Monday Morning Question

Time for the Monday Morning Question (don't those weekends go by just too fast?) From; http://journals.aol.com/lv2trnscrb/Ofmini-pawsandmenopause/entries/330

Question: Are you still living in the town you were born in? If not how many moves to other towns have you made?

You can either answer in the comment section below or answer in your journal and leave a link to that entry in the comment section.

Thanks for playing :)

Yes I still live in the same town where I was born . (See what an exciting life I have?) There are some advantages....however....I don't get lost when I come back to visit. The hospital where I was born is part of the huge Health System I've worked for the last 24 years.  And mom was working there as an RN in the newborn nursery when she was pregnant with me.  Now I'm off to work.... to the same place I was born....Linda

Sunday Afternoon

Good Sunday afternoon.  Well, the Winter Olympics are over for another 4 years.  In 2010 they'll be in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  That will be great for all of the Pacific Northwest clear down to the Seattle area.  I'm happy for all the medal winners and those that didn't win, my hat's off to you all, you've got talent, guts and determination.  Seattle's  Apollo Ono didn't fare as well as hoped but he did come away with a gold and a bronze medal. I watched the last part of the closing ceremony on CBUT TV from Canada, this afternoon.  Locally they don't come on until 7pm tonight so decided to watch the end first since I'll be in bed by the time the end comes on the Seattle station.

When I logged onto my computer this morning AOL told me I had 220 messages.  I just haven't had the time to sit down and catch up.  So forgive me if I didn't leave a comment in your journal's lately.  Thanks.....

I went Friday afternoon to see another movie (it's getting habit forming).  The way I look at it, I am so stressed out from work by Thursday, that my first day off is my day to relax...and since it's winter and I can't work in the yard, I guess for now it's seeing a movie.  Anyway, I saw "Madea's Family Reunion."  It was a fun movie, it made me laugh and cry.   Tyler Perry who play's Madea did a great job.  It was a follow up to another movie  "Diary of a Mad Black Woman." where he played the same character.  Other's in this movie were Cicely Tison, Blair Underwood and Maya Angelou (sp?)

Well, that's all for now...I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and that things go well for you this next week.  Just 2 days of February left by the end of the week we'll be into a new month.  Almost time for this ugly winter weather to come to an end.  I see lots of daffodils blooming around town...Spring is just around the corner.

Until next time.......Linda

The Friday 5'er

It's Friday and it is time for what I call "THE 5'er!"     

If you want to play all you do is cut and paste these questions into your journal. (there is no deadline as to when you can do "The 5'er) When you have answered them come back and leave a link in my comment section.  On the following Friday I will have a new set of questions! Have fun!

From; http://journals.aol.com/robinngabster/Thesearethedaysofourlives/entries/1437

 

This week's theme is mish mash...too sick to think of something clever.

LET'S PLAY!!!

1. Have you ever "mooned" anyone? Tell us about it.    Heavens no !! Are you kidding...I don't even like to remove clothing at the doctor's office.

2. Did you ever toilet paper someone's house when you were a kid? No, that was not a extra curricular sport when I was a kid..besides no one had a car to get around to do that kind of thing.  But, my daughter did and our house was a frequent target when she was Jr High & High School age.  Her, along with some friends did 5 houses in one evening...their all time record.

3.  In your town where is the best place to get a really good hamburger? There are a couple places...the all time favorite I suppose is Frisko Freeze (they've been making burgers for 40 years) and then Smitty's Burgers, also a long time place for a good burger.

4. What is the worse movie you ever saw...and have you ever walked out on a movie cause it was so bad? I don't remember ever walking out of a movie.  And I don't think I've ever seen a real bad movie...just some I didn't like as much as other ones.  I usually read as many reviews as I can before I go to one, thus avoiding one that might have content I don't care to see.

5. If you could change your eye color would you and what color would you chose?  Yup, I wish I had brown/hazel eyes.  I have never liked being a blue eyed blond.

Monday Morning Question

In honor of someone winning that Powerball jackpot over the weekend, here's the Monday morning question: from: http://journals.aol.com/lv2trnscrb/Ofmini-pawsandmenopause/entries/322

Did you buy a ticket for this past weekend's Powerball jackpot? And if you had won it, what would you have done with the money.

