnificent.

I heard one gal say "I don't get it, they just go in circles"..............I guessed she lived in circles........Oh brother.

Nothing more to say..............Just pure pleasure and elagance..............

Indiana has quite a few big draft teams. Did they demonstrate backing a wagon into a "loading dock" at a 90° angle, and then pulling out in the opposite direction? I've seen that done a number of times and it never fails to be impressive to see 12 tons of horses moving so precisely.
Years ago, my dad did some pinstriping on a few of those big dray wagons. One of them was bright yellow with green pinstriping. He did the sides boards, the under carriage, the spokes on the wheels, and the double tree. It was beautiful when he got it done.
A while ago, I saw a video of the Budweiser team being unharnessed and loaded in their semi trailers. They took each horse, one at a time to do the whole process. The others stood like statues waiting their turn. Those horses are also rideable. When they need to exercise them at overnight stops, they ride one and pony one.
The harness for them can be up around $20,000 each. Do you remember seeing some sets of harness at the tack shop in Shipshewana?

Yes, ELLEN, they did the back up and turned................it was GREAT.

Also, there wast an old beer wagon from California that was used in Yellowstone........
Kevin was not there tho.

Where is everybody?

GRAYMARE:
Sounds like a fun horse show! I like watching those big drafts back and turn those wagons, too. Glad you had a good time!

ELLEN:
Perfect way to clean those doors! Windows and doors are no fun to clean. Did you take pix of the work your dad did on those wagons? I bet they were beautiful. Digital cameras have sure changed what we all take photos of. I wish we had them many years earlier.


I rode Ivan today, it was just too pretty not to ride. We are still working on his hackamore, but are zeroing in on what to do to stop his snorting. He was really good today, although like those dirty windows, I wish I had a way to magically clean Ivan up. He has spent all winter rolling in the mud and has stained his hair. No amount of brushing is going to clean that guy.

We bought a new room sized rug for our tv room. I am tired of the old one. It spent the day today outside trying to air out. I don't know what the chemicals are that they use when making rugs, but it gives me a rip-roaring headache. I think if the weather holds, it should air out enough tomorrow, it's already better. Wrestling the rug was fun....

Ark, there are no pictues of the wagons. It was YEARS before digital cameras. At that point, I didn't even have a film camera. It's too bad because they were very pretty.

I find the draft horse teams amazing. I saw a video a week or so ago where the Budweiser team was doing the turn ELLEN described and it did not go as planned. However, no horses were hurt and the horses not involved stood like statues while everyone was untangled. The horse that when down evidently got tangled in his harness while he was down and when he was given to go ahead to get up he couldn't. He then stayed on the ground quietly while they removed the harness and when he was given permission, he carefully got up and was led from the arena. The training of those horses is amazing. I would like to thing that my guys would stay calm while I was working on them, but I'm pretty sure they would panic after being given the ok to get up and then not be able to.

INDY, I watched the video of the clydesdale team in San Antonio. Whew, no horses hurt. It's what
I expected from a team of excellence. They tirelessly work for those horses.....it's what is demanded
to even work with the clydesdale team.

Even younger I couldn't have qualified.............

I came across that video of the Budweiser team near-disaster, too, and ended up horrified and glued to it right to the end, expecting, I suppose, the worst. But I ended up astounded at how fast the attendants sprang into action, starting with a driver immediately leaping off the wagon and racing up front to grab the harness at the foremost horse -- then by how many other horse people materialized from nowhere, each seeming to know just what to do -- while all the horses, yes astoundingly, remained stone-quiet. The drama built when it became apparent that one horse, barely visible in the middle of the mess, was down, and it increased as, after they removed some of the team, you could see him, still in the tangled harness, struggling to get up. Oh mercy, I thought, broken legs and stabbings and more for sure! But, still on the ground, he quieted while they disentangled him, and what a relief to see them slip the collar up his neck and over his head and lead him, along with all the others, quietly away, all apparently fine! And, when the audience then roared to life with its own loud approval, none of those horses seemed even slightly distracted. Whew.....!
 
I live on YouTube these days, and that was my excitement there for the week.
Those who saw it: forgive me for reliving it here.
 
