National Stay at Home Day

I'm planning on having a sick day very soon. After a busy summer I am beginning to wear down. Most of the time I have the energy required to do whatever comes my way, but here lately I have to make myself do housework. That's a sign that I'm sick. Driven by inner voices, I clean and scrub, chasing any germ that has the nerve to come inside my house! Better days I run the vacuum, sweep the floors and have the kitchen spotless before 8AM. Here lately the spiders are getting a toehold and the broom is getting a rest. I think the changing of the seasons affect me. When Fall comes knocking at the back door (it's a gentle knock, not like Winter's bold front door RAP) I come home from errands worn out. Sleepy, I have to make myself cook dinner. Almost immediately after I get the dishes done, I set down on the sofa to watch TV...only to lay down and fall asleep. That deep Bear Nap sleep, the kind that when you awake you don't know where you are. So very soon I am going to plan a sick day. Like when we were in school and you woke up with a tummy ache that disappeared around 9AM. The rest of the day you wore your pj's, ate peanut butter sandwiches and colored to your heart's content. Would you like to join me for National Stay Home Day?

Sunset Rides

We have found we love the lake at night. We head off before sunset, leaving Prairie Creek Cove and heading up the lake. Looking back West toward the house the water and the sky are the same shade of violet.

We leave a light on at the boat dock but after many rides we know our way around even in the dark.

Prairie Creek Marina looks like a little City, all aglow. The store and gas pumps are closed but you can still stop and have dinner at the floating cafe.

We head East toward the Highway 12 Bridge, puttering along as we listen to the radio. Music has a way of transporting you back to other years and memories. We talk about the day and the problems in our life, mostly health issues with parents at this time. We are middle age baby boomers with aging parents, a whole catagory that stands alone as the dilema of this generation.
But for a little while we allow ourselves to relax and just enjoy the cool night air and the calming effects of being on the lake.

"It takes solitude, under the stars,
for us to be reminded
of our eternal origin
and our far destiny."
~ Archibald Rutledge

Thanks Ken!

There are some things that just make life easier. This boat locker is definately on my list of "Favorites" right now. When daughter Stephanie and family came for their summer visit recently our Son (in-law) Ken helped Hubby build this wonderful timesaver at the boat dock.
They put their heads together, measured and re-measured, and then just got lucky when they made the locker 8 foot tall instead of 8 foot 1 inch. You probably can't see it, but the metal frame at the top right corner would have prevented any taller locker being built! They pre-assembled at the house and carried the panels down the steep hill with the golf cart! It took brains and brawn to get this job done!

Last weekend we added a shelf for all of the ski tubes and floats.

They are huge, but when you take the air out they are flat and managable.

Below we added some nails to hold our ski vests, boat bumpers and miscellanous fishing stuff in bags. There's plenty of room below for the big plastic bin of towels and throws.
It's been so cool here lately that we have to use a throw to cover our legs for night rides...that's just crazy for August in Arkansas!


We have it all stuffed inside, tackle box and fishing rods...
and our two favorite floats that let us soak and sun at the same time.
All safe and dry thanks to Ken!

Ben, here....

Hey everyone, Mom has left the study so I'm going to do a quick blog. She monopolizes the computer most of the time not letting Dad or me near it! I'm napping anyway when she's blogging, so it's not a problem.

I have several favorite places to nap in the house, the hall, in the living room when the sun comes through the West windows and the study of course. I do love the tap, tap, tapping of the keyboard as she does whatever she does on that thing!

The neighborhood dogs wanted me to tell you that they take their jobs seriously. We are on call 24 hours a day to do our pet-ly duty to watch over our families. Being there when they need us is what we do best!

Joe the boxer that lives down off of Redbud isn't as dedicated as some of us.

I hate to say "It's All About Him," but the picture says alot.

Teddy is pretty laid back, sometimes his kids have trouble waking him up to play ball.

Sparky on the other hand is one dedicated pooch. He's my next door neighbor and they are expecting a new baby this fall!

Ringo lives across the street and he used to be a stray. He can take a nap anywhere, anytime...he doesn't need a sofa or a rug like me.

A pup has to learn from the start to take advantage of down time to get a few extra winks.

