As requested, more cards.

I got a request yesterday to show some more cards.  Usually that is not possible because my talented wife makes one each day to send the next day.  It just so happens, she had made a few ahead in case we do get to hit the road.  Of course she could still make them on the road, but then again, it is easier to make them at home.  I usually write a poem just for each card, therefore I can call it a joint venture.  I do have to say that she does 99 percent of the work.

Here is the card and envelope that she completed last night to send this morning.  She had it drawn yesterday but didn't get it colored until last night.  After I post this blog, I will try to write a poem for it.

And here is the collection that awaits poems and mailing.  That card on the upper left (the green one with the flowers) is an example of how she paints the envelopes to match the cards.

So, there you have it.  I believe she probably enjoys making the cards as much if not more than the recipients.  When she is not making cards she is either crocheting, weaving, or coming up with other art work of varied kinds.  I must say she is quite a talented lady.  Now, pick out one of the above cards, and pretend it is for you and then have yourself a very great day!!!

Wondering about a card my wife made.

I have told you a few times before, the last time: http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2012/12/coloring-my-wifes-doodles.html that my wife makes cards to send every weekday to my Aunt who is in a nursing home in Pennsylvania and once in awhile I make one, too.  We have told them to share them with the other residents of the home, also.

Yesterday, I walked past the table and saw a card that she was making to send this week.  I took a couple of pictures of it, the first one of the outside and the second one of the inside and I thought that I would share them with you:

I thought that my wife came up with another good one.

I had another important subject to cover this morning, but it has just slipped my mind.  I hate it when I go blank and I seem to do that a lot more lately.  You don't think I am getting old and senile do you?  I am not real good at multi-tasking any more.  I used to even triple task when I was a little bit younger, now I can hardly keep my mind on one single thing.  The joys of aging!!  Now, you all have a great time today and don't forget what you had planned to do, you hear?

Wondering if anyone goes back and checks.

Every time I leave a comment or answer one, I always go back and check to see if anyone has answered it or commented on it or about it.  I like to make it more like a conversation than a narrative.  I really appreciate all the people who comment on my blog and I always try to answer their comments.  Notice I said "people", I do not appreciate auto or machine generated comments or advertisements or. . you get the idea.

Some times I don't get around to answering comments until the next day, but I always try to reply to them all.  I went back a ways one day and found some that had been added a few days after I posted that blog and even though it was quite a few days after the post date, I still answered it.  I am sure no one would have known, but I knew.

Today got started off as a bright, sunny, and cool day.  Yesterday's and last night's high winds seem to have settled down some but it is only 43 degrees right now.  Sort of on the cool side, but maybe it will get back up in the 70's like it did the last few days.  As you can tell, I don't have a lot of neat stuff to tell you today, so just have a great day, you hear?

Wandering out to get some diesel.

My son came up for a visit yesterday and we had a great conversation.  I mentioned that he has never had a ride in our last motorhome and we have had it for a year and half or so.  I then suggested that since it could use some fuel, let's take it for a ride and get some diesel.  That idea went over well and I disconected the electric, the wife locked the door on the house, and my son walked up to open the gate.  My wife and I got into the RV and we drove it up the driveway, through the gate, and picked up our son.  Then I headed down to get some fuel.  That hundred gallon tank was pretty thirsty.  I have been going to fill it up for quite some time because I don't like the condensation to build up in it.  Normally I stop and fill it up just before I get home from a trip.  I don't know why I didn't do that the last time out.

Anyway, we drove over to Cleveland, TX and picked up 59 south.  Got off at the Splendora exit and I pulled over and told him he could drive it back home to Cut & Shoot.  I think that made his day, since he kept saying that it was "nice, real nice".  My rig only weighs 29,500 pounds loaded, but since he has a commercial truck driving license, I was impressed that he thought driving it was "nice".  This was the first time he drove anything with the wheels so far behind the driver's seat, but he did a perfect job and even told me a few things about it that I didn't know.  He got it back home and parked.  It was a good day.  Any day out in the rv is a good day for me.  That was the first time since I purchased it that I got to ride in right seat.  I told him I would hire him as our driver, but he has really good job and I know that my "dollar a day and found "  would not be sufficient (grin).  Now, you all have yourselves a great day, you hear?

Wondering about "big" things in Texas.

Everything is big in Texas, right?  You better believe it!!  Would I lie to you? 

These are large white flowers that grow all over the place close to the ground.  See that penny in the lower left of the picture?  That is one huge Texas penny. . .

