Going to make myself post.

Haven't felt like sharing much, plain and simple. I've tried to keep up with you all; but as most of you know, that hasn't worked either.
Such is life.
Too much craziness in the world.

Anyway. We are mostly over our colds, but they keep hanging on.

Hubby went to the dentist Thursday. A few weeks ago, he broke a tooth on an ice cream cone! A plain, old fashioned ice cream cone. I still don't understand that one; but he did. It caused the tooth next to it to break, too. The reason is he has a partial upper denture plate and these were the teeth that held it in place.
As you know, he just recently got a pacemaker. Going to the dentist is now an adventure that his cardiologist has to approve. For a while he made do without and was doing well. But he could tell he was starting to get an infection. Very not good. So after many antibiotics, Thursday he saw an Oral Surgeon, to be more specific. That dentist removed the two broken teeth and did the required root canals. Now hubby has another weeks worth of antibiotics to be sure this does not affect his pacemaker.

I don't worry. Much. I pray a lot though.

It's pecan season. As soon as the dew dries, I need to get out there and get busy. No side tracks today. Got rain coming later in the week. They're forty cents a pound right now. Every little bit helps.
Not feeling the holidays. More anxious and annoyed than anything.

Well Wayne, I surprised myself and made a meatloaf. As I posted here (ages ago, I know, sorry); that my brother gave me our Granny's cookbook. I thought the first thing might be to try baking bread with it; but I barely have time to make jerky. And anyone who knows us, knows how much I (my family, more to the point!) like making jerky. Heck, we just went fishing for the first time in over six months. I actually can't remember. Last year sometime.
But I sidetrack, sorry.

Anyway, I found a meatloaf recipe. This one.

I substituted mushroom soup for the vegetable soup; because mushroom soup is like bacon for hubby. And we didn't have any corn flakes, so I used Chicken-in-a-biscuit crackers as that was the only crackers I had. (Hubby and youngest boy like those, too.)

Here it is in the pan. Hubby's artwork. ;-)

I like the meatloaf more domed, he likes it more loaf. At any rate, it turned out great! Very flavorful. A bit crumbly, as the bottom was a little too moist. I should have used more crumbs maybe. We will definitely try it again. Oh, I left out the salt and pepper. Everyone seasons as they like. And I didn't baste it, either.

I did remember a picture before it all got eaten.

We haven't been able to find anyone to work on the roof for us, so we need to get another tarp back up there. Looks like a few days of rain coming next week, if the weatherman is right.

I'll try to post more often, but no promises. You all know how that goes. Take care and have a blessed Sunday. ♥

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

I think I mentioned we were going to North Carolina? Sorry if I forgot, but yes, we went to North Carolina. We were gone a week.
We needed to talk with the company that is renting out our other house. And of course we needed to see our boys. We had heard that our two youngest had lost their jobs; but we hadn't heard from them.

We took money from my husband's retirement account for the trip. Paid a penalty, but it was worth it. Found out our youngest boys are doing okay. They had not wanted to worry us. They did everything they could to make ends meet. Collected aluminum cans, scrap metal, and found a food bank. The rental agency worked with them to keep them in their apartment. The same agency handling our house for us. We are very grateful and I thank God for that. They didn't tell us everything, but they did explain that they didn't tell us because they knew I would worry.

They're right, too. But the middle son is going to college now. Between his Pell Grant, and the G.I. Bill, he said they are doing okay. The youngest boy is looking for work. We believe he has Aspergers. He does really well at jobs, and then loses them. I gave him some information and hopefully he will look into it as much as he can with no income.

We are very proud of all of our sons.

This is our oldest boy, our granddaughter through marriage, and our daughter-in-law.

He went with his wife when she went to England. While there, he got a job at Boots. Right before he left, he got his certification to be a pharmacy dispenser. He enjoyed the job so much that when they came back to America, he decided he wanted to become a Pharmacist. He did two years at the local Community College and won a full scholarship to Chapel Hill University, where he is taking classes to get his Pharmacy degree.
We are really proud of him.

Our other boys. The Iraq war vet on the left, and our youngest on the right.

They are sharing an apartment. Our veteran told us last year that he would 'take the youngest boy off our hands', to help him grow up. I know he didn't intend it to happen the way it did, but we are very proud of them for getting through a very tough time. I kind of wish they had told us though.

