Show

Today Pat, Brook and I went to a small Arts and Craft show near our place. Every year there is a tractor show at it also.  Did not but much there. I bought a bag of apples. Pat bought some sweet salsa. And Brook? Well she had her hair wound. She had a ribbon or something wrapped around a strand of her hair. Weird looking but that is what she wanted. I also bought a pair of earrings for Johnny's mother. Her birthday is in a couple of weeks and I wanted to get her something. I found some earrings made with a coin from her native country.

Let's see. I also found some Christmas presents at a clearance sale. Yep I am cheap! LOL

Ok time to check on my stew. I love cool weather because it gives me a good excuse to make soup and chili and stuff like that.

day you die

 

Made me go hummmm. The day you will die (All in fun please)

When you will die: Monday October 2, 2056, at age of 97.

Where you will die: Nursing Home 43.10% In Patient 33.70% Residence 15.30% Out Patient/ ER 4.00% Other places 2.80% Dead on Arrival 1.00% Status unknown 0.00% Place unknown 0.00% How you will die: Heart disease 38.20% All other causes 19.60% Malignant cancer 11.70% Stroke 10.20% Influenza and pneumonia 4.80% Alzheimer's disease 4.30% Lower respiratory disease 4.20% Diabetes 2.10% Kidney disease 1.80% Accidents 1.80% Blood poisoning 1.40%

Tags: die

weird

I have been tagged by Carlene to post 6 weird things about me. This is not hard. There are way more than 6 weird things I could post but I better keep some things to myself!

So here goes.

6 Weird things about me

1. I cry everytime I get my hair cut.

2. I am afraid of heights but love to fly on a plane and sit in the window seat.

3. I like to eat hotdogs without the weinnie.

4. I rarely turn radio on.

5. I do crossword puzzles in ink.

6. I read War and Peace in 6 hours.

Tags: weird, tagged, list

Horses horses and more horses

Today's Monday photo shot from John is Horses ! He wants us to shoot horses with a camera of course! Now this is a subject we have pleanty of around here So without further ado I present HORSES in video and in a still shot.

 

 

Tags: horses

Brook said to say thank you to whoever it is that signed up for Neopets under her link. Her link is the one that is on the right side of the page in my profile.

cleaning

I can't figure out which cleaning is worse, spring or fall. I am trying to get everything ready for winter around here. It feels like we are going to have an early one. The air has been cool at night and perfect in the daytime. This always triggers a cleaning bug for me. I have been cleaning cabinets and stuff like that. I cleaned out my pantry and made a list of what I need for my holiday baking and winter soups and chili. Today I cleaned the pool( well I almost finished cleaning the pool, still needs a bit more done) to get it started for being winterized. I scooped and scrubbed and super chlorinated it. I still need to pick up some algaecide to pour in it to help control the green growth during the winter time. All the balls have had their air released and flattened out, the noodles are drying out so I can store them, and all the squirt guns are empty and drying  so they can be packed up for next year. I gassed up the tractor today as I will be cutting the fields tomorrow. I need to remove a section of fence and replace it so I can put the horses in the back field for the winter. They will come to the front to be fed but will graze the back area. I love the fall. It is warm enough to work and cool enough to keep working!

Pat is outside fiddling with his bike. He just blew a fuse the other day. Today he is checking all the nuts and bolts making sure they are all tight. things do vibrate loose on the bike when it is running. Friday we will be giving it a wax job getting ready for the company picnic on Sunday.

Oh yes. And 9 year olds sure can be brats! Lordy that kid will drive a person to drink! What is it about homework and kids? It would take her maybe 30 minutes if she would just quit fussing and do it!

Okay time to finish dinner. I am making, green beand, corn, sauer kraut and smoked sausage.

