respublica

Dinner woes

With all the awfulness on the news this week, I feel guilty about obsessing about what to have for dinner, but here we are. Since Dale retired we've eaten at home almost 100 percent of the time. Covid shutdowns got us out of the habit of going out to eat and when we talk about going out, we never seem to be up to it.

I have used a rotating menu which I'm tired of. I made a nice roast beef last night which took a bit of effort and was worth it...not an every day plan though. I ask Dale what he'd like for supper and 95 percent of the time he mentions hot dogs. I really believe he could happily live on hot dogs.

So here we are once again.

Good-Bye scary Pin Oak

When we bought our house back in 1981, there were two small Pin Oak trees in the front yard. We like the way they sort of softened up the look of the front of the house, but over the years these two grew and grew. Not only did they grow so much they hung out over the street and our roof as well as the neighbors roofs. Two years ago we had the tree on the right side removed and today will say good-bye to the second one.

They turned out to be just terribly messy trees dropping small acorns every where, clogging up the gutters and getting perilously close to falling on the power lines across the street. I am really happy to see the last tree be taken away.

 

More insufferable modern advances

Every thing these days seems to be tinkered with to make it safer. Too often trying to figure out how to use the new item is a mystery. Too many safety features are put into even the most simple of things. For example, recently Dale needed a new one gallon gas can to use with his old milk truck. Why he needed this for that is a mystery to me. Now let me just say right here, I have been doing lawn work for decades, not just our own yard, but many yards as well as helping on the seminary grounds when we lived there.

So I am not a stranger to gas cans, but this new type is ridiculous. Neither of us can figure out how to enable the spout to actually pour out the gas. We aren't stupid, but this has us stumped and annoyed. The worst part is, I am guessing new environmental laws forbid selling the traditional cans. I have no plan to ever get rid of the 3 old type cans we have. Problem here is Dale needed a fresh can.

Here is what this darn thing looks like.

It's not as simple as taking the red cap off the white spout.

There are a couple of mysterious things which have to be done at the same time and there there is another button top which does what we don't know.

It looks as if we have to do two our things at once to get the gas flowing. Nuts to that. Dale has decided to unscrew the main black thing attached to the can, take out the whole thing and go buy a funnel

One Downside of technology

I'm one of those people who has appreciated the creation of the internet and computers. At first it was mainly just a joy not to have to use a typewriter for doing things. But when the online world came about it was even more fun and often helpful.

But now I am pretty much just sick and tired of the constant "update" messages. Not only do these updates happen all the time with various programs and take waiting time, they also often mess up how I use the programs. Some useful things are gone or hidden, new things to learn are showing up. And, having to refill passwords is the worst.

So of course I woke up today and found my laptop would not go to my normal places until I allowed it to update to the latest Windows version. The message told me once I agree to the update it will start in the background so I can continue what I've been doing.  But when it is all downloaded, a restart will be necessary. And after that will come the issues I am sure. Nothing will look or act the same.

One memorable weekend

Dale's mother passed away early last week and her funeral was in Chicago Heights on Saturday with a Friday visitation. All in all it was a beautiful couple of days as many many people came to share their memories of Norma with the family. The service was a testament to her faith and a witness to us attending. One of the things which stood out to me was seeing all the relatives, especially the great grandchildren.

Our grandsons were a joy to behold as they took part in each thing with composure, helpfulness and interest. It turned out to be a blessing in many ways.

But now we are home and of all things I suddenly decided our stove top really needed a good cleaning. What a weird thought after the past few days. It is stainless steel and the cook top need some work with hardened grease and food. Not terrible, but could just not stop looking at it. This got me to Google to find the best way to clean and the most common answer was Dawn dish soap in a bowl of hot water. Then take a cloth of some type, swish it in the soapy water and then lay it on top of the greasy areas. Leave it for some time and the wipe off. 

Seriously, this worked, worked fast and did the job. So glad it did not take all day.

Odd things go on after an emotional and sweet time. I needed to do something constructive. Also off the Wild Birds Unlimited to get more hot pepper bird seed. Looks like we may have snow tomorrow.

It's great to leave, even better to return

We had a great time spending Christmas with our daughter Katie and family out in Maryland. We decided to drive this year and we are very very glad we did after seeing the mess in airports. it's a two day drive which can be done in one, but we've learned from past experience driving that far in one fell swoop is exhausting.

They have two dogs, both Bernie/Doodles and are as cute and lovable as you'll ever see. And they are inseparable as well as being sisters two years apart. They have the same parents.

We stopped a couple of times at rest stops and I got a kick out of how we are supposed to get a bottle of water or a candy bar our of the machines. Never saw this type of thing before

It's not easy sticking a hand into those squares to grab what you chose.

One of the gifts I got from Katie kind of made me laugh. I kind of knew much of what the book related, but hey, she thinks I'm old. It's from the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging! the title shows up more readable if you click the image to enlarge it.

Yes, I know we are old now much as we try to ignore it.

The weather was horrible driving through Pennsylvania and Maryland going out, fine coming home.

Timers Timers

We've been having trouble with one of our outdoor timers which turn on our front yard Christmas village. One side of the yard works perfectly, the lights go on at dusk and stay on for the 6 hours its been set on. The next night it goes on at dusk as it should The other is set the same way but stays on all night. It's driving me crazy because this did not happen last year. I've studied the timer, read the instructions, checked on google, but nothing changes.

I am not thrilled about going out and buying one more thing, but I may have to. One more try tonight.

A foggy day in Collinsville town

What a surprise to wake up this morning and see fog all the way to the ground. If it hadn't been for street lights, nothing much would have been seen. Kind of cool actually. We put up our Christmas Tiny Town yesterday and the fog just covered it.

An inexplicable crash

Our daughter lives in Montgomery County, Maryland and over the weekend they lost power to their home as did 85,000 other county residents. The power was out for most of the night, but I believe it's finally been restored this morning. This happened when a small plane crashed into a local power line tower on Saturday. Two people were in the plane and suffered serious, but not life threatening injuries.

Not having power is rather miserable and cold at this time of year. I still haven't heard how the plane managed to hit a major power area but i did read power finally came back this morning.

All those old forgotten photos

A couple of years ago Vince Herr noticed that I was interested in photography and Collinsville and Holy Cross. He was something of a hobby photographer in his years and dealt mainly with slides. He photographed many Holy Cross and other Collinsville scenes in color. One year when we were at the funeral home, he came down from upstairs and handed me several slide boxes of his and wanted me to have them.

Over the years I looked at them by holding them up to a window or a light. I really wanted to see them bigger and in print or digital, but time passed and life entered in and I kind of forgot them. Recently I've been on a Holy Cross committee working on how to celebrate the anniversary of the church and these slides popped into my head. Maybe they will be of some interest.

A couple of years ago I bought a little machine which turns slides into digital. I did a few of the churches ladies from years ago making apple butter outside the school. Yesterday when I was ready to look at some of the slides, I could not find the bracket that goes into the machine with the slides in it. I have the bracket for negatives, but the slide one has disappeared. So what does a person do? That person goes to Amazon and has them send me a new slide bracket. Comes today.

Here is one of Vince's slides from an older year of making apple butter. The Catsup bottle shows in the background.