You can either answer in the comment section below or in your journal and leave a link in the comment section.

Happy Monday for those who have the day off; alas we in Montana do not. Enjoy the day :)

I did not buy a Powerball ticket because they are not sold in Washington State.  But my friend Bob drove to Oregon on Saturday and bought one. (He didn't win)

If I'd bought one and had won the 365 million, I'd definitely retire immediately !!  And then I'd start going over plans for the view house I've always wanted, while that was being built I'd head out in the new motor home and tour the country.  Meanwhile, the accountants would be writing out checks for my two adult children, Bob's five adult children and their families.  My grandkids would have immediate college funds set up as would Bob's 6 grandkids.  And of course Bob would have bought the new truck of his dreams.  Then my church would get a huge check as would the church that my son attends and the church my daughter and family attends.  Their church just completed their long needed new building but it's been discovered that their old building is full of asbestos and it's going to cost $50 thousand dollars to tear down safely.  I would also donate a huge amount to the Salvation Army, and CareNet (they give free counseling to unmarried pregnant girls and are Christian based, so they  emotionally support their clients, and help them thru their pregnancy without feeling the need for an abortion).  Also, I would give a huge check to our local Rescue Mission and their work with the homeless and the Union Gospel Mission in Seattle, who also work with the homeless.  In other other words....I would keep enough to just live comfortably, without working anymore and for my loved ones to be comfortable also.  The rest would be donated....

Update to Photo Scavenger Hunt #63

Ok the answer to; "do you still play?"  Is "yes a little."  Of course back in the 1950's I graduated to a big full size accordion.  It was beautiful......marbled red with black accents. I took lessons for about 5 years, played at school, etc.  I sold it for $30.00 back in the 60's when Julie was little and I was very short of money.  It made me sick to do that but I had no choice at the time.  I sold it to a man and his wife that were friends of my folks and they later gave it to some missionaries that were on their way to Africa. I've often wondered if it's still over there somewhere....

The accordion in the picture I've posted today, is another story.  I always mourned the loss of my beautiful red accordion and one day, many years ago, my former husband and I were at the Swap Meet and there was a sweet little dwarf  lady there and among other things, she had this accordion for sale.  I tried it out and it worked fine..... it's a full size keyboard, 120 bass accordion but it's sized overall for a child or a very small adult.  So here I am, a full sized adult with this "toy like" full 120 bass accordion strapped onto me.   It's a little awkward but I enjoy it.  And I do still "play" at playing it.  Right now, I can't find my music...it's in a box somewhere.  But I can play "Silent Night" and part of a polka I learned as a kid from memory. When my grand daughter was little, she was totally enthralled with it and I told her that when she was 10 she could have it.  By the time she was 10, she had a piano and was taking lessons so decided she no longer wanted my  $25.00 Swap Meet accordion. 

It's very cold (24 degrees) and very over cast here today.  The cute weather guy on TV says it's going to warm up to the middle 40's and rain but I'm afraid for what we'll get if there's moisture and it doesn't warm up.  I can't even say the word for fear it will happen.  Until later.....Linda

Photo Scavenger Hunt #63

The entries for Photo Scavenger Hunt #63 will be due Sunday, February 26, 2006 at 11:00 P.M. E.S.T.

From; http://journals.aol.com/lv2trnscrb/Ofmini-pawsandmenopause/entries/321

Category:  Music

Please add a link in the comment section below to your journal's entry.

