The Vet gave Hildie a shot, I think it was an antibiotic and cortisone. He gave me some different antibiotic pills for her and told me to continue with the hot compress to open and drain it. Also, she has been diagnosed with an ear infection and I haven't treated that so I will need to do that too. He said it could possibly be from the ear infection. She should be improved in a week if I keep up her treatment. I will do my best.

I finally got my 15 packages mailed this morning and it cost $60.00. They sure like to see me coming at that post office. I ask one time and he said that there is no one else that comes in to the post office with as much stuff as I do. Either there is no one else in English that is selling on eBay or they are not using the USPS to do it. Some one told me once that only 10% of families in Crawford Co. own computers so that would narrow it down a bit I guess.

I decided I wanted a little change, something a little brighter and I think this looks nice.

Boy, was it windy last night! When we got up this morning we could see a bunch of tin had blown off the neighbors barn and was laying in the road. I was almost afraid to go out, I didn't want to have to dodge the tin flying through the air. It rained real hard later in the morning while I was packing boxes at the shop. It rained Terry out of the sawmill and blew the roof off of it. He will have to do some 'fixing' to get that set up again. He and David came to the shop at noon, since they couldn't work in the rain. They came and cleaned up the workshop and made a lot of extra room. It looks nice.

I had 15 packages ready to ship and couldn't get them mailed. The electricity was off to all the buildings in that part of town. The bank, Dollar Store, post office, library, restaurant and lots of others. I guess it was from the storm. I'll have to go back tomorrow and try again.

It looks like Hildie's abscess has come back, I thought I had that licked but I noticed today that it had busted open and was oozing again. I called the vet and she said that it might be a tooth problem. I thought that was what it was from the beginning because I know she didn't have a cut or wound there. I have to take her back tomorrow at 3:45.

The puppies are getting so big now. They are sitting up and playing with each other for a few minutes before crashing again. I need to get pictures again for the website. I'll do that in the next few days.

Thanks Yvonne for the information on the shipping boxes. I had heard about that service but have never checked it out. I will check on it and see if it works for me. Thanks again.

Well it is good to be home again after such a long trip. 4 hours for Rachel and Danielle, 2 and a half hours for most of us and just about an hour for Sharon! It was a fun day, it just didn't last long enough. We need to get a room next time so we can have 2 days to see it all.

We watched a nice Hallmark movie on TV tonight, I enjoyed the time to just sit on the couch together and do nothing. For some reason Blade was resting tonight and not demanding that someone throw his toy for him. Terry usually sits and watches the news every night and just before it comes on Blade will be going around the house searching for all his throw toys. He collects them in the living room and as soon as Terry sits down he grabs on in his mouth and will stand there looking at Terry wagging his tail, begging for Terry to throw it for him. Terry throws it a while, all the time trying to make sure it goes somewhere that the dog cannot find it but he is pretty smart, he usually finds it and drags it back, waiting for more. Sometime I would dearly love to know what goes on inside a dog's head.

Sarah Beth is asking to sleep on the couch again tonight or even under the Christmas tree! She has a perfectly good, warm bed room upstairs but I guess at 11 years old she still feels that is too far away from Mom. I let her sleep on the couch occasionally but I think I have to insist that she use her bedroom on a regular basis, I don't like the mess of the pillow, sheets and blanket always laying around the room. She is fine upstairs if I insist so it is upstairs again tonight.

It is back to the shop in the morning again, I have about 11 packages to wrap and ship and that will take me most of the day. I just turn up the heat, turn on the TV and get to work. I hope I have all the appropriate size boxes I need.

Good luck Yvonne, on your ebay. It looks like you are doing great. I don't know if this would work for you but our small town hardware saves boxes of all sizes and shapes and loves to share. You might check a hardware store for used boxes.

Well, it is about 30° warmer tonight then it was last night so it is not so hard to sit here and visit.
I am so sorry Lois, that you had such a bad first experience. I feel sure that when you figure out how to work things you will have a lot to say and that we will really enjoy visiting with you this way. Please don't give up yet, I can come back to your house soon if you need a refresher session.
I thought I would get to bed early tonight since I have to get up so early tomorrow but it didn't happen. I have been answering and sorting email, printing receipts and taking care of ebay business all evening. I am dreading Monday morning when I have to start packing and shipping all this stuff but I guess that just comes with it.
Sarah Beth is all excited about shopping in Brown County tomorrow and I am too. I am so glad when all us girls and Mom can spend time together. I am thankful that we get along. Terry forgot to give me any money for shopping before he went to bed and I don't know where he put his stash so I guess I will have to wake him about 6:30 in the morning with my hand out. :)

