TToT: the glass is half full… yeah that’s it… half full….

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

My phone needs a priest. The incessant beeping of the charger going on and off is about to drive me up a wall. It does this all day and all night to get itself to a whopping maximum of 64% and typically at least 20% less than that. (My AT&T Saga)

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

It does it about every ninety seconds or so.

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

and you are going to be lucky enough to experience it with me … of course you have the luxury of …

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

…skipping over it if you so choose.

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

STOP IT!

beepboop beepboop beepboop…

ARGH!!!! That’s it I’m unplugging it…

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH…..

 

For those who don’t know, I live in a barn… yes, I have heard all the jokes… well, the barn is getting painted this weekend and we rented a

cherry picker! AND I GET TO TAKE A RIDE IN IT!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

 

I’m extra-special grateful for Skips this weekend. As you know he is quite the geezer… He has been having some old man issues and we went to the vet yesterday and found out doggie dementia is not enough for the old guy … he also has Cushing’s disease. To be honest, skip could use a little weight gain (which can happen with Cushings) as I believe he has the metabolism of a very skinny hamster (certainly faster than the ones at Dyanne’s house). For years I have been accused of starving Skip because he just can’t gain weight. But the other problems with the illness are not something I want for him, as that is what Zeb died from. So while I recognize that Skip is very old and will not be around forever, I can dream.

I went out with some of my favorite people this evening. We went to an incredible slide presentation at a local coffee house owned by a photographer for National Geographic…He’s a big deal in his profession and a really incredibly nice guy. He put on an interesting talk . Really amazing. Remember the pics of this place?I also got to preview and edit a photo book a friend is putting together… Spectacular!!!

 

A fox managed to run off with one of our little chickens. While I am sad to lose any, I am glad to say that Miss Daisy is still with us and getting big.

I went to see a visiting exhibit of Hopper this week at the Norman Rockwell Museum. I was especially glad that I had free passes from the library.

I picked blueberries today… God, I am grasping at straws here… I wrote a piece for a guest post this week…not posted yet. I also got critiqued this week for my first page… I gotta be careful what I say as I was joking around and saying I got killed (I didn’t) but the blog host may have taken that personally so I gotta go apologize… I can be such a DORK! I don’t know… truth be known it’s been a hard bunch o weeks… so gratitude is not flowing like a river today… but hey… I am thankful for some bloggy friends this week who put up with my dorky texts etc. and to a few folks who also humored my questions regarding material for something I was writing…so there’s that. Well, I better start dancing if I wanna use a rule or two this week…

 Don’t panic if you’re not a ballet fan… just watch… its fun and can help if you need a few new steps to impress the virgins.

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OH GREAT GRATITUDE, WORK YOUR MAGIC SPELL! please?

There are so many things in this one photo to be grateful for….

• Although he woke me at 2:30 am and has yet to allow me a decent moments rest, I am still thankful for the little white mutt in the photo.
• I live here.
• Yesterday and today’s weather is stunning !
• green, green, green and not white, white, white. 

 

• The zinnias are back…just love the riot of color.

 

•  the elusive Miss Daisy D. That is her in the middle…
• … heading out to meet some friends for tea… Thank you God, for tea.
• Although still green, the blueberries are coming in…
• Have I mentioned I’m grateful for skips? 
• really…

mmmmkay…waitin’on the magic… in the mean time… gonna get outta here, maybe find a good place for hat photos, read the rest of the TToT posts, and thank my luck stars it’s not a work day. Have a great Sunday, All…

 

A BUNCH OF RANDOM – TToT

I always thought that if I had a Living or Dead Dinner Party, Cary Grant would be one of the first on a very exclusive guest list. While I just discovered it today, this quote is one of the reasons why I know it is right to include him…

“Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.” -Cary Grant

I have been doing a lot of book sculpting lately …. I didn’t do this one but it is one of my favorites… source I will show you one of mine soon… once it’s done. It’s not nearly as cool as this.

I collect a few skeletons…not just in my proverbial closet. I used to have a real one when I was in school but donated it to the school when I left. I mean really whatcha gonna do with a human skeleton? Anyhow I mention this because Skip did a number on a few of the pieces in my collection that used to sit up on the top of my bookcase. It was a total accident but he knocked them down and they are pretty fragile. I finally repaired them last month and my sister who gave them to me didn’t even notice until I pointed it out that they had been repaired. Pretty good. 