Below is a close up of the above picuture:

Now, below is a another huge flower, only this one is yellow:

 The same type of flower as above except it has that huge, heavy Texas penny in the picture.  Dang, I had to move it around with a fork lift truck:

And of course some violets:

All the above and the last one at the bottom were taken on the outer loop of my driveway.  Then I went into my back yard and noticed that the moss was "blooming", or what ever it is that moss does.

And a second patch:

Then I took a picture of this stump with fungus growing on it:

Ok, that is the tour that I took around close to my house last friday.  Glad you come along, we will have to do this again sometime.  Now if you all will help me lug that huge Texas penny back to the house, all will be back to normal (grin).  You all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering how I could be so dumb!!!

I got up early and went to Denny's restaurant for the monthly ham breakfast.  First dumb thing I did was go way too early.  Well, that was OK, because the nice waitress took me back to the room where we meet and and told me to take my pick of seats and asked if I wanted coffee, which she returned with pronto.  I decided to go ahead and order so I could get my breakfast down so I wouldn't be trying to talk and eat at the same time.  (You know, we old farts have trouble doing two things at once.)  I was about half done when other hams started to arrive, so I wasn't the only "early bird".  We had a good meeting and since my wife (who I left at home) wanted to go to the flea market, I decided to leave just before 09:00.  I got out to my Jeep and that is when I knew I was really dumb.

You see, it was a little cool this morning with a breeze blowing, so I put on a jacket.  When I got there, I got out of the car, pushed the lock down on the door, and then decided I didn't need to have my jacket on just to go into the restaurant.  I took it off, threw it in the car, and shut the door.  Later, when I came out to come home and pick up my wife, I discovered that the keys to the Jeep were in my jacket pocket.  I tried all the doors and the back hatch, but all were locked up tight.  I called my son, but he was out of town at a rabbit show, showing his prize rabbits.  (one of his hobbies is raising show rabbits)  He suggested to ask one of the hams to take me home, and I did.  My wife insisted to return with us and that she would hold on to HER keys.

All worked out well, except for a lot of wasted time.  We did get to the flea market.  Didn't stop at home, just went on down the road to the flea market.  I did get some stuff today.  I got 50 feet of air line and some quick disconect fittings so I could plug into the air outlet on the rear of the RV in case of a flat tire.  Just wanted you to know why I am late writing this blog and I want you to remember to have a great day, you hear?

Wondering why a high count.

Everything was going fine and I was feeling good and then I got a phone call from my doctor's office.  My blood test showed that I have an elevated white cell blood count.  OK?  What does that mean?  Well, I guess that they don't know and they told me to go see a hematologist.  Since they didn't give any reference to any, I searched the internet for local hematologists.  I was surprised to find a lot of them around here so picked one that was easy to get to.  The one I picked is just off the interstate.  Shouldn't be a problem getting there.

Now I have it figured out that they probably think that I have some kind of cancer.  My wife and I did some research and found a lot of causes but the largest percentage was cancer somewhere or an infection.  I opt for the infection.  We will see in a couple of weeks when I go to hematologist.

I thought that white blood cells were a good thing but like everything else, too much of a good thing can also be bad.  I take micornized beta glucan to ramp up my immune system.  Maybe I ramped it up too much (grin).  Nah, I don't think that is possible.  Now, you all have a great day today, you hear?

PS. I almost forgot, the doc also says that my thyroid is not working as good as it should and I am to start on thyroid pills.  He wanted to give me Synthroid but I told him I would only take the natural stuff, so he changed it to Armour.

Wondering: Yellow Jessamine vs High Winds

This time of year the air is filled with a sweet smell.  That aroma comes from small yellow flowers that grow on climbing vines that reach to the top of the tallest trees.  I am talking about the Yellow Jessamine that grows all over my place.  Here is a picture of what I am talking about:

 

 And another :

 We are expecting a bad to severe storm to blow through here in a couple of hours.  It is quite warm this morning, just under 70 degrees and when this stormy cool front collides with this warm 99 percent humid air near the Gulf, it is suppose to produce some strong thunderstorms and a chance for a tornado or two.  It is very cloudy and windy right now with on and off again light showers.

In fact, the wind has brought down some of the Jessamine flowers:

We will just wait and see what the front does produce.  A lot of the times it never gets as bad as predicted, but on the other hand, sometimes it gets worse than predicted.  Now, I hope your day will be bright and sunny.  Even if it isn't, just have yourself a great day, you hear?

Wondering about pertussis (whooping cough).