Well, it is cold out here in the kitchen tonight so I have to make this quick so I can get back in there by the fire. The thermometer say about 27° right now and it is hard to keep this 150 year old farmhouse warm.
We had a great day Thursday and Granny's house with all the family and all the food. Just wish more of the neices, nephews and grandkids could have been there but when they are so scattered it is hard to get together again. Maybe at Christmas.
Sarah Beth has been wanting to put up the Christmas tree since way before Thanksgiving but I have managed to hold her off until now. There is no stopping her now! It is amazing how much enthusiam, energy, drive and know how she can come up with when it is something she really wants to do. We have the tree put together and most of the lights on but we ran out of working strings of lights so will need to visit the Dollar Store again before we can continue. That is about to drive her nuts, the waiting part.
Everybody join me in welcoming Lois to our Blog Spot. She is still learning so be patient with her. I was at her house a couple hours today setting her up with here own email address and her own Blog. See my list of links to visit her blog.

The Kings Treasures

For today's entry go here: Trying something new

After I got the dishes washed this morning I wiped down some more cabinets, swept down some more spiderwebs and cleaned the baseboard under the sink. I had my bowl of corn chex with raisins and bananas then left for the shop. As soon as I get there I establish a Yahoo link with Sarah Beth so she can talk to me if she has a problem. It seems to be working but I am not getting the correct amount of school work that I would like, there always seems to be something that interferes. I need to work on a plan for that problem.
I came back and got Sarah Beth at 3 and we went to Paoli. I picked up a few groceries at Wal Mart. On the way back we heard a loud thumping somewhere around the right front tire. I slowed down and kept going and it went away but I know what it is. The wheel bearings are about to go out and now I am getting scared to drive it. That sounds like it will take some money to fix!
We had the puppies out for a while for a little socialization but they are still too young to be much fun. Along with the fun though, comes the squealing and messing so I guess I better be happy with what I have now.

I fixed pancakes for everybody this morning then Terry went off to split and haul wood. David helped him haul 4 small pickup loads and stack them on the porch. I took Sarah Beth to Jessica's house then me and Timmy went to Mom's. Of course she was working but Sarah and Lois were there. Dustin got a deer so he took Timmy with him to take the deer to the processing plant. Dad was at church so that left us three and a lot of work to do. We tried to start in the kitchen but we had to move upstairs and clean there a little so we would have some room the move things out of the kitchen to upstairs. We sorted, boxed and stacked all the canned goods and sorted and boxed all the empty canning jars. Got rid of a couple of boxes of old magazines, and some boxes of old lids. We emptied and carried down Sarah's old chifarobe and that left enough room upstairs so we could go back to the kitchen and back room and start carrying up a LOT of stuff. I bet I climbed them stairs more then 50 times! I'll feel that in the morning.
We cleaned off and wiped the top of both fridges, wiped the cabinet down and sorted one of her junk tables and called it a day. I was glad, all I had for lunch was a slice of peanut butter and jelly bread and a couple of chocolate chip cookies and I was bushed.
Fixed Terry chicken noodle soup out of a can and grilled cheese sandwiches for supper and a slice of pumpkin pie Lois gave me from Bertie.
It was good to be able to spend some time with the sisters again, Sharon, wish you were there.

Terry's truck was still at the mechanic's this morning so I had to take him to the shop to meet David again. That's way to early for Sarah Beth to be getting up so I told her we were going and she went back to sleep. About 11:30 I tried to get ahold of her on the computer and the phone but she wasn't responding so I got worried and came home to check on her. She had been asleep when I was calling but was up when I got home. Glad to know everything was ok.
I took Tabby and the puppies back to the shop with me after I had a bowl of cereal for lunch, I needed to get some photos for my
puppy web site. They are still a little young to take good pictures but I have people wanting to see them as soon as possible.
I managed to get a few more things on Ebay but not near what I should. It will be next week again before I get to add more.
Sarah and Dustin stopped by, he wanted to see the shop. I didn't realize he had never been there before. Sarah chatted a while and mentioned that we are going to clean Mom's house for her tomorrow, getting ready for Thanksgiving. Lois stopped in to see the old pump organ and play it a little and of course we ended up with an extra little boy for the night.
I won't get to be at Mom's to help clean until about noon. I have to take Sarah Beth to Jessica's house, it is her birthday tomorrow. I bet they will leave something for me to do. Sarah wants to bake pies too. I'm glad she likes to cook but I try to stay as far away from the kitchen as possible.

