I'm A Nut

I guess you could say I am child-like in many ways. I like children's music and children's movies as much as they do. Playing card games and board games are the joys of my life.

I am an impulsive person. Whatever catches my eye is where my interest will go. My mother said I was flighty.

I often told my children that I know it was a trial to have me as a mother because I tend to go off on a tangent at times. They assure me that they thought all mothers were like that.

Checkers and chess are fun games. My grandfather was a good checkers player. He and my mother showed us how to play. He explained that it was very important to keep the back line of checkers in place until you absolutely had to move them. I tried but it is difficult to keep them back when all my other checkers were being taken.

I really like chess. The planning and the different pieces moving different ways make it a game of logic. The problem with chess is that I will examine the board before making my next move. I will imagine a move and try to anticipate what my opponent's response will be and what eventual results will come from it. I look and study. I plan and observe.

Then out of the corner of my eye I see a move and grab the piece and move it. Usually it was a move I had already rejected. I made a stupid move and would end up losing the piece and eventually the game.

But there are times when I appreciate being impulsive. When my children were little and their father was on the road during the week we would often pack up and head for the park. There were trees to shelter us, a creek for wading, and plenty of room to run and play. We would cook on the grills placed strategically near picnic tables. Even though we lived at the edge of town and had a spacious yard the days at the park were fun for all of us.

I'm also well-known for driving along and suddenly spotting something I want to see. I stop and see it. I may have to take a detour and spend some extra time but it is usually worth it. I have found some interesting places to visit and fascinating things to see by doing this.

I encourage everyone to be impulsive once in a while. I do it too often but you might be amazed at the joys you will experience by doing something out of the ordinary once in a while.

As the song by Leroay Pullins says

I'm a Nut, I'm a Nut,
My life don't ever get in a rut
Well Hell, my shoulders are sore and loose
That I ain't got the sense God gave a goose
Now Lord I ain't crazy but, I'm a nut

And I like it!

But I Am Better Now

In the last episode you read that I hurt my knee and could hardly walk. My poor son was so sick.

Well it got worse. I caught whatever it is that he has. It seems to be some sort of respiratory thing. It is not a cold because the noses weren't runnuing. 

So here we were both of us miserable and I could not walk. We mostly stayed in our rooms. I would get up long enough to grab a bottle of water and go back to my room. I think my son did the same.

Coughing was the major activity of the day. I slept for a while then watched TV until I went to sleep again. 

I was so tired of being in my room. I forced myself to get up and hobble to the living room just to get out of that room.

Neither of us was eating. Food sounded awful. I lost about 12 pounds. My son says he has lost close to twenty.

Now that I have whined and complained I can tell you that I feel much better. My knee is still sore but I can walk comfortably without the cane. My cough is almost gone. My appetite is improving.

My son is still sick but he has begun to eat. I think as he is able to eat more than a couple of bites of a tortilla he will feel immensely better.

By the weekend I should be completely well. Hopefully my son will be close behind.

I will try to write a happy post next time.

Did I Do That?

My son gave me a cane for Christmas. An old person's tool. It is not unattractive but I would not have bought it for myself.

I guess he got tired of seeing me wobble to catch my balance whenever I stepped off the curb or if the ground was not level. I know he was tired of picking me up when I fell off the porch.

The porch has three steps that lead up to a landing before the front door. It has no railing. I have a bad habit of falling off.

Needless to say the cane has come in very handy. That extra security for balance makes me feel safer.

Still I fell off the porch again. I was going down because my son and I were going to town. The final step got away from me. I was able to do a quick tuck and roll. I picked myself and my cane up and we went to town.

Even so I twisted my knee. The following day I could barely walk.  My cane helped me maneuver when necessary.

Today walking is a bit less painful. I am trying to stay off my leg as much as possible.

I think the worst thing of all is that my son is sick. He cannot take care of me and I can not take care of him. It is a pitiful househald right now.

By the way we are making plans to install a railing on the steps.