Just when the flu season is waning, I read an article about whooping cough (Pertussis).  No, I don't have a persistent cough but I was surprised about what the article said.  It stated that the vaccination that people get to prevent it starts to wear off in only a few years.  It seems that it has now becoming a problem with people in middle age and older.  What is even worse is that it is very, very contagous.

The big misconception is that only children can get it so when an adult comes in for a doctor's appointment, they don't even concider that an older person with a pesistant cough has whooping cough.  Another rason why so many cases go undiagnosed in adults is that they recieved the vacination when they were young and it still gives them some advantage, so they don't get a severe case.

So, what can we do about it?  I suppose we could all go to the doc's and ask for a booster vacination.  But how many of us are going to do that?  A pharmacutical company has donated 117,000 free booster shots to health clinics for low income families.  The more people who are protected, the fewer people there are who get it and pass it along.  So, how about all you get the vacination so that I don't have to.  Now that sounds like a plan to me.  Now you all have a cough free day, you hear? 

And I thought I did a good job.

Remember back when I posted about fixing my power pole?  If not, you can check it out here: http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2013/02/straight-pole-croocked-back.html .  Well, I didn't do such a good job.  I thought that the only reason it was leaning was the weight of the wires and the vines.  I guess I was wrong because it is now leaning to the side.  So, the other day, I wint to Home Depot (the last time I went to Lowe's) and got another 2x4 and if nothing turns up to prevent me from doing so, I will put in another brace.  This one at ninety degrees from the first one.  Now, that should fix it, right?  The only other thing I can think to do is put stakes in the ground behind the 2x4 braces to keep them from pushing away from the pole.

It rained a lot yesterday but today is clear and sunny.  According to the weatherman, today is the only nice day this week.  This weekend is the upcoming rodeo at Houston with all the trail rides heading that way.  It seems that the custom is for the weather to turn bad for this event.  Seems to do just that almost every year.  Some of these "trail rides" come in from very far away.  They are more like wagon trains since they have to have a chuck wagon and a wagon to carry supplies, etc.  You have to give yourself more time to get to Houston at this time because the trail rides also use the roadways and they are not going the speed limit (grin).  OK, I will get to work and you all have yourself a great day, you hear?

Wondering to the inner most planet.

Yesterday, I went way out to the outer fringes of our solar system and talked about Makemake.  I only got two comments.  Maybe I went out too far, so today I will go in. . . in toward the sun.  I am just going to talk about that burned cinder they call Mercury.  Actually, I am going to talk about water ice on Mercury.  Surprised that there is ice on a small planet that is so close to the sun?  I was, since this planet can reach temperatures of over 800 degrees Fahrenheit and it does rotate on its axis so it would be baked on all sides.  It is, but since its rotational axis tilts only about one degree, the poles (especially the craters near the poles) do not get heated.  In fact, they contain frozen water (ice) that probably does not melt.

OK, how did it get there?  I assume that it came from the bombardments of comets and wet meteors.  The universe's most abundant thing is hydrogen and since there is also a lot of oxygen around, sooner or later they are going to get together and give birth to water.  Water then gave birth to life as we know it, with a divine guidance.  Now you have a good day and try not to get too mad if this life giving water rains on your parade, you hear?

Wondering about Makemake.

Why should you wonder about Makemake, and why should I wonder about Makemake, and for that matter, why should anybody wonder about Makemake?  Actually, I can't think of any good reason to wonder about Makemake.  I guess before we go any further, you should know how to pronounce it.  You say it like this: MAH-keh MAH-keh  It is a dwarf planet with a tilted orbit out beyond Pluto.  Here are the orbits; the red one is Pluto, the green orbit is Haumea, and the blue one is Makemake:

The above mentioned objects are all TNOs.  OK, I suppose you want to know what a TNO is, so I will tell you.  TNO stands for trans Neptunium Objects.  Here are some of the largests:

OK, I am going to stop here because you already had enough strange names thrown at you.  Speaking of objects getting thrown at us, we have recently been hit with a couple of fair sized meteorites, one injuring about a thousand people in Russia.

The universe and the small part of it that we call our solar system is a dynamic and ever changing place.  Sometimes for the good of humans and sometimes not.  Keep looking upward, especially on a clear night, and behold the wonders!!!  Now, you all have a great day and don't get hit with any wayward space objects, you hear? 
 

Wondering, could it be jealousy?

After I turned 65, never has a razor, clippers, shears, or any other cutting or trimming device touched any of my hair.  Therefore it has been allowed to grow for five years now and needless to say, both my hair and my beard have gotten fairly long.  In fact people seem to notice and a few times I have been mistaken for a member of ZZ Top.  Why just yesterday after going to Home Depot to get my wife a storage cabinet for the room she is making her hobby room, as we were driving out through the parking lot heading for the street, a clean shaven fellow walking by pretended to stroke a make believe beard and then pointed to me and gave me a thumbs up.