Not counting snow among excitements. We had snowstorms about every other day for -- I think it was two weeks. The last one dropped about 12 inches on top of 10 on the ground, but the weather's been so warm that a huge amount of it all has now melted. Temps in the low 40s today and the sound of dripping, dripping, dripping..
 
Got in trouble yesterday by forgetting to use my Trelegy. For me. that stuff works. Almost worth what it costs.

Hello everyone. Yes, we are still alive here in PA. Crazy weather continues, 60 degrees one days and snow and ice the next. 2 upcoming snow storms starting on Saturday. Our last storm was a total of 2" but people were freaking out. We have developed the attitude of the Amish...Look out the window....The weatherman has NO CLUE. So ready for springtime to arrive.

We finished the painting on the enclosed patio and now are waiting for the floor guys to show up so we can get the room back to normal. It looks so strange being almost empty. Next project the window replacement. Hopefully that will be the last project but I doubt it...

George has decided that he isn't going to drive any longer. Praise God. The neuropathy in his feet is becoming a problem. Whiplash city..our younger neighbor (she is 62) has volunteered to become the driver of his baby truck....thank you Jesus for sending us Bev. The stress of me driving his truck was just too much for both of us. LOL

Hang in there everyone. Even when I am absent from the forum, my Foop friends are in my prayers,

Some evenings I feel very smart on Jeopardy, some evenings I feel like a true idiot..............

What are we to do about that? Go back to advanced studies I guess................

Or just turn off the TV, duh.

Sometimes I feel really smart when they do those man-on-the-street interviews with young people. It seems that they know absolutely nothing about common knowledge.

ELLEN:
Those man on the street videos make me sad. And mad..... Such ignorance and no desire to do better about it.


BEECH:
I think I missed what Trelogy is. For arthritis? Your snow sounds terrible. Stay warm! How's the woodworking going?

GRAYMARE:
I saw the Budweiser cart wreck awhile back. Those people were amazing, and the horses were incredible. What a disaster that could have been.
I bet the area you are in gets lots of nice horsey events!

We still haven't had anything but an occasional flurry here. No snow accumulation at all. That may change this Sunday, though. We have snow on the forecast. The daffodils and blooming forsythias and trees may suffer.

We had some fairly warm days this week, which was lucky because we bought rugs to replace the ones in our living and tv rooms. When you unroll a new rug, the smell just about knocks you out. We were able to air the rugs out for three days and reduce the horrible formaldehyde smell considerably. They look nice, too.

Graymare: Give up Jeopardy and regular TV and go to YouTube videos, and watch them on your TV! Whatever your interests, there's something there to expand your knowledge, and you get to pick it.  And you're smart enough to sort the wheat from the chaff! That way you always come away enriched -- and sometimes in ways you don't expect. I regularly watch: multiple English-canal narrowboaters (try Floating our Boat, or Well Deck Diaries, or Holly the Cafe Boat, or My Narrowboat Venture, or Foxes Afloat  -- though the Foxes re now filming their new life homesteading in the Scottish highlands); mudlarkers who dig objects out of the Thames and elsewhere (the best is Nicola White's Tideline Art, and she fills it engagingly with history, as well as, sometimes, her remarkable art); a Dutchman who's single-handedly restoring a hardscrabble property high in the Italian Alps (Martijn Doorlard -- his scenery is absolutely spectacular); a mechanic who goes by the name of Mustie1 who films himself, alone, restoring combustion engines of any and all sorts (and sometimes whole vehicles, bodies and all) while explaining just what he's doing and why. I am in absolute awe of the breadth of his knowledge about such engines, of the tenacity with which he tackles the toughest of challenges -- and of his calmness and geniality. He has a huge fan club and I'm in it! (He inspired me to fix two lawn mower carburetors, and he continues to inspire me away from my family's habit of swearing toward his of solving!

YouTube videos also let you watch the late-night talk shows and others on your own schedule, and without most ads.

ARK - Trelegy is for breathing! It's my troubles with that that's got me immobilized for hours in front of the TV now.  Hoping that spring will change that.