NOVEMBER 2023

Indy, I got two gallons of cider at Miller Cider Mill about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I finished off the first gallon within a few days. The second gallon sat a little longer. This evening, I thought I would have a glass. Nope. It was well on it's way to being vinegar. Didn't drink it.

I've never been an apple cider fan, but didn't know it would turn to vinegar so fast. Can you use the vinegar for vinegar type things? Cooking or cleaning or something?


I really dislike the short days this time of year. I can't seem to get much done besides taking care of the barn, then it's dark. Sunset today was at 5:13 pm.

Donnie and I did get a load of sawdust today for stall bedding. It's not unloaded, but is waiting in the truck for us. We should have enough on hand to go thru Christmas now.

I am still walking like Chester on Gunsmoke.

Good Morning everyone.

My brother celebrated his 92 birthday on Saturday.  YAY....He is doing much better since they have his meds under control.

Saturday I went to our church with my girlfriends to see a play, the church did The Sound of Music.  OMG the vocalists...what tremendous voices.  Over 3,000 people attended the play in the 3 days they performed it.

On Friday Adam delivered our Soldiers Cross.  He made it with a chainsaw.  OMG it is beautiful..What a talented kid he is with the chain saw.  I'll send a photo to Ark later.

Graymare: Good to see you post here.

ARK:  Ouch on the foot issue..That stuff really hurts.

ELLEN:  Congrats on the walk in shower...so much safer than trying to get into a normal tub/shower.

Have fun everyone getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Can't believe it is almost here.

Great pictures, Trudy. Your brother looks good. And so do you.
I love the wooden carving of helmet and boots.

It's a little early, but here is some Christmas music.  These girls are really GOOD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUJRZRymd1I

Happy Birthday,  ELLEN!!





   

TRUDY:
Your brother is certainly a good looking 92 year old fellow! You are looking good, too! I am glad he is feeling better.

The chainsaw artist is really talented!



We are staying home for Thanksgiving. I am not sure what we'll have for dinner. I figure I will dash to the store on Wednesday and make a decision....

Thank you, Ark. It's been a good day so far. In a little while the neighbors and I are going to one of our favorite places for supper. I see fried chicken in my near future. LOL

I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on cooking on my TV. There are soooo many good ideas. I have some puff pastry that I'm going to play with. How to make a hotdog look gourmet? Lay out the pastry, cut it into squares, spread some mustard, put the hotdog and some cheese on it, roll it up and bake it.

Happy Birthday Ellen. A little late but still always good to get birthday wishes. I just got a birthday gift from my freind in FL yesterday, a little late but I can celebrate any time.

Turkey day is almost here. We are having chicken. Neither of us really like turkey so why torture ourselves? I'll make a pumpkin pie. Gotta have a homemade pie.

Set our 3 Christmas trees up and they are ready to decorate. Not using that huge old tree that always causes fights. Our worst fights over the years have been over the stupid Christmas trees. Downsizing around here. The dining room will become a Christmas tree forest this year. 4 small trees instead of the monster. I love putting the ornaments on the trees. So many of them are special ornaments from family and friends. Each one holds a memory of someone I love. I still have managed to keep the tree alive that grandson Aaron gave me when he was 5, he is now 31 and the tree still lives on in-spite of my non green thumb.

Have a nice Thanksgiving holiday.

Starting Friday, I will get my Christmas tree up. The new one I got last year shouldn't take very long to set up and decorate.
I'm still working on painting the bathroom. It seems to take me forever to get anything done. It's all primed and ready to paint now. Maybe that won't take as long.
My cousins have decided to draw names this year instead of all of getting things for everybody. The cousin who will manage the drawing is going to rig it for me. I want Matt's name so I can get him a wetsuit for when he puts the dock in the water and takes it out. The water is usually pretty chilly when he does that. It won't be a top of the line wetsuit, but he only needs it twice a year. Amazon has some that are within my price range.

The Curse of Oak Island has resumed this season. Whether or not they actually find a treasure, there are a lot of great stories. They have found so many artifacts from time periods from 600 AD up through 1800. That has been a very busy little island. All the scientific testing they have done gives a strong indication that significant amounts of gold and silver are underground. Since the natural soil has no gold or silver, it must have been placed there by somebody a loooong time ago.

I haven't even thought about a Christmas tree yet. You folks are ahead of me! Christmas is sneaking up on us...