My thoughts are with those in the Midwest and the terrible snow storm last week.

Hope you have all been well. Will try to catch up. It's nice to be home again. Have a wonderful, blessed weekend!

The only spider I like

Spider Lily

They're blooming and I love seeing them because they just pop up over night!

We've been mowing like crazy. Trying to think of what needs to be done.
We're taking a trip tomorrow. Hubby's sister isn't well, so we're going to see her, then go on to NC, and check on the boys.
Be gone about a week.
May be a tropical depression to follow us. In other words lots of rain.
We'll see.
Hope you all will be safe, happy, and blessed. ♥

Doctor said

surgery went well.
Fixed one torn tendon, the rotator cuff, and removed some arthritis.
Hubby decided he didn't care what other people thought, he went to sleep in bed -- big sling and all.
Now the fun begins.
How to keep him from trying to lift anything for the next two weeks.
I may not be around much. Spouses that are healing need a lot of care.
We had a little rain on the drive home, but thank the Lord, not a lot. I don't like driving. Never have. It's a necessary evil, but I don't like it. Especially not in a larger city where I don't know my way around.

I hope everyone who needs rain can get a little, too.

Hope you all had a wonderful day. Have a safe, wonderful weekend! ♥

Thursday things

In an old house that has supposedly has had a termite contract for 30+ years, this is not what you want to find in the bedroom...

That's hundred year old cypress, and then some, since we don't know exactly when the house was built.
And termites are not supposed to like cypress.
The termite company did verify none of this is active, and was probably caused by the leaking roof. Apparently wet wood attracts termites, whether cypress, treated, or whatever.

There are a couple more places on this outside wall that we expect may have damage, too; judging by the water damage to the hardboard; but we haven't pulled those off yet.
The company will, of course, give extra attention to the outer wall in this area.
And hardboard is still made, so we won't have problems matching the other walls.

It has been very interesting to see how the room was done, while trying to remove the molding on the wall. For instance, the closet was added to the room after it was built, so we cut the molding level with the closet wall to minimize seams.

You all have a blessed, safe weekend. We're going to get some more pecan trees tomorrow.

Just a note to let you know we're still here.

Literally and figuratively.
We're doing okay. Trying to stay cool while trying to pack and not seeming to make any headway.

Hubby got sick right before bed, then felt better. With the heat, his lunch sat in his stomach for EIGHT HOURS. He told me "You'd think with everything I drank to stay hydrated, it would have flushed it out."
But at least he felt better when we went to bed.

We'll be on the road sometime tomorrow. And probably have to come back one last time to get the last of it. Seems like with all that we've already moved, packed, given away or tossed, we've barely made a dent.
How do you collect so much stuff?

We're getting a hotel room tonight so we can pack our bed.

38 years on Friday.

60 for me today.

He jokingly told me I was officially over the hill.

I told him I was not.

But this heat and humidity certainly lets me know I am not in my 20s any more.

If you celebrate the 4th, have a safe one! (And thank you for celebrating my birthday, Haha!)

If you don't, have a safe day anyway!

I may be out of touch for as much as a week or two, if we do have to make a second trip back to get the rest of our stuff, we're going to drop this load, get a night's sleep and come back.

Just know that I think about you all and hope you all stay safe and well.

God bless us, everyone. ♥

Tomorrow

is hubby's last day at work. He told me they usually expect you to take off at noon when you're retiring.
To top it off, there is some sort of function that is going to close a good part of the base for this afternoon, so he will probably be home in time for lunch.

We have a lot of things to do besides pack, so I have no idea how much online time I will have for the next couple of weeks.
I expect I will have some time, but who knows.
Hope you all take care and God bless. ♥

Oh, the pictures I promised you.

See you around!

Two days

until hubby's retirement is official.
I am going to be falling behind with blogs, sorry. Nothing to be done about that, but I'm sure you all understand.

Still have a lot of shredding to do. It's amazing how you forget how many papers you have after 17 years that you don't need.

Got the outside of the house painted and the shutters put back up. We took them down after Hurricane Bertha tore a couple of them off, back in July of 1996. That was our first bad hurricane after moving here in 1994. We stored them in the shed and just never got them back up. With a fresh coat of paint, they really help the house stand out.