It’s been months since I’ve put up a piece of writing of which I can say I’m even semi-satisfied. I have a desire to write but no motivation. No inspiration. If it weren’t for the commitment I’ve made to the TToT…the blog would be a distant memory. (That’s not a cue for anyone to say “Oh don’t do THAT!”) You know that old saying about everyone has a book inside of them? I think I’ve written mine. The book has been finished for some time and apparently it’s not bad. Unfortunately, for some unforseen reasons I’ve had to turn down a couple of opportunities and I don’t think publication is in this story’s future. It’s left me feeling pretty deflated about the whole situation-especially because a mess of people have been behind this project (some of whom are intimately involved with its demise…nothing malicious…just necessary) and that makes me feel more obligated to them. SO I guess what I’m half-assed grateful for here is that I have been frustrated trying to figure out WHY I am so freaking unmotivated to write when I really do love to write. Despite how obvious it may have been to everyone else,  I finally seem to have figured it out. It hasn’t made it any easier to write but maybe I will at some point. Dunno.

Skip gave it a good review.

Speaking of Skip. He is getting cute again…not so baby goat and a bit more poodle/terrier…

  we (I) like Spongebob.

He has also been sporting the latest fashions…thanks Clark 

I am grateful for adaptive equipment of all things… My mother is getting on in years and this past month I have had occasion to install some needed adaptive pieces in her home. My nephew also found a very cool piece of silverware to help with her tremor. It adapts to however fast it is moving and stabilizes whatever food is on it…very cool.

I am all for gun control . I know there are many, many responsible gun owners. Not for the first time guns have negatively impacted someone close to me… so if you do own a gun and are responsibly storing it in a locked place without the ammo… thank you… really, thanks… I mean it… If you’re not, c’mon… what’s it gonna take? Very funny ad btw! Worth the few seconds to watch…

In addition to all the random rantings above, I am grateful that the Farmer’s Market has begun in several neighboring towns. So far the blueberries are quite green and some basil has popped up…

Also if you missed it I would like to introduce Ms. Daisy Dillon…named for Dyanne’s Aunt Daisy. Daisy is doing well in the coup with her girlfriends and seems to be running like a crazy woman when out on the range… I’m also grateful to Dyanne and a few other friends who have agreed to help me with a bit of research… thanks all!

and now announcing a new gal to the couppettes…
Ms. DAISY DYLLAN

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TToT: It’s Official, I’m Getting OLD.

I don’t really know when it happened, but somewhere, somehow in the course my life has taken (despite what the medical community assured me would not occur), I am getting old. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to be aging cuz the alternative sucks, but it seems to have hit me all at once. This week has been a glaring realization of aging. I’m sure if my health were different I would be aging differently and I would most likely be experiencing this at a much later date. Despite that however, I am realizing in addition to the physical short comings of age, there are other factors as well.

I’m usually the first to leave a gathering. Take the Friday Night Vid Chats at Clark’s place.I am usually one of the first to leave and often miss the popular kids.

I’m always grateful when I get to one. Everyone is a lot of fun and you never know who’s gonna show….

HI LIZZI!

On the same point, last weekend I went to my niece’s wedding. First to leave, could barely stand up the next day and I didn’t even drink. It was a helluva commute and an evening wedding, but still….

CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!

My demented dog for whom I am always grateful is another reminder of my age. I am infinitely patient with Skip. If he were a kid he would have been adopted out by now or at the very least locked in his room until I could tolerate his behavior.  BUT NO!…. Just cuz he’s old and I am aging, I am tolerant to the point of ridiculous… There was this earlier this week:

 which, okay, many people may tolerate that…

but then there was this:  When I fell out of bed at 1:30 a.m. and thought…    “That’s a photo opportunity,” NOT “I’m going to kill you!” I keep telling myself that if  T were still around that dog would be sleeping on the floor… and that’s where he should be… but no, no , no , no… Instead ( if you notice the photo) his butt is on my pillow… I have to wash sheets and pillow cases pretty frequently in this place! Which leads me to my next topic…

When I was in college I didn’t do a lot of laundry. While I have spent a good number of my adult years in a laundromat, and I know it is not a real barometer of age, I consider having one’s own laundry facilities to be just such a sign. As is the fact that I no longer have or need thirty-two pairs of underwear. I am grateful for both laundry and the room in my underwear drawer… I hated the laundromat (despite having met a fabulous guy there, I also got mugged there).