Thanks and have fun :)

Here's the picture, a "blast from the past" if you like....taken about 1951 or 1952.  I would have been 9 or 10 years old.  "Oh, I can hardly wait to see the comments about this entry. LOL "      Linda in cold (brrrrr) Washington state

COLD AND WINDY

Oh, my gosh...Friday was a horrible day here in the Pacific Northwest.  I had completed my journal entry Friday morning when POW...out went the power.  I had just checked the temperature outside my kitchen window, prior to beginning my entry...it was 22 degrees and we had been warned of high winds. They were right...today's paper tells us there were gusts up to 60 miles per hour.  Anyway, the power went out at 8:20am and finally came back on around 9pm last night.  I'm thankful for my wood stove, an oil lamp, lots of candles, a battery operated radio and at least one hard wired phone (of course I have a cell phone, too but that costs $$ when you use it continuously). The wood stove is great but I could only get it up to about 65 degrees in the living room. The rest of the house was pretty chilly.  It's amazing what you can do on a day with no power...I shook all the scatter rugs, swept non-carpeted floors and used my little carpet sweeper for the carpet.  And then around noon I ventured out of the house.  Friday is my movie day and I knew the theater up the street from me would be closed, but there's another one in a mall about 6 miles from here.  The traffic lights were out (what a traffic mess) until I got within a few blocks of the mall, so I knew I was in luck.  I saw "Freedomland"...oh, that theater was nice and warm, the movie was just ok. And then made my  way back home. What is normally a 10 minute drive took almost 30 minutes each way.

The musical play Thursday night was great.  "Ain't Misbehaving" features music of Fats Waller.  The all black cast were fantastic !  There were only five of them but when they sang together they sounded like a choir.  I just love the fact that communities like ours have these theater groups, to bring great shows to the public.  The last one I saw there was before Christmas several years ago...it was "Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus."  That production had lots of kids in it and they were amazing  We have lots of talent here in our area.

Well, it's sunny and cold here again today but the tree branches are just barely moving (good sign). I understand with our 20 something degrees yesterday, combined with the wind...we had a wind chill of about 1 degree. The power company is still working hard this morning to restore power to about 14,000 homes here in Pierce County. I'm going to get a shower and a shampoo (yesterday I just took a shower as I knew my hair dryer wouldn't work) and get the mess from hauling in wood all day cleaned up with the vacuum cleaner.   I would have not made a good pioneer and that's a fact !

Happy Saturday, until next time........Linda

"Baby It's Cold Out Side"

This morning when I looked out at the thermometer on my front porch it was 26 degrees.  Now they are saying we are getting a "Cold Arctic Blast" from Canada...thanks a lot you Canadians up north of here !  Well, they just said on the Seattle TV news that the folks up north of Seattle will get the coldest blast (sorry Jae, that's what they said). Some areas will be down in the teens...

I worked by myself again today.  That's always interesting in a call center.  Yes, you can only answer one call at a time but they do tend to pile up in the voice mail.  The health system has a lot of seminars & programs in the works right now too, so it's been busy.  Tomorrow will be another "alone" day and then Friday...well, that's my day off and I won't be there to worry about it.  The gal that usually works with me on Wednesday and Thursday is real sick. So was out all last week and again this week.  If you think of it...say a prayer for Susan's recovery. 

We have a long weekend coming up, but think staying home is what I'll be doing.  It's way too cold to be thinking about going camping, even though Bob's camper has a nice furnace in it.  And since my schmoosed face cat (Gabi) is still on moist food twice each day, I can't really leave her here for more than just a day, since she hasn't mastered the can opener as yet.

Thursday evening I'm going with a friend from work to the local Little Theater to see "Ain't Misbehaving."  It's a musical and the reviews in the paper have been outstanding.  So I'm looking forward to it.  I'm just hoping that when I get out of there after the performance, that my car isn't frozen to the parking lot surface.  I do have plenty of anti freeze in it, so I'm not worried about the engine. AND......I filled up the gas tank yesterday.  They say when it's cold like this you should keep your gas tank as full as possible.  Don't let it get too low.   By the way, a couple weeks ago regular unleaded was $2.18 a gallon in most stations that I passed.  Yesterday it was down to $2.16...so even though that's still too high and the oil companies are making record high profits, it'slower than it was a couple weeks ago.

Well, I'm going to go find something for dinner.  I still have some of that left over chicken enchilada casserole from Saturday but I have to take some of it for lunch tomorrow, so really don't want it for dinner tonight.  Maybe some toast and a dish of cottage cheese with pears or peaches mixed in it.  Yummmm........Linda

Tuesday Morning....Snow ?