Now isn't that a pretty picture. Someone sent me an email with this picture in it and I thought it was so pretty.
Terry's truck is at the mechanic's so I had to take him to the shop this morning so he could meet with David there. Sarah Beth was still in bed so we left her there. I told her I was going and she was okay with that. She managed for longer today then she did yesterday. It was 4 hours today and yesterday she only managed 2 hours before she called and wanted me to come home. It was so late today that I didn't bother going back, just took the afternoon off. That meant that I had to use that time wisely and clean some more in the kitchen. I cleaned and straightened the plastic bag/dish rag drawer, straightened and wiped out the plastic container cabinet, cleaned the coffee pot, swept the spiderwebs from around the ceiling and wiped the baseboard. You don't realize how dirty the outside of the cabinets can get unless you have white ones.
I talked to Mom today and she said Thanksgiving would be at her house. I am glad to hear that. It always seems more homey and traditional to have everybody at Grandma's house. It may be small but we all get along nicely. That means I don't have to hurry so hard on getting my house clean too, I was glad to hear that.
We had left over chili for supper tonight. I like mine like they eat it in Texas, over Fritos with cheese on top. Tonight I mixed in some leftover macaroni and cheese, that was good too.
It is going to be another real cold night tonight. Terry is worried about the water pipes to the washing machine. They are kinda exposed and are likely to freeze again like they have before.

We got to the shop this morning about 11:30. I wanted to finish cleaning the stove this morning in the daylight and it worked much better. At least I could see where the dirt was. Sarah Beth wanted to help so I put her to work under the sink. That was one spot I was not looking forward to but she was game, although she did have to hold her nose a few times. I really looks good now.
I packed boxes for shipping this morning and managed to get on item on Ebay before it was time to leave for piano lessons. Terry wanted me to help him unload the organ and get it situated then I had to run home and get Sarah's piano book. While I was here I noticed that I had left the breaker on to the water pump this morning and it had been running for 3 hours! The toilet tank had overfilled and was and had been dripping on to the bathroom floor for who knows how long. The carpet was wet in my bed room right beside the bathroom so it had been for a while.
After piano lessons we stopped to get drinking water and chat with Grandpa for a few minutes. The water had been over the bridge but was back down now. I drove him to the end of the driveway to get his mail and he wanted to walk back.
We had Sloppy Joes, shell macaroni with white cheese and pork and beans for supper then I tackled the biggest and worst junk drawer that I have been avoiding. I managed to live through it and even got it done and put away. Now that feels good! I still have to wipe some more cabinets, inside and out and clean out the chimney cabinet and I will be close to done with the kitchen. Yea! Just in time to start over and go around again!

It rained all night last night and was raining when we got up so Terry didn't go to the sawmill. We decided to go to Jasper and talk to a loan company about buying the shop. Well, they don't loan on new purchases, just a remortgage so that didn't work out. We went to WalMart for groceries then McDonald's for lunch. We stopped at the Salvation Army on the way home and they were closing early because of the threat of severe weather. We stopped at the St. Vincent store too and maybe we shouldn't have because we came out of there $300.00 poorer! They had an old Victorian, real ornate pump organ in there marked $500.00. While Terry was standing there the guy came over and marked it down to $400.00. So Terry had the idea to make him an offer and they accepted. It will look really good in our shop. We are getting some nice old antique furniture in there and it is looking more like an antique shop instead off a junk store. That is the way we like it. Terry said he isn't really wanting to sell it so he will put $500.00 on it and just let it sit there a while and look pretty.

We had leftover chili for supper then sat around waiting for the tornado to show up. The TV said that people in Crawford Co. should take cover. They mentioned Taswell, Eckerty, English and Mifflin. It didn't look very bad out there, nothing like I would think would mean a tornado but we had the cellar door open just in case. I had the puppies in a laundry basket and my laptop ready to go but as usual, nothing happened. Thank God for that!

I did get a little cleaning done today. I figured out what to use to get the grease off the cabinets. Good ole old fashioned scouring powder. It works great. I cleaned the cabinets above the stove and took all the spices from the back of the stove. I decided they should go in the cabinet so I would have a lot less things to have to wipe off in the future. Now I need something pretty to put on the shelf. I started to clean the stove but decided that needed to be done in the daylight. I can see the dirt a lot better with natural light.