Monday on Tuesday

Monday photo shoot on Tuesday, John' photo shoot, color opposites. What can be more opposite than black and white? AND in the shape of yin yang?

this and that

Yesterday was a busy day. We had to go pick up hay in a field. load it unto a trailer, haul it home and then load it into the barn. Before we could load it into the barn we had to rearrange the hay we already had in the barn. That was a fun job! LOL I also had to replace a wall in the tack/feed room so I could stack some hay in there, This was a real job. After putting in a wall(I did it, not Pat) I had to install a door so I could feed the horses in the stall at the tack room. I had to make the door where they could not push it open and stick their head in and get the hay! I did a pretty good job I think. I stacked 24 bales of hay in there and the rest went in the hay barn(which was supposed to be my storage room when it was built). In the middle of all that I managed to wash a load of clothes, wash dishes, and cook dinner. I made Italian herb chicken, baked mac and cheese and peas and baked some bread.( I did use the bread machine for the bread). I am paying for it today.  My back feels like someone is standing on it. It is hurting just sitting up makes it hurt. I have to keep going though. I cannot give into the pain. I will not lose myself again because of it. It always hurts. Some days are worse than others. This is one of those days. It was hurting before I started doing anything yesterday or it was not the work that does it. For those who don't know, 5 years ago I broke my back in 4 places in a fall from a horse. There are little pieces of bone floating loose and sometimes if the area gets inflammation in it the bones irritate the nerves in my back. Nothing can be done except treat the pain and inflammation and I will not take "pain pills" to "fix" the pain. I really do not like getting loopy and that is how high I would have to be to stop the pain. If I did that I would probably hurt myself and be in worse shape.'

Anyway. Brook is here. We are going to go eat pizza and go to TaeKwonDo. She gets to stay the night tonight and tommorrow night! I like it when my Brook gets to stay woith me. It still feels like a part of me is gone when she is not here.

We got the part back for the bike today. It sounds great BUT there is another problem. Pat accidently pinched a wire when he installed it and now nothing on the dash works. He is hoping that a relay got tripped and it will reset itself. I hate to think that the dash is shorted out. If it is not one thing it is another.

O yea. The other day I had to take Scampi to the vet. He had an infection of.... , well he had an infection. I have no idea how he got an infection. Anyway he is doing very well now. He weighs 15 pounds! Back to his old self now. bouncing and trying to steal cat food! LOL

So I am out of here now. See yall later.

Fred J Allen, Sr

Fred J. Allen, Sr.

Date:

May 25th, 1927 - September 16th, 2006

Obituary:

Fred Allen, Sr., 79, Rossville passed away Saturday, September 16, 2006 peacefully at his residence. Born May 25, 1927 in Chattanooga he had been a lifelong resident of the Chattanooga and North Georgia area. Fred served in the United States Navy from February 1945 until October 1953. He was a member of First Baptist Church, Lakeview, VFW Post #3679, IBEW #175 and Thompkin’s Lodge #466 F & AM. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Dora Allen; aunt, Bedie Adair Acuna; and grandson, Jeremiah Gazaway. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Frances Pauline Allen; sons, Fred (Marie) Allen, Jr., OR, Clifford (Debra) Allen, Hixson; daughters, Dora (James) Gazaway, Indiana, Connie (James) Deatharage, Covington, GA, Melissa Jean Allen, Ft. Oglethorpe; brothers, Lebron Allen, Mississippi, David Allen, CA, Ronald Allen, AL; sisters, Betty Barnes, Ft. Oglethorpe, Sandra Bonine, Gail McClain, both of CA; six grandchildren, several nieces and nephews. Services will be at 1 P.M. Wednesday in the chapel with Rev. Max Parris officiating. Interment will follow in National Cemetery with military honors. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Hutcheson Hospice of the American Diabetes Association. Condolences may be sent at www.heritagefh.com. The family will receive friends from 2-4 & 6-8 P.M. Tuesday at Heritage Funeral Home and Crematory, Battlefield Parkway.

Memorials:

Hutcheson Hospice or American Diabetes Association

Visitations:

2:00PM to 4:00PM on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory - Ft. Oglethorpe (map/driving directions)

6:00PM to 8:00PM on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory - Ft. Oglethorpe (map/driving directions)

Services:

1:00PM at Heritage Funeral Home Chapel - Ft. Oglethorpe on Wednesday, September 20th, 2006 (map/driving directions)

Cemetery:

Chattanooga National Cemetery 1200 Bailey Avenue Chattanooga, TN 37404 (map/driving directions)

Sad

My friend Fred died yesterday after a short battle with advance kidney cancer. He passed during the night with  his wife of over 50 years at his side.