Well not here in my area yet, but it is snowing up north of Seattle.  I heard on the local news that in some places up there, they have had 3 inches of the stuff.  Jae are you getting snowed on ?  They say as the snow/rain moves south the temps will warm up, so we'll just get rain later today.

I'm going in late today.  I have an appointment with a doctor for my sore neck and left shoulder.  I had the MRI in December and it seems 3 of the vertabrae in my neck are pinching nerves running down my left shoulder and arm.  I don't know what they can do about it, but I'm willing to go talk to this other doctor.  I know one thing, there will be NO surgery.  I've already endured low back surgery after a work injury in 1991.  (I was pushing a heavy patient in a wheelchair, up a ramp...not good) But, I was just doing my job...that time it backfired on me.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone out there in J-land.  I have two freinds who have birthday's today...so Happy Birthday to Stacy and Lynnette (she's going to be my cabin mate on that Alaskan cruise).  My former mother-in-law also had a Valentine birthday.  She told me shortly after I married her step son that she just hated it when her friends gave her one of those Happy Birthday/Happy Valentines Day combination cards. You can believe we never made that mistake.  She always got 2 seperate cards in seperate envelopes each with their own stamps. 

I'm still excited about Jeannette's entry, last week  on her visit to Plymouth  ....since Ally's grandson found out he had decendents that landed there.  I knew that I did too, from research that my aunt had done in the past.  Well, it seems Ally's grandson and I are decendants of the two people, Thomas Cushman and Mary Allerton that Jeannette wrote about.  I told Ally I guess that meant her grandson and I are cousins 200 times removed...or somthing.

Have a wonderful Tuesday, until next time.......Linda

Monday Morning Question

Here's the  Monday morning question from;

http://journals.aol.com/lv2trnscrb/Ofmini-pawsandmenopause/entries/313

Assuming you had the talent for it, which Olympic event would you like to win the gold medal for (summer or winter games)?

I'd go for the Ice Dancing with Harrison Ford as my partner.      That's my answer and I'm sticking to it.

I'm off to work now...Linda

My Connection to Plymouth

I was intrigued by Jeanette's (http://journals.aol.co.uk/jlocorriere05/Welcometomytravels/entries/978) entry regarding her visit to Plymouth and Ally's grandson's Mayflower decendent, connection.   My mom's younger sister was a devout Mormon and spent years researching our family history.  She reached a stumbling block on my grandfather's side however, he was a Stern and his parents immigrated from Germany before he was born.  In some cases those immigrants names were changed because they themselves did it or the officials at Ellis Island and other points of entry, simply mis spelled their last names, because of the language barriers, etc.   But dear auntie was able to go way back on my grandmother's side of the family.  Grandma's maiden name was Johnson but even with a common name like that my aunt traced that branch of our family tree back to  the 1500's.  One Thomas Cushman was born in February 1607 or 1608 in Leider, South Holland, England.  Sometime during his life he came or was brought to the Americas and was married in  Plymouth Colony in 1636 to one Mary Allerton.  Mary had been born in June 1616 in Leyden, Holland.  It is not noted when these two ancestors of mine came across the Atlantic but I'm sure their journey was as miserable as Jeannette, wrote about in her journal entry.  Thomas and Mary Cushman had eight children, all born in Plymouth County except the last three were born in Plymouth, Mass.  My records say that the father of Thomas Cushman (also Thomas Cushman) was born in Rolvenden, Kent, England in 1538, was married to Ellinor Hubbard on July 18, 1568 at St Andrew, Canterbury, Kent, England.  It says he died in the same village where he was born in Februrary 1585.  That Thomas and Ellinor had 5 children, according to my records, all lived and died in Rolvenden, Kent, England, with the exception of their one son Richard Cushman (born 2-1578) who died in Middlesex in February of 1625.    Anyway, I could go on and on...but I'll spare you all.  Even as a non-Mormon I still feel that this information is absolutely fascinating and it's one thing I hope to work on more when I retire.  I'd like to do more research on my dad's family...the Smith's (ya, ya I know) and the Olmstead's.  My great grandfather Olmstead lived just across the driveway from us until he died when I was in the 11th grade.  I can't even find out if he had any siblings...and it really frustrates me.  Why didn't I ask him more about himself?  I even have a picture of his parents.... but do not know if he was an only child or not.  