Where does this motivation come from? Well, to start with it came from being so sick and tired of the dirt! It just got so bad that I felt like I was living in a barn and had to do something about it. Then as I saw how nice it looked clean I was motivated to continue. That and the fact that we might be having company for Thanksgiving.

When we were in the cellar tonight, I looked up and noticed that 2 of the floor joists in Sarah Beth's old bedroom are broken and the floor is sagging about 4 to 6 inches. I knew the floor was really spongy when you walked on it but I had no idea it was so bad. That idea of a dressing room in there may just have to be on hold for a while until I find somebody with a sawmill that can saw me out some more floor joists. :)

I don't like it when they talk about us having sever weather but looks like they are expecting some tomorrow afternoon for this area.
I went to the shop this morning and cleaned for 2 hours. Sarah Beth stayed home and that is about all she could take of being here alone so I came home for lunch. Terry and David showed up while I was here with two pickup loads of split wood to put on the porch. Terry had to do some major cleaning on the front porch before he could even stack the wood. Well, it looks nice out there now, the stacked wood and the cleaner porch.
I had to go back to the shop and Sarah Beth didn't want to go with me so I cleaned for another 2 hours then Terry called wanting to know what was for supper. I didn't get any work on Ebay done but the office sure looks nice now.
Terry and Sarah Beth were picking up leaves and hauling them off with the 4 wheeler when I got home. I fixed chili for supper and Terry about foundered himself on it. It must have been good. I put a little brown sugar in it this time, he said it tasted more like what he has been used to. Does anybody else put sugar in their chili?
Monday is a bad night for TV so I managed to get some more cleaning done. I cleaned out some more of my lower cabinets, rearranged, and got rid of a bunch of stuff and am ending up with so much room to spare. That doesn't seem to last long though, we always seem to find something to fill up the empty space. I cleaned off my bottom shelf of the worktable and put a lot of that stuff in my newly emptied spaces so now that space is pretty much empty. It sure is easier keep clean when there isn't a lot of stuff setting around.
I still have a lot more to do in the kitchen and I haven't touched the laundry room or my bedroom and bathroom. I will hopefully get to that before Thanksgiving.
Since Sarah Beth moved her bedroom upstairs, I have her old bedroom that I want to make into a dressing room for me and Terry. She still has a LOT of stuff in there though, that I will have to figure out what to do with.
Well, that is enough for tonight, I could ramble on forever but we'll save something for tomorrow night.

The girls requested taco for lunch after church so we stopped at Jay C's for supplies. I fried hamburger, added taco seasoning and chopped the lettuce, onion and tomato. They pigged out and loved it! Jessica had to go home after lunch but she sure didn't want to. We had to drag her out, kicking and screaming! Not really but she would have liked to. Chelsea stayed until evening church. She wanted another taco for snack in the afternoon so I got all the ingredients out and she had some more. When I came back in the kitchen she had put all the stuff back in the refrigerator and cleaned the table! What a nice girl. Now if I could just get Sarah Beth to do it....

Now that is a mess of puppies!

I managed to clean out 5 more drawers in my kitchen and ended up with 3 empty drawers! Some of this stuff I think has been there since we remolded the kitchen. I have to decide now what is best to go in my 3 empty drawers. I am thinking I put the wax paper, foil and plastic wrap in two of them then I can put larger things in the chimney cabinet and maybe clear off some of the clutter on the bottom shelf of my work table.

We haven't gotten the water problem fixed yet, the pump was kicking on every 5 minutes today so I had to shut it off again. Right now I can flip the breaker every time I need water but that is going to get old. Terry is afraid he is going to have to crawl under the house and look for a leak somewhere.

I will have to go back to work tomorrow. The office has been wrecked since I have been gone. It will need a couple hours of TLC before I can sit down and get to business. I told Sarah Beth I was leaving at 9 in the morning and if she wasn't up and ready I was going by myself. She said, "Just write me a note so I'll know where you are when I get up". I'll write her a note for sure, I'll leave her a list of things I want done while I am gone too. Starting with School of course.

We had a pizza and play party for the kids at church today. They had one of those blow up bouncy thingys for them and Momma Rosa's pizza for lunch. It was from 11 to 2 and they really had fun. We thought we would play some games with them but we could hardly get them out of the bouncy thingy long enough to eat! It was a beautiful day for it.
Friday Jessica called and ask if she could stay for the weekend then Saturday morning Chelsea called and ask if she could spend the night. So I have 3 pre-teen girls in my house for the week end. It is much better now that Sarah Beth has moved her bedroom upstairs, they can talk and play without disturbing us. It isn't really as bad as it sounds. They pretty much entertain themselves. Just finding enough food around here to keep them happy can be a challenge. We bought a pound of hamburger tonight and I fixed cheese burgers and a package of flavored rice.
It is raining outside right now, I can hear it. That is sure going to wet down those piles of leaves in the yard. Now the wind can't blow them away.
Terry got the water fixed this morning. He had to make a run to the hardware store and by a new switch and pressure gauge. It is working now (thank you Lord!) but we haven't gotten the pressure adjusted right yet. It runs down way too low before it will kick on again. He said he can fix that though.