The guy painting the house did a great job. He's been really helpful with little things, too, like repairing the one shutter that had been damaged. I'll try to remember to take a picture and share it with you, if I have time.

Now we just need to get the trailer loaded, get the rest of the stuff tossed or put in storage if it's something we're keeping, and get the inside of the house taken care of.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and a safe, blessed weekend. ♥

Five days

Not that we're counting or stressing or anything...

One week

until hubby's retirement is final.
It's exciting and scary. I know I've said this before, but it's my blog.
We're anxious. I know he wants to leave before the 7th of July, but I just don't see it happening.
For various reasons, we don't have a lot of money and this is going to be an expensive couple of weeks with everything we need to do.

I do have hope, Lord willing, that all will go well.

We have plenty of rice, if nothing else, haha.

I just try to keep my stress levels low and go with the flow. Not much else to do, right?

You all have a blessed weekend!

Starting to feel more definite

The boys have been moving stuff into their apartment all day. Got the electric and water turned on yesterday. Internet gets turned on tomorrow.
It's definitely not the best apartment, but it's good enough for first time on their own, and no worse than the little apartment we had after we were first married.

Not much longer now. The fast moving time has started to slow down. Still half the month to go.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday.
Praying for rain in the places that need it most.

Found a little change in the settings that makes me not dislike the new post editor. :o)

We have lived in this house in NC

For almost half of our married life. 17 years. We celebrate 38 years in just under three weeks. 20 days.
What an anniversary present.

Hubby asked if we were going to the farm the first weekend of freedom. I said no, I figured we'd take a week to slowly get everything packed up. Hopefully everything. But maybe not. That is still under debate, haha. We may need a storage unit for a week or two.

And then we'd leave after his last payday. Our anniversary weekend.
Both of us driving a vehicle and pulling a trailer with stuff on it.

Crazy stuff that wakes you up at 3:00 AM.
Hubby woke up, too and neither of us could get back to sleep.

Just wanted to share these:









I've tried and tried to get a slip (branch, cutting, what-have-you) of this:



because my oldest boy gave it to me for Mother's Day many years ago, but the cuttings just don't root. At seven feet this year, I feel it's too large to move, and I wouldn't really want to leave a hole in the yard anyway. I've looked at different things on the internet and it seems they are not easy to propagate by cuttings.

I'm going to miss this bush.

Have a wonderful weekend. ♥

Am I the only one who despises the new Blogger posting format?

I mean, even knowing a little HTML doesn't make it behave. Hope they never delete the old one.

Anyway, hubby figures we'll be on the road by 1430 tomorrow (2:30 PM). That's what he is shooting for anyway. I will try to read a few blogs before we go, but no promises.
That will be the latest we have left for the farm in, well, a long time.

To prevent arriving in the dark like we did last August when the pump had burned out, there's a good chance we'll be stopping overnight on Saturday night. Depends on how traffic and travel is this holiday weekend.
And how well the coffee works. ;o)

I know I haven't posted as much about the last 2 trips as I said. Sorry about that. I just can't concentrate when things are crazy like they are right now. Well, they are crazy to me and since I do the writing that's what matters, right? ;o)

So, let me see if I have a few more pictures to share before I go. (Hopefully I'll remember to READ my packing list and not forget my camera this trip. We're going to be there maybe a week, but probably not. You know how that goes. The week includes driving time on both ends. But not for much longer!

You all take care and have a safe weekend! ♥

We leave on our next trip in 3 days

Yup. Friday evening. Late start this trip, he says; but I'll believe it when I see it. ;o)
I'm glad we've decided no more quick turn trips. Sad to say it has shown us we're not as young as we like to think we are.

Which does worry me when I think about all the work we have in front of us.
But I know we just need to have faith. :o)

Haven't shared much about the last couple of trips. Just seem to be more into reading blogs (and keeping the house running) than into sharing.
Not sure how much internet we'll have when we get to the farm. May have to use our laptop Travelling Matt to update at Wi-Fi hot spots around town if nothing else. ;o)

A couple pictures to finish this up are appropriate, I think. Hope you all have a wonderful, blessed day. ♥

The Lord answered me today.

I was worried about the upcoming retirement. Yesterday we thought there was a problem.
As soon as I left it in God's hands, he provided the answer. We are both very thankful for that.