I'm very sad for our dear little Michelle Kwan, who because of another injury has dropped out of the Olympics.  Ok...now I'm really going to get busy...

Until next time.......Linda

Think About It

I got these from my friend Claire in Altus, Oklahoma...

 1. Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 a piece on those little bottles of Evian water?  Try spelling Evian backwards:  NAIVE

 2. Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?

 3. If four out of five people SUFFER from diarrhea...does that mean that one enjoys it?

 4. If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

 5. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults seem to enjoy adultery?

 6. If a pig loses it's voice, is it disgruntled?

 7. Why do croutons come in airtight packages?  Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

 8. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a race car is not called a racist?

 9. Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

10. If lawyers are disbarred and clergyman defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?

11. Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

12. What hair color do they put on the drivers licenses of bald men?

13. I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use? toothpicks?

14. Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them?  Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailman can look for them while they deliver the mail?

15. You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

16. If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?

17. As income tax time approaches, did you ever notice: When you put the two words "The" and "IRS" together is spells    "THEIRS"

Ok, you all think about those things while I go get busy. Until later...Linda

Saturday Evening

We had a wonderful get together today.  Only 4 besides my self showed up.....we expected maybe 12-15.  But I always say, the right people show up at those affairs.  With just five of us, we really had a chance to "catch-up."  I made my Chicken Enchilada Casserole, one brought a huge fresh fruit tray, one brought a big green salad, one some lovely warm spinach dip with some yummy crackers and the last one brought a fruity type salad.  Even the food turned out just right.  No duplications !!  They helped clean the place up and I was back at my place by 3pm. 

 I then delivered an Avon and made a trip to the Dollar Store for a couple picture frames.  This evening Bob & I went to the biggest Goodwill in our area.  I found 3 older Debbie Macomber paperbacks, and a nice blue denim blouse for $3.99.

The weather was quite pleasant again today, sunny and about 58 degrees.  I see my roses all have new growth sprouting and the daffodils are getting taller each day...soon they'll be blooming.

My friend, Judy called from San Diego this afternoon.  She's one of my long time (from 5th grade, all the way thru high school.... ) friend's  that is going on the Alaska cruise in August.  She's so excited...one of her dental hygienist  friends down there is coming with her.  The other gal has always wanted to take this cruise and is really happy to be able to come along with us.  Judy is retiring next year and will be moving back here to Washington.  She's been living down there since 1963 and is ready to come home.  Her dear mother is still alive, in her 80's, and lives here in town.  We decided it's going to be like a week long slumber party with "servants" fixing our food and caring for us.    I wish some of you out there in J-land would consider joining us ......it's going to be a wonderful week.  (Let me know if you're interested)

Until next time......Linda

Friday Early Evening

Well, tonight one of my favorite programs will be on TV for hours....the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games...in this case the winter Olympics.   Washington state has quite a few Olympic hopefuls this year and one of my favorite's is Apolo Ohno  from Seattle.  He's a short-track speed skater and can possibly win medals in four events, the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters and the 5,000 meter relay.  Apolo first competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.  So let me take this opportunity to wish all the Olympic athletes best wishes and especially those from Washington state. 

It was a beautiful sunny day here in western Washington.  The temperature reached about 58 degrees on my porch thermometer.  I ran some errands and then spent a couple hours inside at the movie theater again watching the new "Pink Panther" movie with Steve Martin.  It was good and just as silly as the old ones with Peter Sellers. 

Tomorrow, I'm hosting a potluck lunch for about 20 former co-workers.  We all worked at a little hospital back in the 1980's called Doctors Hospital, that doesn't' exist anymore.  I worked there for several years and was the Admitting department (yup it was just me) and I also relieved for breaks on the old 1 position cord switchboard, if I wasn't admitting a patient.  Doctors Hospital was a 30 bed medical-surgical facility.  It was a great place to work...like a family.  We all loved working there and it was a sad day when it was swallowed up by the bigger hospital up the street.  At least we were all "grandfather ed" into that systems employee roster so my  first few years of service (24 years on Jan 25, 2006) were actually spent at Doctor's.  Our potluck will be at the clubhouse here in the mobile park where I live.  We used to go to restaurants for our get together's but after about an hour the staff there would start looking at us like they were wondering if we were ever going to leave.  This way..we are free to be loud and boisterous and stay and visit as long as we want.

