OT November Chit Chat

[renee]

Oooooooops!

[agate]

Gary-
You trying to replicate your homestead? Don't forget the BBQ pit.

--Or the swimming pool!

I look at books and articles on innovative and less costly architecture all the time to
appreciate and dream about the home I never got when MS hit.
You never know when the fairy godmother shows face.

Dream on, renee. I enjoy looking at pictures of other people's houses. Nice to see how they've done them up. But I'm always super-glad I no longer have a house. I had one, and then MS came along, and taking care of it got too difficult.

Think snow shoveling! Leaf-raking! Gutters that don't work right! Plagues of carpenter ants and mice! Boiler breakdowns! Roof leaks! Frozen pipes! I could go on....

Oh yes, and grass cutting.

[nuthatch]

Speaking of grass cutting, where is Howie?

I spend lots of time looking at house ideas on the Houzz.com website. It's nice to dream but frustrating at the same time. House building is so very expensive, and the county makes it even worse with permits for everything under the sun and then some! It would be cheaper to buy an existing house if only we could find one that could be modified for our needs without having to rebuild the whole thing. After an extensive search, we opted to buy a lot and build instead.

DH met a young couple who will be our future neighbors today. They are about to break ground on their lot, having finally gotten through the permit process. They told him they had to pay fees galore, including one for a street usage study, and one for a paleontologist to observe in case they unearth any whale bones! Hey, why not look for dinosaurs too while they're at it! Sounds like the county is just trying to make up budget shortages by hitting people with unnecessary fees.

It's not uncommon for Indian artifacts to be found near the ocean in California. Chumash Indians lived here.
My husband was in the excavation business and they often had to have a paid specialist observe while they were digging to watch for Indian artifacts. If anything was found, the job was immediately stopped to collect the artifacts and the site was examined carefully to make sure no Indian remains were found, indicating a burial ground.

Heaven forbid if any remains are found . . . then Indian tribe elders come to perform Indian ceremonies before the remains can be further disturbed, and then the remains are sometimes relocated with more ceremonies. The process can set a job back months, if not stop development altogether.

A burial ground was found once on a road widening job he was on. The remains were moved with lots of hoopla, to what is now a shoulder area of the road where they now rest in peace, as trucks and cars rumble by.
The local Walmart store could not be built in it's original location because of an Indian burial ground. A large portion of the property is now a large fenced vacant lot. Indians have clout!!

Rainy here today and yesterday. Supposed to get down to 27 degrees tonight. I hate cold more than hot weather and feel for those suffering back east with no heat or electricity, not to mention those who lost everything. I would be so overwhelmed.
Keeping you all in my prayers.

Joan

p.s. Picked the first persimmons today, they're such a pretty color! Don't you agree?

[agate]

nuthatch/Joan, Howie's still working on picking the locks to get in here.

It's not easy for people with WebTV, apparently.

In fact, if anyone here has any tips about how to log in here if you have WebTV, please post them or send me a PM and I'll send them along to Howie. Thanks!

Those are gorgeous-looking persimmons! As a small child I visited a friend of the family who grew persimmon trees, and I recall eating them there, right off the tree, but they were a much smaller variety and not so bright a color. Delicious though.

I'm another one who marvels at how much Cherie manages to do.

Jeanie, I hope your mother's UTI can be fixed up--and that your cough will go away too. A cough like that can take all your energy and deprive you of rest.

Sally, thanks for posting the photo of Gary's place. Some people don't seem to mind where they live and just move on easily from one place to another, but I get attached to the place I'm living in if I'm there for any length of time. After all, I look at it and move around in it every day. I can really understand being badly shaken up about losing a house to a fire.

[nuthatch]

Agate, these persimmons are Fuyu persimmons and are the type that can be eaten right off the tree. They're similar to an apple in texture, but with a unique, sweet flavor.
I would not recommend eating some of the other varieties of persimmons while they are firm. They are very, very astringent and will cause your mouth to pucker big time! They become super sweet when ripe and mushy and are often used for cooking. The birds love them! I'm not a fan of that type of persimmon, but my MIL used to eat them with a spoon and loved them. I knew an elderly gentleman who used to love to put that mushy persimmon pulp on rice.

