September 2021

What a wonderful story GRAYMARE.

I don't know if you'll make it to October 1st without turning on your furnace ELLEN. It got pretty chilly last night. I discovered this morning when I got up that Bill had turned on the furnace at some point since yesterday morning.

It's raining and it rained most of the night. Not major storms, just rain. But sometime in the night a big tree limb came down at my brothers. I'll be buzzing it up with the chain saw this weekend. Unfortunately it came down on a section of the wood fence. So I need to figure out how to fix that. I don't know if you can just buy replacement boards, its the dog eared type of fence, or if I'll need to replace the whole panel. I need about 4 or 5 boards or 1 panel. Ironically, the city is picking up the tree limbs piled at the curb from the last storm this morning. I wanted to ask them to just reach over further with the arm they use to pick up limbs and grab this one. Unfortunately it needs to be cut into smaller pieces. It's probably 20 feet long and about 8 inches in diameter.

Indy, nope. Didn't make it. I turned on the furnace this morning when I got up.
We've had a lot of rain too, and some pretty good winds during the night. It blew a lot of leaves off the cottonwoods.

GRAYMARE:
What a sweet story about the blind girl and the cat. Cats are really underrated, they do some great things. When I was sick 12 years ago, Kumquat sat with me all the time while I recovered. She still does at 14 years old when I come in tired or cold. I heard a story the other day about a cat in Great Britain who showed rescuers where his 83 year old owner had fallen into a deep hole. Really good cat.


INDYAPP:
We had a ton of rain this week, but it is gone now. There were about 5 inches of water in our chicken's rubber dish. It's supposed to be sunny, if a bit cooler, for the next week. We haven't added any heat to the house yet, but have been getting firewood in for the winter..... Sorry about your tree damage. Good thing you know how that chainsaw works!!!

ELLEN:
Well my friend who was going with us on the boat trip has hurt her back, so she and her husband aren't going with us on our adventure tomorrow. I hate that she had to cancel, but Donnie and I will have a good time. We've never run around in a pontoon boat before, hopefully we won't crash it somewhere . My friend's husband is the nautical type. Donnie can fly a plane, surely he can drive a pontoon boat! (I hope)... I'll let you know....

Oh good grief.  I was textingng with a friend and another friend broke in and said "urgent"......
My friend's husband died........autopsy report not available yet..........he had a kidney transplant
4 years ago.  Anyhow, that's all I know right now.

I'm still in shock.

Ohhhh nooo. I'm so sorry!

Ark, how was your boat ride?

ELLEN:
 We had a great time today!!  I can see the attraction to pontoon boats now.  We explored the lake for 3 1/2 hours and had lunch floating near a cliff.   The day was chilly, 65 degrees, but very sunny.  Donnie enjoyed driving the boat and I had fun being the passenger/stewardess.     We went from one end of the lake to the other and back.  We saw the dam on one end that created the lake out of the New River.   At times we had the lake to ourselves and never saw more than a couple of boats at a time.  It was a good time to be out on the water.  I am sure we will do this again.

 

Graymare:  So sorry about your friends husband.  In the blink of an eye our lives can change dramatically. Loved the kitty cat story.  Cats are way smarter than people give them credit for.

Ark:  Nothing more fun than cruising around on a pontoon boat, it's such a relaxing experience.

Ellen:  It's cold here too, 48 this morning but I refuse to turn on the furnace yet...it's too early.  We had terrible rain on Thursday.  Torrential downpours for about 12 hours.

Indyapp:  Enjoy your Saturday breakfast with old friends.  Nothing like getting together with friends after not seeing them for a long time.  Sorry about the storm damage.  Good thing you have that chainsaw and can use it.

All is quiet here, I went up to my neighbors yesterday to take her mail and newspaper to her.  Her daughter left on Thursday.  She was moving around pretty good with her walker.  Told me she is not moving closer to her daughter no matter what they say.  Stubborn old girl, she is a tough cookie.

Our farmer neighbor brought us a 1/4 beef yesterday.  $3.20 a pound, sure beats the grocery store price of between $6 for ground beef and $17 a pound for steaks.    Thank God for great neighbors.

Have a great weekend everyone.  Stay safe & healthy.

Ark, there are more pontoons around here now than boats.  Almost every house has a pontoon parked next to the dock.  They will carry a lot of people.  People who don't have a good swimming area use them as swim platforms. Many of them will anchor on this lake to spend an afternoon swimming.
On the bigger lakes, some of them have twin 300 horse power motors that can easily pull skiers and tubes.  Some of them are very high end with luxury recliners.
Now that the water is a little cold for swimming, the pontoons reign.  High powered fishing boats are out early in the mornings now.

Trudy, I wish I had a neighbor who would sell me beef for that price.  I can get a quarter or a half, but it's hundresds of dollars.
I'm glad your neighbor is doing well.  I can understand her reluctance to move.  