Fred showed his love for his wife with some of the last words he spoke. He had been asked do you know who I am?, by his wife because he was not recognizing his daughter. He said sure. You are the one that dragged me away. When asked what he meant. He answered that she was the one he married over 50 years ago. They were so happy together. They were not afraid of PDAs. They had a physical and emotional love for each other and were not afraid to show it!

I will miss him. He was a good man. Loved his wife, his family and his God.

His family needs many prayers right now.

change

Change, however difficult, is often healthy.

back home and going again

Back home from vacation and getting ready for out of town guests. that is right I no sooner got home and knew I had to get ready for guests coming the next week. I had met a girl online in POGO, sexymomma772003,  and we have been talking for about 2 years. I introduced her to journals and she has one. She had to make it private due to family (family can mess lots of things up for people). Me, I am getting all stressed out meeting another online friend, 2 in less than 2 weeks! Time to chill and let it go. LOL

Scampi was so happy to see me. He ran around kissing us and loving on us. I had to pick him up to make hime leave the house to go potty!

My friend arrived on Friday. It felt like I already knew her. We have been talking for 2 years. She brought her hubby and 2 kids with her, a 3 year old boy and a baby girl. We had a good time. Had a cookout on Monday and cooked ribs and chicken. I must say I can cook ribs! I made baked beans to go with the ribs. My son in law made some potato salad, and my neighbor made deviled eggs and tea. I also made my orange fluff. The cookout was a success. The whole week was a success. We spent it riding the horses, playing in the pool. We went to the Chickamauga National Battlefield and did a tour. Unfortunately the tower was closed so they were unable to go to the top of it. It was a good visit.

So now I have met 2 online friends. Who is next?

what happened

We are 2 miles from the "Dragon", 318 curves in an 11 mile stretch of road on the Tennessee/North Carolina border on the lower outer rim of the Smokies on Hignway 129. A sharp left hand turn and then it happened! Nothing! The bike goes dead! We are thinking oh great. First thing we do is push the bike off the roadway. Luckily for us there is a small pull over place on the curve. We , or rather Pat fiddles with the bike but nothing happens, no sound. So the first thing I do is flip open the cell phone, no service. We are in a dead zone! A few bikes go by us on their way up the mountain and finally 2 bikes stop and try their phones, nope, their phones have no service either! Our only hope is to jump start the bike. The other 2 bikers help Pat get the bike turned around and I hop on and down the mountain we go. No sound except the wind rushing by. Soon he is able to get it going again after we had gone about halfway down. Just as we get to the entryway to The Foothills Parkway the bike goes dead again. This time we knew there would be not starting it. Soon we have all kinds of bikes stopping but no one can help start the bike. One group roars off with reassurances that they would send a towing service back for us. At thsi time at least 6 different cell phone services have been tried and no one has service. The Little Tennessee River is in front of us looking very inviting. I thought of just diving in. I also thought of throwing the bike in! Several hours have passed and finally someone gives Pat a ride into town leaving me there. Now I am not afraid. It would take a lot to get to me and besides I was not helpless, I was packing and I can get downright mean if I must. As Pat drove out of sight the towtruck arrived. I look in the direction that Pat went and back at the tow and I am lost as what to do. Shortly as if by magic I see Pat coming back. They had spotted a boat ramp that had a table AND outhouse and decided to take me there. Now we are back together again and loading the bike on the towtruck. We head into Maryville and of course it is getting late. We stop at a store and buy a battery for the bike and have the alternator tested. It was no good. Guess what, the new battery had no charge on it and their machine would not charge it. So we had to buy a charger. We are looking at 10 hours to get the battery charged. By this time it is 9 pm. I am tired and hungry and I want to be home! Not to be. We have enough juice in the battery and make it down the street to a motel. Another night on the road we did not count on along with other expences not counted on. (ever pay for a motorcycle tow?)