Goodbye Friend Rabbit

Susan Kane who writes thecontemplativecat  recently wrote about the way her grandson dealt with the death of his hamster. It reminded me of my grandson and the rabbit. I hope you do not mind the repost.

My daughter and I took her children for a walk. My grandson was 6 or 7 and my granddaughter was 4 or 5. We walked through their neighborhood looking at flowers and watching for animals and birds.

As we usually did, when we returned to their house we made a tour of the back yard. In the spring we watched as the flowers came up through the soil then grew and bloomed. We smelled all smells and tried to identify where they came from.

On this day it was autumn. The leaves were falling from the trees at a record pace. The flower beds and the grass were covered with fallen leaves. Sometimes we would startle a rabbit back there but we did not see any that day.

Until my grandson went, "Oooooh" in a sympathetic tone. My daughter and I realized at the same time that he was starting to reach for an animal. We both yelled at him to stop. He looked at us startled.

We quickly went over to him. There lying in a flower bed was a dead rabbit.

We explained to him that whether the animal was sick or dead we did not know what was causing the problem. You cannot just touch any animal you do not know because it could cause injury or illness to you. He seemed to understand.

My daughter did not want to leave it lying there. I told her to go get a shovel and we would dispose of it. She was worried about my grandson being upset. I told her that was why we always held a funeral for animals when she was growing up. It is a way to say goodbye and it showed the finality of the animal being gone.

My grandson loved the idea of a funeral. He went and found an old shoebox. When we asked where we should bury the rabbit he chose a spot under the bushes right in front of the house. He wanted to conduct the ceremony so we let him.

We dug a hole and my grandson placed the box containing the rabbit carefully into the hole. We covered the box with dirt and tamped it gently down. Then my grandson started to speak.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to say goodbye to our friend, the rabbit." I stood in total shock. He had never been to a funeral so I could not understand where these words were coming from. My daighter and I looked at each other in amazed amusement.

He continued with his little tribute about how we did not know the bunny but we felt bad that he was dead. Then he knelt to say a prayer. I started to choke a bit with laughter. He looked like such a little angel with his hands pressed together looking toward the sky imploring that this little bunny rabbit be taken to a better place. Finally there was an "Amen".

My daughter and I started to go inside. I was actually halfway up the steps. Then my grandson stood at attention and put his hand to his forehead in a salute. His other hand formed into a loose fist and was placed at his mouth. Through that hand we heard, "Phtt, phtt, Phhhhhttt...". He was playing Taps!

I was choking trying to keep from opening my mouth and laughing out loud. Tears were running down my face. I did not dare look at my daughter because I knew I would not be able to contain myself. So I stood there not able to breathe with tears all over my face, turning red.

At the end of Taps, my grandson sweetly said a soft goodbye. "Goodbye, little bunny rabbit." It was over.

I jerked myself into the house so I could breathe and laugh without hurting his feelings. When my daughter came in shortly after she was laughing almost as hard as I was while berating me for leaving her out there all alone.

Bugs Bunny was the culprit. My grandson had seen a Bugs Bunny cartoon in which a funeral was held. He had practically memorized the whole thing. Thanks a lot, Bugs!

Makes You Pucker

I love pickles. Almost any kind. Dill, sweet, bread and butter, watermelon, jalapeno... I love them all and more. Pickled cabbage is sauerkraut. Love it.

I have never seen a baby who does not like pickles. The first taste might make a face but after that they beg for them. They are also good for teething. I think maybe the salt soothes gums.

I have a cousin who is 6 weeks younger than I am. I have only seen her a couple of times in my life.

The first time we were just babies. We were about nine months old. My aunt and her family were visiting my grandparents on the farm.

As with any family get-together there was lots of food. And all homemade. Grandma baked fresh bread every day. Grandpa grew potatoes and also cows for meat. Milk came from the cows. Vegetables grew in Grandma's garden. Jellies, jams, and pickles were homemade.

