MARCH 2023

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.

Big surprise. (not) It snowed again. AGAIN! My poor tulips will have to fight to survive since they have been coming up for the last couple of weeks.

I watched a lot of the Big 10 basketball tournament yesterday. Indiana University is "my" school. They have been really good this year. Yesterday, they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn from the inside. Penn State showed them how to do it.

Indy, how much snow did you get?

Beech, I sometimes watch YouTube videos. I'm not a cord cutter yet, but I'm getting closer by the day. I already have Amazon Fire, so I have a lot of choices to watch too. Regular cable TV is getting worse and worse. Years ago, we had 3 channels to choose from with nothing to watch. Now, I have 250 channels of nothing to watch.

Okay. I'm done being grumpy.

Saturday was a great day to work outdoors. I got the two medium size trees that fell on my fence the last time it snowed cut up and the electric fence restrung. The horses have been confined to the barn lot and they were very happy to be able to get out to the other side and run around. Monster, Tiberius and Lily were running three abreast. Monster with his great long legs was just galloping easy peasy, la-de-dah Tiberius was putting some effort into it and working a bit and throwing in a buck here and there, and little Lily was picking 'em up and and putting 'em down with a lot of determination, and yet they all stayed side by side.

It was a good thing that I got that all done on Saturday because Saturday night we got snow. The wet heavy kind. Not a lot but enough. And today we're getting the big fat fluffy flakes. It won't stick around long. It's suppose to be back up in the 50s later in the week. So far my daffodils have only sprouted the green leaves. I'm hoping they will burrow back in and bloom later.

And the snow continues.....

So does the rain..........It's finally slowing but supposed to start up again with a powerful wind..........
we shall see.

No damage here, thank God. Lovely day outside. Some puddles............GREAT DAY.

Horses are mad as they're still in so they can't tear up the pasture. Arena exercise only for running. Loose, no lunge line.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

This week:
We had a bit of snow, lots of very cold temps, a fair amount of rain, and today: Sunshine with 63 degrees!


Our fig tree is starting to sprout in its shipping box. I guess we had better plant it. Hopefully we've seen the last of the very cold stuff for the year.

Ark, don't put away your seal suit yet.  It's 50° today, but it's going to be in the 20s Saturday.  It's been "warm" enough to melt all the snow, but we have rain coming.  He who is paid to be wrong (as Liz used to say) says it's going to be up and down for the next week or so.

The other day we were talking about the lack of common sense.  I just saw an article explaining the "secret door" on the back of a toaster.  Apparently, there are a lot of younger people who don't know about the crumb tray built into every toaster.

Arizona has destructive flooding throughout the northern part of the state.............it's horrible but gradually
receding in some areas...............some people stuck up north Oak Creek..............

I only have one thing to say. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Sounds like a two or three quilt night...........I saw on the news that it is really cold at your house ELLEN.

It will be in the 40's here...........no flooding immediately here................Sun for tomorrow.

Everyone have a great evening........

FINALLY! It looks like we are going to have some better weather for the next week. Maybe I'll have something more interesting than a weather report to write about.

I know the stereotype trip to the BMV is long lines and disinterested clerks, but I have to say my first visit to the BMV in years went really well. They now have a kiosk just as you walk in the door to be able to do simple straight forward transactions such as plate renewals. I had a more complicated issue so needed to see a clerk. I walked in and took the ticket and my number was called immediately. My brother bought a small fishing boat and trailer a couple of years ago, but never got it registered / titled in his name because all his health problems started right after he bought it. He's going to have to sell it as he needs the cash and will never be safe for him to use it. I presented the clerk with my POA papers, the bill of sale and the title he was given. Everything looked like it was going to go smoothly until it was discovered that all I had was the title for the boat trailer, and not the boat. So now we have to go back to the seller and see if we can get the title for the boat itself. (That should be fun.) On my way out I used the kiosk to renew my plates as the clerk couldn't take care of that while I was with him. I was very pleased with my experience at the BMV and the clerk was very helpful.

Indy, here in my county they have a very efficient system at the BMV. I've never had to wait more than 2 or 3 minutes, at most. Well, there was one year when I had to wait longer. It was my own fault for putting it off until the last minute.
This year, I did the renewals online. That's quick and easy too.

Okay, gang. We need to circle the prayer wagons for Jamie, the mother of the three little girls. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. So far, it is small. I just got the word a few minutes ago. We need to pray for rapid and permanent healing. Those little girls need her; she's a very good mother.

INDYAPP:
I thought you had a typo going with "BMV" , then ELLEN used the same letters! In Virginia it is the DMV, and I don't think it is as nicely advanced as your BMV. Or at least, not the last time we used it just before the Covid pandemic. We got our licenses changed to the "Real ID" so that we could use our drivers licenses for proof of identity. Kind of like passports, but for in the US for plane travel and such. We took a lot of documents and jumped thru a bunch of hoops, but finally got the darn things. Not a fun couple of trips. It was easier to get our passports.


ELLEN:
You were right. It got cold again over the weekend. Windchills down to around 10 degrees. Ewww.....It's warming back up again today and will be 73 on Thursday and Friday!! We are supposed to take Ivan to Pandapas Pond on Friday....if my riding partner doesn't change her mind again.