I hope everyone had a pleasant week and that your weekend will be restful and have a few fun moments.   Until next time.....Linda

We Fought A Good Fight !!

The Seahawks fought a good fight....we lost the Superbowl, but they did a wonderful job and all of their fans are very proud of them.   The first time in the team's history that they made it to the Superbowl.....we're proud of each and every player as well as Coach Mike Holmgren.  WAY TO GO GUYS !!!!!!  WE LOVE YOU !!!     Final score; Steelers-21              Seahawks-10

They will be received with open arms when they return to Seattle. 

 

Almost Half Time

We're less than 3 minutes from half time and the score is Seattle- 3, Pittsburgh- 0.  Of course anything can happen...if it was less than 4 minutes from the end of the game that would be different.  I'm looking forward to the half time show..the Rolling Stones are going to perform.  They're a bunch of old guys aren't they ???  Maybe they're playing waltzes now....(sorry if I offended any Stones fans.)    It's still sunny here in western Washington, no rain today !!    It's been cold but I've had the wood stove going all day, so it's warm and toasty in the house.  The ruler of this house (Gabi the smooched faced cat) has been curled up on the sofa all day, soaking up the warmth.    OH NO !!!! The Steelers just scored a touchdown.  Oh, but there's a question about it...the powers that be say "It's OK."  But the guy with the ball went down and then obviously pushed the ball over the goal line with his hands , after he landed on the field......very questionable.  So at the end of the first half it's Steelers-7 and Seahwaks-3.  Until later.....Linda

No More Wind

The weather people say the worst is over, well I'll let them tell you;     "The worst is over, and now western Washington can begin to recover from today's strong winds and begin looking forward to some very pleasant weather for the first time in nearly two months.

All wind warnings have ended for the area, and all we're left with this evening and tonight are some scattered showers and lingering breezes with gusts to 35-40 mph early, continuing to subside through the evening and night. Some of the showers early might have a little lightning or hail. Lows will drop into the mid-upper 30s.

Sunday will feature just a few lingering morning showers and then clearing for the afternoon -- just in time for the kickoff. Highs will be in the mid 40s.

For Monday through the rest of the week -- we get a break, as a large ridge of high pressure takes control, bringing sunny skies through the period. Highs will be in the low-mid 50s."

We did survive our storm here today.  No trees down (at least in my yard) but I know some had big Douglas fir trees land on their houses. The most I had to do was go out and pick up a bunch of paper & trash from the street in front of my house.  At the height of the storm they say 200,000 homes were without power.  Tonight they say that number has been cut in half. Hopefully power well be restored for the big game Sunday afternoon. (It starts here on the west coast at 3pm)

I got a clean bill of health at the dentist today....they'll see me again in August.  It was just a cleaning and checkup.  I'm blessed to have good teeth, I know a lot of people my age don't.

 Tonight Bob and I braved a local very smoky casino, for their wonderful seafood buffet.  (It's the same place where we saw Freddy Fender).  Let's see....we had steamed clams, salmon, cod, crab legs, prawns, shrimp....oh and some good caesar salad, baked little red potatoes and then for desert I had a little tiny piece of raspberry cheesecake with chocolate dribbled over it and some fresh fruit.  Now there was lots more food on the buffet tables...but that's what we chose to eat. I think Bob ate about 100 crab legs.   Normally, I'm not a big gambler(about $20.00 is my limit) so tonight I got a $10.00 ticket for one of their nickel slot machines.  I got it up to $14.10 and cashed out.  Then on the way out of the building we ran into some old, old friends of mine, Brian & Sharon.  They were playing on this really cute nickel machine (Texas something or another).  So I got another $10.00 ticket and sat down next to them.  That machine was really fun...my credits were going way up & then down.  Finally, when it got down to $20.05...I cashed out and we left. So I came home with $14.15 more than I had earlier today.  Just enough to put a little gas in my car.