To keep us occupied someone gave my cousin and me each a dill pickle. We quietly gnawed on them until they were gone. Mom told me we ate a whole quart of pickles that day.

I keep pickles in my refrigerator. They make a good snack.

My daughter and granddaughters like pickles almost as much as I do. Because of them I used to keep gallon jars of pickles. I no longer do that.

 

What Would You Do?

A young man prayed to his god. "Please let me win the lottery." He watched the day the numbers were drawn. He did not win.

Again he prayed, "Please let me win the lottery." He did not win,

Again he prayed and lost.  Over and over again it happened the same way.

Finally he prayed. "God I keep asking you to let me win the lottery. I have been a good person. I do not win. Please help me to understand why."

A voice boomed at him. "You have to buy a ticket!"

The joke is cute. But have you ever wondered what it would be like to be rich?

Not having to worry about money seems like it would be easy. At the same time I have read the stories of people who won the big jackpot for a lottery and lost it all in no time.

It seems that loving family members and long lost friends suddenly want to be the closest to you. Salespeople have products that you simply cannot live without. Companies wish to allow you to invest in them so you can increase yout great wealth. You are so popular you have to work to find those moments of solitude you crave.

Still we dream of all the good things. Maybe a better house or a new car. A better wardrobe. The time and ability to spend more time doing the things we enjoy. Pay off all the bills.

We might hope to make life a bit easier for our loved ones.  We might plan a family get-together with ALL expenses paid.

There are many good charities that could use the help. Or maybe an anonymous 'adoption' of someone who needs a helping hand. Or both.

No. I did not come into a huge sum of money. But it is fun to dream.

What would you do?

Update On My Sister

I have written before about my sister. She had a stroke several years ago and has been bed-ridden ever since. Her left side is paralyzed.

For Christmas I gave her two drink mugs with cute sayings. Two because the one I sent last year was broken. She told me she uses one for coffee and the other for tea,

I also sent a book of word puzzles with colorful pens, a couple of coloring books with crayons, and a bag filled with candy and cheap little toys. (She said her great-grandson had a lot of fun playing with the fake peanut can that has the "snakes" shoot out of it when opened.) There were some nice chocolates from the candy store of our youth.

I hope they keep her amused as well as give her something to do.

When she called me a couple of days ago she was wheezing and trying to catch her breath. She said she has a cold and is coughing. It takes her a while to breathe normally after a coughing spell. A lot of the problem is that she cannot sit up. Inactivity causes the lungs to fill.

Other than that she has been feeling well. Her son and her husband still spend a bit of every day with her.

Before Christmas her daughter visited her. My niece's adoptive mother was with her to help wrangle my sister's three great-grandchildren.

My niece has visited a couple of times before but this is the first time the children have seen their great-grandmother. They had a good time getting to know each other.

All in all my sister had a good Christmas. 

 

Vacation?

I took a few weeks off from writing. I felt burned out and unable to inspire myself.

It was relaxing to not have the deadlines I set for myself to make a post. I read all the posts I normally read. I commented on some of them, some I did not.

It was a nice respite for me.

I did have to wrap and mail Christmas gifts. It was done successfully and in plenty of time.

My son and I spent a nice quiet Christmas here at home. Our meal was simple. I made a ham, potatoes au gratin, and green beans. Pumpkin pies for dessert.

It was not the big fancy meal I made for Thanksgiving but it was good. And I have at least enough ham in the freezer for a couple more meals.

The New Year entered with me sound asleep. It is just not that big a deal to me anymore.

That is not to say that I do not have high hopes for this new year. Those I will keep to myself. 

I did find out that I am going to be a great-grandmother again. My granddaughter is having her third baby. I love it when babies are born into the family.

So now I am in the process of cleaning. After all why wait until spring? My pantry is cleaned and organized. So is the freezer in my refrigerator. I still have the refrigerator, cupboards, and the big freezer to go. One day at a time.

Now I am back to my blogging. I am still searching for inspiration. It will come.

A New Year

Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2019.