Had a good frost last night and the fig trees dropped most their leaves overnight. Hubby just brought in the last picking of figs for the year. I love how as soon as the figs get done producing, the persimmons start. If only all my fruit trees would work together that way.

[Virginia]

Hi to All,

Hope all of you are enjoying the quite of not getting the political robo calls or the ones in person. I am having to go back to realizing that I can
pick up my phone without looking at caller ID and trying to figure out if it is someone I know or yet another political call.

Jeanie, you and David just keep on going through soooo much and then add your Mother into that mix. I am not sure how you are hanging on, but I guess there is no alternative. I was glad that the Doctor's think David is doing well, but I don't think anyone can feel very well with
blisters on their hands and feet. I wish those would run their course and yet the medicene keep working for the cancer. It's about time your cough cleared also - been much too long.

Cherie, you are as usual just doing, doing, doing. So much going on all the time. I am glad all this with your parents did not hit back a couple of
years ago. Hope your good health continues to hold!

Agate, Joan, Renee I too like to look at houses, however no thoughts of moving right at the moment. Actually, I have a pretty nice townhouse, but when I bought it I moved out of a house that still feels like it should be home. Why oh why did I not keep that house? I still love it so.
However, then I remember the yard, one and one third acres, then I have to say "now I remember why I sold". I hired it done and could have
continued to hire it done as easily as I can pay my homeowners association fees here, however the responsibility of the yard, the outside of
the house and then the inside would have been too much now. I do get attached to the places that I live. I have always tried to make a home
whereever my husband I were, but that particular house we had built to our specifications and that is where we lived when he passed away, so guess that is a lot of the attachment.

Gary, I hope things are going as well as possible for you and Trish in your motor home, and that your nice, new home will go faster and easier once things get really started than you can imagine. If bad weather does not set in maybe that will happen.

Thursday night I was in a restaurant having dinner with my brother and his wife when he got a call on his cell phone from our brother that lives
in Hilton Head. He was put in the hospital Tuesday night when he could not breathe well. He had lost 10lbs of fluid that had built up in his lungs. He thought at the time that he was probably going home Friday, but then they are to start tomorrow trying to figure out the cause - they might start with heart catherization to see if there is blockage. He is hoping that if there is they can do a stent right then. He was in Viet Nam in the 60s during the heaviest part of the fighting. He led two companies while he was there and says it is one of the things he is proudest of
in his life. He did go on to retire with 20 years in the military and then taught school for more than 20 years. However, the years in Viet Nam
have taken their toll. He is, according to the VA, 270 percent disabled from Agent Orange. Of course he gets his Army retirement, but it is
now non taxable. NOT WORTH IT!!! He has been able until lately to do most everything that he wanted to do. He has traveled extensively, played golf, plays his saxaphone in a band, etc. I have been somewhat anxious since the call.

Will talk to all of you later.

[SalpalSally]

Little doggie "Pal", in my Avatar, has gone to live out his retirement years at my DD Julie's house. It was a hard decision, but the right one for him. He had to become an inside dog, in the last few years.

He seemed to be doing ok with it, but I've noticed lately, how he sits at the front door, longing to go out. I asked DD and she agreed, so off he went. I'll be sad and miss him (i've had him for 13 years), but he is going blind, so missing his peepee pads and just no longer happy being stuck indoors.

I announced to Family on FB and DD wrote this...

He's already walked the entire backyard (with an escort by Levi) and the entire first floor (like 10 times). He should sleep well tonight...Levi on the other hand is too excited to sleep.

Which made me smile and tells me that I made the right decision. Thank you Lord.

BTW.. Levi is DD's large Shephard/Lab mix doggie.









.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Hi Sally, I hope your DD will bring the dog to visit you often. I am sad for you. My dog is 16 and not seeing well or hearing well. Luckily we have a fenced back yard and a dogie door so he can go out when he needs to. He has lately had a few peeing accidents in the house. Saying prayers for you. Jeanie :)

[stillstANNding]

Hello all. I'm keeping well- not much to say.:)

Sally- you did a courageous thing- for the betterment of the dog's life. I know you miss him. I hope he comes to visit on Sundays w your DD.