We are staying home for Thanksgiving. In fact, we can't even run to the store for last minute goodies. Why? Because Donnie has finally caught Covid. He nearly passed out at the dentist office on Monday, we thought it was a reaction to the antibiotic he has to take because of his artificial knee while having dental work done. Nope. We tested him Tuesday and he tested positive. We went to a Mexican restaurant on Saturday and suspect he got it there. So far, I am fine and sleeping on the livingroom couch. Donnie is better today, Wednesday, than he was yesterday. He had a nice fever and slept all day, he said he felt like he had the flu. It rained all day long,making taking care of the barn work more difficult without him. Since he has retired, I have gotten spoiled with having help. Anyway, he already seems better. We just got updated booster shots about 10 days ago, hopefully they are helping to keep the virus from being worse.

Sooo, we are having chicken from the freezer with dressing, gravy, greenbeans, and maybe squash for Thanksgiving. I am thankful i had it in the freezer.... (And that Donnie is doing better already!)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Ark, I hope Donnie gets over it fast. One of my neighbors got it two weeks ago. He had three rough days, then got better and tested negative at 7 days. He said it was like a bad cold.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FOOPY FRIENDS.
I'm off to Ohio for the day.

We've Finished eating and I'm stuffed.  I'm so happy and thankful for all of you.  It means a lot.
I have a small group of friends here so I will add more later.

I'm back home, full of turkey, ham, dressing, the BEST mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, corn casserole..... There were a lot of us there and nobody left hungry.
I am very grateful for my cousins.
I am also very thankful for all of you!

GRAYMARE:
So good to see you posting! What have you and your crew been up to lately? How ya feeling?


ELLEN:
your dinner sounded wonderful. We ended up having canned soup since Donnie was feeling worse today and didn't want to eat much. I guess we will have Thanksgiving dinner on a different day. He seems a bit better this evening. His cat, Feather, is keeping him company while he spends the day snoozing. I took the test to see if I had it and wasn't showing symptoms. It came up negative. I can't imagine I haven't been breathing Donnie germs since we live in the same house. I am crossing my fingers I don't get it, and sleeping on the couch.

So I got to clean the barn by myself today. At least it was a pretty day. We got a lot of rain Tuesday, but the mud is pretty much gone now. My horses are carrying around a lot of it.

Graymare, it's so good to see you posting again. I hope you had a great time visiting and laughing with your friends.

Ark, my neighbor's wife didn't get it from him.  She did her best to keep some distance from him while living in the same house.  It must have worked.

Indy, how much snow did you get? We got an inch or two, just enough to cover the ground. On the way to town, I saw a small pond with a skim of ice on it.

Donnie got to clean the barn by himself today, I caught his Covid germs. I have slept all day. So ends our record of being the last American couple to be Covid-free. So far I just feel like I have a very bad head cold and crave sleep.

Ark, I'm so sorry that you got it, and glad that Donnie seems to be about over it. I hope you are both really quick.

What mess ARK...............I hope Donnie is healthy now and can stand up to the stress............Good grief.

We've had double dose covid here........So far I've been OK...............

Ellen, I hope you're happily decorating your tree.

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

Ark, are you starting to feel better yet?

Yesterday, my Ft. Wayne friend came over to help me put up my Christmas tree. By the time she left, the tree was still in pieces in its storage bag. LOL We got too busy eating and talking and never got to the tree. So, I'm tackling it today. I'm adding some filler and some lights to the smaller prelit tree I got last year.
The new lights have a remote control and can do all kinds of interesting things, slow flash, fast flash, chase, all on, all off, etc.
I miss my big tree, but not the work it took to get it up.

Thursday evening, I ordered most of my Christmas gifts. They started arriving yesterday. More today and the last tomorrow. I don't think I've ever been done shopping this early.

It's been so cold the last few days that some of the smaller ponds are starting to get ice on them. The snow we got on Sunday is still with us. It's only an inch, but it didn't go away yet. I'll start giving the squirrels a little extra stale bread.

ELLEN
Well, I am not really much better, but getting used to it. I went down to the barn with Donnie today. The cold air really bothered my lungs, so this afternoon I wore a face mask. It helped, a little. The windchills tonight and tomorrow morning are going to be around 13 degrees, the wind howling. So we put the blankets on the horses and put out a lot of hay. Their water buckets are heated already.
I am so tired of coughing, my ribs are sore. And I still crave naps. Donnie has been so great considering he isn't that far from where I am in our Covid adventure. He has done the cooking and animal care since I got this.

I haven't done much Christmas shopping. Thank goodness for Amazon. I have some things for Donnie hidden away, but that is about it.

We were supposed to take Areion and Daisy to Va Tech to get their feet trimmed today. That didn't happen.

Hello All,

Sorry to hear Covid is going around again. My brother supposedly got it while he is in the nursing home. I say supposedly because he has no symptoms other than an occasional cough. But they're going through the isolation steps to be safe. Bill's not feeling well so we thought I must have brought it home to Bill. We both tested negative for Covid so we've decided Bill just has a nasty cold.