The next morning we hit the road headed home again. We are so close I can almost taste it. The bike coughs and dies. This time once again we are in the middle of nowhere. This time we know that there is a town over the hillabout 4 miles from us. So......... we start pushing the bike UP the hill! This is going to be another long day! We are almost to the top when this old beat up convertible stops to see if he could help. He offered us a ride into town to a place that could recharge the battery. This time we can both go. Pat takes the battery in and the guy offered to take us someplace to get some food. He took us to a real nice place that had good country cooking. No menu, just a sign on the wall telling what they had that day. He then took us back to get the battery. The man that charged up the battery did it for no charge and asked if we had a way back to the bike, said he could send one of his guys to take us. The first guy had already said he would take us. So back to the bike we go and get her cranked up again. We are back on the road again. Finally we get into Chattanooga and the bike starts winding down again. We pull into a service station and they charge us $10 to charge the battery! Give me country folks anyday! We get home and the bike has not moved since. The last 125 miles of our trip took 2 days and cost us more that the rest of the trip added together!

Home sweet home!

And yep I am ready to take another trip! We plan on riding the Dragon's Tail!

anger and love

" The more anger towards the past you carry in your heart, the less capable you are of loving in the present."~~ Barbara De Angelis

vacation almost done

The next day dawned bright and sunny. We got up and loaded the bike and headed out for breakfast. We made a big mistake and went to an all you can eat breakfast buffet. Not the thing to do when you are trying to watch what you eat! After eating we headed back towards Gatlinburg and the Smokies.

The air was cool and crisp, a perfect day for riding. Traffic was slow in town so we made it though fast and got among the trees! (Yes, Mort more trees!) We headed towards Cades Cove. This was to be my first trip to the Cove even though I have been to the Smokies  numberous times. The trip through the loop was slow but worth the sights. I saw a bear cub high up in a treee but by the time I got into shooting range( with a camera) he skinnied down the tree and took off. I know stupid to approach a bear! LOL I was not getting that close to it! I do not believe I can out run a bear! We saw lots of dear and what I think might have been elk but they were too far away. The settlement was very neat. There was a working corn mill  except that the water was too low and the waterwheel would not turn. Same as it would have been like in the old days, no water, no corn meal or flour.

After leaving the cove we stopped at a well known swimming hole at the foot of the mountain to decide whart to do next. We decided to get on the Foothills Parkway. What a view it offered of the mountains! It came to an end on Highway 129. We had 2 choices right to go home the fast way or left to go to the DRAGON. The Dragon, 318 curves in an 11 mile stretch of road high up on a mountain. To the left we went climbing higher and higher, signs warning of switchback curves, our speed getting slower and slower and the curves got harder. The Dragon is now 2 miles from us! Then it happened..............

Monday on Tuesday

MOnday's photo shoot on Tuesday. John of By The Way has assigned a photo shoot of doing a profile. Here is Yellow and Scampi. Each are intent on looking at something. Scampi is staring at Yellow and Yellow is istaring at Pat.

BD

 

Brook's birthday pool party is going on now! Gotta go kids are hungry!

Prayers needed now

Prayers are urgently needed for Kevin. He is having neck surgery Wednesday at 1 pm Central time.

Go here for more info. LifeNStuff

always never

"Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use."
-Wendell Johnson

I have got to remember this. I do tend to use the words always and never when I should not use them.

Labor Day

I am ready to pop! Ribs and the works and homemade ice cream too!
I hope everyone had a great Labor Day!

More about the trip

So over the mountains we go to get to Gatlinburg. The curves are wonderful and scary on the back of a bike. All I could do was experience the thrill of the ride. Being the person on back I had no control over anything that was gonna happen so I just leaned back and enjoyed. I raised my shield so I could feel the fresh mountain air on my face. Little did I know that there was a smog alert out for the Smokies. Terrible what the world has done to its natural beauties. I tried to keep my camera busy but there were times when I just had to hold on. Some of those curves were tight, I could almost reach out and touch the next curve!  Finally we get to the North Carolina and Tennessee line and take a break for the next leg of the trip into Gatlinburg.