I understand it's snowing in Detroit tonight...that may make it hard for those folks back there to get to the stadium for the Super Bowl.  But those of us who are back here in Washington, will watch the game from the comfort of our homes, at least those of us who have power will watch it from the comfort of our homes.    Until next time....Linda

The Wind Is Howling

It's 40 degrees, pouring rain and the wind is blowing...well here's what KOMO TV weather email had to say earlier this morning;

"As of 6:30 this morning we've had gusts of 68 mph on Whidbey Island, 47 mph in Everett and 51 mph in both Friday Harbor and Richmond Beach.

The strongest winds are going to occur during the morning into early afternoon. Sustained winds will range from 25 to 45 mph. Gusts of 75 mph are possible along the coast and north of Everett. Gusts could reach 60 mph for central and southern Puget Sound, including the Seattle metro area. Wind gusts from 45-55 mph are likely farther south from Olympia to Portland.

Since the ground around here is already saturated from January's rain, a blast of wind can easily topple trees. Don't be surprised if you lose power today. And the power outages should be widespread across western Washington.

The wind is set to die down later Saturday afternoon. Temperatures will drop through the day, falling into the middle 40s by the evening. We'll have some periods of heavy rain early followed by lighter showers."

I live in the southern Puget Sound area, so we could be getting those 60 mph gusts.  The street in front of my house looks like a battle zone, right now.  There are tree limbs, paper of all sizes and descriptions and other debris.  Remarkably my big cedar tree is swaying in the breeze but the little limbs, etc are heading for the neighbors yard.   I am a little concerned about the fiberglass panels covering my main porch.  They are really crashing and banging about but so far none have come loose.  My windchimes (about 10 of them) that are hanging around the edge of my porch are certainly getting a work out.

Well, I'm going to get off here and turn my computer completely off for awhile.  It is plugged into a surge protector but don't want to take any chances of it getting ruined if they power should suddenly go out.

I wish we were out at the ocean again, like New Years day...to watch the big waves, but I have a dentist appointment at 4pm this afternoon for a cleaning, so I have to stay in town.    

 

More later.........Linda

Nanny McPhee

What a delightful movie !!!  I went this afternoon, had a little popcorn, a soft drink and after it was over got all my errands taken care of.   Anyway, back to the movie...it was great and I'm glad I saw it.  They did a remarkable makeup job on beautiful Emma Thompson.  The kids in the movie were great and in fact the whole cast was superb.  If you want to see a good movie, with no sex, no bad language and no violence (well there was a great food fight) then by all means go see "Nanny McPhee" when it comes to a theater near you.     They showed previews today of a new "Pink Panther" movie coming out in a couple weeks with Steve Martin as the Inspector.  It looks like it will be good, too.

The local TV weather guy is giving us high wind warnings for the next 24 hours.   Some areas will experience gusts up to 70 miles per hour.  Then he goes on....the ground is so saturated, that it may cause some trees to fall over...on power lines & whatever.  POWER LINES ????  Don't we need POWER to see the big game on our TV's this Sunday ?  Well, like I said earlier we may have to read about it in Monday's paper.   GO SEAHAWKS !!!! Whether we can watch the game or not.

Until next time......Linda

Friday Morning-The Final January Totals...

......of rain that is.  This rain tally was at McChord Air Force Base, just south of where I live.  There was 12.62 inches of  rain in January, making it the rainiest January on record.  The old record was 12.4 inches in January 1953.  The wettest month ever recorded at McChord is November 1990 when 12.94 inches fell.  Now at Seattle-Tacoma airport, which is north of McChord AFB about 25-30 miles, they recorded only 11.65 inches of rain in January. 

I knew you were all waiting on pins & needles for this information.  LOL    Anyway, I must give credit to the "The News Tribune" daily paper for these statistics.