Like I said, I seem to get noticed (and I don't know why - grin) and my wife says that she is a little jealous.  So, after we got home, she came walking out of her bedroom trying to look like me.  I just had to take a picture of her and share it with you all:

 

So, what do you think?  Now I am jealous!!!  Of course mine is snowy white and hers is dirty brown.  I guess you can see from that last sentence that I am quite jealous.

I am just so sorry that everyone in the world can't look like me (grin).  Now, even if you don't have a long beard, please try to have a great day anyway, you hear? 

The day after.

Dang, I don't feel any different and here it is, the day after I turned 70!  So, I guess it wasn't that big a deal after all.  I did get some nice cards and my cousin, Jimkabob, called me from his home in Virginia and we talked for quite awhile.  I always enjoy talking to him, he is just so quick witted.  He said he mailed something, but I had to tell him that I didn't get it yet.  Now, I have something to look forward to today.

Yesterday, we celebrated by going to Wal*Mart and getting groceries.  I had to do that since I was out of my Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.  And there is no way I could celebrate my birthday without it!!!  While we were there, my wife insisted that I get another shirt.  I buy nothing but western shirts with snaps and I found one that would go good with my brown leather vest.  All in all I had a good birthday and woke up this morning feeling no bad effects of the day.

I want to thank you all for wishing me a happy day on the blog yesterday.  I do really appreciate your comments and I enjoy hearing your side of things.  My side of things is slanted to my way of thinking, you know.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Happy Valentines day and Wandering into my 70's

Happy Valentin's Day to all of you.  There is a special place in my heart for all of my followers and for all of you who comment on my blog postings.  I look forward to reading blogs and comments.  You all are my Valentine.

Also:
Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday Ole Dizzy.
Happy Birthday to me.

Yep, I was born on Valentines day 70 years ago today.  Now you know where I got all my charm (grin).  I never thought that I would live this long, since my Dad passed away at age 60.

Some days I don't feel near this old but on other days I feel a lot, lot older.  I guess turning 70 has some advantages: 

     I am now an official Ole Fart, right?
     I can get away with more, just blame it on old age.
     I can tell stories from further back in the past than most people. 
     I can tell them over and over again. 
     I can spend more time wondering what I was going to do.
     I can let someone else do the heavy work.
     I can say what I want.
     I can look and dress the way I want to.
     I can do anything, most people don't care or notice "oldsters".
     I am getting closer to knowing who I am.
     I am getting closer to knowing who I am.
     I can repeat things and no one thinks that it is odd.
     I can just be me (of course, I always have been).
     I can blame things on bad memory or just old age. 
     And I better start working on my bucket list.

Now you kiss your Valentine and tell them they are loved.  My wife, my dogs, and you all are my Valentines, so have a great, great day, you hear?

Wandering back to town.

I figured that my prescription would be ready so yesterday my wife and I headed for town.  I dropped her off at Hobby Lobby and I then went to the music shop around the corner to get a second capo, just in case I am picking with someone and we both need one or I misplace one or . . .  Anyway, got that and then headed over to Wal*Mart to pick up my prescription.  For some unkown reason, they gave (no, I paid for them) me two bottles each containing three month's worth of pills.  That is six months of pills.  And here I was worried about having to get them refilled on the road.  These can be refilled three times in the next year.  I guess I will have to stock up on them.  But with my luck, my condition will change (has been the same for many years now) and so will my prescription.  But since I don't go back to him for a year, I am all set medication wise.

At my age I am glad to see that someone, especially my doctor, will think that I will still be around "next year".  Gives an ole fart like me some hope for the future (grin).  Like I believe everything a doctor tells me???  He does pretty good since he realized that he is working for me and I am, therefore, the boss.  Now that is what I call a good relationship with a doctor, don't you think?  Now you all have a great and healthy day and to keep healthy, don't forget your Valentine.  If you do it will not be much of a holiday.

The day after the doctor's appointment

I am still here and since the doctor couldn't find a thing wrong with me (yet), I am back home in one piece minus three vials of blood.  Yep, he couldn't find anything wrong with me (even my blood pressure was normal), he ordered a blood test just to make sure.  He said if nothing bad showed up on the blood test that he wouldn't need to see me for a year.  He then electronically wrote a prescription for a years worth of the same blood pressure medication and sent it to the Wal*Mart pharmacy.  Yes, that is the same pharmacy where the fellow shot himself the other day.