Bike after bike passed us on the other side of the road returning from their ride or maybe just starting out on the other side of the mountains.

 Altogether too soon we hit Gatlinburg. We decided to stop and look around a bit and then press on to Pigeon Forge to stay the night (cheaper). The next day was to be the last leg of our journey and then home.

A simple truth

" You will never change your life until you change something you do daily."~ Mike Murdock

I have found this to be true.

more about vacation

The next morning we woke up bright and early. Unfortunately the sun did not wake up early! LOL It was a dreary morning but we were not going to let that spoil our fun. After a breakfast of waffles(which I made) we loaded up and headed out. Our goal, The Smokies. First stop was for gas, while there another bike showed up. The guy on it was from Florida. He had come up with a group of bikers was showing them the area. We got to talking and he gave us a copy of his map called Mad Maps. I highly recommend you to get one for any trip, not just bike trips. Off we went with the goal of Cherokee, North Carolina as our next stop. Into the mountains we headed once again. It was cool and we had to wear long sleeves. I was prepared for this and had brought jean shirts (so I forgot tennis shoes, I am not perfect all the time! LOL). The cruves were breath taking. There were lots of hills with a 7% grade on them and runaway truck ramps every few miles it seemed. We rolled into town and of course had to stop at the casino. You can't go to a town without one and not go! LOL After dropping $10 in a couple of slot machines (only thing in these casinos) we headed out. Soon we came to the shops on the reservation. It has been a long time since I have been to the reservation. I was disappointed at how many items that looked like they were Indian made but were from China! It was just like most other tourist traps. There were a few items in this one store that were Indian made. I would have loved to of had a bracket but with a $350 price tag I just really could not justify the cost! After a bite to eat in a fast food place ( I think it was Hardies) we got back on the bike.

Over the mountain we went into the Smokies National Park. There we stopped at the ranger station and took a  tour of a homestead that they had set up there. By this time the sun was out in full force and we were ready to ride again. After making the necessity stop we hopped on again after I reversed the bike ( I push it backwards! I am reverse gear) and headed out. This time disaster stuck. Pat dropped the bike and I got my foot caught underneath. He raised it enough and I got off the bike. Now this bike will not lay all the way down because of safety bars on it so I was not trapped under it. Some men came over to help him upright it but until the women came over it was notbudging. LOL The women pushed on the bike and up it went. They were not spring chickens either! This bike weighs 900 pounds plus with all our stuff on it. It landed on the back of my ankle right above the heel. O man it hurt! We got back on and as soon as we cam to a spot where I could get down to the water we stopped. I stripped offmy boots and sock and stuck my foot in the water. But not before Pat beat and poked holes to make sure no snakes were there. That water was ice cold! It no time at all my foot turned red and then was working on blue. It still hurt somewhat but I knew it would be okay. Off we go to Gatlinburg!

2 words

I got this from Lost in my own thoughts

You can only type 2 words....no more....no less.

                      

1.yourself: slowly improving

2. your husband: sometimes silly

3. your hair: gray streaked

4. your mother: at peace

5. your father: with mama

6. your favorite item: my computer

7. your dream last night: tornado spotted

8. your favorite drink:  hot tea

9. your car: Ford truck

10. the room you are in: Living room

11. your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: should die

12. your fear: being unloved

13. where you want to be in 10 years: right here

14. what you're not: understood easily

15. your best friends: Connie love

16. one of your wish list items: a maid

17. the last thing you did: load dryer

18. what are you wearing: red shirts

19. your favorite weather: mid 70's

20. your favorate zoo animals? black panthers

21. your thought for the day? be content

22. your favorite book: has words

23. last thing you ate: sausage bisquit

24. your life: elevator style

25. your mood: quietly happy

26. your body: feels good

27. what are you thinking about right now: household chores

28. your crush: Orange Crush

29. what are you doing at the moment: well duh!

30. your summer schedule: what schedule?