Now I must get on with my day, I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday......Linda

Thursday Night

Well, the rain continues.  The weather guy on one of the Seattle TV stations says we can expect heavy rain and wind Friday and Saturday.   Then it will taper off on Sunday... and Monday  and Tuesday we can expect SUN !!  YEAH !!  Something to look forward to. (Now where did I put my sunscreen?)   Today was Groundhog Day here is the US.  I understand that "Punxsutawney Phil" either saw his shadow or didn't see his shadow, anyway the result was we will have 6 more weeks of winter.  However, that all goes on back in Pennsylvania so I don't think it concerns us here in the Pacific Northwest. If you'd like to know more about this event, you can check out the website at; http://www.groundhog.org/

All the rain is causing thousands of dollars in damages.  Whole hillsides are sliding down, houses and cabins have been lost.  And I don't think Amtrak has been able to run trains between Vancouver, BC and Portland, Oregon for quite awhile now, due to slides coming down over the tracks.  They have a rule that once a slide has been cleared from the tracks they have to wait 48 hours to run trains over those tracks...well, by then there's another slide somewhere else along the way and it's back to square one again.  I also have heard the mountain passes have been closed from time to time due to avalanches over the highway or the danger of avalanches.

The Seahawks/Steelers business is getting almost as irritating as those political ads we are bombarded with prior to major elections.  I'm not really an "athletic supporter" but I guess I have to admit, it would be good to see the Seahawks win.  This is their first time ever at the Superbowl. http://www.superbowl.com/   I may spend Sunday afternoon at a movie or maybe I'll break down and watch it. I figure if I don't watch it...I can read about it in the paper Monday morning.

Well, folks...this old lady is tired.  My movie is about over, so soon I'll be heading down the hall with my book and my kitty.  Until next time....Linda

Potpourri

It's been a long week and it's only Wednesday. It's rained most of the week...day and night.  One night I was laying in bed listening to the rain and thinking..."it's not only raining cats and dogs but elephants and chickens."

The Superbowl hype is growing...teams of reporters from local newspapers and TV stations are already in Detroit..reporting on what's going on behind the scenes before the big game this coming Sunday afternoon.  It's interesting that many local churches are bringing in big screens and inviting their congregations to stay after morning services and watch the big game as a church family.  I drove by a house here in town the other day and they had painted "GO SEAHAWKS!"  in big red letters on the end of their house.  I thought that was a little overboard.   Oh well, each to his own. 

I've been  reading two books lately and one is called "Mrs Miracle" by my favorite local author, Debbie Macomber.  It's a delightful book and easy reading.   Each chapter is prefaced with a little saying by "Mrs Miracle" or some other character in one of Debbie's books.  Anyway, the one I liked the best is a "Mrs Miracle" quote and it goes like this;  "It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and then.  Just be sure to flush when you're finished."  Boy, did that speak volumes to me.... The other book I just finished is "The Preacher's Daughter" by Beverly Lewis.  She's a Christian fiction writer and a lot of her books are about the life of the Amish community.  Now that I've finished that, I'm going to start book 1 in the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers..this book is entitled "Voice in the Wind."  I got a little out of order with this series, having already read book 3 "As Sure as the Dawn."  Yes, I'm blond. 

I had my taxes done at H & R Block this afternoon.  I think their prices are going up, although I did have a couple things that were different this year.  It cost me $16 for the page where I declared my $40 in earnings from serving on Jury Duty last year.  Last year it cost me $100 less to have my taxes done and I got back $1,000.00 more than I will this year.  Somehow...that doesn't make me very happy.  And then I find out they tax Social Security...I think that's outrageous !!!!  People work their whole lives and pay taxes and then have to pay on their piddly little Social Security  income, that most people can barely live on.

Since my daughter-in-law to be is working in an accounting/tax office this is a busy time for her.  She's working long days and even some weekend days.  But her and my son, Jim did go check out a possible wedding site, last weekend.   It's a beautiful place called Windmill Gardens down in the little town of Sumner.  It's one of those really neat places that sell all sorts of gift items, plants, trees & shrubs of every kind.  One of those places where you could spend an entire day looking at all they have to offer.  And they have this beautiful gazebo type building where they hold classes and also is available for weddings and such. 

Well, I think I'm going to tidy up around here a little and then head down the hall with my new book and my kitty.  So until next time....GO SEAHAWKS !!!!!!       Linda