Indy, today is going to be a good day to work outside.  I hope you can get that limb chopped up without too much trouble.

GRAYMARE, so sorry to hear of the sudden death of your friend's husband. I don't know what is worse, the pain and confusion for the survivor of a sudden death, or the pain and confusion of the victim of a lingering death.

It was a beautiful weekend. I ended up not having to deal with the tree limb after all. The neighbor who mows my brother's front yard took care of it for a small fee. Well worth the price. That just left me fixing the fence. That was funny. I had three different neighbors watching from a distance what I was doing. Eventually two of them ended up coming over to get a closer look. One used taking his little dog for a walk. The dog was adorable, it was a little rag mop that was wearing a sun visor. The other came over when my brother saw him peaking out of his garage and called him over. They talked and supervised while I did the work. I think the third one checked out the finished job after I left. But the fence is fixed and Dan's two little dogs are safely contained in the backyard once again.

Breakfast with the friends was great. We ended up taking up space at the restaurant for close to 2 hours. The waitress got a nice tip.

Hi all,

I didn't realize the magnitude of my friend"s illness prior to his death.  He had kidney
disease and ha a transplant and did well for a long time.  He then developed cancer
and went into remission.  Then had a relapse which I knew about but didn't
realize he rejected treatment at that time.  At that time he said "no more"............
that was about eight mos ago.  Hmmmmmmmmm.  I don't know what to say but his
end of life was good without chemo or radiation.  He made his own decisions and his
daughter (an adult and married) agreed.  He was tired of being ill.  He was a big strong
athlete and a lot of fun...............a good husband, father and grandfather.

Nothing else new here..........We're waiting for Mederna to be released for boosters.

Hope all is well with everybody here...........

Graymare, I'm so sorry about your friend. But, he got to do things on his own terms.

We've had a beautiful weather week. However, there is a house across the lake that is doing some exterior remodeling that has had them jackhammering concrete all day everyday for three days. It is LOUD! Guess I'll just have to take the jet ski for some exercise on the big lake.

GRAYMARE:
 That is so sad about your friend's husband.....   I hope your friend is doing okay.

INDYAPP:
 I miss sitting in restaurants for hours with friends.  One I do it with the most won't take the vaccine and I won't sit in an enclosed area with an unvaccinated person.  We are sort of at an impasse.  I hope she doesn't get the virus, but you can't make a horse drink even if you take it to water.  
 Congrats on getting the tree cleared up!


TRUDY:
 Your friend might do well with one of those devices that tells someone if they fall.  Next watch I get I am going to have that as part of it.  It will call 911 if you don't respond after falling, then call designated friends.  I am more worried about falling off of a horse in the woods than in my house, but it would hopefully work there, too.  My cardiologist wants me to get a watch with a built-in EKG.  wow.  Watches have really evolved...

ELLEN:
 Donnie may have caught the boat-bug.  He has been looking at homebuilt boats online.  He won't be building one in our basement, we don't have a basement...   He is interested in a little tugboat looking boat right now.  That should keep him busy for a few years of his retirement.   We'll see if he maintains his interest.

Ark, if he is at all interested in woodworking, there are some canoe and kayak kits that turn out absolutely gorgeous boats. They aren't cheap and they take a long time to build, but they are just beautiful.
A few years ago, I was out in my kayak and met a rather large group of kayakers. Two of them had built their own kayaks. Those two stood out from the rest in a big way.
You can even get folding kayaks that can travel in a big duffle bag; assembled in minutes. Ages ago, a couple I knew had one that was a tandem and they both could ride in it easily.
And, no. They are not all easily tipped over. Mine is a very stable boat.

oohhh, I really like the little tug boat. Isn't there a children's story about a little tugboat? Or maybe I'm thing about The Little Engine That Could.

I came in early this morning to finish getting ready for an appointment with a client at 9, only to discover the appt is at 10:00. My Bad. Hopefully the rest of the day will go better.

ELLEN:
I think Donnie is more interested in chugging along without using oars. We'll see if he maintains this interest, but he has been researching homebuilt boats quite a bit.

INDYAPP:
Well you made me look. I googled children's tugboat books and discovered quite a few. Tuffy, Tuggy, Scuffy, and Little Toot are all tugboat kids' books. I had no idea....


Today we are using a rented ditch witch type machine to dig a trench down to the barn for the water line and an electric line. The water line has leaked for years, been repaired several times, and still leaks. When the arena was built, the bulldozer plowed into the water line and stretched it, causing breaks. The electric line is okay, but Donnie wants to increase the power down at the barn and add some cable to it. He has radio antennas he wants to build, of course. It keeps him busy.

Gotta go help him.....

Ark, thanks for saving me the time to look up children's books about Tugboats. I knew there was at least one; I remember the picture on the cover of the Golden Book. I think it was Little Toot.

Time to change the calendar!!

Go to: https://horsefriends.forumotion.com/t122-october-2021#13810

Or click on Basket, then click on October 2021