Here is a picture of the sign I made last week. They only had to pay $35.00 for that. I think I need to up my prices. That would be a $75.00 in certain places. You can't really tell perspective here but each board is 6 inches wide.

Jessica took this picture tonight with my camera. It was a really pretty sunset.
Wow, I think it will take me two weeks to clean this house! One week is not enough. I don't think Terry will let me off another week so I'll just have to work extra hard before and after work I guess.
Today I cleaned out my refrigerator, threw out a bunch of old and unrecognizable stuff and wiped it down inside and out. I even pulled out the crisper drawers and cleaned underneath. Wiped down the outside and the top (yuck) of the fridge. I cleaned the inside and outside of a couple of cabinets, again, throwing away a lot of old stuff. Since I cook with gas it leaves a greasy film all over everything and I haven't found the right stuff yet that will take that off easy. Any advice anyone? It was all over my white cabinets and PineSol makes it smell like it is clean in here but it still takes a lot of elbow grease to remove that stuff. I cleaned out one of my junk drawers and organized it and straightened and cleaned out my pots and pans cabinet.
I didn't have all day to work because I had to run out to the shop and sand and varnish a sign that some one is picking up this weekend.
I still need to deep clean my stove, wipe clean some more cabinets and straighten up another junk drawer. Well, that is not all I have to do but that is as far ahead as I want to think right now.
Tonight I had to do cockle burr duty on Ginger. She had been out in the field and came back in pretty bad shape. I put a towel on the washer, put her up there and went to work. For such a hyper dog most all the time, she sure was still for this. I guess it was so uncomfortable and she new I was going to 'fix' it so she was a good dog. Blade just sat there looking up watching me like he was waiting for his turn. When I was done with Ginger and put her down he went to check her out then came back and sat down again, just waiting. I thought he was just wanting attention so I put him up there and sure enough, he had them too. He was a happy puppy when I got done with him. I must be awful not to have any thumbs sometimes.
We are having pump problems right now and don't have running water. Thats a bummer! I've had to do all this cleaning with water from the shop or what I had saved in milk jugs. Makes it kinda hard on baths too. I hope Terry can get that fixed tomorrow.

I found this poem handwritten in an old note book found in a box of stuff from some auction we attended. I thought it was so neat. It is long but I just wanted it written down somewhere so I'll know where it is.

The Calf-Path

One day through the primeval wood

A calf walked home, as good calves should;

But made a trail all bent askew,

A crooked trail as all calves do.

Since then three hundred years have fled,

And I infer the calf is dead.

But still he left behind his trail,

And thereby hangs my moral tale:

The trail was taken up next day

By a lone dog that passed that way;

And then a wise bellwether sheep

Pursued the trail o'er hill and glade

Through those old woods a path was made.

And many men wound in and out

And dodged and turned and bent about

And uttered words of righteous wrath

Because 'twas such a crooked path;

But still they followed--do not laugh

The first migrations of that calf,

And through this winding wood-way stalked

Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane

That bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road,

Where many a horse with his load

Toiled on beneath the burning sun,

And traveled some three miles in one.

And thus a century and a half

They trod the footsteps of that calf.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet,

The road became a village street;

And thus, before men were aware,

A city's crowded thoroughfare.

And soon the central street was this

Of a renowned metropolis;

And men two centuries and a half

Trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout

Followed this zigzag calf about

And o'er his crooked journey went

The traffic of a continent.

A hundred thousand men were led

By one calf near three centuries dead.

They followed still his crooked way,

And lost one hundred years a day;

For thus such reverence is lent

To well-established precedent.

For men are prone to go it blind,

Along the calf-paths of the mind;

And work away from sun to sun,

To do what other men have done.

They follow in the beaten track,

And out and in, and forth and back,

And still their devious course pursue,

To keep the path that others do.

They keep the path a sacred groove,

Along which all their lives they move.

But how the wise old wood gods laugh,

Who saw that first primeval calf!

-by SAM WALTER Foss, 1895