We have a crazy short trip coming up this weekend, so I will most likely be out of touch until we get back.
Leaving Thursday afternoon. Driving to Louisiana. Getting a car his brother owned (yes, the Ford in the yard); sleeping overnight Friday and coming back on Saturday -- putting us here again sometime Sunday.

Then we finish packing the utility/cargo trailer for our (one week) trip the end of the month.

And of course, I always manage to be gone when my lilies are going to be blooming...

Hope you all have a blessed Wednesday. And those of you needing rain, I pray you get some. ♥

Two Months

To retirement...
Will try to keep up with everyone, but I may fall behind as we pack and clean and such.

Our middle son has been accident prone all his life.
All our boys were diagnosed ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) when they were little, but grew out of it for the most part.

Being military, we moved around a lot. Our oldest boy was born in Alaska. Our middle son in Nebraska, and our youngest in Okinawa, Japan.
I used to wonder where they got it. But I'm pretty sure I know. The ADHD came from hubby. He can't sit through a show (but he can sit through a movie) without flipping channels. He doesn't like commercials. He has missed parts of shows we were watching, because of flipping channels and picking up the middle of something else.

And he can't relax for more than an hour (except at the movies) without needing to get up and do something. Or at least be doing something while he is sitting.

The accident prone? That comes from me, haha.
We put a new trailer hitch on the back of my car, which I of course promptly walked in to.
Getting in or out of the car, I often bump my head or my shins because the running board is bigger than I'm used to. And my legs are to short to step past it.
I tend to trip on shadows, or my own feet.

More than once I have felt my guardian angel with me.

Today I was painting the trailer. I had just painted the railing and was leaning down to paint a low spot. So what did I do? I laid my arm on the wet paint.
Not once, not twice, but three different times.

Got a busy couple of weeks ahead. Granddaughter's birthday, packing. medical appointments of various kinds. Movers coming to give estimates.

A quick trip to the farm to pick up a car we left there last trip.
A chimney sweep coming to clean our chimney...

It has taken me all day to finish this post!

I want to post some flower pictures. Sorry for the quality. My phone camera has a scratch on the lens. Don't ask me how because I don't know.
This is a bush on our fence. Hubby says it smells like honeysuckle, but doesn't look like it.
All I know is our yard smells wonderful right now. :o)

Hope you all have a blessed week! ♥

Don't you think these make good curtains?

I don't like pink, but when I hung these in the kitchen our last trip, I thought wow, I like these. So the first time I get to think of having time for homemaker type stuff. I am going to try my hand at making them into curtains. :o)

I got them at Wal Mart. They're twin bed sheets. They were $4 a package.
Haven't been saying a lot about our last trip.
We also found out they took a small battery charger.

We always weave some of these (I call them snake locks because of the 'head')

And pair them with some of these:

through our equipment. The tractor, attachments, and such that we store in the garage.
We run a chain, roughly half inch links, through the spare propane tanks for the trailer, and padlock that. We're glad we do, now.
We did call the sheriff and report the thefts. And between Wally World and Lowes, hubby was able to make a new power cord for the trailer.

And I realize I'm rambling so I think I'm going to get dressed and plant some seeds.
These.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day. ♥

Five Days

Hope you all have a blessed week! ♥

Time of change

I want to do a post, but my thoughts are all over the place. I'm sitting here going through old papers and trying to get my thoughts to settle, but it's not happening very well.

We're going to the farm the end of this month, finally.
But only for maybe a week--which means we'll spend just a couple days there. The rest will be on the road.

We've decided (hubby has, and it's not something worth arguing about) that the out building needs to come down. More about that at a later post or two, when I can get it together.

I love reading about all your animals. I love the funny stories, common sense and sage advice that I read on so many blogs too.

My husband's retirement has been approved. The only thing left to decide now is when. Knowing the government, it will be the last possible moment. Right now there is an 85% chance (my estimate based on all the factors I know) that it will be 30 June. If it is June, I expect we'll find out about the 28th.

Otherwise it will be the end of December, and I will be spending some time alone at the farm this summer to try to keep up with the mowing.

Here's hoping (and a little prayer) for June.
This is going to be such a big change for us. I'm happy, nervous and uncertain all at once.

Happy, Blessed Wednesday to you all. ♥

Standing by to Stand by.

Such a military thing to say.

I really wish blogger would go back to the old style post form. Worked so much better!

Happy Wednesday to you all!