Love & Chocolate :)
ANN

[agate]

Sally, I know you'll miss your dog but you had to do what was best for him. And I'm sure your dog will miss you too!

Virginia, I hope you'll get good news about your brother.

What to do when you yourself aren't in the peak of health and family members are very ill and could use help? It's a very rough spot to be in.

[Gary]

Sally I could not imagine how you must feel. I truly admire you doing what is best for your fur baby. My 2 current babies are 12+ and they have literately saved my life TWICE!! They are really brave unless it is a loud noise, coyotes howling, cows, backfiring trucks, horns, strange people (unless they have puppy cookies). We raised Golden Retrievers for many years and I always told people that they were watch dogs........ if someone broke in they would WATCH them steal everything you own. The kids (our grown kids!) were looking around after the fire and told me that there was certain places we could not locate the new house as it would disturb the pet cemetery.

Nothing new to report. We moved the motor home down to the farm and I still am not getting much done. Bad thing is. its not that i cant do some of the things that need doing, its that I don't WANT to do it. I know procrastinating isn't going to make it go away.........

We had a snow storm blow through and put an end to our Indian summer. It was gone by the next morning but left cold weather in its wake it was 17 deg after being 68 deg 2 days before. The Rocky Mountains, if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes and it will change.

It was great to talk to Cherie the other day hands free of course, I could not imagine her driving down the road holding a phone! Across the river from our house, in Oregon, it is illegal to talk or text while driving. I am sorry but while I would not text, I spent most of my working life in jobs where you had to talk on the radio microphone and I do not see the difference.

Hope everyone is doing well be healthy everybody.

[SalpalSally]

Gary, How's it going with your home and your own health, Gary?
I think about you and you plight evry day, when I look at your loving farm. Praying for all to go well. (((((Hugs)))))

Jeanie, thinking of you and yours. I pray the Lord makes you all better.

Agate, love you and Ann, thank you.
Virginia, nuthatch, Abby...All...Thanks for being here.





OOPS, we cross posted Gary.

[Virginia]

I had planned on going out today. I haven't been out this whole week. However, I did not sleep well last night and it was raining, so I stayed in. I had started
a book that I was having a hard time getting really interested in. The name of it is "The Innocent Man". It was written by John Grisham. I finally did get interested today and completed the book. However, it left me feeling down. Somehow, it just was a reinforcement of the fact that life is not fair. It is a true
story about two men who were accused and found guilty of **** and murder. It was mostly about one of them who was already mentally unstable, but then
they spent 11 years in prison, and of course he really was unstable then. It told a lot about the original judge and prosecutor and other people involved in the original trial and how they steadfastly refused to believe anyone else had committed the crime. Eventually, DNA is and some other people getting involved is what got them released. But it just reinforced the feeling - LIFE IS NOT FAIR!!!

[agate]

Virginia, I read true accounts sometimes and might try the book you're talking about. Sounds interesting.

But it just reinforced the feeling - LIFE IS NOT FAIR!!!

Life isn't fair, but the alternative doesn't sound like a lot of fun either.

[Gary]

Sally great minds think alike!

I try not to think "Life's not fair and Agate is right the alternative is worse. The other thing I NEVER say is "well it could be worse" .

Having PC troubles it gets so slow that I wish it had a hand crank on the side so I could speed it up. I rescued it from the house and guess that it needs to be replaced.

We are supposed to have rain for the next week. Hopefully the snow will stay in the mountains.

We have an appointment tomorrow with a mortgage broker we have almost decided on a manufactured home. I have managed to repair our credit which had been ruined during the waiting time before medicare kicked in. So hopefully we can take the amount our insurance pays and get a new mortgage for the difference. I have a land contract/owner carry loan meaning that it does not show up on our credit report so for the past 18 years we have nothing on the reports that show we have been paying a mortgage. I do not think that I could be a full time RV'er. It gets really small after a few days of rainy weather.