Dan is going to be discharged tomorrow. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm happy that he he is now able to get around a bit on his own. But I don't think he is capable of doing enough for himself to not have 24 / 7 help. I guess all I can do is hope for the best.

We have just enough snow to cover the ground. I think the trucks were out putting a little salt on the bridges. We're suppose to warm up today and then start raining by the weekend. In other words, typical November weather.

the vet is coming out again this afternoon to treat a cancerous growth Tiberius has next to his anus. He had two, but we got one all taken care of. The vet is using what I think is liquid nitrogen to freeze them off. Hopefully this will be the last treatment.

Ark, are you feeling better yet?

Indy, I hope your brother will be able to manage on his own. I'm sure he will like being home.

My enthusiasm for putting up a Christmas tree is waning. I want the tree but putting it up has become a test of endurance. Last year, I got a new smaller prelit tree that doesn't have nearly enough lights on it. So, I started adding lights. I got some of the tiny fairy lights. Some of them plug into electricity, others are battery powered. I started putting them on the tree after I got it all put together. Didn't like it. So, I took it all apart and started over. Finally, got a system that I could live with UNTIL bedtime when it was time to turn them all off. One strand would not turn off. I tried all the different remotes (5) and none worked. Said some bad words and left it on for the night. This morning, I was ready to pull that whole string off the tree, grabbed a remote, punched the off button and it instantly went off. aaaaarrrrggggghhhh.
I WILL finish the job today.
I'm hoping that since this tree is smaller, I can leave all the lights on it and store it that way.

INDYAPP:
I hope Dan does well at home. Will he have a visiting nurse or case worker? He is lucky you watch out for him.
How is Tiberius?


ELLEN:
I am feeling better, thanks. Still congested, but feeling closer to normal. Luckily, I am not coughing as much, giving my sore ribs a chance to recover.

I used to put up a 9 foot Christmas tree, but have gotten so I can't even think about doing it now. The last few years I have put up a pre-lit little tree that sits on a table in front of the window. I totally understand you not putting up 3500 lights on a tree anymore! Last year we put up new icicle lights on our eaves and never took them off. They are fairly transparent when not lit up. We were lazy. This year we plugged them in and they worked just fine. I do plan on insisting we take them down after Christmas this year. Today, if the wind has calmed down, we plan on putting out the inflatable Santa, draft horse, and kitties. That may be the extent of our decorating this year.

GRAYMARE:
We were pretty good at avoiding the Covid virus, but got complacent and it caught us. Donnie probably got it from the lady sitting near us at a restaurant who was coughing. I got it from Donnie. I hope we test negative soon, we are out of some groceries that would be nice to have on hand. We'll be wearing masks in stores and avoiding restaurants again. Covid hasn't been fun. Apparently the numbers are rising again around here. Since we haven't reported to anyone, it makes me wonder if the numbers aren't higher than they realize. Stay safe!

Ark, when I lived in Speedway, I used to put up the icicle lights on the eaves. What a PAIN! I never gave it a thought to doing it here. I did spend a bit of mental effort trying to think of some way to create some kind of devise that would allow me to do it from the ground. A pulley system? I'll bet Donnie could come up with something. It would sell like hot cakes.
One of my younger cousins fell off his ladder from about 4 feet up and tore up his elbow while trying to do the eave lights.

Happy December everyone. Can you believe it is December? Where on earth did this year go?

ARK: So sorry to hear that Donnie & you have contracted Covid. It's the gift that will never go away. Not much you can except ride it out. So far we have been able to outrun it. Knocking on wood and fingers crossed as I type those words. Praying you both get back on your feet soon. Just take things slow and easy.

Here in PA it's stomach flu season. So many people are sick with that nightmare. I blame the turkey dinners. We had chicken instead and so far no stomach flu at our house. So many friends are sick. One family of our friends 11 out of 22 who had Thanksgiving together had the flu and are recuperating. Glad I didn't attend that dinner.

My Christmas trees are up and all decorated. All 3 of the little buggers. It took a lot longer than usual and I couldn't find my favorite very old cut glass ornaments. After 3 days of searching I found them YAY. I thought I was being so careful when I put them away in a safe place. HAHAHAHA I guess it's time to make a list of where I put them when I put them away. I am queen of the lists..

INDY APP: Praying for our brother to be OK living by himself.

ELLEN: Isn't it amazing how aggravating a Christmas Tree can be???? Good luck.

GRAYMARE: Great to see you posting. Missed you..

Have blessed week...