If there are other pets in the house you have to learn to share...

I have this problem sometimes too.

The furniture just doesn't allow enough room to stretch out.

Hope this gave you a little chuckle this morning!
Love,

Ben the Dog

"Handimals"

Aunt B. comes through again with a very interesting email this week! These pictures are just amazing. Italian born Guido Daniele is an artist who lives and works in Milan. He has many styles of painting from trompe l'oeil images to oil paintings. In 1990, Guido added a new artistic experience to his previous ones: body painting. He paints models' bodies for advertising, commercials, fashion shows and exhibitions.

As a graphic designer, Guido Daniele’s talents are much in demand from the corporate advertising world and he has successfully worked for many large corporations including Fiat, Nestle, Panasonic, Villeroy & Boch and AT&T. Here are some beautiful examples of hand painting that will simply astonish you if you have not seen the work of this artist before!

Thanks Aunt B. for sharing this great email!

Can you hear me now?

Hubby just got a new phone yesterday and he's called me twice so far to "try it out." Old dogs have trouble learning new tricks but at least I read the manuals when we buy anything new. So far this year we've had to hook up a new computer and recently a new camera with lots of settings. The computer wasn't too bad, it's Windows Vista and I anticipated more problems than we've actually had. We researched the camera since it was a big purchase and tried to get a good one. It has lots of settings...apertures and shutter speeds...but so far we leave it on AUTOMATIC and that's working good!

Life was so simple when we were kids. There was one kind of phone, black with a rotary dial and it set on a table in the hall with a chair pulled up beside it. Everyone in the family used it without any problems at all. Later on when I was a teenager we had a wall phone in the kitchen that I would gab on for hours. Bending and swaying,I'd walk around the corner, pulling the cord as far as I could and then when you got finished you had to untangle the cord or Mom would be furious! It was black too.

After we got married our phone was Harvest Gold, it was the 1970's and we were uptown! We had one phone until our daughters began to say we were the last people on Earth with only one. It really didn't bother Hubby and me, we didn't even have cable AND we still had a rotary dial on the TV and the microwave. When you are that behind in technology, you kind of give up! But we eventually gave in and the girls got phones in their rooms followed by small TV's.

But we changed with the times, buying VCR's, then DVD players and now we have a DVR...and we know how to program it! Major accomplishment. We have appropriate size TV's not to embarrass ourselves when company comes. No rotary dials now on anything in the house. We have 4 cordless phones only because I don't want to have to walk up or down stairs to answer phones and we both carry cell phones. Mine is a TracPhone. The pay as you go kind. Small, old and it doesn't even take pictures. I cling to it for security, the one thing in my life that I completely know how to run and program...Off and On!

Motherhood

Some of us are destined for Motherhood, it's our sole purpose in life!

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth. The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only 'orphans' that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaning pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tigerskin fabric and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops??
Take a look...

The Mothering Instinct is strong in humans and animals alike.

No matter what...we love them unconditionally!

Thanks Aunt B...

Life

Life really boils down to 2 questions...

1. Should I get a dog....?


OR...2. Should I have children?



*I would say yes to both, just don't leave the house and sleep with one eye open!

Hooked like a Big Fish!

I can't believe I WON!

I never win anything so this is a big deal!



LA Girl over at Sweet Tea celebrated her Birthday by giving away a present, to us! That's pretty nice since SHE was the Birthday Girl. She kept it a secret for a few days then told us it was 6 disc book on CD, Manhunters by Jennifer Cruise.

I have already been to Amazon to read about it. It's a fun "Chic-lit book"~ "Kate Svenson is a successful single thirty-five-year-old businesswoman with a plan. Specifically, she decides it is time for her to put the same energy she puts into her professional life into her personal relationships. To that end, she packs her fancy lingerie and “wish list” for the ideal man and heads to a swanky resort where she fully intends to find her ideal mate and bring him home." I'm not in the Manhunting Mode, but I have a feeling this will be a fun read!

Thanks for the kind words about GrannyMountain. Sometimes we all feel like, "Is anyone reading this?" Even if no one comes to visit mine, I love visiting your blogs. I'm hooked like a big fish and blogging is just a part of my day now. Thanks LA Girl for this wonderful surprise!