 

 I hang out at libraries …

 I think old cemeteries are interesting… NUFF SAID.

This lovely young woman was an infant in my most recent memory… okay, maybe not MOST recent but still….

♥ CONGRATULATIONS!

 I find it especially exciting that all of our bird houses now have new tenants. Really? Bird Watching is my new pastime? What happened to … well, what happened????

It seems I am perpetually grateful for someone’s health… don’t remember as much of this as a youngun’… I now get texts like these… (that I am incredibly happy about!)  “She is doing better and trying to communicate which is like playing charades with Steven Hawking, but she’s awake and aware!”

  I spend a lot of time in IV rooms which is not necessarily a product of age… but finding new apps to humor myself and tormenting friends with inane texts and photos IS…

And I don’t know about you but I am freezing in most air-conditioned venues…Again, don’t get me wrong, I don’t wanna be all sweaty either… BUT… I am not a tiny girl… I may seem skinny in print but believe me if you haven’t met me I am a woman of some girth and one would expect me to not be cold all the time… like some little old lady or somethin’.

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TToT : DOGGIE STYLE

1. I love this dog!

2. I love THIS dog! 

3. The evolution of a good scritchin’…   

4.   A good “Have a Heart” trap to relocate the raccoons to a better neighborhood when the old dog  is just OLD and a bit too pooped out to hunt them down on his own.  This guy decapitated four of our girls this week. Apparently the beak is the most tasty part if you’re a raccoon.

5.There is enough space between the road and the house that a GOOD doggie can remain off-leash… 

6. doggie-person selfies:  This was taken during skip’s Rick James-years.

7.  doggie poetry:

The plants are torn
The garbage strewn
The wires chewed
The couch and I had a fight
Your bed is soaked
Your liquor spilled
Your TV smashed
Your laptop no longer has any vowels
There’s a Kindle in the toaster
There’s a toaster in the toilet
There’s a toilet in the hallway
There’s underwear in my mouth
I went places I should never go
I saw a side of myself I should never see
I said things to the cat I can never take back
So please don’t ever leave again.

by Francesco Marciuliano from I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems By Dogs

8. … had lunch with Tara ( Blue Moon and orange)…

dogs like beer… they don’t get it, but they like it…

9. SLEEEEEEEEEP…. Doggie won the argument of the bed….

10.  Good and trusted friends…

 

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TToT: 50+1

So what am I thankful for this week?

I received a rather serendipitous package from a friend and in it was a film that I hadn’t seen but for which I had ironically been present for the filming … go figure. In addition a very lovely neighbor who was part of the Young At Heart Chorus was also part of the film and well, it was just nice to see him again. He is the man in the film sitting at the end of the road ( with the O2 tank). His name was Fred and he told jokes and was a proud grandfather and taught me about deaf kids ( he worked at a local school for the deaf) and had an incredibly beautiful baritone voice. This video was part of the documentary.

I think that includes a couple right there. ( good friend, fun movie, fine memories)…

I am thankful that despite my recent health issues my doc upgraded my situation to “crappy.” He’s a scott what more do I have to say?

I am definitely happy not to be screaming in frustration at my computer as I try to learn to use WordPress just a bit more skillfully than a hoofed animal without the benefit of opposable thumbs.

For those who missed my offer to leave my taxidermied carcass to my mechanic this week… I leave you this link cuz after saying that you may not understand why I am sooooo thankful for him.

We had a fun and lovely graduation party for three of the high school grads in the family last weekend… lots of fun and thanks to Marty and Melissa for having it at their place.

Skip , Skip, and more Skip… 

 

I had to do a lot of sitting this week and brought a ton of old wire and some other junk with me to work on an idea I have had for some time (to send to the serendipitous-thinking friend)… so I finally got to do it…

Now if I could just get to my sister’s wedding album…I think it’s three years next year… maybe that’s the magic photo year or something…

 

I live here:      

 

That might be ten… yup think so… either way… its all good.

 

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