I use Wal*Mart because if I am on the road in my motor-home and need a refill, I should be able to get refills without going back home.  When I pick up my prescription I will ask if I can do that.  This may not be a problem because I also got him to make each prescription for three month's worth of pills and I am sure I can fit all my trips into that time period.

So, what shall I do today?  It already started out good.  I slept in!!  My dogs usually get me up early, but I let two of them out of the bedroom just before sunrise.  I don't know why they wanted out (maybe my snoring) but it was OK with me.  The youngest one who prefers to sleep in her own house (cage) beside the bed, slept in too.  Now, you all have a great day today, you hear?

Wondering to the doc's office.

Well, they finally won!!  Dang, I don't see why a healthy person needs to go to the doctor just to get his prescription filled.  Oh yes, I guess they need more money to pay their bills, or what-ever.  Three months ago we went through this and I won.  I was smart enough to wait until I had only two or three pills left when I called for an appointment.  They said they couldn't work me in that quick, so gave in and called in a prescription for another three months worth of pills.  That was almost three months ago, so here we go again.  This time, they won and I am going in this morning.  Now, I will be exposed to all the viruses and germs of all the ailments that are going around at this time, just by a quick visit to the doc's office.  That office has four doctors and there are always a lot of patients waiting in the waiting room.

OK, I am sorry I am ranting and raving about this but it does make me mad.  He probably has to see me every so many prescriptions to make sure I am OK and to protect himself from the possibility of law suits.  The only so called "professionals" that upset me more than doctors are lawyers and if it were not for the lawyers, the doctors would be able to take better care of their patients.

Now, you all take what I am saying with a grain of salt, or a pill.  I know that doctors try to do the best for their patients and sometimes I just go off the deep end and rant about doing something that I don't think there is a need for when I could be doing . . . let me think.  What else would I be doing this morning?  I guess just sitting on the couch with a computer on my lap either reading blogs or playing Mahjong on the computer.  Just love a couple types of Mahjong games.  I try to better my old scores and always think when I finish a game that I could do better than that, so I play another and another and another. . .  OK, you all have a great day today, you hear?  And I will try not to let my forced visit to the docs upset the rest of my day, I will just call it an "outing" and try to enjoy myself.

Straight pole, crooked back.

Back on Feb. 3, 2014 I posted a blog titled: There was a crooked man. . .  I told you about my power pole being pulled over when the electric company's contractors cut the interfering brush and vines.  Well, yesterday I fixed the problem (I think).  I spend a couple of hours trimming vines and such away from the wires and the pole.  There are still vines attached to the top of the pole but they have been cut off from the rest of the plant so they will not be growing bigger or pulling on the pole or wires.  That was quite a job.  As I stood back and took a breather, I realized that I was only half finished.  The pole is still very crooked and since I cut the brush out around it, it is now leaning much, much worse.  In fact, it was leaning at less than forty five degrees as measured from the ground.  Dang, that isn't a very good situation, now, is it?  I was in such a hurry to get it fixed that I didn't think to take a picture of it, sorry.  I headed into town to the closest place to get to in a hurry that sells treated lumber.  That would be Lowe's.  I got me a two by four, stuck it in the Jeep, and headed home.

After I got home, I cut the end off at an angle so that end of the board would fit flush against the pole.  Then I tied a rope around the pole and got back by the porch and pulled it up.  After I got it up as straight as I could, I tied it off to the porch.  I then dug a shallow pocket for the bottom end of the 2x4.  I stuck the square end in the pocket and wedged the cut end against the pole.  Then I drilled three holes in the 2x4 and used real long heavy screws, I screwed the 2x4 to the power pole.  When I untied the rope, the pole didn't move that I could see.  Job completed.

Oh yes, I suppose you want to see some pictures to prove that I got it back up where it should be?  OK, this first one is taken looking away from the house:

And this second picture is taken from the opposite direction:

We also went to the flea market yesterday morning and so I didn't get started on this project until we got back home.

By the way, when I was coming back from Lowe's, I drove past Wal*Mart just about the time a fellow shot himself in the pharmacy in front of his wife who worked there.  Glad I didn't stop there for something.  After the shooting, they closed the store.

I got my project done and the crooked pole got straight and my straight back got crooked, but this morning it doesn't hurt all that bad.  Now believe me, that was a lot of work for a man my age who has been sitting or laying on the couch for the last few weeks.  No, I was not sick, just lazy.  Now, you all have yourself a really nice day today, you hear?