Saturday, September 24, 2011

Barb Wire, Me And Tetanus Vaccine


Lovely yellow blossoms are what I wanted to see this Spring and Summer... except we didn't really have those seasons, so late September is better than never to see the blooms.

Thank you for the pumpkins and seeds, Mary G.!

It is supposed to rain tomorrow a little bit and then warm up again for a while. Hope we have enough warm weather left to have these little darlings turn into tiny pumpkins. Maybe?

I've been doing uninteresting stuff one of which was fixing and getting the barb wire fence ready for winter. I was trying to stake a shaky post and the post got away from me and hit me in the head.

Unfortunately, the part of the post that hit me had barb wire wrapped around it and the rusty sharp prongs got me.

The vaccine got me too. I had a reaction to the shot and was not feeling good at all for almost a week. But, that is way better than getting tetanus. It had been over 10 years since my last vaccination for tetanus so I was overdue for a shot.

The nurse started laughing when he saw my blood pressure record card... the last entry was in 2005... the only entry!

"Don't you go to the Dr. every year and have physicals?"
"No..."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't."

I hate going to the Dr. so that automatically does away with physicals, etc. But, since I'm 70 now I guess I should seriously consider getting a flu shot and maybe a shingle vaccination? I guess I will have to call the Dr. and make an appointment to discuss the shots.

Stuff happens to me, but I just kind of ignore it and that works for me. I remember my women friends moaning about and having menopause problems and then running to the Dr. for hormone treatments.

I don't know... maybe it was putting up with horrid migraine pain and the equally horrid monthly periods that made menopause seem like not much and even rather welcome.

When I was young I remember my mother's people talking about, "I'm goin to keep goin 'til I fall apart like the one horse shay! Sounds good to me!

They really did have an old shay and farm wagons parked out in a back field. Poor things really were falling apart. I only saw them hooked up and pulled by horse teams during the local parade.

My mother was raised by her grandmother who was born in 1866 not long after the Civil War ended, so I am a few generations behind when it comes to a lot of things. I like the viewpoint from back here!

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Flying Chicken Tea Cozy

Finished cozy for the new tea pot!

The spout is always ready to pour so I don't have to take the cozy off, the tail pulls through the handle so the handle is cool to the touch, and the wings are pockets that hold a few emergency tea bags. 
Flying Chicken Cozy
In the morning our chickens run out of the coop
flapping their wings
and
they look something like this cozy.
Except...
not quite so colorful.

I started with an idea. made up a pattern and just kept improvising until it was finished. These are the lining and the batting. I'm sure the cozy would work even better if I used the special hot pad batting.


It was easier for me to sew this cozy by hand because I kept making changes that would have been harder to do if I was machine sewing. Hand sewing really does allow for some tricky maneuvers. 
I like my Flying Chicken Tea Cozy.

I'm going to go pour myself a cup of tea.
Have a great day!

Thursday, September 01, 2011

The Autumn Leaves Are Falling

Morgan and I were out as usual this morning and I noticed that the oak leaves are starting to fall and are beginning to litter the areas I raked clear.

I collected three bunches of dried leaves to show some of their different colors. There are lots of dried green leaves along with the more expected fall colors. Our oak trees don't develop vibrant Fall colors. This is pretty much it.

I love Fall! I like the invigorating weather, the Fall colors and preparations for winter. I did clean the chicken coop, we do have the wood shed full and I have a new tarp ready to cover the chicken pen. I would like to collect some acorns this year if I can collect them before it rains on them and before the squirrels get to them.

Autumn Leaves is one of my favorite songs. I love Nat King Cole. I was living in Los Angeles when first there was news he was in the hospital, then the news was he was recovering, and then the terrible news that he had died.


Strange maybe, but living in LA, I got so used to living near celebrities and seeing them around that they became in a way extended family. Kind of like distant cousins that you know of but never write to or visit. I was very sad when he died. Miss him.

When I was growing up, I went to the movies every weekend and sometimes both Saturday and Sunday. I saw a lot of movies and shorts, listened to a lot of radio shows and because there were few people in my life celebrities became like those distant cousins.

Movie stars were like distant cousins I cared about, were happy for and sad for when things went wrong. But I was never a movie fan or read movie magazines or wrote fan letters. I was to content to know they were there and visit them in their productions.

I dearly loved going to movies. And the cartoons! The cartoons were the best in the 40'!

I wish I had grown up knowing and being close to my real cousins... sad really that I felt more connected to movie stars than any of my own family.

Someday... I thought, I'll write a book about my life! I thought that until I realized that everyone has a book they could write about their life. Maybe I will write a life history for a genealogy project. Maybe.