I will send lots of positive thoughts toward your friend. Hopefully they have caught it early and can take care of it completely.

Ark, I have no idea why ours is the Bureau of Motor Vehicles as opposed to Department of Motor Vehicles.  I haven't gotten a Real ID yet, but probably will this fall when my driver's license expires.  I'll TRY to get all the required stuff together before I go and hope for the best.

Hi Everybody,

It's currently raining here again. We need it here but the high country is flooded badly.

Sure hope they diagnosed Jamie early enough so the cancer is an inconvenience at most. There are new treatments
that are well tolerated. The fear and worry are the enemy. Hugs and prayers surround her from here.



Have a great day everyone..............

Bad news this afternoon. One of my friends broke her leg yesterday. She broke the same leg about ten years
ago. I don't know the details yet but know she needs prayer.

Graymare, I am praying for quick healing for your friend. I hope she has the help she's going to need for a while.

Prayers going out for the little girl's mother and for the broken leg victim. The power of prayer is amazing.

Getting the REAL ID isn't too bad unless your name has changed since birth. So men get it easy. I had a client who had multiple marriages and she had to document all of the name changes with her birth certificate, first marriage, first divorce, second marriage, second husband's passing, and then the third marriage. Fortunately when I got divorced I took back my maiden name so all I had to come up with was my birth certificate and I think my Social Security card and drivers license.

My brother was released from the rehab center yesterday. It took all day. I was there by 9:30 to meet with the wound nurse to know how to change his bandages and we finally were able to sign all the releases and get his meds by 12:30. I got him home, went down into the basement to throw a load of clothes into the washer. While I was down there he flushed the toilet and water came pouring down into the basement! His son's family had been considerate put a bucket under the pipe to catch most of the water. But other than that they hadn't done anything, or let me know there was a problem. Called a plumber. Got a temporary fix, but ultimately will need to replace the subfloor around the toilet. By the time I got all his meds sorted and the plumber, and the laundry it was 4:00. What a day. I got a follow up appt scheduled for him to see the surgeon on Friday and we'll see what happens after that.

Bill's sister passed unexpectedly and the services are on Saturday in Sparta MI which is a couple of hours from here.

I received good news today regarding my friend............she is in Vanderbilt Med Center, I don't know
what unit but she is now back in her room after two surgeries. She has to go to rehab, I don't know when.
I'm sure she will be laid up for quite awhile but will get home again. GOOD NEWS.
She is tough with a determined attitude so I am happy for her progress to begin.

Oh gads INDY you sure have a plate full right now............Prayers from here.

ELLEN, any news on JAMIE?

Everyone stay safe & warm................

Graymare, I'll keep praying for your friend to have a faster than expected recovery.
I haven't heard any more about Jamie.

Indy, you sure have a lot to keep track of.

INDYAPP:
Wow. When do you have time to breathe? I am sorry about Bill's sister..... And glad your brother is out of the rehab. Take a breath.....

Our Real ID took a lot of paperwork: birth certificates, marriage certificates, SS card, driver license, property tax paper to prove we lived in this county, and recent utility bill. Plus $35 each. A bunch of garbage paperwork to get a little star put in the corner of our driver's license whose date wasn't even extended. The passports cost more, but were a lot less trouble to get. Then Covid hit and there was no way we were going to get on a plane anyway for a long time.


GRAYMARE:
Poor friend! I hope she heals up fast. How did she break her leg?


It was 74 degrees today with sunshine in the afternoon! Donnie trimmed Ivan's feet, then we gave him a bath. Ivan was not amused. He is going to Pandapas Pond tomorrow and was so incredibly filthy. I put a sheet on him this evening after he spent some time in the arena to dry. Hopefully he will stay clean overnight.

ARK, I don't know exactly how she fell.......in a very brief discussion she said she fell reaching for her desk in socks
and slipped. She did not pass out. I will get details when I talk to her on the phone.

Everyone have a safe and healthy day.

GRAYMARE:
 I can see slipping on tile or hardwood floor in socks while over reaching.  Poor friend.  A lesson for us all.  


Ivan's bath lasted well until the next day.  It's the first time his mane had been white since last summer.  He is such a mud puppy.  He hasn't shedded out yet, so got hot on our ride at Pandapas Pond yesterday.  It was 80 degrees with actual sunshine in the afternoon!  Ivan's cheery attitude has continued.  I can't believe he is the same horse I fought with for so long.   He led the other two horses for five miles on a loose rein, didn't spook at the two deer that crossed our path, and seemed genuinely happy all afternoon.    He was a bit concerned when 3 ladies of a certain size stepped back into the woods to get out of our way without saying anything.  They were pretty far ahead of us and I think Ivan was sure they were bears.  After I got the ladies talking, Ivan passed them by easily.  He just stood and stared, didn't do his old spin and bolt routine he used to do when he was younger.  Age has certainly improved him.    
Today he is back to his mud covered self....

Clean Ivan on the way to the trailer:

Really nice photo ARK.............Ivan is a beauty................